Outdoor Living 101

As you know we have been working hard on our backyard this summer.  We’ve cleared the hill of the insane amounts of overgrown weeds; we’ve planted both a vegetable garden and a flower garden; we’ve been digging up bushes that had become diseased; we’ve planted new cedar trees and we’ve been on a search for a playset.

So what are our ultimate plans with this newly renovated backyard?  Well, we’re not entirely sure yet…. but we do have some ideas.  I came across a website a few weeks ago that has given me some great ideas for where to take our backyard.  It’s a company called Outdora and they sell everything outdoors.

Our backyard has so much potential, but it’s not easy to figure out what to do and how.  We have a decent size yard, but unfortunately we have that crazy hill taking up a good portion of it.  And while we’d love to push the yard back some and install a retaining wall, it’s just too expensive right now.  So we’re moving on to other plans.

One of the things we have enjoyed the most about our yard is grilling out.  Outdoor cooking is far better than anything that could be made on your stove and/or in your oven.  Why is that?

Since we dug up the diseased bushes along our house we have decided that we are going to extend our patio over into that area which will provide more outdoor living space along with a larger grilling area.  We currently have a small concrete patio already so we are trying to figure out how best to incorporate what we already have with what we want to put down for our new extended patio.  We have a great nook space that we can hopefully use to build a small outdoor kitchen area with an outdoor fridge perhaps??  I have already shown Jim where and how I want more planters built with a bench connecting them.

I also want to add in an area for a wood burning cast iron ring.  I absolutely and positively love bonfires.  I know I’ve mentioned that before in one of my Tuesday Ten posts, but there is nothing like sitting around the fire at night, roasting marshmallows and listening to the popping of the fire.

But before we move forward with any definite plans we need to first draw out our outdoor living blue prints.  And with that comes a lot of research.  Jim has been busy trying to find outdoor flooring options and I’ve been spending my free time researching outdoor fridges and wood burning cast iron rings.  I think I got the better end of that deal because I found both on one site! I even have my eye on a new Barbecue grill now!  Who would have thought it would be that easy?!

No final decisions have been made yet though because we’re still trying to work through the play set options and we need to be sure that everything will fit into our space and still leave room for the boys to golf with Delta.  Because if we don’t, we’ll have one sad little puppy!  She is definitely addicted to the game of wiffle ball golf.

Read Full Post »

As the Weekend Winds Down

What a great weekend it was.  Friday night (after a 3 day work trip) I fell asleep snuggling with Ryan at 7:30pm.  Came downstairs around 8:30pm and proceeded to immediately fall asleep on the couch.  Got up around 9:30pm and went to bed for the night.  Pathetic, yes.

Saturday we had some fun in the backyard while daddy mowed the lawn and did yard work.  He then moved the mower across the street and did our neighbors yard since they are still living in San Diego.  I’m not sure their yard had been mowed yet this year so it took daddy several hours, one trip to Home Depot for more landscaping bags and a trip to the gas station for more gas for the mower.  After filling 3 landscaping bags with the grass clippings and edging their yard, it looks wonderful!  Your welcome Kevin 😉

Mommy and the boys ran some errands to the post office, Costco and Publix.  We had one major meltdown from Ryan when he decided to dart out from behind the van as a car was coming around the corner.  Mommy almost had a heart attack and grabbed him very quickly causing him to drop his chapstick.  He cried and screamed at the top of his lungs because I refused to let him pick it up (to prove a point that he should have listened and not dart out in front of a car).  Wow.  That was not a good idea.  I of course grabbed it when he wasn’t looking, but him thinking we left it behind was possibly the most horrible thing that happened to the kid in a long time.  Owen couldn’t stop staring at him as he screamed.   Boy was it loud.  Did you hear him?  It doesn’t really matter where you live in comparison to Georgia, I’m pretty sure you could have heard him if you listened hard enough.

When he finally calmed down I explained to him how dangerous that was what he did.  And of course, I showed him that I did pick up the chapstick.  He just looked at me and said “Oh!  Tank you momma.  I sorry.”  Wow.  Melt my heart.

And at each stop I checked in via Foursquare.  Any of you use this application?  It’s kind of pointless, but lots of fun.  It’s neat to see who is at the same location as you.  If you’re using it, look me up!

Then after Saturday afternoon naps for the boys we hosted a little BBQ at our house.  Some friends from Alpharetta who have a little guy, Pace who is a few weeks younger than Owen.  And another family in our neighborhood who have a little 4.5 month old baby, John.  So fun!!  A house of boys, no tears and fruit punch popsicles.  What could be more fun than that?!

Today we did more yard work and mommy decided to dig out our six bushes that had become diseased.  Sounds easier than you think, but let me tell you it was far from easy.  Every muscle in my body hurts tonight as I type this.  Then after cheeseburgers on the grill for dinner mommy decided to climb the hill and do more weeding.  Seriously!  What is wrong with me?!

