The Davolts

    I love our new home in Battle Ground!  However, I am still a little unsure about living in Battle Ground.  Battle Ground itself seems nice, just a bit further out than I ever imagined I would live.  Six months ago we had a cute little NE Portland home, where we could walk to Breakside Brewery or Podnah's BBQ Pit.  There were multiple parks close by and despite the energy of the city we had a peaceful backyard retreat to relax in.    Now, it may seem strange, but having a 20-25 minute commute seems like an eternity for me.  Not since our first year of marriage have I had to commute more than 15 minutes.  It was the trek across Lake Washington  from West Seattle to Kirkland that made me vow to always have a short commute.  While I do not mind the extra time to make phone calls or listen to some talk radio, I can't decide if the drive is peaceful and relaxing or just a slog to and from the country.  I imagine it will tu...

Greetings! You may recall, when we last left off, our Master Bedroom was this color: It could be best described as a terra cotta. Too dark and too orange for our tastes. The ceiling was a tan color, which meant it also needed painting. To top it off, this is the only room in the house with vaulted ceilings. We dedicated one weekend to priming the walls and ceiling, then painting the ceiling Bright White. Another weekend of painting and our bedroom is now this cool, calm shade of blue. It's called Bluefin Bayou to be specific. With some extra help from my dad, we were able to check off the other two things on the to-do list: changing light fixtures and unloading books in the library. I honestly don't think any of this work would have been possible these past several weekends if not for Nathan's Auntie Jennifer who comes to entertain him while Jeff and I paint or sort or whatever. Coming Up Next: We are MOVING! That's right! In jus...

In our case the line should say, "Moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of cookies." As Jeff and I began the hunt for a new house last summer, we decided to try and find something in the North end of the district where we work. The area is where many of our colleagues live and is considered a desirable part of town. We crisscrossed North Vancouver for several weeks while preparing to put our Portland house on the market. By the time we had an offer, and a deadline to move, we had crossed most of the available homes off our list, for one reason or another. One thing we noticed as we toured homes in many different kinds of neighborhoods around Vancouver, is the absence of a strong sense of community or identity. We had been spoiled living in Portland, where each neighborhood had it's own identity or lifestyle. Vancouver itself was established as a result of settlement related to the Fort near downtown. Downtown Vancouver does have some charming older homes much like ...

I spent most of the holiday season daydreaming about decorating our new home and hosting big family-style dinners, a vision that felt simultaneously far and distant. Then, just three days after Christmas (and ~104 days after our initial offer), our realtor delivered the key that would let us begin our anxiously awaited next move. Before even setting foot into the house, Jeff and I made a trip to Home Depot for primer and painting supplies. We had a move in plan that we had spent weeks developing. Even though we have bought a beautiful home with many fine finishes and features, our to-do list is nearly twenty items long. Some are no-brainers and more urgent (painting rooms), while others are dream projects that might not happen for many years. To our benefit, our apartment lease doesn't end until January 31st, giving us a month to tackle these initial projects prior to moving in. Therefore, we wanted to check some of the painting projects of our list first. Jeff surveying the ...

Since Erin and I have been married we have never spent a Christmas at home, and had every intention of doing so this year.  However, once we found out we would be stuck in our small apartment with all our Christmas decorations in storage we soon decided to find somewhere to go.  After a harrowing trip across the snow covered Blue mountains to Boise in November, we soon decided to skip the mountain passes and just take the I-5 slog up to Maple Valley. Nathan loves to chase Jet around at Grandpa's house. After doing a final walk through on the new house we made the even shorter trip from Battle Ground to Maple Valley on Saturday December 22nd.  It was Erin's Dad's brithday so we had a wonderful dinner with Dave, Ellen and Thomas at Covington's finest dining establishment, Applebee's. After celebrating Dave's birthday we were now ready for the big event.  Our anticipation for Nathan's first Christmas where he could actually maybe kinda sorta understand...

Rear facing road trip If you recall, Nathan's first birthday was this past June, at the start of our summer road trip season (have I ever mentioned how nice it is to have the whole family on vacation all summer?). As we began to travel north, east, south or west, inevitably someone would ask about Nathan's car seat still being rear facing. While law does allow for toddlers to be turned to forward facing at one year, the American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees. When I was almost seven months pregnant, the AAP announced their recommendation for tots to remain rear-facing until two years old. As explained in the full news release (see link below), young children seated face forward still risk neck injury in the event of a crash. In conversations with other moms online, I heard of horrifying accidents where young tots suffered serious injuries due to front facing seats. I considered adding a link for that, but I'll leave you to your own research. In addition, I learned...

Can you believe it? Can you believe that Little Man Nate is already 18 months? Nathan's Famous Hot Dog on Halloween. At 18 months, Nathan is 33.25 inches tall and nearly 29 pounds, but mostly, he is on the go. Nathan is curious about the world around him, spending lots of time opening doors or drawers, saying "uh-oh" when he finds something new. I know for certain I will have to buy a new set of measuring cups when we move again, as Nathan has adopted some into his toy collection, while others are just plain MIA. He loves pushing his cars, trucks and lawn mower around the house. He is quickly learning to match shapes with puzzles and point to his nose, ears and belly. He uses sign language to say "please" and "more" as well as ask for "help". We have just started practicing the sign for "thank you" and he seems to be grasping that one. Nathan will put his cup in the refrigerator or sink when he is "all done", and u...