These Feet Were Made For Walking

Today's the day! Livia's a walker. She's been taunting us since Christmas break! Livia has been standing on her own for more than a few months now, even squatting to pick something up and standing again all by herself! She's definitely more cautious than her daredevil brother, but you can see the concentration and thought put into each move she makes. She wasn't going to walk until she could do it with confidence. But now she's done it.

And look at the other shenanigans she's getting into! (Why the dishwasher?)

If the combination of that hat and those cheeks don't kill you, I don't know what will.

Love you, sweet Livia! We're proud of you and all your determination, curiosity, and adventure.

My Red House

Last year in Germany, Curtis said that we might be able to buy a house this year. So I promptly got online and started looking for my dream house. After a few weeks of searching, I found it. My perfect dream house. It was a 3-bedroom, 1200-square-foot red house nestled into one of Portland's largest city parks. It had a wood-burning stove, open kitchen, large entryway, darling gables, nature . . . basically, it was perfect. I'd get online every day just to look at it. I remember that fateful day in October when I saw it had been sold. My heart broke a little that day. I still ache for this house. When we moved back to Vancouver in January, we had to drive by it, even though it had already been sold. My heart broke again.

So, we're still on the hunt. We decided that we better make a list of some of our must-haves for our next dream home, since this one is already occupied. 

Here we go:

• this house (OK, that wasn't possible)
• 1200-1800 sq. ft.
• 3 bedrooms
• 1.5-2 bathrooms
• open concept
• L-shaped kitchen
• kitchen island
• wood-burning stove
• additional living/family room
• separate laundry room
• garage
• garden space
• south-facing

Can we find something that fits the bill? And the budget? Only time will tell. But until then, I'll still dream of my red house.