Landscaping: Phase 2

Last April, I posted pictures of the first step of our 10-year landscaping plan. Mike and his dad raised and edged my garden in the front yard. We (again, Mike and his dad) also added the shed to the yard last summer - so it was a pretty productive Landscaping Year 1 for a 9-month pregnant wife and small toddler!

When spring rolled around this year, we started talking about what we wanted to tackle on the plan this year. We talked. And talked. And talked. And didn't really "do." Then I was offered a bunch of river rock by a co-worker and Mike spent all of Father's Day weekend clearing parts of the back of the yard (otherwise known as our "hang your head in shame weed garden") to put the rock. Long story short, the rock offer fell through. But by this point, the project had already started rolling. Mike took advantage of the extra time and was able to do the edging that we really wanted.

The rock arrived today and it looks great! We plan to add some perennials either this fall or next spring. But the hardest part is done. The best part is that we even have some extra rock for Phase 3 of the landscaping projects.

A finished picture of the shed
and the "BEFORE"

One view of the "AFTER"

Another "AFTER"

The Tale of Two Blondes

When we got engaged, Mike's mom was looking at our engagement pictures and noticed that my hair and Mike's beard were almost an exact match for color. Clearly that meant we were going to have a passel of red-headed babies. Enter two blondie blondes to our world ... well played, universe!

Hair color shock aside, we are pretty fond of these two little girls! And the blonde brings some hair color diversity to the family. At least I still have a red-headed partner in Yogi. Although as the years go by, we are noticing some extra white in his coat. Don't worry, Yogi! With two teenage girls in our future, we'll join you in the white sooner rather than later!

Run, Fiona, Run!

Before Fiona was born, they warned us that there was a good chance she would never walk. Thankfully, no one told her!

It's My Party ...

and I'll brag if I want to ;-). In anticipation for the big 33rd 25th(ish) birthday tomorrow, I'm posting a few of our favorite family pictures from our photoshoot over the Fourth. The pictures went well - although we had to fight through a wild gang of mosquitoes to get them.

Mike asked me a few days ago what I wanted for my birthday. Besides reminding him about the ridiculously expensive camera that he already bought me, I looked around our home at the mess of pink blocks, naked dolls (seriously, why do they hate clothes on their babies?), and tea sets ... and I honestly couldn't think of anything I needed beyond the family we've created together. It's sappy, I know, but as I look to another year, I'm beyond grateful for my husband, puppy, and beautiful daughters!

I'm also grateful to brave Auntie Emmy, who tackled bedtime x2 last night so Mike and I could go out with friends. It was as wonderful as we hoped it would be!

Q - 11 Months

From our family photoshoot

Our Quinn is 11 months old! She is going to be one in just a month. We can't believe it! It has been a busy, busy month. Quinn is having a great time learning to be a big girl - and Fiona is happy to show her the ropes. She is looking less like a baby and more like the toddler she is turning into. I'm sure these 11 months took the same amount of time, but man, it feels like she is growing up so much faster than Fiona! I guess that is what happens when you are already going warp speed to keep up with the toddler.

This month, Quinn's highlights include:

• Self-feeding - not just food anymore! She drinks her bottles by herself too and is so proud. She has pretty much decided she is done with nursing. She will still sort of do the morning and she'll snuggle in at night (my favorite), but other than that, she wants independence. In somewhat related news, I brought my pump to work today but didn't use it! Think good thoughts for the freezer stock to hold out for the last month.
• Walking - oh, you know, she can walk across a room by herself! She cruises everywhere and almost always tries to walk to get places. As soon as she falls, she crawls. But she is totally working it. And Fiona is a great cheerleader / tackler!
• New car seats - we didn't take the infant car seat out of my car the entire 4th of July weekend. Which moved us from slightly annoyed at hauling it around to incredibly bitter at its existence. At almost 11 months, that sucker was getting heavy. Armed with two 20% coupons this weekend, we hit Babies R Us and Fiona is the proud owner of two new car seats. Q is the proud

  

  Always standing

  occupant of "new" hand-me-down car seats. It's tough to be the little sister! But she doesn't seem to mind and is enjoying the new digs.
• Playground exploration - she'll climb a slide, She'll crawl through the tunnels endlessly. And sandboxes and swings are wicked fun. Life at the park is good!
• Words - SO many words. We still don't catch them all, but she definitely says (in addition to mama and dada) shoe, cup, bath, slide, cracker, and yes. She also says "aaaahhhhh" when you say "should we brush teeth?" And she is still SUPER loud in all her chatter. She makes her presence known. And with that wonderful smile, she makes it work.
  
• Temper! - SUCH a temper for such a small girl. Wow! It's a very German temper. Quick explosion and then she moves on. But this one is feisty. I think the temper will get a bit better as our word repertoire expands.
• Playing - she wants to play just like Buggy does. And with everything Buggy does - when Bugs is using it. Sometimes Fiona will share and sometimes she really just wants to do her own things. They are learning to work it out.

