Muddy Buddy

Joey and I have been talking about getting some kind of small play structure in our back yard for Owen.  But it seems like everytime we start talking about it again Owen will be content playing with the rocks or the dirt in the backyard for hours and we think--who needs a play structure?  This time it was the mud from the extra watering we are doing for our new lawn.  He LOVED the mud!  Boys will be boys...

 

Sod! Before and Afters...

Among a million other projects--we have been working on our yard since we moved here last year.  We have basically stripped down everything that existed in our back yard and have started over.  Last fall we brought in a bunch of dirt (I mean LOADS of dirt) and we also got a new sprinkler system installed.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited...  Until spring--when we could get sod put in.  Well what says spring like a 10 day forecast of 80 degree weather?  Today was the day!  

We actually had the sod delivered and installed.  Joey has been working so hard prepping for the sod to arrive (let alone 80 hour work weeks), and I'm no good for hauling and bending over anymore, so we treated ourselves and actually had someone else do it!  What a treat it was!  

Lots of before and afters...  Although *after* does not mean complete.  Joey's artistic mind and landscape skills will never quite shut off.  But for now, we are both SO happy with our *current after* product.  :)

I found these pictures from last April--almost exactly a year ago!  What a difference a year (and a lot of work) makes!

Today's *before* with the berms in and the soil prepped.  (The two beams in the back are the beginnings of a trellis for jasmine!)

GREEN!  (future project will be a patio along those curved lines of the grass...but give us a couple years.  :))

You aren't supposed to play on the grass for a couple weeks but while Joey was making sure the sprinklers covered everything Owen snuck a few races down the hills in the sprinklers.  He was soaked!  I guess I know what we will be doing this summer...

After we told Owen that he can't walk on the lawn and he threw his ball on the lawn, he decided to keep his feet in the dirt and crawl over to his ball  :)  We are LOVING all this green!

I'm so glad I have this picture!  This is a great before of our totally exposed-to-the-world backyard full of white lattice and about 20 oleander bushes trimmed to a hedge.  We took all that out, removed the oleanders, put up a fence, brought in dirt...

....and you get today's *before* with a much more private and spacious side yard.  (and also a dorky husband posing making fun of me for wanting all the pictures)

...and now with GRASS!

This picture of our side yard is from the pictures they were using to sell our house.  It doesn't NEARLY do justice to how awful it used to be, but it does give you an idea of how much extra space we got when we tore all that out and put in a fence...

...same side yard...LOTS of work later

I can't get enough of something green in our backyard again!  Future plans behind this grass include raised beds for a vegetable garden and then behind that under the far tree a "kids" area.  hmmm when is Joey's next vacation?  :)

  

Take The Time

Sometimes you've got to take the time to stop and smell the roses (or lilacs) and dance in the rain (or a puddle...without pants on).

31 Weeks!

59 days to go...

I told myself when the countdown broke 100 days it will probably start to feel more real that we are actually going to have another baby around.  But once I hit 99 days to go and didn't feel any different I thought--well, maybe once I break 60 days and there are less than two months to go it will feel more real.  Now I'm saying once the days get into the "teens" I think it will feel more real...  And then it will probably be once I'm home with that baby it will start to feel more real.  :) 

Although it is still hard to believe we will have two kids in about two months--I am FULLY aware that I am pregnant.  Sleepless nights of tossing and turning are training me for sleepless nights of feedings and diaper changes right?  So it is a good thing that I am already practicing this no sleeping thing...and have been for months?  Well I think at this point I've had enough practice.  I'd like to just rest up before the real thing gets here please.  :)  

I haven't lived up to my goal for an increase in pictures of my belly this pregnany.  I do have a 30 week belly shot I took last week--and that is when I realized why I don't have any--I think they are awkward!  I love looking at other people's pregnancy progress through pictures but apparently not my own.  But here is the picture anyway.  :)  Hopefully I'll get one more in the next couple of months to compare.  :)

30 Weeks!
I tried to wear the same thing and be in the same spot for a good comparison.  And besides--black is so slimming.  :)

21 Weeks

   

Easter!

On Sunday we headed down to Colusa for fun with the WHOLE family.  All my siblings and their kids.  This is a pretty rare occurrence so it was very fun to all be together.  We had a great time catching up and letting the kids play and hunt Easter eggs.  Church with seven kids four and under was a little crazy, but they kept each other entertained--and everyone else around us as well!  It was a fun day! 

Give him a sweater vest and some slicked back hair and my "baby" becomes a little man!  He was cracking me up in this Easter outfit!

Once I started laughing, he thought it was pretty funny too!

Stickers?!

Once he found the stickers it was all over...forget the basketball, forget the Easter basket, there is nothing better than stickers!

The cousins and Aunt Mandy!

Eric helping Em find her basket.  Watch out Em, I'd keep a close eye on your candy in there...he might be helping you for a reason!

Will has two baskets and is checking out a third.  This guy doesn't mess around at an Easter egg hunt! 

Anna!

Grace is the only one who heard the "one, two, three" apparently.  Owen's ears turned off as soon as he discovered what a Jelly Belly is, and Cal was too enthralled with Grandma to care about a camera...:)

Happy Cal!!

The Kessi's Come to Town

Last week we had a visit from the Kessi's!!  It was so fun to get to spend the afternoon with Mary, Will, Grace and Kate!  We wished they lived closer so we could make this a more regular thing--Owen loves hanging out with his cousins!  Now he wakes up with his nap and says "play now...kate...play now...wool, gace, katie...play now."    

Photogenic happy Kate stealing the show!

So happy we made it to the park!!

Grace!  Walked the whole way to the park--which was about a half mile walk! We were impressed!

The only thing better than sliding down the slide is hanging on the bar before it!

Will was giving out FREE ice cream (in the form of wood chips)! 

Monkey bar champion!!