So two showers later (one after my morning dig and one after my evening weeding); two boys in bed; a tired dog from golfing; and sore muscles, this momma is going to bed early!  Not like Friday night early, but still early none-the-less.

What did you do this weekend?

Read Full Post »

Conversations with a 3 Year Old

I used to be surprised with some of our conversations between me and Ryan.  But over time, nothing shocks me anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, they still make me smile and laugh to myself, but they don’t floor me like they once did.  For instance….

Mommy:  “Ryan, how are you liking your new big boy room at school?”
Ryan:  “It’s perfectly fine momma.”
Mommy:  “Oh really?!  Perfectly fine?  Where did you learn a word like ‘perfectly’?”
Ryan:  “In my big boy room at school momma.” (add a completely annoyed look like which basically says how could you not know that?)
Mommy:  “Oh.  Alright.  Well, good for you Ryan.”

And later that night after a few more random conversations with Ryan….

Mommy:  “Ryan, when did you grow up on me?”
Ryan:  “I didn’t grow up mommy.  I’m right here.”
Mommy:  “I know you’re right there Ryan, but you act like at least an 8 year old.  Not a 3 year old.”
Ryan:  “Oh.  Well that’s because I’m really tall now.  See?  My jammies don’t reach my feet anymore. I’m SUPER tall.”
Mommy:  “I love you Ryan.”
Ryan:  “I know momma.  I love you too.”

Our little Ryan is definitely a talker.  He wakes up taking and he goes to bed talking.  He doesn’t stop at all (I’m not kidding) throughout the day.  He talks to anyone who will listen.  And if nobody is listening than he just talks out loud to nobody.  He talks to little brother Owen (and bosses him around); he talks to Delta (the dog); and he talks to his toys, the plants, his shoes and well just about anything.  Or nothing.  Whichever.  It doesn’t matter much to him.

He questions every single thing.  He tells you everything he does at the moment he does it.  He is simply amazing.  Our little chatterbox.

Is it a sibling order thing?  Is it a hereditary thing (from his father of course!)?  Or do we just have a chatterbox on our hands?

What is your opinion?

Read Full Post »

Our Dog is Quite the Golfer

Remember when I said I was addicted to the backyard (here)??  And if you’re a long time reader of our blog you’ll remember me saying last summer how addicted to golfing Delta was (here).  Well, I’ve mentioned it a few times since last summer, but I finally caught a snip-it of Ryan and Delta golfing in the backyard the other night.

Delta has improved her game since last summer and will actually fetch the wiffle ball golf ball, bring it back to you and then drop it in front of you in order to hit it again for her.  It’s quite the routine we have going at this point.  She knows that if she doesn’t bring it right to you than the chances of you hitting it again are slim to none.  And she doesn’t want to take that chance.

Delta isn’t the only one improving her game though.  Ryan has quite the swing on him this summer already.  He is going to be our little 3 year old golf pro.  When he tries he has good form, a good grip and hits the ball really well.  Before long him and daddy will be hitting the course together!  I cannot wait for that day.  Ryan will love it!  And so will daddy because it’ll give him an excuse and reason to golf more.

And now, I introduce my 3 year old and my pup golfing….

What are some of the fun things your children or pets enjoy doing that is out of the norm?

Read Full Post »

One Project Leads to Another and Another

Add one more check to the list.  We are now at the following stats:

1.  Plant flowers – check
2.  Build raised vegetable garden – check
3.  Plant veggies in garden – check

Unfortunately none of the herbs I bought fit in our new garden.  That means we have another project on our to-do list:

1.  Go to Home Depot
2.  Buy materials to build two raised herb garden planters
3.  Plant two herb gardens

And with spending so much time in the yard this weekend we realize we have the following projects left to do:

1.  Weed the hill – AGAIN.
2.  Map out our plans for extended patio
3.  Build extended patio
4.  Install a french drain (I have no idea what this is, but we talk about doing it every time it rains)
5.  Build retaining wall

All of which are easy little tasks wouldn’t you say?  I did start the weeding of the hill while the boys are napping today.  After about 2.5 hours my hands were throbbing and blisters were forming so I decided to take a break and write another blog post.  Plus I couldn’t wait to show you how beautiful my garden is looking!  I cheated and bought some seeds and some starter plants.

We are (attempting to) grow the following this year:

1.  Cucumbers
2.  Corn
3.  Tomatoes
4.  Beans
5.  Peas
6.  Red Pepper
7.  Green Pepper

The boys have had a blast helping with all these projects this year.  They love to be a part of it all and getting dirty without getting in trouble.  Delta loves the fresh air and sunshine too!  And if you don’t know our favorite little German short-haired pointer, you may not know that she has separation anxiety and therefore, will not be outside alone.  She freaks out if you leave her in the back yard alone to play and enjoy the beautiful weather.  But if we’re out there with her she loves every minute of it.  She’s had a pretty good weekend so far too.

