Quicky Post...

... dont know where the week has gone... Oh wait, yes I do. It has disappeared in the time we have spent outside.

I really need to stop getting these burrs up my butt... we have wanted and been talking about making a little fire pit/ bonfire area in the backyard. I decided to break it up into 4 stages and this week I have completed Phase 1.

I made steps out of big ol' pieces of flagstone that I broke up into smaller pieces. I googled how to split stone and realized that I did not have any of the tools needed so I used a 10 lb rubber weight and two small logs and it worked like a charm. I placed the flagstone on the logs and then used about 1/4 of my weight to break the stone. Out of the six pieces I split, 5 split perfectly and the other one split ok.

Here are my "professional" tools

And here is the finished product. I transplanted some groundcover that I hope will spread pretty quickly. The firepit area will be directly to the left and my little "garden" experimenting is happening to the right (up the steps). The Power Wheels track runs along the perimeter of the yard and through the woods to the far right (out of the picture). I am so digging (hahaha) this yard... it is working my butt off, however that could prove to be a good thing. :)

Best part is that this only cost me $50!

I also burned again today... I am amazed at how quickly my pile of debris can grow.

And here are just a couple pics of the boys.

PapaHub- if you are reading this... I love antiques however this "tractor" is not quite working out.... The boys enjoy playing on it, but I am a bit tired of looking at it. :)

Precious boys

Shepherd's 15 month stats!

Well, he is still my tall little man.

Weight- 24.8 lbs (78%)

Height- 33.75" (99%)

Head- 19.75" (99%)

This shows how long he is. This is the precious face I get to see when I get him from a nap.

He was supposed to get 2 shots but we postponed the chicken pox vax until next month due to a reaction that Ashton had when he got it.

Here is Ashton when he got chicken pox from the vaccine. We did not want a repeat of this especially in combination with another vaccine. Look at the sad, sick eyes :(

Shep also started tugging at his right ear yesterday. I would not have taken him in for it yet since it wasnt bothering him too bad but since we were already there, Doc wrote a scrip for his ear infection. I hate giving him antibiotics unless he really needs them so I am not 100% sure I am going to give it to him though I am leaning that way.

Well thats the appointment. I back to back to back posted so dont miss Eucharisteo Part 4 and What I Have Been Up To posts.

Eucharisteo Part 4 and 100th Post!

110- Wearing shorts in February

111- Cloth diapers hanging on a drying rack outside

112- Little boys legs being in shorts for the first time this year

113- Moon so full it looks like it might pop

114-Warm February days

115-Dog nails clicking on hardwood floors

116- My first real (wrap his arms around me) hug from Shepherd :)

117- Semi gloss paint

118- Early signs of spring popping up in the yard

119- Bulbs pushing through the dirt

120- 70 degree days

121- Soft creaking of the rocking chair

122- Getting things for free

123- Turning the car radio off to hear the slow, rhythmic breathing of my sleeping baby

124- Large, sharp knife falling off the counter onto my foot with the blade to side

125- Wind through my hair

126- Holes in the knees of little boy's pants

What have I been up to?

... super busy with my project list. All that know me well know that once I get a bur up my butt to do something, it will normally get done sooner rather than later.

I painted/ striped my living room. All the walls in our house are the same color which I like (especially for resale purposes when the time comes) but I wanted to do something a tad different just to personalize it.

Before

After
I absolutely adore this. It is subtle but still makes an impact.. yay for paint!

I have also been getting the side yard together. We are pine needling in the majority of the side yard. Call in RoundUp, shovel for trenching/ scalping, and 23 bales of pine needles (I had already moved all the stones to make the retaining wall) and it is 2/3 of the way done. We still have to get the part by the road looking better but it is soooo eaten up with this rooty viney things that I am kind of at loss as to what to do... worry about that another day ;)

Before

After
Ah, nothing like fresh pine needles - this looks a million times better

Needless to say, my darling children have been fending for themselves the past 3 days. Thankfully the taping and painting was basically finished during naps and after they had gone to bed. The outside work they were out there with me enjoying the beautiful weather. Ashton was a big help with throwing out pine needles, Hunter helped for all of 2 minutes, and Shepherd just wandered around with us.

Beautiful Monday

... and we did not even leave the house.

It started with the boy's cousin, Charlee coming over for the morning since her daycare was closed today. They were so excited for her to come and they all had fun.

Group Shot

They played trains.

This pic cracks me up... this picture explains Ashton's and Shepherd's relationship

And played outside - rode power wheels, did laps around the yard, played with the baseball/ basketball, played on the playground.

