Be There or Be Square!

EAT at ELLIE'S!

If you don't like our food.. Daddy will eat it for you.

Our basement renovation is done and Ellie's Diner is open for business. Thank you very much to Grandma & Grandpa Harrer for offering to get Ellie this '50s diner playset. She has a lot of fun dancing to the juke box's music, making and pouring imaginary coffee, and frying up everything from hamburgers to slices of pie to scoops of ice cream. She likes sitting on the bench and "eating" a bit more. I must say, though, the cheese is a bit too realistic in its look and feel. She tries biting a piece off of it pretty much every time we're down there.

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Here's a look at our new-look basement. Those orange walls are all new, as are the closet doors. All the boxes that used to be strewn about are now neatly packed in the four feet of space between the walls and the basement's *actual* wall. We have less space, but a lot more useable space.. and it looks a lot bigger even though it isn't. Eventually there will be Ellie toys on those bookshelves, as there are in the little, tiered white bin-holding shelves.

You'll also notice Annie's birthday present -- a full-sized (88 keys) digital piano. The keys have the feel and weight of an actual piano, but this thing can do all the fancy stuff keyboards can.. with over 600 different sound settings, stored beats, the option to record your playing, etc.

Needless to say we're no longer reluctant to spend time downstairs. It's cooler than the rest of the house (speaking of temperature) and now that the boxes are properly stored it's a fun place to be.

Perhaps I'll even have some of the guys over for a proper poker game one of these days...