Old Yard, New Yard

Dave has spent countless hours out in our backyard, and it is finally almost finished! Here are the before/during/after pictures...

BEFORE:

As you can see, there is a slope to the right. I have slid down that thing more times than I can count!

We took off the railing of our deck, because that was where the retaining wall was going to be.

This picture was taken from the top of our hill. Kora's sitting in the high chair talking to Dave - haha!

DURING:

Here, the wall has been put up, but as you can see, the caps need to be stuck on with mortar.

Dave's friends came and helped him cut the caps and mortar them on. It was a HOT day, but they were troopers.

The steps still need poured in this picture, but the dirt is pretty level, thanks to Dave's endless raking. And raking. And raking.

Next came the sod. It went down quickly, and the weather was perfect.

Steps look okay. It's nice to have them, that's for sure!

Those fence poles have since been cut down to a nice size. Dumb neighbors made that fence, then left the poles sticking up in the air like that! How tacky!

AFTER:

The view from the back fence

We are looking forward to planting shrubs and flowers along the fences!

The view from my bedroom door.

We are planning on having a "HOORAY, OUR YARD IS DONE" party soon. I can't wait for everyone to see it!

Long Time, No Blog!

Oh my goodness, people...it occurred to me today that I have been a terrible blogger! There have been so many fun things I could have blogged about, but I have been doing other things. These things include trying to beat some of you at Bejeweled Blitz and Farkle on Facebook - haha! No, but seriously though, we have been keeping ourselves pretty busy around here!

Hmmmm....so where do I start? I think I will just have to do one blog a day until I'm caught up, otherwise this would be a terribly long post! And even though it was almost a month ago, I really have to start with Hunter's last day of school.

He had a very wonderful teacher this year, Mrs. Aguilar. She was kind and patient and Hunter really loved her. I would have loved to go in and help a lot more, like I did when he was in Kindergarten, but since I had Kora it was kind of hard! He had a super year, got Student-of-the-Month for January, his report card was outstanding, and we are just soooo proud of him!

Coop always has to get in on Hunter's big moments - haha!

Hunter, Isaac, Alonzo

Congratulations, Hunter - you are a 2nd grader!

A Surprise Visit...

Last week Coop and I were in my room folding laundry, when we heard a strange noise outside on the deck. I peeked out and saw a mama duck quacking loudly at her TEN baby ducklings! I quickly grabbed my camera and picked Coop up (since he had no shoes). Our yard is in the process of getting totally redone, and it was pretty filthy out there, but we still had fun following them around the side of the house and watching them cross the street to the canal. Coop could NOT stop giggling. :) Heck, I couldn't either, for that matter!


Here's the mama with two of her babies...the others are down on the deck


Oh gosh, I wish I would have cropped those dandelions out of there - haha!



Hunter was so upset when we told him about it after school. He keeps going out there everyday and running in excitedly saying, "Mom! I think the ducklings came back because I just went outside and I saw some baby duck footprints!" LOLOL!

When the yard is done, I'll do a before/after post...it's going to be incredible! We can't wait 'til it's done!

Field Trip Fun!

Last Wednesday, Hunter's class went on a field trip to the Children's Museum and Howard Amon Park in Richland. I offered to chaperone, but got to thinking that Cooper would probably like to go too, so he and I just drove up and joined in on the fun. It was a super day!

Katy, Cole, Joey, Eli and Faith met us there for lunch, too! Gracie was at school, but we missed her. :) Hunter and Cooper were so happy to see those guys, that they just played and played the whole time, and Hunter hardly even played with anyone from his class! The weather was absolutely perfect - not too hot, not too cold. All in all, it was a really great day, and we were so pleased to be able to spend time with our good friends, The Isley's! We can't wait 'til school's out so we can do all kinds of fun stuff with them whenever we want!

Hunter on the zip-line - so fun!


Coley, Coop, JoJo and Hunter - best pals!

Mother's Day Moments...

Okay, this may come as quite a shock to some of you, but to most of you who know me - you will laugh in agreement that this statement I am making about myself is true: I love days that celebrate...me. Namely, Mother's Day and my birthday - which this year just happen to be two days apart. Tomorrow we will celebrate my 31st birthday, but this post is about the wonderful Mother's Day I spent with my beloved family yesterday. It was one of the best, funnest days EVER!

First, I just have to brag about what my hubby did for me on Saturday. I spent all day at church having a fabulous ladies' retreat day with a bunch of really fun women. And boy, did he and the boys have some surprises for me when I got home that night - a beautiful new ceiling fan installed in the living room and a huge new patio umbrella on the deck! (Our old one had gotten broken last week during a wind storm). I'm tellin' ya...Dave out-does himself EVERY YEAR!!

