Pictures!

I guess we actually have had our camera since Saturday. It's so small they put it in our mailbox, and we are bad about checking our mail promptly. Today was another hot day and we totally enjoyed it like a summer day (except that I was out doing some odd yardwork on a hot day, but it was good to get it done). We got a pressure-washer yesterday which I am so happy about. It successfully cleaned a patio set I got from free-cycle, so it was definitely worth the purchase. The boys played in the sprinkler while Sheila hung out in her stroller, on a blanket, or on the deck, and I did some work. Then we had some popsickles while sitting on our new teak rocking chairs (great deal from SAMS). We had dinner on our deck again (I see this happening a lot this year as the sun is shaded by the house and it just makes for a very relaxing and fun dinner). And then we enjoyed some more of the daylight hours playing in the backyard. It will be sad when Mario has to go back to real work and will travel every week. We are so spoiled that he doesn't travel AND works from home.


Some pictures from our after-dinner fun.




And finally, some before and after pictures of the work on the front landscape.
This is the shot the sellers took for the front of their house. Notice the very large foundation shrubs and trees on the corners of the house.

This is a sort of before picture... obviously, this was after the wind knocked half the tree down.

And here we are. Nothing big and crazy. You can see the walls we added (on the left of the house and on the right corner by the garage. I'll need to take a close up of them since we worked so hard on them). The plants are obviously small, but the goal is when they mature they will be of a good scale and won't cover the windows. The small dogwood was the same tree we transplanted from the backyard. It's blooming and appears to have survived the move.
One more close up to come.

Post without pictures

So, I think in my last post I mentioned how we lost our camera. A new one is on it's way, in the meantime it's been very hard to be without one. We've taken far more videos than usual to try to capture the cute moments. We've continued to work on the front landscaping and as soon as we get a camera I can get you a good before and after picture.

Friday was my birthday and I was very spoiled. Thursday night I cleaned like a madwoman so I wouldn't feel that I had to do anything Friday (my birthday gift to myself). I woke up to a beautiful and delicious birthday cake that Mario made for me. (That's usually my least favorite thing to do for myself on my birthday). Mario and the kids showered me with gifts throughout the day. The kids and I went over to my friend's house for our rosary group where there were more than the usual kids and moms. The weather was great and we all had a great time (and another cake). Mario returned from his short day trip to Charlottesville with our favorite sandwiches from the area so we quick had one of those before getting the babysitter for the evening. We went to a wine tasting held in our big community, met some nice people, had some good wine and a fun time. And I returned to a house of sleeping children. It was our first time leaving all 3 of them with a babysitter and she did a great job. I feel that I'm a pretty lucky 28 year old (except that I have no picture to prove that yet...but will soon).