Yard Work

I can honestly say that the word "work" is quite an understatement. Oh my goodness. The amount of work our lawn needed/s is something for which there are no words. John and I picked out an entire trash barrel of weeds and another barrel of dead grass that John raked up. And that was just the front lawn! The back will need to have the dead sod/weeds cut out and new sod laid. Anyway...after the weeds were pulled John put seed down. We have been hoping that it wasn't too hot out for it to grow, and sure enough, a week later we saw some sprouts. It was a good day!




Just a sample of the incredible size of these weeds. They were more like small, unwanted bushes. Our hands hurt for days afterward from pulling them.

Wordless Wednesday

Mission: Accomplished! Although the 2nd coat was NOT happening!

Cherries

My son found a new hobby - cherry picking! We left this morning for our first cherry picking excursion and had a blast. I packed Abby in the umbrella stroller and gave instructions to William not to run away from me. "I'm a big kid, Mamma. I won't run away." Alrighty then.

We got our red bucket and a nice guy showed us the way. William thought it was so neat to see all the cherries on the trees. His friends across the street have gone picking several times but he had yet to go, so he talked lots of cherry picking but had no real idea what it was all about.



While we picked Abby happily sat under a tree and watched us. That is until she realized that her milk was packed in behind her. Then all she wanted to do was stand up in the stroller to try to get it. I eventually fed her while William picked some more. He was on a serious roll.

In a little over an hour of picking together we managed to pick 11 pounds of cherries! I was shocked. Not sure if I was more shocked at the price I had to pay for all of them or if it was the fact that we picked 11 pounds of them. Probably a little of both.

Before we left William had to have his picture next to the "monster truck".

On the way home he asked if we could go back and get some more. I told him we'll be eating these cherries a long, long time.

Wordless...Thursday?

I'm really burned out now and have very little to say. Weird, huh? I mean the part about having little to say. So not like me. Anyway, I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures to distract you, dear readers, from the lack of words.


That's me and my Mom in front of our new home. The grass looks good from this distance. Don't let the picture fool you.


The finished living room...almost. The huge, black clock was supposed to debut above the couch, but we have decided not to put it there, since it would be too much of a temptation for William. We plan on putting our large mirror there instead, with candelabras on either side.

Or not. Who knows.



Me standing on our already much-used patio. Man, I love that slab of concrete!


And what's a post without a picture of one of my little blessings?

She's Mine

John came across this photo tonight and we were both amazed...as she gets older she looks more and more like ME! Everyone says she looks like John, but they are mistaken!

Here's my 1 year photo...
Here's Abby at 11 months. My Mom pointed out that Abby even crinkles her nose like I used to!

Girly Girl

I had just given Abby a bath and I had my back to her so I could get William out of the bath as well. This is what I found. I only managed to get two piggies painted, but if you know my girl that is a *feet* in itself! (Oh, how I crack myself up sometimes!)

Painting

Shortly after moving all our things in our new house we went straight to work painting the place. The walls were incredibly dirty and just screaming for some color. So...I went with Ripe Apricot for the living room. When I saw the color going up I starting getting a little itchy and my neck started to jerk a little, but now that it is finished I love it!


I know, having a finished picture of the wall would be nice, but seriously, I can't do everything. Mom bought me some new throw pillows for the couch so the whole room looks quite nice. The other walls have Cappuccino White on them. The name sounded delicious so I went with it.

1st Tooth

I'm a few days late in posting this exciting news, but better late than never: My baby cut her 1st tooth (bottom left)! People always think she's younger than she really is because she looks so babyish with no teeth. To be honest, I'm okay with that. I don't want her growing up. Ever. Sniff. Sniff. But since all good things must end, she cut a tooth a few days ago and although she doesn't exactly look old, she is quickly becoming a little girl (as opposed to a baby). The bottom right one desperately wants to come through as well, but apparently it's on it's own timetable because it hasn't made it's appearance yet.

Here she is using her toes to help cut that tooth through! Thank goodness I hadn't polished them yet. I can't stand the sucked off toenail polish look.

No, she isn't wearing a feathered headdress. Her Momma just staged this picture a little awkwardly.


She loves the grass. It was just a bright, sunny day. Or maybe there was a spider on her dress. Who knows.

