Big news at the Neuhaus family!

Lauren has a loose tooth! WooHoo-- her first one.

1st day of 1st grade!

An exciting day! I can't wait to hear all about it!

At home...

In the front...

Another in the front...

This was yesterday, at orientation. She was able to unload all her supplies into her very own desk (last year Kindergarten they has tables with 5 to a round table)... and locker! The locker is a huge hit... she thinks she is pretty cool... even asked Paul and I if we had a locker when we went to school!

Summer is offically over...

It has been ages since I last blogged... but we have just been enjoying the summer, the weather, the fun things to do and each other.


Mason was an only child this weekend, starting Friday night (Lauren went to CR with my Mom) so Mason picked to eat at Red Robin Friday night...




Mason started preschool at his new school today... Gosh he looks tiny there...he is 4.5 yrs old... and he is actually wearing 4's and 5's but he looks tiny!!!

Lauren has orientaion today at noon and then offically starts tomorrow! She already has her 1st day outfit all picked out... she is to funny! She a little fashion queen!

Summer went by fast... and while we still have a few things planned it will be different with them both in school all day now!

We have been enjoying bonfires with neighbors, volleyball and swimming... I have been running quite a bit and enjoying the sunrises and sunsets that I take in on my daily jog!

I am still wrestling with putting Lauren into gymnastics... I just feel like she has a lot going on with Daisy's on Tuesday's and Treasure Seekers (youth group at church) on Wednesday's. If I did gymnastics it would need to be on Tuesday's or Thurday's from 4-5, and I might just be pushing it... I know she would enjoy it, but it means a lot of running and I am taking a class that is on Monday and Thursday's from 5:20-7:20... so we are all busy! So we will see...I might see how the school year starts out and then add her... or if I could find a Saturday morning class that would be great... we are also thinking of trying to get Mason into karate this year, or possibly the youth wrestling program this winter-- they can start at 4?! Totally amazes me... I think 5 might be a better maturity level!

Well I am off for now... I know it was general and brief but hey it was an update!

What a fun weekend!

What did we do, you might be asking! Nothing! Seriously, we had one of the best weekends, doing nothing planned... all just being.

Friday Mason went to the park with Paul and played in the sandbox while Paul worked on the horseshoe pits. Lauren went for a bike ridewith me, while I ran in the new phase (my favorite spot right now).

Saturday we ran a few quick errands (got gas-- $3.71 hooray! Seriously not sure why I am that excited to spend $3.71, except that is pretty good from where it was a few weeks ago)! We then headed to swim for a few hours, came home had BLT's and then headed to the park for a neighborhood BYO party... we played volleyball, the kids played, tag, tetherball and enjoyed the sand box!

Sunday, headed to church in the morning and left with Dilly Bars! Yummo! Then hit the pool again from noon till 8:30pm last night! It was such a fun day... it is so nice lay back and relax at the pool ... both Mason and Lauren are such fish and great swimmers! I still have Mason wear arm floats (they are really tiny so they just keep him up enough) but with a deep end it is just easier... not that he can touch in the shallow end either. I do let Mason swim without his arm floats if I am working with him on his swimming skills, but for just being by the pool(with my lounging around) I just rather have them on and for sure when we are in a public place with lots of kids! Both are diving(it is so cute to watch Mason) and they are both little fish! Tracy (my neighbor who was there with her 3 girls) and I were joking saying "isn't it nice to have a pool in our backyard" oh wait it isn't not our backyard it's Mary's! (Mary is my neighbor and we swim there practially everyday! )They were gone Sunday to Monday and invited us (tracy and I) to go down and use it all we want! Ahhh Mary is seriously the sweetest person, and not because of the pool, she is just a wonderful person!

