It's been quite some time since I posted so here's a quick update. The house is progressing well, we now have a usable kitchen, I even did the tiling of the splashbacks myself. There's still a few finishing touches to sort out but there are other tasks with higher priority, such as the bathroom. Our builder Allan (the dad of one of Rhianwen's friends) was back this week and has levelled the floor so we can now start painting in there and then move on to tiling and fitting the shower and basins etc. The upstairs loo also needs the floor levelling and painting etc.

Rhianwen's room is very nearly ready, Allan fitted a new window in there this week, just some finishing to do on the plasterboarding and it can be painted. Then Rob will lay a new floor in there and the girls will be able to move in while we do the same to Meleri's room.

Allan is also finishing off our bedroom, the attic and putting in the staircase to the attic this coming week. Once the stairs are in we'll be able to move our bed and Eluned's cot up to the attic and we'll no longer be sleeping in the living room. Yay! Our bedroom will be tackled once the girls' bedrooms are done. It also needs decorating and new flooring.

In the meantime, Rob is also trying to remove all the stones from the garden. Our once lovely garden was destroyed when the drainage system for the septic tank was put in. We also lost a couple of pear trees and an apple tree. All the earth was churned up and lots of stones were brought to the surface. The grass is growing back by itself but really we need to get rid of the stones to make it safe for the kids.

Eluned had her first birthday in April. We had a quiet celebration given the chaos here. More recently, it was Rob's birthday and mine and Rhianwen's are next week. Rhianwen will be five, I can hardly believe it! (I try not to think too hard about Meleri turning 16 in October.) Anyway, Rhianwen has known for quite sometime what she wants for her birthday - a tractor. I think she wants a full size one but she'll have to make do with one that's her size for now :)