Don’t you just love our new raised garden planter box?  If it wasn’t filled with dirt and vegetable plants, I would list it on Craigslist to see if I could sell it.  Jim loves when I do crazy stuff like that!  Don’t you honey?  If you’re a newer reader to our blog than you may not know that every time Jim custom builds something upon my request, I typically love it so much that I photograph it and post it on Craigslist.  If I love it, then I’m sure others have been looking for the same sort of item.  Typically I am right and I sell the items within hours.  What does that lead to you may ask?  Well, then Jim needs to go back to Home Depot (which he loves) and I make some additional money (it was my idea and vision afterall!) and Jim gets to rebuild the item for me (because I did really need it and love the end result).  It’s a win-win for everyone in the end!  But watch out honey, I may just sell the whole garden (vegetables & dirt included)!

Read Full Post »

Ugh.

On Sunday night I was convinced that this would be a good week.  There was so much potential for it to be good; there really was.  And while it hasn’t been horrible, it certainly hasn’t been good either.

I haven’t slept through a night yet this week.  It’s either been Owen up playing in his crib at 2am.  Or Ryan picking up his monitor in the wee hours of the morning to say “Mommy.  Daddy.  I need to go pee-pee.”  Or work on my mind and keeping me awake.  Or Owen’s eyes.  Yes, you heard it.  Owen’s eyes.

Over the weekend we noticed that Owen’s eyes started crossing a bit again.  Ugh.  The last three weeks have been awesome with absolutely no crossing.  But over the weekend we noticed he started favoring one eye over the other and crossing them.  So on Monday, I called Dr. Lipsky’s office and explained what was going on.  They agreed that we shouldn’t wait another 4 weeks for our follow up appointment and they squeezed Owen into their schedule today in Newnan.  Yes, you heard correctly.  Newnan.

Newnan is about an hour from our house with no traffic.  And don’t forget we live in Atlanta.  So regardless what day of the week it is; what time it is; or what direction you are going there is always traffic.  Always.  And today it happened to be raining buckets with numerous semi trucks on the freeway.  Oh, and they are doing construction on I-85 and down to two lanes; no shoulders; construction cones everywhere.  So all of that combined the drive to/from was super.

Dr. Lipsky and his nurse each did all of their usual tests and screenings.  Owen did fantastic.  He cooperated with all of it and was a happy little camper.  The nurse was very impressed and commented several times how great he was!  He really does cooperate with them and will look where they want him to; do what they tell him to do; and let them move his head around and cover his eyes over and over.

Dr. Lipsky said their is some crossing, but that he’s not ready to throw the towel in (his words) and say the surgery didn’t work.  He just thinks me need to work on it a little more and force his eyes to work correctly.  As he explained, when the surgery is done, most brains will say thank you for fixing this for me; I couldn’t do it on my own.  Owen’s brain isn’t.  But we all know how stubborn Owen can be and he isn’t just going with what should happen.

I can be thankful that all we are having to deal with is alternate eye patching for another 6 weeks.  I get that.  And I am very, very thankful that it isn’t more serious.  But I’m tired right now.  And I wanted this surgery to be successful and to not have to worry about this anymore.  Owen absolutely hates wearing his eye patches now and cries and cries when he sees us coming with one.  Tonight he put his head down on the kitchen table and just cried big ol’ crocodile tears not wanting to wear it.  Breaks my heart.  It certainly doesn’t hurt him to wear it, but it breaks my heart to make him do something he doesn’t like.

Tonight though it was cute because after wearing it for awhile, he took it off and brought it over to me “Momma.  All done.” and he handed the patch to me and walked away.  Ugh.  Mind of his own this little O-wee.

One day down and another 40+ days to go.  Wish us luck.

On a brighter note it is 2 weeks and 2 days until my mom, aunt Nancy and cousin Catherine get here!!  I cannot wait.  I am so excited to have them here for 10 days or so and over Easter!  Ok, I will also admit I’m excited because Jim and I will be going on a date night while they are in town.  They don’t know it yet, but we are.

We are yet to have a free babysitter for a date night.  Seriously.  A free babysitter.  What is that?!  We’ve never had such a thing for a date night.  We either pay a fortune for a sitter so we can escape together for a few hours or we use our babysitting coop and then I’m minus a bazillion points and have to sit for other families in our neighborhood to make up for the few hours we were able to escape for.  Both situations are stressful to me and therefore Jim and I have not had a date night since last November.  And I can’t even tell you when it was before that.  I don’t even remember.