I can't even tell you how tan my two kiddo's are! Even Mason my little toehead -- he is like a surfer with his white bum, boardshorts, blonde hair and tan tan tan everything! Lauren always is tan, and looks so pretty with her dark hair and light eyes and then that tan skin! And then there is me with my now really blone hair! My colorist really lightened it up Friday, so it is really light... looks like it did when I was a kid-- of course then it was natural! We will all be ready for vacation this coming weekend with our tan skin! I am even wearing a bikini on our trip, now that I have managed to get my abs back! I would still be ideal to loose 10 pounds... but that will not happen in a week! lol! But I wore one all weekend to get sun in the places that needed it... but I will not be wearing a bikini as small as the ones I wore this weekend.

Today Lauren headed off to her first day of Girl*Scout Camp! She is SUPER excited and I can't wait to hear all about it tonight. She goes all week and then camps Thursday night! OH so fun!

This coming Friday we head on vacation! Just a nice extended weekend! Friday to Tuesday...

Fourth of July Fun - weekend update!

We had a great weekend... starting July 3rd we headed downtown to the river front to watch the fireworks with about the entire city! We had great seats thanks to our neighbors who headed down really early and saved us some. I packed up some great subs, chips and dip, snacks, and light up necklaces. I also decorated the kids faces and they wore cute "holiday" outfits (aka red, white and blue things!). The fireworks this year were great! The city really goes all out! Friday we woke up really early and packed up to head to the lake to camp with Paul's family! It is always fun to be at the lake, fishing, swimming, camp fire, outdoor cooking, 4wheeler rides, the kids just getting to run around, good drinks- camping , but with bathrooms/showers and real beds-- that is my kind of camping!

Here is Mason on "his" chair by the fire ring, just before dinner time!

Paul and Mason sitting by the fire.

These are my SIL Tracy's nephews with Mason. They were having fun making a "fort" out of the firewood! Mason looks so tiny next to them!

We stayed Friday night and hung out Saturday; Mason and Paul went fishing and I took Lauren to the lake to swim, twice! We stuck around for the fireworks and then headed home late!

Sunday we slept in (and skipped church services, which I do not like to do, but it was a must)! Paul headed to the farm to cut the grass, and we headed out in search of play sand! Sunday was hot, hot, hot and humid! We headed to my lovely neighbors house to do some swim time! It was great, she told me that morning to com eover, they would be gone but to come and enjoy it! So we did- how could myself and my fishes pass that up! It is so wonderful there, peaceful, and nice to just let the kids swim and play-- it really makes me want to put a pool in! Except there is all that upkeep! Maybe someday! The swimming must have totally wiped Mason out because this was him at dinner-

Note he barely took any bites from his hamburger! This was at 7pm mind you...

and he slept till 8am on Monday morning!

Paul and I both took Monday off to spend just one more day at home... we had big plans of doing some landscaping; but the heat and humidity convinced us otherwise! lol! Paul did some work on the deck while I worked on my bible study in the shade and the kids played on the swingset and ran thru the sprinkler to wash the sand off! Paul requested that we grill out, so I broke out my Rachel Ray magazine and found this great (and easy) recipe which we tried... so here is the before grilling! It is pounded sirlon steak with provolone cheese in side and asparagus; I drizzled basil and herb olive oil on the asparagus before wrapping and then also rolled the meat wraps in it before hitting the grill. SO easy and SO delicious! I will be making this again, and also trying it with pork loin and chicekn breast and changing up the veggies and the cheese selections!

The kids LOVED this meal. I made smashed red potatoes with it and a mushroom/garlic sacue to go with. Everyone cleaned their plates and then we had rasberry chocolate mousse for dessert!

Weekly update

I finally uploaded some pics from last week and this week.

Lauren is half way thru her summer soccer season. She is really enjoying it and is doing really well. she scored several goal at last weeks game and really gets in there and moves the ball around and stays with the game.

