This house was unoccupied for a while before we moved in (maybe as much as 2 years), but it has been refinished completely on the inside. Because no one has been here to defend the home from pests, we have had a bit of a pest problem over the past six months. Wasps, spiders, ants, moths. We're pretty sure we've killed a queen hornet (MASSIVE) and some sort of mammoth egg-laying wolf spider.

There is a positive angle to the bug-friendly habitat we find ourselves in, though. There are over 10 mantis nymphs clinging to the screen on our porch. Typically mantises eat each other because their appetites are out of control when they first hatch. We'll keep an eye on them for sure!

Time has just been buzzing by for about six months now. I haven't posted updates in a while. Henry is on the verge of walking. He's 14 months old and a little lazy about walking, though he did take his first two steps this morning! Stephen can put on his own pants and handle a lot of household chores (a lot for a 2 year old). He's resisting using the potty; we just started putting training pants aka Pull Ups on him this morning. He has an Elmo potty video in which Elmo discusses how he uses the potty and that he didn't always used to use the potty when he was little. Whenever we try to talk to Stephen about going potty he says ELMO YES, ME NO.

Vacation in two weeks. Started putting together a packing list for that. Exciting.