Tappana Times: The Lives of Lydia and Ammon

Lydia noticed a white spot on the ham she was eating for lunch and exclaimed to herself, "Is that a LUNG!?!" I could help but laugh my head off when I overheard, to which Lydia all-knowingly countered, "What? I know this is pig!"

Black eye courtesy of Uncle Kenny

Ammon had a particularly difficult morning one day. First he came out sobbing that he couldn't find his pajama drawer....yes....the drawer in his dresser that cannot move that he has been using twice a day, everyday, for months. He couldn't find it. And he was devastated.

After sending him to his room a few times, insisting that he does know where his pajama drawer is and he'd better find it and put his pajamas away, he only came out crying harder each time with his pajama drawer still missing. I went in to find out what was going on, and on the floor surrounding his dresser were all his pajamas, with his drawer wide open and two pairs of underwear in it. Apparently, someone accidentally put two pairs of underwear in the pajama drawer, and that magically turned the whole drawer into Ammon's underwear and sock drawer. So, naturally, he pulled ALL of his pajamas out of the drawer - because they were obviously in the wrong drawer, I mean two tiny pairs of underwear couldn't possibly be in the wrong drawer, the EIGHT pairs of pajamas must be the ones in the wrong spot - and then became very upset when he couldn't find the drawer for his pajamas anywhere. Those two pairs of underwear sure messed everything up.

Let me tell you, it was hilarious.

Until he came sobbing to me at breakfast because he poked his finger with his fork. Not Ammon's finest morning.

Those two are both hysterical and sweet.

Lydia: When I grow up and I'm a policeman, I'm going to put you in jail!
Ammon: Well when I grow up and I'm a firefighter, I'm going to light you on fire!

Lydia and Ammon both went to their first movie at the big theater. I was sad not to be with them for their first movie, but also grateful to Uncle Ryan for taking them to Penguins of Madagascar so I could watch Interstellar on the big screen.

They did great, according to Ryan. But Lydia loves movies and Ammon loves food, so really, why was I even worried?

At the beach during Christmas break, we walked, froze our ends off, and enjoyed each other's company.

Seriously, it was so cold and my ears hurt so bad that it gave me a ringing headache and was making me nauseous. We all tried to pretend it wasn't miserable, but it was. However, we tried to walk faster along the coast to warm up, and soon played a game trying to get through small passages before the waves came up and got our feet wet. The kids were traumatized, I thought it was great fun.

To keep warm during these cold winter months, Ammon likes to be wrapped like a burrito. I call him my burrito boy.

Lydia had her first heart break when it comes to a boy. I had no idea, but apparently she "worked really hard" on a note she made for "Ryan" in her class. Then when she gave it to him, he gave it back and told her he didn't want it. It hurt her feelings enough that she told her teacher who then asked Ryan if he would keep the note "and he only said sure." Lydia sobbed tears of devastation the whole time she related what happened, and then cried a good five more minutes until I threatened her with a nap if she didn't calm down. "I worked so hard on it, and he didn't even want it!" After a hug, I assured Lydia that boys are dumb and just don't get it most of the time....but in a much nicer, kindergartner-friendly way.

A few days later, I pulled this note out of her school folder. When I asked Lydia about it she said, "It's the note I made Ryan. He still didn't want it so I just brought it home," shrugged and ran off. This note caused so much drama for such a young girl, who then moved on like it was nothing. Oh the passing fancies of youth....I love them :)

I've also been told I'm in trouble. 

Tappana Home Virtual Tour

Welcome to the Tappana household!

This little rambler is home to Brigham, me, Lydia, and Ammon.

Step on up to the front door for the beginning of the tour :)









Upon entering, you will immediately be in our cozy living room that is adorned with our new couches, entertainment center, and, at Christmas time, a beautiful tree to light up the place. Also, children are usually found scattered throughout.

The other side of the living room leads you past the piano, and down the hall to the bedrooms.