Lauren is the last one in line, wearing a bright yellow jersey (#7).
The kids wrapped up VBS on Friday. WOW the church really outdid itself this year... it was fabulous! And both Mason and Lauren walked away with a better understanding of God and their relationship with him. I wish I had pictures, the gym was set up like a town, with tents, a synagogue, and the kids all had robes and sandals. Really it was amazing! They learned some great new songs, which I uploaded to Lauren's shuffle. I so rather have her (and all of us) listen to Christian music than the radio and what they "consider" appropriate!

On the Saturday we went to the kids Jr. Banker picnic- which is always a fun time. Their cousin Macy and a little friend Clayton came along with us. They played games and won neat prizes, had lunch, enjoyed the inflatables, and the music!

Monday Mason went to Y camp for 3 days. First two he was kind of a stinker! But by the 3rd day he caught on... I am not sure that the counselors were really encouraging this year. There was a big difference between the counselors last year and this year. I am debating on pulling him from the other session he is signed up for, but he did have a good time.

His group was called The Awesome Candy Chompers.
They did a little skit on the last day!

Tonight we are going to the big fireworks display over the river... I am packing up subs and snacks as we will head down around 7ish to see the different planes and jets, and the parachuters and activites that go on down there. I am also going to stop at the dollar store for some fun things-- light up necklaces, etc to keep the kids having a fun time! Tomorrow we head to the lake for a few days. All of Paul's family will be down there camping too so it will be fun and the lake has their fireworks on Saturday night. Plus the kids will do some sparklers and such there, even though I am not a big fan of them- it is sort of a per pressure thing, since all the cousins will have them!

Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone! Be safe!

CR Flood

A friend emailed this to me... I can't even explain the pictures do not do this justice. My sister lives in CR, thankfully she does not live in the areas that were flooded out. But it is erie to see it now, with the water receeded and the devastation left behind. But this video has a beautiful song playing with it, that talks abotu praising even during the storm; hard to take in, but how true, God has a plan for everyone a plan we may not know or understand/comprehend, but it is moments like this that we need to lean on our faith, there is a light at the end of every tunnel and there will be for this event as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5ny84eV7U

Why go to Church?

(This is good)

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this! If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it. If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday (or Saturday). "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher.

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!


"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could you get that for me?" I love this line!!!!!!!

Awesome song!

I have hearing this song the past few weeks at church and it is so beautiful. To bad I don't know how to link the video right in, but watch-- it is awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk

Busted, by the blogger police!

Yes I have been slacking, actually no I haven't I have been enjoying the summer, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!


So life has been happening... so in the last few weeks I have been to New York and back (fabulous trip-- wow so much fun!) the kids have been busy with tumbling, soccer and start VBS this week! We have been swimming quite a bit, gone for many bike rides and have now started on our association neighborhood park, we are putting in a volleyball court, sand box, 2 sets of horseshoe pits and we are redoing our firepit area.... so that is also keeping us busy but will be a great place to spend time outside with our neighbors.

And in super great news we are offically for Di$ney in December. If you can remember I was able to book the resort part in Jan. which is way early for us to book, but this years trip really hinged on air fare and it seemed to be only going up.... so things were not looking good... well last week I was checking and it dipped down to $201! $201-- so we booked! Suprisingly we saved $534.40 over last year! WOW totally shocked me. So we are all set, we even added a day to the trip so we will be there Dec6-14th! YAh!

So that is about it for my update.... chatt at ya later!

Slacking

I was doing so well with my blog updates and then boom I stopped. So I am here to catch up and update...

Last Tuesday (May 27th) we had Lauren's kindergarten graduation/program... it was the sweetest thing. I am really going to miss her teacher, she was literally the best going well above and beyond what a teacher does! It made for a great year!

Here she is with her some of her fellow classmates/friends!

This is Lauren and her teacher Mrs. M!

Then on Friday (May 30th) it was Mason's turn! He graduated from 1st year preschool (he will go back next year and get to graduate again!). He was so sweet... the pics didn't turn out super great-- so dark-- but when it was time to get their diploma's mason went down the line of kids and gave each a huge, for no reason... all the parents were giggling saying he is so sweet, look at that little boy giving hugs... and he was such a sweet heart! So caring and loving all the time!

