Progress

I worked in the yard a few hours both yesterday and today.

Afterwards, I took a little walk with the camera.

The photo above was taking while standing up on the deck

looking down on what will be our herb garden.

The prior owners had a second dog run here.

Unsurprisinging, weeds grow without any encouragement.

This is what it looked like after a bit of time this afternoon.

There's a climbing rose there on the corner. I've planted cooking herbs over on the left and some lavender over on the right. I'll fill in the rest within the next few days. I can't wait to watch as this bed grows!

Here's the view standing right next to the climbing rose on the

corner of the house looking over the back yard. Bob had just mowed...I love how fresh it looks.

This little shady spot is my favorite. On the back side of the

dog run under the deck, the prior owners had yet another

dog run. It's elevated and full of small rock.

I'm envisioning a fire pit and seating area.

In college, I made a bench that had a wooden planter on each side and the bench went from one to the other. I've always wanted to make one with three planters in the shape of an "L." Mmm....

Here's the row of lilac bushes.

See the damage that the climbing vine did to the one on

the right?

You can see the corner of the area where I want the

fire pit and seating. Wouldn't this be the perfect spot to

spend a 110 degree afternoon?

My clematis and chives.

I planted most of the garden today.

We discovered a bunch of buried bricks throughout that area...

it's made it an interesting job never knowing when you're going to hit one. See that little shed on the left? There's a bed that runs along the side of it...it's the last one to clean out. I've got plans for it!

(Shhh....it involves a bit of thievery)

This is the view looking up from my favorite shaded area (yep...firepit and seating area). I love how three kinds of trees mingle as they touch the gorgeous blue sky.

And, oh, they're in full bloom now.

Take a look...

Can't you just smell them?

~~

Happy weekend to all.

I'll be doing a bit of thieving, some digging, some

three-year-old-birthday-celebrating...

Hope your's is wonderful...

Teacher Emma

While Trevor spent yesterday afternoon with us,

Emma concentrated on teaching him how to climb stairs.

This two-stair landing in the living room is perfect

because it's pretty hard to get hurt!

"See, lit' chubby boy Trevy, this is how you do it."

Love that smile, complete with drool. :)

A little encouragement

"I can do it!!"

I love this one of the two of them...

Happy birthday card

I finally made some time to make a card.

Isn't she a cutie?!

~~

Stamp: Hero Arts from Archivers

All other supplies: Stampin' Up!

{snapshot}

Our Weekend

What a fabulous weekend we had!

It started out on Saturday morning with

a small baby shower for a dear friend.

I made her some burp clothes out of

the prettiest flannel print I've ever seen!

"Baby" banner with tissue paper pompom balls

These are so much fun!
Now that the shower is over, they'll hang
in Emma's room.

Diaper cake

My sister-in-law, April, made this beautiful cake for the shower.

It was large enough that Amy was able to take home

two squares...one to share with her family

and one to in the freezer for after the baby's born.

It was delicious!

The cook!

When I told Mom that I was planning a brunch shower, she

asked if she could cook. Oh, yeah!

She made two kinds of quich, apricot scones, basil

scones, strawberry and walnut bread, lemon poppyseed muffins and fruit salad. Yum!

This will be a very well dressed little girl!

Amy...just over a month to go!

Everyone, minus me.

Everyone, plus me.

After the shower, Bob watched the kids

while Mom and I did some shopping. We found a new

scrapbooking store that makes Archiver's seem small.

Then we spent the evening scrapbooking.

I love spending time with Mom!!

Max and Amanda cooked lunch for everyone on Sunday.

We're all wondering when they'll open

their own restaurant. It was delicious!

Their backyard is just about 20 feet from

one of the holes on the golf course.

The kids were sitting back and watching the

golfers while waiting for lunch to be ready.

Me and the munchkins on Mother's Day

Love these kids!!

lying in wait...

or just lying around.
Happy Friday to all.

Oh, please, Mom! Please!!

We had our carpets cleaned on Tuesday, and, therefore,

had to clear all of the furniture from the living room.

The kids had so much fun playing in there without

the furniture getting in the way.

They both thought that we should leave it like this.

Hmmmm....mealtime might get a little crowded.

Newly cleaned carpet
Newly arranged furniture
And look at all of that sunshine pouring in!
~
If you need a referral for a great carpet cleaner, let me know!

Oh, I wish...

...you could smell this!

They're not all the way open yet,

but they smell soooo good!

Ryan's Creations

Ryan loves to create with Legos.

This is what his homework desk looks like right now.

It's covered with his Lego Army.

Most of these are not from a kit but from his imagination.
I've never been able to take a pile of Legos

and create something without directions.

(and sometimes even with the directions, I'm totally lost!)

Less is Better

We did a bit more work in the backyard this weekend.

We rented a chainsaw and Dad went to work.

There's a large bed area that runs through the backyard. We've already cut out several small trees, but there were still three pines and this Box Elder...just a tad bit squished in between two

unhealthy-looking pines.

We decided to leave the healthy pine (not shown in this photo) and

cut out the two that were squishing the Box Elder tree.

This is what happens when all of the adults' backs are turned.

Sure wish she had some fear!

(Once we caught her, this didn't happen again)

Bye bye, trees.

Gave us a nice bit of fire wood, and some

work for the kids. 'Bout time they

learned how to pack and stack wood!

I love any chance to get the kids doing work they are

not used to. Ryan's highlight of the weekend

was discovering that he's old enough to mow the lawn.

Our highlight was the fact that he thought it was fun.

This sight brought back memories.

I grew up on the same apple farm where my dad grew up

(he and Mom still live there).

When we were kids, spring was spent with the adults

up the apple ladders pruning and us kids

down on the ground picking up brush.

This is much less crowded now.

I probably won't do much with this area this year, except

weed it. It'll be added to next year's to-do list.

Look at the size of that brush pile!

Each week it grows.

We've pulled out a lot of brush since we moved

here in January.

Now what to do with it?!

Newly pruned cherry and apple trees.
Remember the messy vine that was
pulling the cherry tree down?
All of the branches that were in that area were dead.
We're not sure how the fruit trees will do this year,
but maybe we'll get a bit out of them!
If nothing else, they are the perfect climbing trees!