Imagine a dry and dusty desert and you pretty much hit on what our yard used to look like (especially after Roundup was sprayed on the little existing grass we had and wiped it out!).
Parched! Makes you want to ask for a drink of water...
There is nothing pretty about dead grass...
Then the glorious day arrived when the landscaper, Luis, arrived with his crew. They worked HARD on two different days installing sprinklers, drains, and BEAUTIFUL GREEN GRASS! They also put mulch on our slope and planted ground cover plants that will help with erosion and beautify the upper area of our yard.
What a difference!
Unfortunately it takes a few weeks for the sod to "stick" so the kids haven't been able to play out there yet, but I am looking forward to spending a lot of time in the yard with our three high-energy children. Or more realistically, I will be sending them outdoors when they are driving me crazy in the house!
There raised flower beds will be my next big project. I am looking forward to planting some California natives and other drought resistant perennials. The smaller planter at the end will be my herb garden.
Not sure why I felt the need to blog about this, but it was fun looking up the pictures of the kids!
A friend gave us our first Dura Bib when Toby was a toddler and I remember saying to Tim, "This bib changed my life!" It used to feel like most of Toby's meal ended up on his lap or on the floor. Clean up was messy. We also went through a lot of bibs, which made for a lot of laundry.
This bib is wonderful in that it catches the majority of food that misses baby's mouth, and it is so easy to clean you can go quite a while before it really needs to be thrown in the wash. The pocket unsnaps and the bib lies flat when it is time to wipe it down.
From Amazon.com
Below are some pictures of the babes wearing their bibs:
Toby's had balloons on it. Made it feels like every meal was a party!
Ran across this picture and I just had to post it. Toby falling asleep during his lunch...
This is Asher at his first birthday. His bib had footprints on it and said, "I'm Your Tootsie Wootsie!"
And Cora's had sea turtles on it. Even girls can be messy sometimes. :)
Tim and I have found that the novelty of watching a little one learn and grow doesn't wear out! We are starting to see Cora's personality come out more and more every day. It is so fun getting to know the little person who is our child and it is especially neat seeing Toby and Asher enjoy Cora and the things she says and does. We really can't believe she is ONE already!
A little bit about our girl:
Age: 1 Eyes: blue (like Daddy's) Hair: brown (because Mommy special ordered to have a red-head, a blond, and a brunette) Teeth: 4 Favorite books: Goodnight Gorilla and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She is actually very choosy when it comes to books! She makes it very clear when she doesn't want to be read a certain one by turning her body completely away while making an unhappy sound. If she does like your choice of book, though, she happily sits back in your lap. Can you say PARTICULAR? Favorite food: Right now she is eating pretty much anything I put in front of her. Definitely growing! She loves finger foods. Words: She is saying dada, uh-oh, ball, all done, right there, where go?, woof-woof, hoo-hoo (as in owl), quack-quack, and other words...but not mama. (I'm trying not to feel bitter...)
This pink car was one of her birthday presents. Now she has her own set of wheels to cruise around in while her big brothers ride their bikes and scooters around our street!
We had a fun little celebration for her with family and close neighbors. She and that cupcake are pretty SWEET!
Toby turned SEVEN (what? how?!), so we celebrated with an army themed party at our home. Now that we have a backyard, we thought a bounce house would be a fun way to keep the kids entertained. Boy did we get our money's worth! Toby and Asher were in the bounce house before, during, and after the party until it started to get too dark. They were two tired little soldiers the next day.
Where do they get all the energy? I tried it out for a few minutes and it is a workout!
The bounce house had a hoop in it, hence the balls Asher is carrying.
I LOVE this picture! Toby looks so happy and the kids were cute with their helmets on.
Army men decorated the cupcakes. I put a navy ship on the cake and Tim told me I was mixing up branches. Um...I don't think Toby cared. :)
Pinata time! We thought this tank pinata was pretty cool.
Since Halloween had just passed I filled it mostly with fruit roll-ups and fruit snacks, instead of candy. No one complained!
Who invited these yahoos? Just kidding! Wouldn't be a party without Deb and Andy!
Cora made the rounds at the party! These little green pants are the closest she had to camouflage!
Cora, my baby, is six months old, is getting close to sitting up on her own, and has started eating solid foods. For her "half birthday", on September 18th, she had her first taste of mashed bananas. She loved it more than her mommy loves cake! Cora continues to be super sweet, happy, and easy on me. (None of this crying for no apparent reason stuff.) Every month I have taken a picture of her in the brown tweed chair in her room and I thought I would share them with you.
Asher will be attending school two days a week at a great little preschool program that is part of Toby's school called Fun for Fours. Already on the school campus, he will be comfortable and familiar with the environment when he goes to Kindergarten next year.
Asher was really looking forward to the start of school! When I've picked him he shows all the signs of a kid who had a really good time. Yesterday he made a school bus out of graham crackers, yellow frosting, and tiny oreo cookies for the wheels. Who wouldn't love that? He talked about it the rest of the day! Besides the occasional sweet snack, it seems like a fantastic preschool program and it makes this mommy happy that Asher is enjoying it so much.
Toby is a boy who loves to learn, loves to be busy, loves to be around other people and who thrives in a structured school environment...so it is needless to say that I was looking forward to school starting back up for him!! He was very confident on the first day and already knew many of the kids from Kinder last year.
We are excited about his teacher, whom we had heard many positive things about from other teachers and parents. She is the mom of a 5th grader with red hair, so she told Toby she is partial to red heads. That made us all smile.
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