We had a great weekend. My sisters kid's were up with my Mom... so on Friday night my kiddo's and my sister's two youngest went to my Mom's and my sister's two oldest were set to stay at my house, but ended up at my neighbor's house (my niece is friends with my neighbors daughter, so when in town they usually spend time together) we ended up have the neighbors over and having a bon fire- sans the kiddo's who left for her house to play guitar hero! Saturday we got up and Paul and I went out in search of a coffee ginder to gind our own beans (he has become a coffee drinker in the morning) got home and my neighbor stopped over for a cup and we sat on the deck taking in the beautiful morning. Then we mounted up on the bikes and biked to a local park and played sand volley ball. It was a super nice day and my kid's plus my sister's other two were back at my house... so we went for a swim at the neighbors home and then had everyone to our house for BBQ. While BBQ a new set of neighbors yelled over the valley to stop over... so we headed oer the river (creek about 2ft wide) and thru the woods (a few trees that border our lot and theirs) only to find another set of our neighbors already there. we were literally coming to meet them and have a drink... and we all ended up staying playing cards, the kids (including my sister-- yikes I brought a lot with me) played and played and then we had a bon fire at their house... it was like 1pm before we headed home. Sunday was a lazy day- we slept in and then headed to the park for a afternoon of throwing the football around, playing soccer, swinging and Mason played with his trucks in the wood chips! It was a beautiful day!

Monday we had Lauren's last brown bag lunch at school. Super cute they brought in lunch for everyone and the kids sang songs for us and then we took home ALL of their things!

This is two classes together-- Lauren had 20 kids in her class.

Tuesday was Lauren's last day of school! Wow I can't even believe that she is now a 1st grader! That year went by WAYYYY to fast!Here she is walking down the hill from the bus stop. She would never let me pick her up, unless it was a total down pour, but I would watch her every day!

And she found out her 1st grade teacher-- it will be Mrs. H!

A perfect holiday weekend!

We had such a fun weekend. Friday night we kicked off the weekend with an early bonfire, we cooked out hotdogs and had chips, pop (ghasp) and smores! Not the healthiest meal, but it was fun... the kids each burnt their dogs over the open flame. The kids told us ghost stories... and we were laughing so hard... great belly laughs, with Mason's--he even had to get up and stand in the yard and was doing gestures and special voices... it was so funny! A memeory I will always have of him!

Saturday we rolled out of bed at our leisure... Paul had a few things to do in the morning and I quickly cleaned the house while the kids played outside... then it was a quick pack up and off to the lake we went! It was beautiful weather,a little breezy but nice. We had a fun night there, the kids went on 4wheeler rides, went on the golf cart, played bean bag toss, ran around, ate way to much... and played with Daisy...

and ended it with the bonfire and the kids slept in Grandma and Pa's bunkbeds!

Sunday morning we woke to quite a storm... the camper was shaking with the thunder and the rain came down hard... but it was over pretty quick to. We took off early morning and headed back home... the kids played outside while we unloaded and then came in and both took a nap (ok I did too - camping takes a lot of a person)! Since we didn't do up the big breakfast at the lake (cause it was so wet outside) we opted to have breakfast for dinner-- a fav of the kids (and DH)... and then the storms rolled in again (this time in DBQ) the sirens went off (though in the distance) so we snuggled downstairs and watched a movie, while my DH th stormchaser, listened to the scanner and watched out the upstairs windows searching for signs of a twister! Finally it appeared to have passed, so we came up to bed and woke in the morning to find we received 2.5" of rainful! Whew!

