After All The Rain...

Spring is in full swing.
This rose was Karen's from Valentine's Day. We planted in late March after tending to it inside. Looking pretty nice, prettying up the area where I keep the garbage :-)

Backyard is even looking good. Jacob had a week of punitive weeding out there and he really made a good dent. Nothing beats child labor! The grass laid last Fall looks amazing.


And hopefully in a couple of weeks our giant mass of roses will start blooming for a summer full of roses.

September Showers

Bring more flowers. The late summer flowers really loved the rain...


The boys had their first Sunday School today and Karen had a sisterhood brunch this morning. That left me and Faith together all morning. Boy can that girl talk... non-stop chatter. By dinner I had had enough of the chatter but mostly annoyed with her complaining about dinner, so I told her she was an annoying little girl. Her response: "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little a girl who talks and talks." She had me cracking up!

Mission Complete

Woke up early this morning with my neck and back feeling pretty good. Just the opportunity to finish the backyard walkway only 3 months after I started. About 7:30am I started clearing the area of the stones that I temporarily laid out. The family then went to synagogue and I must say the chairs in the back where we sit (so the kids can get up easily) are far worse for my back then lifting all those stones.

A quick rest after services and puts the day already at 3:00pm!! Better get to work. Karen took the kids to the pool while I then spread out about 2-3 inches of stone dust over the area (maybe 600 lbs). I now have ~200 lbs left if any needs some stone dust.

Finally I started laying the stones, which are just set into the stone dust. I paid some attention to the grade to avoid standing water as well as keeping it somewhat level enough to put a small table and a chair or two on.

By about 5:30pm I was onto the finishing touches.


Overall, I think it came out pretty good. We'll see how water drains after the first rain and I can make some adjustments if necessary. This week I'll pick up a table and chair set. Then we'll pull up or kill off some of the ornamental grass and plant some flowers.

Our butterfly garden is also doing its job! There were four of these tiger swallowtail butterflies feasting this afternoon.


And of course Tipper was enjoying an old bone in the yard while I worked.

Plans. Who Needs Plans

We had big plans for today. Our Google Calendar printed out the following agenda: Karen's Sisterhood Meeting 9:30-10:30 Faith Swimming 11:00-11:30 Reuben and Jacob Swimming 11:30-12:00 Reuben and Jacob Birthday Party – #1 12:30-1:30 Reuben and Jacob Birthday Party – #2 2:00- 3:00 Faith and Karen – Cinderella Ballet at NVCC 2:00-?? T-Ball Practice – R&J 4:00 – 5:00 We had it scheduled to the minute, sandwiches made for lunch in the car, car seats and booster seats distributed in perfect synchronization, etc.... That was until Sunday actually came. Reuben puked at 7:00am! Then the minivan car battery was dead. Of course Karen's cell phone battery was drained. And of course we couldn't find the car keys. In the end I think its working out. Karen went to her Sisterhood meeting, while I called AAA. I must say AAA has gotten amazing. They at the car in less than 20 minutes and jumped the car. Didn't see any lights left on so its a still a bit of mystery as to why the battery died. Stay tuned, I'm sure that story isn't over. When Reuben puked again at 10:00, all hope for him going out was gone. Karen got home at 10:30 took Faith and Jacob to swimming. At 12:10, Karen calls to say she's coming home; Jacob had no underwear. Of course Jacob thought that was the coolest. Quick change and onto bday party #1. Meanwhile I put Reuben down for a nap. Faith and Karen will then depart for Cinderella. A friend is going to get Jacob from party #1 to #2, still up in the air for how he gets home. It's not too far, maybe he'll walk ;-) Thankfully its raining and T-ball is canceled.
Today was going to be the big picture day, but instead I'll post some from yesterday. It was surprising nice, considering the forecast called for a wash-out. Our tulips really peaked yesterday!
I also started working on my slate walkway.Hopefully it winds up looking a little better than this. We'll then put a little table and chair on the small patio area I'll make.
Last week Jacob filled his smiley face chart and really had a great week at school. So his prize was to pick a restaurant and of course he picked Chuck Cheese, which his probably where Reuben got sick.

Tip Toe Through The Tulips

The tulip bulbs Karen planted in the Fall have come up beautifully adding some nice color to the backyard. In another couple of the days they will really shine.

