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.