Family Picnic

We had the Annual Family Picnic with the college gang today! As we did last year, we headed to Hyland Lake Park again. The playground there is amazing and the kids had a super time. We are getting very close to the ratio of adults to kids swinging in the direction of the kids. We still have the upper hand - but there are currently two more babies on the way. There have been four new babies since last year's picnic. Our college gang family is growing. So fun!

Fiona made her mark by loving the new babies. She is such a nurturer! Quinn had a great time visiting with the baby friends, playing in the sandbox, and climbing the slide. Fiona and Mike explored the entire playground - she was much braver on the slides than last year. And Daddy was a great sport, climbing around all the equipment!

What!?! When did she get big
enough to do this!?!

We didn't get a picture of all the kids.
Here is a subset - playing "Cheryl Says"

"Uncle Joshy" is a small person Pied Piper
.... playing dinosaurs

Master of Disguise

Is she a ...

cowgirl?

or a ...

biker dude?

Up North to the Beach

We took a few days off, headed north, and enjoyed a long holiday weekend over the Fourth. We are still uber scheduled for both kids, but we were proud of them for the flexibility they showed. Overall, they were good travelers, good eaters, good sleepers, and good sports. We had moments - but they are almost 1 and almost 3. It goes with the territory. It was awesome to make these memories with our girls.

Before we went to the lake on the Fourth, Mike took Fiona to the fishing pier and let her fish for the first time. She totally loved it and was so proud to have gone with Daddy. She didn't catch anything - but was so happy. We enjoyed a Western-themed boat parade on the Fourth. The girls were the best cowgirls and both thought their picnic lunch on the boat was pretty cool. Fiona got to drive the boat and both tested out their life jackets!

The Fourth did have a few bumps. Fiona didn't really nap and probably should have. Quinn woke up roasting from her nap. I chalked it up to hot weather and no AC. I was wrong. We got to the cabin and Mike put Fiona in the water. Q and I stayed in the cabin to try to cool her off and have a bottle. Long story short, there was a crabby baby and then baby puke! Sigh ... Fiona was a trooper and was very worried about her sister - so she left the lake with no tears! Q's temp was 102 when we got back. She did eat a good dinner and a bath cooled her down significantly. She also pooped in the bathtub (with her sister in it too) - just to end the day on a stinky note! In possibly related news, I found a new tooth in her mouth yesterday!

Driving the pontoon

On Friday, Quinn was feeling a bit better so after nap, we went back to the cabin to really enjoy the beach. Fiona was super brave, testing out her life jacket and learning how to swim in a lake. She floated out to the big girls in her starfish tube and thought she was the best! Quinn thoroughly enjoyed the sandy beach and putting her toes into the water.

We got to see Auntie Tracey, Uncle Kyle, and Nate and Ben on Saturday before we headed home. We left at bedtime and got home just before midnight. Everyone was happy to be back in their own beds - but we already miss the lake.

Eating sand - it's good for a fever ...

Brave tubing girl

The Best Part of the Weekend ...

What is that thing that Daddy is pulling?!

It's a good thing the Fourth of July is coming up. It's probably the only thing that could top the weekend we just had. Whew!

As we were getting ready for bed on Sunday night, I asked Fiona what her favorite part of the weekend was. She asked me what her choices were ... and they are:

1. Was it when Daddy came home with a new camper? yep - you read that right. Thanks to Auntie Tracey and Uncle Kyle, we are the proud owners of a 19xx ... [I stopped listening to Mike] camper. Fiona LOVES it all. Bunk beds. A little kitchen. A.Mazing!

or was it the fact that when he brought the camper home, Daddy also brought ...

2. Grandpa and Grandma? Gma and Gpa were nice enough to ride down with Mike to offer extra hands in case aforementioned camper hauling went awry. It did not. But we got to hang with them - and Fiona got a date to the park with them - for a little while before we had to drop them off at Auntie's so they could hitch a ride back home.

Serious artist at the museum

or was it that when Gma and Gpa left ...

3. Our friends Eli and Ethan - and their parents - came over for a sleepover? We cleared out the guest room just in time to fill it again. The kids played in the back yard and when we finally got four kids settled and in bed, the adults sat on the deck with beverages and talked. I thought visiting with friends over a beer was an urban legend!

or was it that on Sunday morning after the sleepover ...

4. we went with Eli and Ethan to the Children's Museum and met our friends Julian and Grayson - and their parents - there? And the best part ... nobody else was at the Children's museum. There was one point where our group of 12 was the only one in the exhibit for almost 20 minutes. That meant Quinn could get down and explore more fully without fear of trampling! I've never seen a baby play so hard!!

or was it that since the girls took such good naps after the museum ...

Couldn't find Fiona after the pool party
so we brought home a little duck!

5. we went to Jack and Cooper's for a pool party? Yep, in case we hadn't done enough, we grilled with our friends and splashed in the pool/water table on a glorious Sunday evening.

No wonder bedtime was awfully quiet Sunday night!

PS - Fiona's answer to the best part choices ...  I loved ALL OF THEM!