also, family self-portraits are not easy to take…
Category: Jay
sun protection for bikes
We love riding bikes; one of our favorite features of the house is that the back yard opens onto the Cady Way Trail. But our bikes don’t like the Florida sun. Even kept in our covered porch, enough sunlight gets through the screen to do quite a bit of damage, especially this time of year with the sun so low in the sky. Additionally, while the screen keeps out some dirt, the porch is still a pretty dirty place. Yesterday, I set out to address these issues.
Inspired by this post, I designed a shelter to store all our wheeled toys. The whole thing is made up of three independent structures, each designed so I can move it out of the porch if needed and each only as tall as it needed to be. I didn’t want to completely block our view of the back yard with this project.
The dimensions of the three structures are approximately (depth x height x width)
- 6′ x 5′ x 4′
- 6′ x 4′ x 4′
- 4′ x 3′ x 3′
The first stores full-size bikes, the second stores mid-sized bikes and our two-person bike trailer and the smallest stores plasma cars and tricycles.
I drew up my plans at 9AM, Charlie and I went to the Home Depot to get supplies (in only one trip!) and I spent the rest of the day assembling. I didn’t work uninterrupted (meals, school pick-up, baths, etc.) but I finished the job the same day, at 11PM
Eventually, we’ll add a tarp or drop cloth to the front to keep out the rest of the dirt, but for now, I’m calling it done!
the newest Perreault
Welcome
Remy George Perreault
Born 1/14/2016 at 9:51AM
Weight: 8lbs 1oz
Length: 21″
Mother and baby are both doing very well
happy new year
2015 hasn’t been an easy year for our family. However, regardless of the difficulties there has always been joy. Our three boys bring smiles to our faces and laughter to our house on a daily basis and for that we are always grateful. Regardless of what 2016 brings I hope that we can always focus on what really matters, our family. Happy New Year everyone, here’s to a wonderful 2016.
2015 a year in review…
January
We celebrated Luc’s 1/2 birthday, Jay’s 5th Birthday, he requested a “Blue Heart cake with Flames on it”.
February
We read books, we built a ridiculous amount of things with duplo, enjoyed the cooler weather outside and it even got cold enough one night to freeze water outside. The boys set up an “experiment” and were thrilled that some of the water froze.
March
We played outside in the pool and also in the rain, we raced cars and Kristen finished her first queen sized quilt.
April
April was a crazy month. We hosted the annual Shrimp Boil which also served as George’s retirement party, Jamie got a new standing desk, we rearranged most of the office after getting the desk and created a lego area for Jamie and a sewing area for Kristen, we celebrated Easter and decorated a bunch of eggs, did a heck of a lot of lego building and Kristen finished another quilt.
May
We built a bunch more lego, we swam in the pool for the first time in 2015, finished up a the school year at MSEE, Charlie got a new bike, Jay started riding a bike without training wheels and Luc got his first haircut.
June
We spent a lot of time in the pool and we spent the week on Anna Maria Island with Jamie’s family.
July
We spent the week at the beach with my Mom, celebrated Luc’s 2nd Birthday, Jay’s half birthday and our 9th Wedding Anniversary.
August
We enjoyed some time with cousins visiting from Canada, swam in the pool a WHOLE lot, Charlie started a 3 day 3’s program at MSEE and Jay started Kindergarten at Brookshire Elementary School.
September
We adjusted to our new school schedule, took a trip to Terra Ceia and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
October
We played outside a whole lot, dressed up in both Halloween costumes and a ton of dress up clothes and we took Jay and Charlie to Disney for the first time.
November
We had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty, Bella, and we celebrated Charlie’s 4th Birthday for which he requested a “mouth cake”.
December
We prepared and decorated with the Holidays, Charlie learned to ride a bike without training wheels, we took a trip to Jacksonville to celebrate Memere’s birthday and got to see a lot of family and we celebrated Christmas.
tree elves the 2015 edition
We tree elved (yes I just made that noun into a verb) it again this year. Every year I look forward to going and picking out our tree. Having a tree up in the house (a real tree- sorry all of you fake tree supporters) is probably one of my most favorite parts of the season. I could literally sit by it for hours and just enjoy the glow of the lights.
I didn’t get many photos this year, the boys were too busy running around like mad, so it’s just the one traditional tailgate photo. Also, I dug up all of the other tailgate photos that I could find because it’s fun to look back!!
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Happy Halloween 2015
I am a sucker for kiddos in Halloween costumes, that’s a fact. So it’s no surprise that my favorite part of this holiday is dreaming up costume ideas for our boys and then seeing them come to life. I adore taking photos of them all dressed up and love how every year the costumes end up in the dress up box after Halloween for hours of endless fun!! Big thanks to Mimi for making the pirate costumes (I like to sew but garment sewing is really, really not my thing!) they are fabulous! So here’s an overload of Halloween photos for you to enjoy ;)
kindergarten
I know I have been terrible at posting things lately but I do still take photos aside from iPhone photos and instagram posts. And since I actually took the time to take a look at them today I thought that I would share. Jay started Kindergarten at Brookshire Elementary today. It’s a day that I have been looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. Jay is SO ready to learn, be in school and soak up any and all information that is thrown at him. Being home with his brothers all summer has had its advantages, they play really well most of the time, but it’s also been hard since they are together all of the time too and have endless hours to push each others’ buttons. So for those reasons I was ready and he was ready to go. However, I don’t ever think any Momma bird is really ever ready to send their little one to kindergarten all day long and for that reason today was tough. I managed to keep it together all of the way to school and up until we had to leave him in the classroom. There were Momma tears on the way home, randomly throughout the day and while waiting to pick him up outside of school (I was 30 min early) when friends asked how I managed throughout the day. I was so thrilled to see him and even more thrilled to hear his excited stories about school. He talked all the way home about his day and then some. Man it is hard to watch my sweet Jay Bird spread his wings and fly but it is also so, so wonderful! I couldn’t be more proud of him than I am right now.
Here’s a few photos (actually more than just a few but it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want), the first from meet the Teacher and the later (with the backpack) from this morning.
Things have been crazy with Jamie in grad school and working a ton, the boys being home all summer- TOGETHER- and well, just life. I have a ton of photos that I would love to share at some point. Fingers crossed I will get to that soon. Like I always say, my older self is bound to thank me for whatever I get the chance to post…
summer haircuts
They wanted short hair… I agreed, well for the summer at least ;)
big pile of love
coloring
Jay has enjoyed coloring for a while now. Often when things get quiet you can find him at the table, markers everywhere going though a stack of paper. Just recently, Luc has taken an interest in coloring as well. On this particular day Luc started coloring and Jay simply (and mostly without words) just joined him at the table and they colored together.
the perreault family 