But that’s about to change.  Date night when my mom gets here.  Gosh, I wish my mom lived closer.  And it’s not just because we’d have a free sitter now and then.  But because I know how much Ryan and Owen would enjoy having her around more.  Oh, and Delta too.  Grandma LOVES Delta and spoils her rotten.  And we can’t even talk about cousin Cathy and how every time Delta just looks at her leash Cathy takes her for a walk through the neighborhood.  Yep, Delta has cousin Cathy wrapped around her little paw.  Delta actually starts whining and whimpering and shaking when she sees Cathy each morning because she knows she gets to go walking.

So while we are dealing with alternate eye patching again, I know things could be worse.  I do.  And I’m thankful they are not.

Read Full Post »

Lollipop Love

Lollipop love and a few tears from Ryan.  I’m not sure why he was crying.  I don’t think he knew why he was crying.  So I took pictures.  Mom of the year award coming my way…. I know, I know.  But seriously. Crying when presented with a lollipop?

So, so sad Ryan

Why the tears?

Owen just sat there watching Ryan cry while loving his lollipop. Seriously thrilled to have one.

Yum!

Open wide O-wee!

This is delicious!

Don't get sticky!

When Ryan finally realized that crying wasn’t worth it, he too enjoyed his lollipop from Grandma Marge.  And Delta?  Well, Delta was just thrilled to be able to hang out in the toy room with the family.

Why was I crying? This is GOOD!

Brother Love

Delta just chilling

Read Full Post »

Are We In MN? WI? CO?

Nope, we are in Georgia!  You would never believe it with all the snow we have on the ground and how winter-like it is out there today.  The snow that started around 1:30pm on Friday was coming down in huge wet flakes and it instantly coated the trees and ground.  It was so beautiful and made me miss living somewhere where we’d see this type of snow more than once every five years!

The snow that we typically get isn’t what I would consider real snow.  It’s icy and icky and more of an inconvenience.  And it typically just barely covers the ground and trees.

This snow is gorgeous!  It’s white and fluffy and sticky and made for a GREAT snowman yesterday.  We got home from school early and ran right out to play in it.  Ryan loved it.  Owen wasn’t so sure about it.  He cried every time he stepped.  He cried when he touched it.  So I brought him in the house to get out of it and he absolutely screamed at the top of his lungs.  He wanted to go back out!! So I guess he did really like it, but just wasn’t sure what it was.

Even Delta had some outdoor fun and played in the snow.  She wore her jacket too and was so proud.

We have another fun day planned with a birthday party this morning and then after naps I’m hoping to head out to play in the snow some more.  How fun and unexpected!

Enjoy some more Georgia snow……

Read Full Post »

Delta’s New Christmas Present

I’m not sure this is what she wanted from Santa, but this is what she got.  She developed a rash on her belly and because she is a little OCD she wouldn’t stop licking it.  And therefore, the area was getting bigger and was becoming infected.  They think it developed from her allergies.  Yep, our OCD dog has allergies too.

Really Pitiful Delta

Delta Watching the Boys Playing

Delta Enjoying the Fire

They wanted to put her on a special diet with special dog food that would need to be special ordered.  Yep, for our special dog.

When I said we have a 3 year old and a 16 month old the vet said the diet isn’t condusive to our lifestyle and not to bother right now.  With the special diet, our special dog would not be able to eat ANYTHING other than her special dog food (with the exception of some raw carrots and fruit).  And since Owen has taken a special interest in feeding every last morsel to Delta, we agreed that this wasn’t the time to try this diet.

So instead we will continue to monitor her and will try some other brands of food that may help with her allergies.  We have maintenance medicine for her continuous ear infections (which are also from her allergies) and we now have allergy spray if she develops another rash.  Oh, and she’s also on benadryl and Pepcid AC for her tummy issues (related to allergies as well).

Pitiful Delta

Yep, she’s our special dog with a lot of special needs.  Oh, and she also gained 11 pounds since her visit last year.  I would like to attribute that entire weight gain to the little boy (I won’t mentioned names) that was born last year and since started eating real people food.  One bite for O-wee, one bite for Delta.  Oops!  I said I wouldn’t mention names….

Read Full Post »

Don’t Forget About Me….

Little brother got left behind and for a few moments seemed a little sad.

Daddy and big bro decided to have a morning out alone to go buy an extra monitor. Don’t ask.

Owen and Delta watched out the window as they drove away. Owen was a little whiney and Delta of course was extra whiney and annoying because she didn’t get to go for a “ride” with daddy and Ryan.

And after a few sad moments, Owen realized he had mommy’s undivided attention and was more than thrilled to be home alone without big brother.

Delta on the other hand remained sad.

Read Full Post »