May Days

I don't know what happened to the month of May. It went by way too fast. I intended to do another post shortly after I did the last one and it has taken me a few weeks to find the time. We've been busy! Josh loves being a big brother. He really likes to hold his brother and make him laugh.

I had a lot of help getting the garden planted. A little too much help in fact. We may have some interesting things pop up in the middle of the yard in the grass since Josh kept spilling the seeds.

Connor and Sydney gave us their moral support while we planted. Connor wasn't quite sure what to think of the grass and didn't much appreciate it when Sydney licked him. It is really nice that it is finally warm enough to take Connor outside!

I can't believe our baby is already 8 months old. He's still pretty little for his age, but he's such a good baby!

The little mischief maker in action with a chair stuck on his bum. He is all over the house. One day I went downstairs for a few minutes and started to panic when I came back and couldn't find him after checking a few different rooms. He was in his bedroom half way in his closet. He gets into EVERYTHING!!!

Who needs to play with the tupperware and measuring cups inside the cupboard when you can chew on the door instead! His favorite thing to chew on seems to be his big brother's flip flops. We've found that unless we're wearing them, all shoes have to be inside closets at all times!

A wiped out little kid after a day of causing trouble! A few weeks ago we finally got him eating baby food and cereal!!! I gave up trying to feed him cereal and baby food when he got sick. I gave him a week to get feeling better and then one day I was trying to feed him some peas. He kept grabbing at the spoon and I got tired of it, so I got another spoon so that he could hold one. Then he started eating baby food and cereal as if he'd been doing it for quite a while. It was like a light bulb suddenly turned on in his little head and after two months of fighting him, he finally decided that he was in fact ready to start eating baby food. Maybe holding the spoon made him feel he was in control and it was his idea, I'm not sure, but I'm very relieved that he's finally eating! It seemed like his appetite immediately doubled, like he finally figured out what it was like to feel full!

The little guy was supposed to be taking a nap, but instead was having a great time playing thanks to his big brother sneaking into his room and slipping him toys between the bars of his crib. Already the two of them are starting to gang up on me!

He seems to like sleeping upside down or sideways in his crib, because he doesn't seem to stay where I put him for very long!

Our independent four year old likes to do everything himself, so most mornings he picks out his own clothes. Sometimes he does just fine and remembers what bottoms go with what tops, but other days he has to change before we can leave the house. Lately he's really been into this orange fly fishing vest. When cousin Jordan comes to play they love wearing these wigs I got at a Jazz game we went to.

The Viking hat over the blue wig really accentuates the clashing green top and bottoms. The fly fishing vest and Winnie the Pooh back pack make the whole outfit complete!

Josh loves his new tent and sleeping bag. He's spent a few nights sleeping inside the tent in his room accompanied of course by Tigger and Eeyore sleeping in their corresponding tent and sleeping bag.

Josh stopped taking naps a while ago, but once in a while if he stops long enough to hold still, this is what happens!

Mother's Day Project

Who would have thought I'd be this excited to look in my backyard and see a bunch of dirt! Ever since we bought our house three years ago, I have wanted to plant a garden. With Gary's deployment, crazy work and school schedule, and me being pregnant last summer we've never been able to clear the spot for the garden. Finally, this weekend we were able to get it ready for planting and it was a great Mother's Day present.

We still need to put in the dividers we got from my next door neighbor, and we'll have to put up the chicken wire to keep the dog out, and we still need to actually plant something, but we've made a lot of progress and I am very excited about it!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the area before we ever did anything to it, though I do have it on video. The previous owners put down gravel, then had some larger red rocks on top of the gravel, and then put some boulders to make a border on top of that. This picture was taken after the boulders and red rock were hauled away while Gary was deployed. The picture below is all the red rock we hauled away. The previous owners went to a lot of work to haul in all that rock because it sure was a lot of work to get rid of it all. This was taken a year ago when the lilacs were torn out and the wood fence was taken down so we could get the vinyl fence put in.

For our garden project, Gary rented a sod cutter to cut out the grass so we could remove it.

Then we brought in one truck load of top soil. Josh got out his little shovel to help Gary unload it and Sydney was content to lay down on the dirt in the back of the truck and watch.

As we moved the sod, Josh collected worms and presented them to me. Just what I'd always wanted!

Grandpa Glen convinced Josh to plant the worms in the garden.

This is the area the previous owners used for a garden. It was pretty small and between the fences and shed, really didn't get much sun light so we filled it in with the sod. There was a spot on the other side of the shed that was just dirt and also a spot over by the new garden that we filled in with the grass we cut out.

This is Gary tilling after we unloaded two truck loads of top soil and one truck load of compost. It has been a lot of work to transform our back yard over the past few years and I very much appreciate all who have helped! Thank you, thank you, thank you Gary, Dad, Melissa, and Manookin family. We could not have gotten the garden in and made all the improvements to our yard without everyone's hard work and willingness to let us borrow trucks and tools to do it. I feel so blessed to have such a great family and neighbors who are always so willing to help out and I am so grateful.

Also on Saturday I got a new kitchen table! It really feels like Christmas at my house! We ordered the table two months ago from RC Willey and they finally delivered it. There's a story behind it that I won't get into right now, but basically I will NEVER buy anything from RC Willey again. I'm very excited to have a new kitchen table. It was a great Mother's Day weekend!