Moving

Moving Day. For some it might be fun. Not for me. It was so stressful. Our move into our town house went blissfully, so I assumed that this move would proceed similarly. I hesitate to say things went "wrong", since technically everything turned out fine, but I was a huge stress mess the entire time. The movers told me they "move the Beverly Hills ladies all the time"...I came to determine that "all the time" is quite relative. I bet this was their first move. They showed up in a circus-type truck (I half expected caged animals to be staring at me when they hoisted the canvas up) with tread-less wheels. They insisted on loading the boxes first, instead of the furniture, and when it came time to load the furniture they were baffled as to why I wanted it all covered. Anyway, I couldn't take much of it, so Mom, the kids, and I left and went to the new house to start cleaning and lining shelves. We each drove a vehicle packed to the brim with boxes so there was plenty to do while the guys packed the truck.

We worked our tails off! For lunch my wonderful friend across the street provided food and drinks for everyone. (Our friends across the street are the main reason we moved into this particular house. They've got 4! kids practically the same age as ours.)

The following Monday John, my Dad, and I went back to the old house to finish getting it ready to be rented. We were under a major time crunch, since it was scheduled to be rented immediately. I'm still shocked how utterly dirty it was. Granted there was a ton of people helping us move and all, but still.

I know this is gross, but I'm sure some of you felt like you were missing out by not being able to help us move. These pictures are for you.


We had been fighting a slow leak from the master bedroom for at least a year or so, and my Dad, being the all-purpose Dad that he is, figured out the problem.

There just aren't words to describe this massive hairball. Crazy thing was, the "plumbers" who came to fix this before left the old pipe in the new pipe. I'll let this picture sink in for a second. If anyone is interested, I do have video coverage of John dissecting this beast.

Alrighty. Moving on.

My Dad and John were able to fix several other drippy faucets (which just decided to start leaking the day of the move, go figure!) and also painted most of the house. We all pitched in and cleaned as well. I've personally never cleaned so much in my life. I should start a business because I've got it down!

Dad and I went back again to the old house for a second day for more cleaning, and my Dad even painted the garage. (Thanks Dad!)

While we did all the clean-up and painting at the old house Mom/Oma watched the kids and cleaned and washed walls and lined shelves and mopped and...on and on. I'm not sure how she did it with two littles hanging on her, but she did. (Thanks Mom!)

Once the old house was finished, we focused our attention on the new house. I don't have any pictures right now, so I'll post on that later.

Anyway, I'm so grateful that my folks were able to come out and help us with SO much. It was fun having Mom and Dad here to help us set up our new home. We made so many memories.

Wanna Play?

I can't believe how much work moving is. All the boxes, newspaper, bubble wrap...the list goes on and on. The day before we were scheduled to move the doorbell rang. I opened it and there it was. Another humongous box. I was less than thrilled. I seriously wasn't at all excited about what was in it but immediately wondered how in the world it would fit in the moving truck. ("Fit in the moving truck" only is funny if you saw the moving truck in person...more on that later.) Anyway, I opened it and found, much to my delight, three Infantino toys that I was asked to test drive. Oh my goodness. Child happiness and delight in a box. Abby loved the Twist & Fold Activity Gym.



Both kids thought the Jumbo Wheel Play Space was pretty cool. One of the toys on the wheel plays music, so William kept that going nicely while Abby admired herself in the mirror.
I'm not sure how much use Abby will get out of these toys since she's already 10.5 months. I think they'd be perfect for a younger baby. I'll for sure be using them for #3! *wink *wink

I'll let you all know about the third baby item later. (You have to have a reason to come back, you know!)

I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products for my participation.

Whew...

I know, I know...it must seem like I've fallen off the grid with the lack of posting. Actually, however, I haven't fallen off the grid I've just moved a little on the grid. Yup. We are finally moved into our new home and it feels great! The space I have now, oh, the space. There just aren't words to describe how much I love having more of it. We moved from a two bedroom townhome to a four bedroom house with a yard. Wow. Again, there aren't words to describe how much I am loving this yard. It needs a bit (okay, a lot!) of TLC, but in time it's going to be great! I wish I could post some pictures, since I have a ton of them, but things aren't quite setup in the IT department. Don't look at me, though. That's John's thing. I don't even go there. I'll post more later on the move, unpacking, painting, etc., but for now...this will have to suffice.