Our yard: Before & After

Ever since we bought our house, we have had a love/hate relationship with our yard.  We love the size, the in-ground trampoline, the trees (some of them anyway), and the patios.  But it has been overgrown and overwhelming ever since we moved into the house almost 2 years ago.  Every time James mowed the lawn, he came in saying he wanted to pave the entire yard--he had to spend 10 minutes picking up rotten, worm-eaten apples before each mow, then had to duck under tree branches with the mower, and spend about an hour and a half mowing--and it still looked bad.  We tried to weed, clean up, trim, and tidy, but we were in way over our heads.  So, this spring we brought in the professionals.

This was our yard in March:

And this is our yard now:

Clean, tidy, and (our favorite) LOW MAINTENANCE!  The grass seed still needs to grow in a little more in some places, but we love it.  The before and after pictures are made a little more dramatic because nothing was blooming when they started the job and it was a cloudy, gloomy day when I took the pictures.  But, the change is definitely dramatic and we LOVE it.  I feel so happy when I look out my window, instead of feeling overwhelmed and depressed.  The boys are a little sad because there is no dirt to dig in anymore because the beds all have permabark (rock) in them, but I don't share their sadness because I hate cleaning up mud.  And they have plenty of fun loading their dump trucks with rocks.

I sometimes feel a little bit guilty that we didn't do the work ourselves, but then I think back to how long and hard the crew worked to do this and I quickly realize that we never could have done it.  So, then I just go back to feeling happy.

Aaron is One!

 

 

Aaron's Birthday Party

I had to get some pictures up for Grandma of Aaron's party.  He loved his cake, clearly.  And we love him! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben's 5th Birthday

Ben turned 5 on Friday.  I can't believe my little boy is five years old.  I kept bursting into tears throughout the day because I am so thankful for him and for the chance I have to be his mom.

Grandma & Grandpa G came on Thursday and were here with us through the whole weekend.  It was so great!  We always have so much fun when they come to visit.  James took Friday off of work and we played all day.  Then James ran a half-marathon on Saturday morning.  We braved the cold to cheer him on.  Then we rushed home to get ready for Ben's space-themed birthday party.  It was a fun, exhausting weekend.

I think Ben's top accomplishments during the year have been: 1) learning to ride a bike without training wheels; 2) getting really good at Legos; and 3) becoming a big brother again--he completely loves & adores Baby Aaron.

We started the day with the traditional "5" pancake breakfast.

Then presents.  Skis and a ski coat.  We also gave him an "art box" with lots of art supplies.  All of the grandparents delivered in the Lego department.

Fun with Grandpa.

Then we went to Bodies in Motion, a huge indoor playground.  It was so fun.

 

How many kids have a grandma who will do this?

Or this?

Then to dinner for carne asada tacos (Ben's choice) with Grandma & Grandpa V.

Then I stayed up late creating this (it's a space shuttle, in case it isn't clear).

It was a long walk from the car to the starting line of James's race.  After he walked for a while, Ben said, "Grandpa, I'm tired of fighting gravity."  So, Grandpa took pity on him and carried him the rest of the way.

After the race.  We were so proud of James.

Then the birthday party that afternoon.  Ben loved celebrating with his friends!

Happy Birthday, Ben!  Your first five years have been a great adventure!

Halloween 2011

Halloween was super fun this year. My sister Ginger made the kids' costumes and they were incredible. It's even more incredible that she made costumes for 10 other family members this year.





Our T Rex and Triceratops







And our Baby Pteranodon



We carved pumpkins a few days before Halloween and the kids got really into it.  Ben designed his own jack-o-lantern and did most of the carving himself.  We limited Sam to painting his pumpkin, but he was mostly thrilled with that.  Much to our dismay, a couple of nights before Halloween, our pumpkins got smashed.  Many tears, exclamations about "stupid teenagers," and conversations about forgiveness followed.   



My question is: How could someone look at these jack-o-lanterns and then still smash them?  Were they trying to break the hearts of little children?

Ben and I carved another pumpkin on Halloween.  That healed our wounds a little bit.

The kids loved trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. 

 

And I was pretty much in love with everything about Aaron in his costume.