Mulch Day

The yard is finally looking finished and I feel like the mulch is just another finishing touch. They delivered the mulch on Tuesday afternoon. Monday night we had rented a skid steer to dig holes for our landscape/retaining wall. Unfortunately the hydrolic hose on the skid steer broke and we were unable to use the auger to dig holes. They sent someone on Tuesday to fix the hoses and while we waited for them to fix it we were able to use the skid steer to spread the mulch which was a huge help.

Matt spread the mulch around while the girls and I raked it out to the right depth. I was wishing about half way thru that we had just paid to have it spread...lol maybe next time

Now all we have left is the west side. Since the landscape wall idea didn't work(even once they fixed the auger the ground was to hard to dig the holes) we are now back to square one and will be doing a rock wall so the ground doesn't have to be level and we don't have to be digging holes anywhere. I'm thrilled and relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel and be able to actually live life without constant projects.

A Little Work but mostly Play

Occasionally we have to get the house in order in between getting yard stuff done and playing. The girls have become pretty great at doing the laundry. I think its pretty impressive that they can do laundry almost by themselves.

 While cleaning out the girls drawers I found that Hallie's nightstand was full of "jewel" rocks. We got a pretty good laugh out of this

The girls are such great helpers. Once I give them a job they are pretty good at just getting it done without much complaining...most of the time. Im so grateful for them and the little girls they are becoming. Each one fills a special place in our lives.

Finally Getting The Boat Out

Saturday morning after our equipment fell thru to work on the landscape wall we decided to do a bunch of small projects around the yard. Its nice to get a few little things done. We finally got the mailbox put in so it doesn't look like it will blow over now. While we were finishing that Brit called to see if we wanted to go boating. After I talked to Matt we decided that we definitely wanted to do that. I was a little hesitant since it was Saturday and we haven't heard good things about Pineview on the weekends but we decided to try it. Im so glad that we did it was just what we needed. The water and air felt great and it was just relaxing to be away from the house and all the yard work. I was really glad Brit had called. All of the kids tubed, some of the older kids skied, knee boarded, and to round the night off I skied. Em love licorice and she was happy to sit still for a good long while so she could eat this.

This cute hubby of mine works so hard for us. I love him and can't imagine life without him. It was good to see him relax and enjoy himself

As the sun was setting it started to get a little chilly when we got out of the water. Luckily I had out sweatshirts packed and so we got them out. The girls looked like little sumo wrestlers in them.

We decided to be done about 8 and got the boat all loaded up and headed for home. Brit brought leftovers from Carson's party so we will happy to help get rid of them. It was such a fun day and just the right amount of time on the water that we needed to relax and just hang out. I love my little family and our time on the boat.

Night Out To North Shore

Thursday Britt invited us to join their family at North shore for an evening swim date. I was a little nervous to take all 3 girls by myself since Matt was out of town but I knew that the kids would love it and that it would be a lot of fun so we went. We stopped to grab dinner at Wendy's with Britt's family before heading to swim. The kids could hardly wait to get in the pool.

I figured we would only last an hour or so and was pleasantly surprised when I realized we had been there over 2 hours when it started to cool off. Brit was nice and watched Em so I could take the girls down the slide a couple times...they loved that. Em was not very happy when the sun went down and she was tired and cold and ready to go home.

She was much happier after getting dried off and having a bottle by the pool

I let the girls play until about 10 minutes before they started to shut the pool down. Once out they all wrapped up in towel and had popsicles!

 Then we called it a night. I got the kids all changed into their sweats for the ride home and with the heat on we made it home in good time.

On Friday we celebrated Carson's 11th birthday with a BBQ at Brit's house it was fun to see all the changes they have done to their yard and get to do some visiting

I was grateful to have a few things to do while Matt was out of town. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and it was nice to not have to be home alone.

Imaginations Are The Best

Hallie and Grace have amazing imaginations. They come up with some of the most creative things and entertain each other so well they can make being a mom pretty simple at times. While I was cleaning the car they decided to make a cardboard panel into a play house they cut out holes for the door and window and got out all of their "tools" to build. Matt and I have been talking about building again and Gracie got a sad look on her face so Matt asked what was wrong and she replied she didn't want to build again because she didn't want to have to clean up wood anymore. Matt and I laughed because when we were building I would bring the girls up and we would clean the job site while Matt worked and that was something she remembered.

Its Rough Being 1

Tuesday after a weekend of working overtime I decided to take the girls to see Finding Dori at the theater with friends. It was going really well until the last 30 minutes when Em decided to be a monster wiggler since she was so tired. But as soon as the movie was over and we got in the car she was out.We had a few errands we needed to run so when we got to the store I picked her up and she stayed asleep! If any of you know her this NEVER happens so I covered her with her blankie so the sun wouldn't be in her eyes and we ran our errands. Luckily she stayed asleep for most of our stops and was much happier when she woke up. I do have to say I really miss her falling asleep while being held I love cuddly babies

I was working on making sure the soaker lines were watering where they were supposed to so I had them running so I could see how long it took to get the plant sufficiently watered and dug some trenches to help. I turned around to find this little girl playing in a mud puddle! Instead of quickly getting her out I just let her be. She made a huge mess of herself and the second she realized I was watching her she stopped what she was doing and immediately wanted to be held.

She was really mad/sad that I wouldn't pick her up.

I took her pjs off and wiped her face off and then let her crawl around the yard in just a diaper until we finished. I don't know that I would have ever let the other girls do that but I have found that Im less concerned about little dumb things and have learned that getting dirty is just part of growing up and exploring

Rigs and Kinley Come Visit x2

I went back for my 2nd trip to the nursery to pick up plants. I came home with about 100 plants/trees. While I was gone Nic dropped off her kids so she could go on girls weekend so I had lots of helpers. We unloaded the plants and do my best not to feel overwhelmed. I laid them all out and the kids helped me haul the trees around with the power wheels. Within an hour we had everything spread out and ready to plant.  

But it was time to take a lunch break and we stayed inside for the next couple hours where it was cool making some binoculars for their adventures.

These 4 have so much fun together and for the most part play so well together. So while I planted the plants the kids used their binoculars on their adventures

The kitties decided they had had plenty of fun and hid in the stroller in an effort to get some rest

On Friday they paved the road in front f our house. The kids had a great time watching all of the layers they put on the road

Later that night Matt brought home take out chinese for dinner before Kyle came to get the kids once he was off work. Once again we had a great time and the kids did so great. We have really enjoyed having a couple of extras around our house lately