The time when Shannon came and I probably broke child labor laws.

Leedle seester Shannon visited two weeks ago. It was abfab and I didn't want her to leave. Neither did Ava. Having Shannon here is like me being cloned (with a few more alleles of sass, giggles, and independence thrown in) and having 194,023 more fits of laughter daily. She is happy-making.

But as the title of this post suggests, she certainly earned her keep for the duration of her stay (not that she needed to). She helped me rip up 3/4 of the carpet on the stairs and in the living and dining room, she did the dishes so many times (and we don't have a dishwasher), she dug up several shrubs and a small pine tree with me (and subsequently unloaded all of the "yard waste" into an undisclosed garbage bin), she made dinner a couple times, she played with my baby a lot, and she entertained my husband. AND SHE'S ONLY 16!!! I wish I had been that selfless at 16....

Nerds watching Star Wars together.

 

Ava "helping" with the landscaping:

 

Anyhoo, here are the wood floors underneath all the carpet. I have no idea what happened in the living room so don't ask.

After lots of research, I think we have decided to refinish the wood floors ourselves. They're not going to need a stain (the wood is beautiful) and it will save us $2,000-3,000.

All that work made us a little crazy.....er.