This Week In Pictures (5/30 - 6/5)

This week:

* we celebrated our friend's birthday

* our family had a picnic lunch at Mott's Reservoir

* John & friend & neighbor built our backyard fence (& the neighbors fence too) and then had a potluck bbq with our neighbors afterwards

* my brother and sister-in-law had their first baby! xo

* we went to the library as a family to check out some books

* I was tired of Andrew wanting to play with his sister's pink computer - so I went & bought him a more gender friendly colored computer for himself. :)

* I took the younger two to the park before lunch on a HOT (90 degree) day. Very humid! We thought we were lucky getting there and being the only ones at 11:45 am to be at the park. WRONG! They were all smart to stay indoors. We only lasted 10 or so minutes before running to get a slurpee at 7-Eleven! They at least had fun. During the summer, we'll stick to morning or evening trips to the park! :)

* the kids read lots of books - gearing up for summer vacation

* Andrew played peek-a-boo - and started saying "mommy!" So cute!

* I played single mom much of the week while John spent his spare time outdoors working on our backyard renovation. Everything from sun up to sun down - I was doing with them. Loving it - but tired too!

* Andrew's teething again and cranky and clingy. P.S. I don't mind the clingy part! :)

* John started building our backyard patio putting in a 14 hour Saturday!

* the kids and I attended a friend's Eagle Court of Honor

{Sometimes it's necessary for us to sleep next to the dragon to get her to take a nap!}

{"Here mama...I picked you a flower!"}

{This boy LOVES water bottles! Easy entertainment.}

{Celebrating my friend's birthday!}

{My kids LOVE to read. So glad we started reading to them at an early age.}

{The fence project}

{Sidewalk chalk after our neighborhood bbq}

{Even Andrew had some fun with it!}

{No mid day nap + car ride in the evening = sleep!!}

{He's mastering the stairs quite well.}

{Memorial Day family/neighbor bbq}

{Andrew decided while eating his yogurt that he would drop his crunchy snack into the bowl :)}

{His very own computer!}

{peek-a-boo!}

{I can still see you! :)}

{This was after he fell INTO the tub wearing only a diaper. He completely scared himself AND his mama! While getting the water started, he was reaching over to play with the running water and fell head first into the bathtub. I was only 4 feet away putting his clothes into the hamper. Good thing I don't ever leave the kids alone in the bathroom. He was back to his happy self within seconds. But he better not do that to me again though! Talk about scary! I had to play calm to keep HIM calm. Whew!}

{Watching Daddy in the backyard hard at work}

{Teething!!!}

{Our friend's son receiving his Eagle}

{A rare experience: alone in a quiet and clean living room. Nap times are wonderful...when they actually sleep! :) What a crazy & busy week!}

Baby Grace

As of June 1st, 2010...I became an Auntie again! :)

My brother and sister-in-law over in England are now first time parents to an adorable 9 lb. 9 oz. baby girl named Grace Emily. She's beautiful and we're so happy for them!

"Congratulations you guys! We can't wait to meet her and hold her.

Until then, give her our love! xoxo"

Backyard Project: Fence

I am happy to report that we now have a backyard fence!! :)

 It has been on our to-do list for a few years and we can finally move on to other projects. Yay! Earlier in the week, John bought all of the fence posts and materials needed so when the time came, he was ready to get it done. It's been kind of tricky here though. Lightning and thunderstorms sort of control when we can get stuff done outside. Anytime it was clear, he was out there doing something.

Us and our neighbors decided to do this backyard fence project at the same time. John was graciously able to get military discount through Lowes on all of the material so it was a good deal! It has definitely been a team effort - John, his good friend, and our neighbor put in many hours of labor. And I put in many hours of labor tending to our kids while he was hard at work. Today being Memorial Day, all of them had the day off and were able to get the job finished. They did an awesome job!

Up next: the backyard patio.

Stay tuned!

But before I go, here are some pictures of the backyard fence project...