More progress!

It's been a while since I last posted, but man have we been busy. Kris and I just haven't stopped with the front yard project. It was looking for a while like it'd be never-ending, but I'm so excited to say it's (almost) DONE!! Yay! This has been our longest going project ever in our history. It's been such a long process, but I'm so glad we did it because it has just changed our house so drastically. We have neighbors stopping by telling us how wonderful they think the front yard looks now. That makes us so happy! Anyway, for the pics.

We FINALLY got those stupid white library columns out. There were only 3 and it bothered me they weren't even centered. So we put 4 4x4's in instead and they are now spaced evenly with the porch railings we put up. Even without it painted yet, it looks so much better. I'm so glad we did that.

We finished the seeding (as much as the weather would allow, we can't do more until the fall now) and grass grew! We officially have a LAWN! Yay. Our walkway is now looking like it always belonged there. I love it. And we leveled out the front boxes for the future gardens. That was a project in itself. It was crazy. Kris and I were out there for hours leveling the brick. But it looks awesome now!

Then onto the task of choosing flowers for the gardens. That was WAY harder than I thought. I was expecting it to be a quick process and it was anything but. I just couldn't decide what I wanted, and what would work. It's really shady up front. Only gets like 4-6 hours of good sun a day, so we had to choose accordingly. I chose lilies. LOVE them!

It finally has that finished look we were looking for. The front is finally together. It's not 100% but it doesn't look like an ongoing project right now either. I'm loving it! 

And just for fun, here's the real before. This was almost exactly 1 year ago. 

And the after. Excuse my mom and Grace playing, and Kris and Luke over on the side. Yes, Luke's in the wheelbarrow. That's what happens when a very rowdy (almost) 2 year old wants to "help." I seriously just can't get over the difference! The kids and I run around and play baseball and soccer now, and it's just so weird to think that was driveway less than 1 year ago! 

And for fun, here are the kiddos! We got a few new things in the last few months for them. 1st, new bikes! They loved them. And don't worry, they wear helmets outside. 

And we got them a new swingset too! Yay! The old one was just that... old. It was mine from when I was a kid, and frankly it was just crap. I took it because it was free but this new one was just too good of a price to pass up. $200... SCORE! 

The old one. This is the only picture I could find of it. That was last summer. Putting up the fence. 

And the new one. LOVE IT! 

And the kids love it too! Kris and I just put it up for them today, and they just couldn't get enough. 

And this picture I'm just putting in there because I love it. It's my kids to a "T." They just love each other so much, and this picture just melts my heart. 

We've been busy, busy. Just trying to enjoy family, while finishing up projects. It's been a little insane. 

More recent renovations

The past few weekends we've been really busy with outdoor renovations. Specifically this project. We've been digging dirt, and digging dirt and digging some more. Our bodies hurt, but it's looking so good!

Here's the before.

We ripped out the driveway last October, then ripped out the Rhododendrons (don't worry, we transplanted them elsewhere). Then we got rid of those stupid monstrous gardens that took up the whole front of our house. Here's a closeup on the before: 

All that dirt! We ended up hiring someone to get rid of it. Thank goodness we did. It took them 3 big vehicles, and 2 dump truck loads of dirt to get rid of it all. Only problem is we forgot to have them dig 3 inches down so that we could lay top soil then grass seed. So, that's what Kris and I did all last weekend. Took 3 days, and 25+ wheelbarrow loads to get rid of the extra 3 inches, but we did it. Then we had top soil delivered and my brother and his girlfriend helped to spread it all out. Then we laid seed. Here's what we were left with. 

 Forgot to mention that we put up railings also on our front porch. Not quite done with that yet, but it's a start. We will be adding in a 4th column, and we will spread them out better. And we added nice wide front stairs. Yay! So exciting!

This past weekend we laid the walkway. I got this awesome concrete mold off Amazon and I loved it! It was in the shape of rocks, and it looks awesome. And it only took 3 hours to lay the whole walkway.

We just have to fill in the spaces with dirt, lay another layer of grass seed. I also made front gardens and bordered it with all the extra brick from the old walkway. Can't wait to plant some pretty flowers in the front and finish it off. Pictures of that soon to come, but for now that's progress! Yay!