The reason we need two power wheels.

Just went down the hill- turns out it is a bit steep.

Shep fussing because he wants a turn on the power wheels

Ashton and Shepherd's turn on the power wheels... so cute because Ash can barely see over Shep's head.

I did a good bit of yardwork today... pine needles, cutting back monkey grass, pulling weeds, and round upping.

Then after dinner, the boys hopped in the car and played. It took me back to RM days when Hunter and Ashton would want to play in the car ALL THE TIME.

Here are the car pics.

Eucharisteo Part 3

73- Molly letting Shepherd walk her around the house with her leash on.

74- Laughter on the swings

75- Gold cross around my neck

76- 10 minute power naps

77- Classic toys
*** Two days after I wrote this one, Chad ran over it with the car

78- Little boys with dirt

79- No snow on NC mountain roads

80- Snow makers for skiing on "warm" Feb days

81- Sun roof

82- Curvy mountain roads

83- 21 yr old brother giving up his Saturday to take his nephew skiing

84- Kid size skis

85- Sun bouncing off snow

86- Getting up and trying again

87- Row and rows of Christmas tree farms

88- Bible believing church

89- Good parking spots

90- Listening to the logic between a 5 yr old and 3 yr old

91- "Grace that is greater than all my sin"

92- Water seeping into the dirt of thirsty house plants

93- 1 yr old snuggles before bed

94- 5 kisses, 5 hugs, from a 5 yr old every night

95- Continually pulling pants on a 3 year old with no booty

96- Being loved by so many

97- Feather pillows

98- Baby pictures that bring back great memories

99- Gorgeous weather

100- Afternoon walks

101- Shepherd's "talking" when he wakes up in the morning

102- Wise words from a mother

103- Warmth of gas heat

104- Being tickled by the boys

105- Speed which fire can burn

106- Heat that fire puts off

107- Warm brownies right out of the oven

108- Singing "Sing Sing Sing" by Chris Tomlin at the top of our lungs in the car.

109- Forgiven tickets :-)

Scissor Happy

... been busy the past two days grooming my crape myrtles and pruning the boys... or is it the other way? Never mind, feeling a bit corny and a whole lot sore from my yard work!

First, boys all got hair cuts last night... including daddy.

Gave Shep a little boy haircut... can't decide if I like it. It is always surprising when they get their first haircut that kind of changes they way they look.

Before

After

Ashton got a big time trim too. I love his hair long, but I just dont know how to style it... he could totally pull the Justin Bieber do.

Before

After (I cant keep his mouth clean... I do try!)

Hunter got his typical clip. Dont have a recent before picture of him because he always has a hood or hat on his head. The closest is of me and him together from the ski trip... however there is not much of a difference.

After

Second, I have been researching how to prune crape myrtles. Regardless of what my neighbor said, I knew what he did to his was the picture of crape murder... See picture. He "pruned" or slaudered his in November.

My neighbor's botch job in his crape myrtle.

After some research I found February is the best time, so with the perfect weather, off I went, clippers in hand and ladder under foot. Um, I got in a bit over my head... literally. I cant reach some of the higher branches even with the ladder. So, I since we have probably around 15-20 crape myrtles in our yard (10 being in the front yard), I decided to do them differently to see which way works the best and produces the most blooms.

Here are my pics.
Number 1 - this one I trimmed the heaviest (because I could reach the top).

Number 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6 - These are all way too close together, not my fault. The two little ones got a full trim. The bigger ones, I trimmed what I could reach.

Number 7, 8,9, and 10 - They got little trim... only cut twigs that were less than pencil in diameter. I didnt touch the ones in the backyound.

And, my favorite part... BURNIN'. I was a bit tentative to start a fire without Chad here since I really never have. But, when looking at this brush pile that I had created from trimming the crape myrtles, I knew that staring at the pile for 3 more days could send me into crazy land.

My piles of crape myrtle... notice all those crate myrtles behind the piles... someone loved them crape myrtles when they lived here.


So, starting at 2:45, we burned. It was actually a lot of fun and it burned soooo fast.
Here is my fire.


Here is the fire at the end (5 pm). Notice the pile is gone!!


I am seriously sore from my trimming and hauling. I smell like smoke. I have scratches all over my wrist from the limbs, and then to top it all off, I burned my hand... not on the fire... on the frying pan :) .

I know this is not really an interesting post, but it is really for my record more than anything else so if you read the whole thing you either love yard work or you love me a lot ....

Eucharisteo Part 3 tomorrow!