Monday was a beautiful day... we loaded up again and headed to Eagle Point Park for a picnic lunch. The kids looked at the Lock and Dam (Lauren asked if she could call it that, or if it should be Lock and Darn-- to cute) and we wandered over to the Koi Pond to watch the fish and frogs! We also played on the swings and jungle gym, although the swings were the biggest hit since Paul was giving underdogs to the kids! They love to go so high! Then it was off to the River Muesum for a walk through... we only stayed an hour or so... enough to take in a movie, see the Otters, and a few other exhibits...and they walked on the dock - holding hands! I see this in black and white and enlarged for my photo wall! and then we headed to Swiss Valley for our big idea of letting the kids go creek stomping! HA! That has changed since DH was a boy! First the water was rushing was to much and was way to deep to make it safe, second, the not so nice looking kids that were playing in it (unsupervised) we throwing rocks without a worry of hitting anyone, and third the water was so muddy and yuck, there would be no way they would be playing in it! So of course we had hyped it so the kids were totally bummed... but we will try it some other place or time. We were totally mean parents, since it was so warm (yes it was 80 yesterday woohoo) we let them end the day with fun time in the sprinkler-- even though the ground had taken in about as much rain as it could the night before... and really didn't need even a drop more of water on the grass--- they enjoyed it!

What a beautiful blessed weekend... and while we missed church this weekend, we did feel spiritually connected-- easy to be when there is so much to be thankful for!

Guess who is going to New York?! Ok me!!

At work I am an active part in a community outreach board. We work closely with a Domestic Violence Coalition. Last year we receive over $9,000 in grants through work for various projects. In the past we have tooted our horn by submitting our group for a Corporate Achievement Award. We have gotten honorable mentions (which pretty much anyone who submits receives) but to win is a VERY big deal. The recipients of the award are given a check for $10,000 that goes to the non-for-profit group of their choice plus the team is flown to New York for the presentation and a private dinner with the President (of the company, not the US, which my Mom thought I meant) It is a really big deal, I work for one of the top global textbook publishers. So guess who's team won!! Mine!!!!!!!!!!! So we will be flying out in June and for those who know New York the headquarters are on Avenue of the America's, just one block from Rockefeller Center!!!

I have travelled for work before, but never to New York, nor have I ever been to new York!!! So I am really excited, can you tell!?! I might even extend my stay and hit a Broadway play!

Happy anniversary to me!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary... and my in-laws 52nd wedding anniversary!

Friday we celebrated Mason's birthday with a friends party! He ended up with 6 little boys, 4yrs old or about to be 4 yrs old! They had a fun time! We had pizza, cake and ice cream. They opened presents, did a relay race and cracked open the pinata-- then they just wanted to play on the swing set!


Here he is at the end of the night with all of his "loot" (his word, I kid you not) and he had it all stacked up really nicely-- not in the picture, he even went and got his new Spiderman shoes and lined them up in there too!

Saturday Paul finished up a landscape undertaking--he move 14 tons of river rock from the driveway (where he had it dropped) to a section in the middle to far back of the yard-- and he ran out... he needs atleast another ton.

And we planted the garden and got the "fencing" up around it. See all of those containers... those all have tomato plants in them... I think the neighbor and I went a little overboard-- we have 18 regular tomato plants and then we also have Roma and grape too!!! We have a whole row of peppers and much more! I still need to get the pumpkin, cucumber and kohlrabi planted (in a different section).

Mason was a huge help-- he stayed down in the garden section with me, helping to fill the jug and then the watering can from the creek-- he was filthy!!! But you know what that means-- He had a good time!!!

Our intention was to either go out for pizza to celebrate Mason's actual birthday or cook out, but time got away from us and by the time we were coming into the house it was 4:30 and none of us had any lunch! So we all showered up, and Mason picked Red Robin (or as he calls it Reed Robbins).

My Mom gave Mason a Tiger Webkinz while there-- Sunday he told everyone he got the Webkinz from Reed Robbins-- they gave it to him with his balloon and sundae! LOL!

Sunday we went to Paul's parents for Mothers Day, and to celebrate Mason's bday with his family and to celebrate our anniversaries! I swear I think my kids feel that their birthdays are a week long celebration-- and sometime they are!lol!

