Dear Alexa,

I was visiting Gram the other day and was thinking about how much you've wanted to see her new addition. It is beautiful, you know. And the light comes in so nicely at just that part of the house--it has a very pleasant luminance.

The rest of Gram's house looks very much the same. Here, I have a picture:

You see the carpet and chair and couch? Yeah, that's all the same. 

Aren't the kids cute in this picture! Madie loves that Big Sis shirt Mum bought her--she even instructed me not to dry it so the lettering would last longer.

Anyway, our own house is a work in progress. Mike and I just installed a new light fixture into our hideous ceiling fan. It's the first step in our attempt to create it. Tomorrow we will take down the blades, clean them and paint them a pewter color to cover the faded green and yellow daisies that currently "adorn" it. I can't wait.

Speaking of adorning, let's have another picture shall we? How adorable is my little boy adorning this Michael Watkins original? They're becoming rarer and rarer these days--he's growing so fast.

Well Lex, I love you. We all miss you. I hope your semester goes well and I look forward to seeing you this summer even if it might be a brief visit. Lots of love, your favorite, but I won't tell kid sister, 

Mallory

P.S. Madie makes a beautiful model.

Gram wanted wicker but couldn't find anything she liked for the price she wanted, so she bought a couch, which I'm sure you'll learn either by experience or by her telling you is actually made for long-legged folks but when she tried the couch she didn't notice. We should call her long-gammed Gram!

Her favorite piece is the leather recliner--she has a table coming to accompany it so she doesn't have to place her books on the floor. I love that she bought some great floral furniture and then covered them with the dust covers. Gotta keep things neat and tidy!

She's got a lot of plants out there and she even has citronella plants outside the door--two of them. I didn't know it came from a plant! I'll have to get a few! She says when they're bigger they're keep away anything in a 10-foot radius. At least that's what they told her.

A couple of flaws though: that amaryllis on the sill by the lamp is dead. And the door doesn't work. Haha! I get a kick out of that! But Seth's going up to take a look at it sometime soon.