Progress on the Yard

So we have lived in our house for 10 years and have never quite known what to do with a lot of our 1.2 acres. So we started clearing our "middle" area that our driveway loops around. I must admit it is partially so I can see Zach riding his bike riding around our loop from the kitchen.

After some clearing by Ryan, myself and finally Uncle Travis, we called upon the rental store for a tractor. Ryan worked the tractor while Uncle Travis chipped up piles upon piles of debris from our yard - I managed to keep a bit of an eye on the kids until Sam stopped in to help for a bit and I was able to get out and do some clearing of scotch broom. It was incredibly productive and really nice to see results - there is definitely something to be said for instant gratification.

And as a bonus, Ryan was able to clear (and use) some dirt from the side of our garage and was able to get in to our "forest" to make a few paths in what was 6-8' high brush and native plants.

Before


After


We are excited about the progress, but not nearly as excited as Zach was about riding on the tractor with dad. It was priceless.

Before the day began:


At the end of the day - the grin is even bigger:

The Tides are Changing

I GOT BACK SOME OF MY PHOTOS! I've been so traumatized, I haven't been able to blog. Many hours later, many attempts at undeleting. www.recuva.com - it was amazing.

The Little Things

I know showering alone shouldn't be considered a luxury, but in my house it is. There are very few days when I am in there alone. Today, I was that lucky. Of course I had to wait till both kids were at school, but nonetheless, it was sheer bliss. My shower is 3 feet long and 3 feet wide. You put a large 3 year old, a mom, and a mobile 14 month old and there isn't a lot of room left - for anyone. The best is when both kids are sitting down, so there is even less room. Of course, they do love the shower, it keeps them out of trouble and gets them clean. I probably have the cleanest kids in town because there are many days they will shower with me in the morning and have their evening bath before bed. They love getting out the shaving cream (Zach's own of course) - it's a royal mess in there.

Imagine a picture here of Zach and Natalie playing in the shower with shaving cream.

(I wrote this Tuesday and then started to look for my last photo I took of the kids in the shower and then realized it somehow was deleted off my external hard drive which i had backed up from Ryan's old desktop... i am still looking to find lost files - it's about 6 months of pictures of the kids - UGH!)