School's Out!

Daniel finished up preschool last month.  Dylan and I attended the end of year ceremonies where Daniel did exactly what I predicted - nothing!  He walked in with his class and they stood them all up on the stage.  They sang some songs and recited their class verse.  Well, everyone but Daniel.  To be fair, there were one or two other children in his class that didn't sing or talk, but even some of them were at least doing the hand motions.  Oh, well!  He still looked handsome!

Here he is with Ms. Shawna, his assistant teacher.  Ms. Debbie had to leave early and we didn't get to get a picture with her.  :(

Jacob finished up school last week and 1st grade is officially over!  They held an awards ceremony for the honor roll students last month and we were so proud!

Of course, Daniel had to get in on the picture action.

Jacob, receiving his award and medal from his principal, Mrs. Arnold.

Showing off his award and medal.  He received an award for being on the Principal's List for the entire year (having all A's).  So proud!

The end of the school year was also the same time as the end of the baseball season.  This was Jacob's last year doing coach-pitched and will move up to machine-pitch next year.

Playing first base.  Yes, he caught that ball!  He really improved leaps and bounds from last year.  He's a fast runner, good hitter and great catcher.  I can't wait to see what next year brings!

Sliding into home plate on the last play of the season.

Dylan was an assistant coach this season and I think the two of them really had a blast spending time together on the field.

Jacob getting his trophy from his favorite coach - Dylan!

It was a great school year and baseball season.  We are enjoying summer so far and will definitely enjoy our time off, but I can't wait to see what next year (& seasons) bring.  The boys are just getting bigger every day, but so is my heart.  I have truly been loving being a Mommy!

Drum Roll Please...

I know, you've been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the pictures of our new grass.  No?  Oh, well - you're going to have to look at them anyway!

First, here are some pictures that I took while the work was being done:

Putting in the drainage pipes.

More drainage pipes. They went ahead and connected both our downspouts and our foundation drains from our basement while they already had everything dug up.

This is what it looked like when they were done with all the grading.

The 15 tons of compost they brought in. 15 tons doesn't look nearly as much as I thought it would be - it's pretty much just one dump truck load.

After they spread out all the compost, they put down a ton of lime and fertilizer and tilled it all together using a tractor.  Then they went through with rakes and did the "fine grading".  There was a man that we called "bucket boy" because it appeared that his only job while he was here was walking around and picking up all the rocks, roots, and debris out of the dirt before they put the seed down.  Well, when it came time to put down the seed, "bucket boy" went around with his bucket full of seed and flung it around they yard.  By hand.  I thought, "This is crazy - it's going to take forever."  Let me tell you, if you ever need your yard seeded, I'll get you "bucket boy's" number.  That man had some mad skills when it came to throwing down seed.  It was quite impressive.

And after a lot of watering....

Ta-Da!

Look!  No more rocks!

And no more rivers!  Yay!

This picture cracks me up!  I don't think I've ever seen Dylan so happy to cut the grass.  I think he was just happy because now we actually have grass.

We still have to wait another week or two before we put our swing set and trampoline back up, but I can't wait!  The boys will finally be able to play outside on a regular basis and I won't have to keep buying an insane amount of stain stick and laundry detergent.  The way our backyard was a few months ago, if it rained, we had to wait a good 2-3 days before it would be dry enough for us to go outside.  Now, they should be able to go out almost as soon as the sun comes out.  Hooray!

Don't worry - I promise to post something more exciting (or at least cuter) next time!

So, obviously I haven't been doing a great job of updating the blog.  So, once again, let's see if we can play catch-up!

We'll start with this picture...

This is Daniel.  He makes me laugh.  A lot.  :)

Jacob had lost his two front bottom teeth last Fall. One of his top teeth started to come loose in December and it took until March for it to finally fall out! I have never seen a tooth take so long to fall out. And it didn't even come out on it's own - Dylan had to give it a little yank. It was just hanging on by a tiny root and was spinning around, so he convinced Jacob to let him pull it. It must have been more than ready to come out because Jacob said it didn't even hurt when Dylan pulled it.  Here it is the beginning of June, and the new tooth hasn't come in yet.  His other front tooth has been loose since March with no signs of falling out any time soon.  I think he must be trying to set a record for the longest time to lose teeth.

Now the biggest project that has been going on around here is our backyard makeover.  I wish I could say that it is some fancy project, but no.  We just needed to grow some grass.  It is a much bigger project than it sounds, though.  Allow me to show you the before pictures:

Look at the beautiful... red clay!

I mean, who doesn't want so much erosion to occur that you start to have a yard full of rocks?  Wait... what do you mean rocks don't make a good playground for children?

Everyone likes a nice river running through their backyard, right?

OK, enough with the boring pictures of our formerly lame backyard.  Tomorrow, I will post the during and after pics.  I know, I know - you're on the edge of your seat.