We'll head down that hall later, but first, let's head through the living room into the kitchen.

We have all the standard works of, oven range, fridge, dishwasher, etc. The oven is gorgeous - being from the sixties - and works great.

The kitchen is actually very spacious, and we have more cabinets and the dining table on the other side.

Past the dining table we have our first half bath.

This is the kids' bathroom, mostly because it is right next to the playroom (only half pictured here). It's nice having all the kids toys in a room away from the rest of the house. This feature of the home is one of our favorites, as we send the kids to play or watch a movie and we don't have to be bothered by noise or messes.





Moving back through the kitchen and living room, the first room down the hall is the office.


Here I also keep my craft things and sewing table. Someday, when my life is back in order I will be able to actually get in there and make beautiful things.













Keep coming down the hall and we have the full bathroom with shower and bath.

Ignore the ugly curling iron and cord sticking out. The people that live here are just slobs sometimes.

Past the bathroom is Lydia and Ammon's room.

 These two love sharing a room again and I love listening to them talk and play together before they fall asleep. The bunk beds are perfect for them and I love that their room stays pretty clean with most of their toys in the playroom.







The last and final room of the house is Brigham's and mine.

This room is extra long because they knocked out a wall and and combined two rooms together to make one. So at one end we have our nice, neat bed and bookshelf.

And at the other end, we have a mess. Our room is the last room to put together, and I still need to finish it up.

Not pictured in tour:
- The GIANT, giant backyard. So much room for the kids to run around and play. Now to make them have imaginations and stay out there....and coerce the weather gods into making it spring already.
-The MESSY, messy garage. We have lots of junk out there from moving. Our next project is to organize it so that we can actually park a car in it.

What we like about our house so far:
- It's the cutest rambler on the block. Everyone refers to it as the cute one...and considering the neighbors across the street have all the junk cars sitting all over their yard, it sort of is :)
-Having our own space again! Wohoo! I love getting my things back and having my bed back, and managing my own stuff.
-All the rooms. Four bedrooms is a pretty good deal.
-The big backyard and pretty trees out the windows.
-The location. Thank goodness Lydia didn't have to change schools, and we are still right down the street from my parents.
-A garage to put all our crap. I'm so tired of storing our stuff somewhere else. No more making runs to Brigham's dad's house or to the storage unit. I'll just hop on out to the garage.

What we don't like about our house so far:
- THE CARPET! The previous renters had dogs. Big dogs. Big dogs make carpet smell when not properly trained. And after fighting with the landlord, I could only get one room's carpet replaced. Even though the carpets were cleaned, the smell started coming back and every time I vacuum, the smell REALLY comes back. It's a lot of work for me to keep the house smelling fresh which just makes me cringe at what's really going on down there. It's terribly bothersome and actually kept me up at night when we first moved in. When I sweep the kitchen floor, my pile is still full of dog hair every.single.time....two months later.
- Baseboard heaters. In every room an entire wall is taken up where you can't put any furniture in front of it because of the baseboard heaters. That really starts to limit what you can do and space utilization. So many rooms are not how I want them, and can fit so much less, because of how I have to organize them with the baseboard heaters.
-The lighting is pretty terrible. Some of the light covers are dark and so everything is pretty dim. That isn't good news during an already dreary time of year here.
-The fan in the bathroom. The fan and light are on the same light switch, so if you turn on the light you turn on the fan. It's a pretty good idea here, since moisture is such a problem, but the constant white noise of a fan whirring anytime you're in the bathroom drives us CRAZY.
- Having to pay real rent and utilities. It's brutal on our budget baby. But I'm hopefully going to be working here soon to help make ends meet.

So good and bad, like anywhere you may live. We are truly enjoying settling into our own space and the kids have loved having our little family together again.

Now, because my picture-taking is terrible and doesn't do any of these rooms justice, you'll have to come to Washington for a REAL tour. We'd love to have you one and all, and now that we actually have our own place to offer, come and visit!