Tonight Lauren goes and meets her soccer team and gets her uniform. I am trying to find a net that we can use in the yard for her to practice her kicking into... if anyone knows where you can get one-- please email me!

What a handsome lil' man

I took Mason to get his 4yr pics done, quickly and last minute, last night. I tried Por_trait Inno*vatio*ns for the first time and loved them. So much so I am going to take Lauren to get hers done, even though she just had spring pics at school... I'd like matching one to Mason's for the mantel... might even do the two of them together!

This isn't the best "copy" I didn't scan it in, just took a pic of the pic to post here! lol! It is a really nice bright white background, which looks great with his bright green shirt and khaki shorts! He looks so grown up! He likes to have his hair done... aka gel, combed and sprayed!

Happy (day early) Birthday to Mr. Mason--- the big 4 years old!

So tonight is the big night... Mason's little friends will be at the house at 5:30. I was debating what to do with Lauren... wasn't sure if she'd be a helper or a hinder, so my plan, I am having 2 neighbor girls come down and they are going to play and promise me that they will do there thing on their own! Lauren has been having so much fun with them, they are sisters (One is a year older and one a year younger than L) and they all play so well together! I am excited for her this summer as she has made some really good friends in the neighborhood and this year she can venture around a bit more, with in reason! Oh and we need to get a new bike... This was Lauren riding her friends bike last night, and she can pedal up the hill and all with her friends, she can't with hers I think b/c it is getting to small... so we need to head out and get a new one for her!

And Happy Mother's Day to all!

Theme? Which one!

Mason has been really hard to pin down to a theme, so what did I decide to do? I picked a little of everything he liked, so the theme is: Spiderman/Spongebob/RaceCar/Diego/Shark/Balloon/MickeyMouse Birthday!

His cake is a racetrack and he wants shark candles (if I can find them!lol). His napkins and plates have balloons and confetti on them, his gift bags have spiderman card games, bubbles and fun bubble blowers, Diego bouncy balls, playdoh and candy. I made his pin the tail game and I am having it printed and laminated at Copyworks today... it looks like this...

And the kids will be "pinning" on Mickey ears... let's see have I forgotten anything?? Oh yes, the relay race. Will be two teams, they will each have a Disney stuffed animal and they will have to run down to a bin, grab a birthday hat put it on the stuffed animal and drop it in the bin!

I really wanted a single theme, but this is what Mason wanted... and it is all about him tomorrow night!

On Saturday for his actual birthday we will go out for pizza and ice cream and they sing to you there! He loved it when we went there for Lauren this year, it was like he didn't remember it from years past! And then on Mother's Day we will celebrate with Paul's side of the family when we get together for Mother's Day and we will also celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary and his parents 52nd anniversary (we were married on their 45th wedding anniversary)! So a busy busy busy weekend... but the weather looks good and that will make it a great weekend!

Whew Wednesday already???!!!

Wow this week has flown by. We are in final prep phase for Mason's fast approaching birthday party. I still need to get the pinata picked up, make his treat for school tomorrow, pick up cake for party and candles, pick up more candy for the pinata, as well as juice boxes for the boys. Since they are 4 yrs old my game ideas are: pin the tail on the donkey, a relay race with bean bags in teams of 3, a bucket toss game, and then free play. Friday is looking like it will be a nice day so we are hoping to be outside for the entire party. We are thinking picnic style for the pizza, cake and ice cream... and then all the games out there. I picked up the items for the gift bags, bubble kits with bubbles and fun blowers, playdoh, card game, bouncy balls, and then the candy from the pinata. Mason is SOOO excited as are we for him! He is going to have a blast!!!! It is his first friend party.

Our Daisy meeting went great last night. We did decorate mugs for the Mom's and then filled with dirt and seeds that will flower. The girls decorated the box as well and colored a neat card. But what was extra special was circle time. The girls were asked what was their favorite memory from our camping trip and we went around twice, each girl at some point said having their mom there with them! It was soooo sweet!!! Other fav's were the bunkbeds, hiking and the food! So the trip was a success!

Ok off to make my to do list! I don't want to forget a thing!

Whirlwind weekend!

Lauren came home from school Friday with an invite for a birthday party..... for Saturday!!!! I literally check her bag EVERYDAY, so I know it was not in there on Thursday or any day prior. After juggling our plans around, I called to RSVP, as Lauren really wanted to go. So Saturday we got up bright and early, go her bag packed for her overnight stay, showered and cleaned up for the party and off we went to pick out a birthday present and head to the party by 11am! I got her all dropped off and headed back home to pick up Mason and Paul as we headed out to hit a few garage sales! We haven't done this in years, but we are in search of a few things that typically you can find at garage sales: canning jars and an old desk to refinish! We didn't find either, but Paul did get a few craved ducks for his den and a tripod for the camera-- $12 spent! We picked Lauren up and headed home for a quick change and herded her out the door to spend the night at her cousins house! It is fun to just spend some one on one time with Mason... although by Saturday night we were all missing Lauren. Oh and I finally was able to watch 27 Dresses, cute movie, although I expected to be blown away by it! Sunday was another beautiful day, and a bit warmer! We spent most of the day in the back yard... Paul was working on the drainage issue we had in the waaaayyyy way back "flower bed" which turned into a nightmare when the drain tile he tied into somehow clogged, and now he needs to run a new drain tile to correct! He was pretty ticked with himself... he thinks he should have left it alone... but he didn't and now created more work for him self- not to mention has to dig up the yard a bit. Mason and I laid out/staked out the garden and bought some seeds, haven't planted yet, but will, when I have the plants bought so I can do it all at once. So far I am planting; tomatoes, peppers and onions, cilantro, basil, radishes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and watermelon. I need to pick up kohlrabi, asparagus (will be years before we can pick) and zucchini plants- and that will probally fill the space! I took a cat nap out in the sun, while Mason played on the swing set (Paul was out there to, so it wasn't like I let Mason run free! while I slept)... When Lauren came home they played out there till 8:30 and I had to force them inside as Mason hadn't even had supper yet! lol! and they both needed a good bath!

Blast from the past

I was doing a google search (just interested to see what people can find out about my by doing a search-- the thought scared me) and this came up http://nicklepickle.blogdrive.com/. It is my old blog... that I started in 2005! It is fun to look back at it and see the pics of the kids so young, and where we were in life back then! So even though I often feel I am blogging for myself, I am glad I do it... it is like my online diary, but with pictures!

How does your garden grow?!

Paul got our the tiller and now we have a new home for the garden. It is a 16x16 patch (he will enclose to keep the rabbits out) we are sharing with the neighbor! I am super excited, we are going to go out and pick out the seeds with the kids this weekend! They are thrilled to be planting things again! Lauren has her watermelon seeds ready to go (not sure how that will really work... but we will see)! On the planting list is; radishes, zucchini, kohlrabi, sweet peppers in every color, pumpkins, rhubarb, some sweet corn, and of course tomatoes and grade tomatoes!

So it was super funny, Mason played on the swing set for like all of 1 minute when he caught wind of Paul getting out the big green machine and off he went "to work"! Mason is a hands on kid. He flew back up the hill to get his rake and shovel to help!

So here he is "workin"-- note the tape measure, measuring the little post behind him, he was buildin'-- he must have said that 20 times, just like Bob!

Then he worked up a sweat - "I was sweatin' Mom, this buildin' is hard work" (Seriously that is a direct quote!)

And then had to go hang the shirt up in the tree, like Dad!

And then he was investigating the way back yard and found the creek flowing pretty good from all the rain, it was a really pretty setting, so Mom mode took over and started snapping pics!

And after all that of being outside for 4 hours you'd think he come in and fall fast asleep no problem at bedtime, but nope! He is my night owl!