17 months

Luke is 17 months. He is walking, pretends in the play kitchen, plays ball, drives cars around, plays with the train table, colors, is saying 20 words, plays with baby dolls, runs, jumps, gives kisses and hugs, "reads" books, and does or plays with anything is big sister does. He "sings" the ABC's, tries are hard as he can to do everything Grace does. His best friend is his sister, they do everything together. It's really stinkin' cute! He adores Elmo, but is not at all a fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (which is his sister's favorite show). He's a funny, funny boy, always a goofball. I can tell he's going to be the class clown in school. I imagine getting phone calls home from kindergarten starting with "do you know what your son did today??" He's almost done teething, like forever! He's getting eye teeth #2, 3, and 4. Then he has his 2 year molars and we are in the clear! I can't wait! This boy is a miserable teether. It goes on for weeks and weeks. Poor little guy. Luke is just over 30lbs and almost as tall as Grace. We got back to the dr in a month for his 18 month check up. I cannot believe how quickly these past 17 months have gone!

It's a really fun time, but also very trying. 17 months has started temper tantrums also, but for the most part it's so fun! Luke is very independent, and I'm realizing every day that he isn't going to be my baby for much longer.

Cucumber allergy

Luke had cucumbers this week 2 times. The 1st time he had them he woke up from his nap with what looked like welts on his face. Just one side of his face, and almost looked like bad irritation from dirty sheets since it was in the side he slept on. I thought nothing of it and it went away within an hr of him waking. He had cucumbers 2 hrs before his nap.

Yesterday he had cucumbers again at 4:30pm. About 5:30pm he started getting really whiney and was crying a lot, but this isn't unusual for him some evenings since he is hungry and tired. We just kept trucking along and had dinner. At 7 DH was undressing him his bath and noticed his legs were red. By the time he got out of the bath he had huge welts in his legs (like the size of a dime in some places) and they covered both his thighs, the backs of his calves and his buttocks. It was also very red and hot to the touch.

Being so close to bedtime, him never having Benadryl before and the fact that he was breathing fine I opted not to give Benadryl. I did put hydrocortisone cream all over his legs though. Within 10 minutes the redness was going away. It was clearly bothering him because he willingly let me put cream on him. He slept like crap last night, and was up at 4:30 this morning. Now he is acting normal and his legs are fine.

I've never dealt with a reaction before and this rash took up most of his lower half. Poor guy, doesn't seem like he can catch a break sometimes.

Funny things they say...

Grace:

1. Her new thing is whenever she's forgotten something she yells "WAIT!!!" Example.

G: "WAIT!!! More milk mama!!"
M: "Oh, that's right. You did want milk."
G: "Silly mama!"

2. Grace burps or passes gas

G: "Piggy piggy Grace" 

3. The other day Kris was patting Luke on the back because he was upset. Grace comes over and pats his back saying "It's ok, it's ok. Oh buddy, you ok?" She's so cute!

4. Tonight I was rocking her while reading her bedtime stories. This is my favorite time with her. She's just so cute and comes up with the funniest things. Tonight she saw a dirty spot on her baby doll's head and thought it was a boo boo. She says "oh baby, you have a boo boo?" Then she kisses it. Then she looks at me and goes "kiss, kiss??" Then gives me the fishiest face ever and waits for another kiss. Melted my heart!

5. Again we are in her room tonight doing bedtime routine. She understands that daddy puts Luke to bed and mommy puts her to bed. She is always so concerned with Luke and has to ask me a million times if daddy is still reading to "Oompa." They she has to ask about all her toys in her crib. Then she turns to me and picks out things on my face to say. Mama's eye, nose, ear, hair, head... you name it, she will point to it. Well, recently she is obsessed with eyebrows. Tonight she pointed to both my eyebrows, then I pointed to her's. She then says "Mama kiss Grace eyebrow?" And I kiss it. Then she says "Mama kiss Grace other eyebrow?" Then I kiss it. Then she says

G: "Uh oh mama!!"
Me: What?
G: "Mama have boo boo on neck"
Me: "No, those are beauty marks."
G: "Booty murks?"
Me: "Yes."
G: "No. Boo boo mama. I kiss it."

Haha! She's just too funny!

Luke

Whenever he is done with dinner he will stand up in his chair and say "DONE." It is the deepest voice we have ever heard. Usually his voice is all squeaky and whiney and high, but this "DONE" is just so deep, like a little man voice.

Luke is obsessed with Elmo. He calls it "La la." All day long he will say "I watch Lala?" He also calls everything "mama." Grace is mama, daddy is mama, Meemi (My mom) is mama, milk is mama. Everything. It's kinda funny.

He probably says more, but it's late and I'm tired. I just wanted to remember the funny things my kids say.

Our fireplace mantle

We started the fireplace mantle about 3 weeks ago. Just in time for our power to go out during Hurricane Sandy and we had no fireplace for that. Fun times. Luckily we had kerosine to get us through and now we are back to normal. See that black eye Luke has? That's why we did this HUGE project.

Here are the kiddos "helping"

Then the shopvac came out and they did.not.like.it!!

Big girl helping daddy.

This was after day 1: Thanks Luke for getting that pic haha! My did day 1 of demolition. Kris and I were at her house installing her new roof. Thanks mama!

Day 2: Taking down the brick... again!

And finally after my mom, Kris, me and the kids got our hands on that stove we were done! Yay. That brick was gone.

Then we go the bright idea that we would lower our fireplace to the floor instead of having it raised. Yeah, poor Kris had "fun" doing this! Luke helped.

This is the mess our living room was in for like a week. Ugh. The new firebox took like 3 weeks to get here and we just sat with a duct taped wall with a kerosine heater in front of it for 3 weeks. Real klassy. Oh well.

Then that firebox finally came in and Kris got it working. How glorious!!

Then we built the mantle! From scratch. It was actually surprisingly easy. Only took one afternoon while the kids took an insanely long nap for us. Then Kris spackled and the last of that ugly brick was gone!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

Then I painted to surprise Kris. And I staged it with a dinky mirror just to get the idea. I tell you painting the mantle put me into the Christmas mood big time. I just can't wait to decorate that mantle. I'm in love.

Our living room before. Notice the ugly stairs in the background too. WOW!!

And the after: Luke got in that one too. Haha!

And I spent all week trying to find the perfect tile, accessories and mirror for my new mantle. Found a $20 mirror at TJ Maxx and some accessories at Home Goods!! Yay!

Then after weeks of trying to decided on tile and me not finding anything I liked. At Home Depot. It was like the angels were singing to me. I was in love!!! Over tile. So pathetic.

Now I have to buy more and actually put it up, but for now I have it standing next to the mantle. I will get there soon. I just love my mantle, though!! And no one will get hurt again on it, so that makes it even sweeter!!

Photo dump

Here's some random snip its into our lives. I was going through pictures the other night and these stood out to me.

Here's my kiddos in the tornado mess they make daily, watching LaLa (Sesame Street). Luke is sitting in our puzzle storage keeper. Silly boy.

Attacking mama...

Matching PJs ith Daddy

Fun in the tub.

Hamming it up with his black eye from the mantle

Fell asleep in the living room on teddy bear.

He's a cutie!

Grace runs in to find me yelling "mama, I draw a circle!!!" I go inside to look and sure enough she drew a circle... on our ottoman... in chalk. How do you get mad at her for that perfect circle she drew?

Playing baby

Matching PJs again...

Luke playing with his reflection in the mirror.

Hurricane Sandy took our power. :(

Halloween...

Photo op fail...

"I want to go Trick or treating!!!" It was cancelled due to the hurricane.

The only shot I got in their Halloween shirts.

1st haircut, before:

During:

After:

For fun, Grace at 14 months and Luke at 13 months. My twins!

 And lastly my pretty girl with my other "girl" in the background. Luke ran out of PJs and had to wear Grace's. He made such a pretty "girl." Daddy was so proud. Haha! :P

So that the month of October in pictures. I love my kiddos. <3