Then on Sunday morning, I got some really sweet homemade cards from the boys and a Target gift card! I am so spoiled, it's not even funny. :)

Sunday morning, we took Dave's mom and family out to breakfast. We had a really fun time together and ate some really yummy food. Even the boys ate a little, which was a plus because I didn't have to yell at them on Mother's Day...or at least not at that moment, haha! We got to see them all again that night, when we went over to their house for ribs and baked potatoes! Everyone was laughing at me when I told them I'd never eaten ribs before. Seriously! And they were sooooooo good! I made such a mess! :)

Between breakfast and dinner, we went to church, and were uplifted and encouraged by Pastor Paul's great sermon on moms. Then we enjoyed a barbeque with my parents and a whole bunch of family and friends. The day just couldn't have been any better - well it could have if Ash could have been there! (Plus, mom made me a birthday cake, and we all know how excited that made me - LOLOLOL!) Oh, and Cooper gave me a mother's day head-butt and split my lip open when I was chewing him out for throwing a fit...now that is one Mother's Day moment I'll never forget!

I adore these women - my Aunt Marci, my Mama, and my Nana.

It has lately become impossible to take a nice family picture...someone either has their eyes closed or is picking their nose!

I sincerely hope all of you who are moms had a wonderful day full of blessings and laughter!

Mariners and Funland...You Can't Get Much Better Than That!

"Am I gonna get an Ichiro Bobblehead, mama?" Imagine that being asked about a million times, and try to guess which one of my children was asking this the entire way to Seattle. Yup, it was my sweet Cooper - he is Ichiro's biggest fan, didn't you know? Haha!

We really enjoyed ourselves last Friday and Saturday, and the boys were very well-behaved the whole time, which was wonderful. The weather couldn't have been any nicer, and we all came home feeling happy and joyful. (Except for poor Hunter, who was enduring some pretty nasty coughing and an earache).

The game was one of the best the M's have played this season. It didn't start out very good, but they had a big inning in the 5th, and ended up winning! We had great seats and pleasant fans around us - no one with stinky garlic fries and no one drinking too much alcohol. Coop even managed to get some peanuts from the guy behind us and some cotton candy from the lady to the left of us. He just said, "Hey, I want some of that!", and they just handed it over...the kid is too stinkin' cute, that's the problem. Haha!

We spent the night with our friends, Lee & Pam, and then went over to Funland and had the best time. Go Karts, Bumper Boats, mini golf and lots of arcade games. We were there for about 3 hours and were going, going, going the whole time. Everyone was ready to come home, though, because when the tokens finally ran out we didn't even hear any complaints, which doesn't happen very often. :) We'll definitely be going back there...in the summer when we can actually shoot water at people while we're in the Bumper Boats!

Hunter was excited until he realized he couldn't drive his own car, then his smile turned into a frown...

Handsome Coop and Handsome Daddy...

We tried to go fast, but I had it floored and it wasn't fast enough...we were passed by several teenagers, much to Hunter's embarrassment!

Hooray! Finally something Hunter could do without an adult!

Our Easter Celebration

Well, Easter Sunday could not have been any better. I am especially thankful for the awesome music and message during our church service! I am getting goosebumps just thinking about it! Knowing Jesus was beaten and put on the cross for ME...now that is pretty humbling. Saying I'm thankful doesn't even begin to express my gratitude. And just imagining the stone being rolled away to reveal an empty tomb?! How amazing and wonderfully exciting! So thank you, Dana, and Pastor Paul for a really encouraging and uplifting service. My entire family appreciated it. :)

Sunday morning brought both excitement and chaos to our house. Hunter was up especially early, and ran out to the living room to see what had been put in his basket. He kept running into our room and telling us what he got. Dave and I were half asleep, and informed Hunter he'd better not wake Cooper up...it's not every day that Coop sleeps past 7:00 AM! When Coop finally did wake up around 8:00 and asked if it was "Easter Bunny Day" for the billionth day in a row, and we said "yes", he ran out to find...his basket had totally been emptied by his big brother! Hunter had not only looted through his own basket, but taken everything out of Coop's basket, too! He got a little talking-to, and then proceeded to look like this the rest of the morning. You'll notice his lack of enthusiasm...

At least someone's happy!

As usual, we forgot to have someone take a picture of all of us, so we just have these. Remember to click on the collages and they'll get a lot bigger.



BBQ lunch and easter egg hunting in Uncle Dan and Aunt Angie's awesome yard!

Cloudy skies could not stop these kids! Jenae, Jace, Hunter and Coop made a haul! Poor Trey slept through the whole thing....he was one tired little guy! After that we went over to visit with Dave's family for a bit. The kids played the Wii and ate more candy. :)

We are so blessed to have families who love and care for us. We look forward to big holidays like this because we know we'll see family and have good food and a lot of laughs. What a great reason to celebrate - Resurrection Sunday! Thank you, Jesus...for loving us the way you do...