This planting went a lot better than the last time we planted bulbs, actually when my Dad planted the bulbs in our yard. My Dad very conscientiously dug beautiful holes for each bulb and then added just the right amount of bone meal for fertilizer. Oh how good they would look. Unfortunately we all forgot to realize that bone meal is made from bones and that Tipper loves two things our backyard and bones!!!! A few hours after my Dad was finished we looked outside only to notice that Tipper had dug up all the bulbs.




Tipper lovin' the backyard

Pretty Blossoms

Spring has sprung, though it is still a bit chilly. But like clockwork our magnolia has blossomed and it looks like this year the blossoms may not get ruined by an untimely frost.
We worked a lot in the yard today. Karen and the kids were clearing an area of lamb's ears for a vegetable garden, while I was fixing the door to our crawl space, the area in front of it, and the side gate to the yard. Lot of digging too, as the dirt always builds up around the gate and door, so much so that they can't be open. I also laid some stone in front of the crawl space door, but now it is like a well in front of the door with 3 inch dirt side walls. I think I need to dig some more out and line with bricks to make a mini-retaining wall. Maybe tomorrow...

Staying Around The House

Fall is now here. We had a nice around the house day. Weather once again was great, but now a little on the cool side. After going out for bagels this morning, we worked around the yard. Jacob was a particularly big help to me as I cleared vines and weeds from he back corner of the yard. He with Reuben and Faith, also helped me take down the wood from the Sukkah and store it under the house in our crawl space.
While I worked cleaning up the yard, the kids had a good time playing around. Reuben actually had a good hit on one of the balls as it shot up from the base. Kids still need a lot of practice jumping rope, though I'm not one to talk.
Before dinner we made it outside again and Jacob was in a picture taking mood...
But no one loves autumn as much as Tipper. She's outside just about all day long.
By the way as Karen beautifully photographed, our mums are looking great!

Not Your Typical August Day

What a beautiful day. Opened the sliding door to let Tipper in the back this morning and I was struck by how cool it was and the nice lack of sound of the air conditioner. I left the door open to get in some fresh air. Our neighbor was invited to a Bat Mitzvah of a girl in the neighborhood at our synagogue. So we promised her that we would go with her and take her there. Well, the place was packed. Not only was it a Bat Mitzvah, but there were two baby namings as well. It was also a bit awkward when Karen gave her congratulations to the Bat Mitzvah girl's mother and then was asked why we didn't RSVP. We never got the invitation, nor would have expected to be invited. We don't know them too well even though they live just around the corner. Even still we felt bad. Now we'll have to get her a gift, but I'm glad we didn't have to go the party.

Because there were so many people there for all the celebratory events, we met up with people we don't usually see... like our pediatrician, my brother's college friend, and many of our neighbors. We didn't get home until about 2pm, after getting there a little earlier than normal (10 am) because our neighbor was afraid of being late.

After a quick naptime the moonbounce came out and we played a lot in the backyard.


Meanwhile, Karen went out to the supermarket to get some chopped meat and hot dogs and I bbq'd dinner. Three cheers to Faith who ate 5 large pieces of hamburger. Jacob must have built up a big appetite in the moonbounce. He ate a hamburger, a hot dog (both on buns), some french fries, and all his broccoli. Reuben did pretty well also. Italian ices desert for all!!



Tipper was waiting a long time for the squirrel to slip up. Never happened.

Tent City

Karen painted Jacob's room today. A real grassy green. He seemed pretty excited, but the smell is very strong, so we set up the tent in the playroom for him to sleep.


He was pretty happy about it.

And of course some more flower pictures, here with visiting monarch butterflies.

Batter Up!

Couldn't have asked for better weather this weekend. Yesterday, after synagogue, I trimmed the bushes in the front yard and got about 75% done. The boys came out to “help” towards the end. Reuben and Jacob raked some clippings together and then Jacob even helped me bag a little. Today it was breakfast at Einstein bagels then I split off for softball, while the kids got haircuts and went to swim class. Later, I set up the wiffle ball tee for some juvenile batting practice:
Jacob's form isn't the best, but he hits the ball pretty well. One thing they do very well is keeping their eyes on the ball. Even Faith (wearing her Belle gown) had some swings off the tee:
Tipper had fun chasing some of the balls around.
And finally a couple more flower pictures: