It's Finally Done!

We have had an unfinished project hanging over our heads since May. It was one of those things that just seemed to go on, and on, and on. We were trying to get all of the landscaping and flower beds cleaned up. This meant that we had to add topsoil to all of the beds, weed them and then mulch them. It was a LOT of work.

The topsoil dragged on due to rain...we had it out in the driveway covered with a tarp. Then the mulch dragged on due to rain and weeds. It took us so long to get the mulch spread that we had to weed all of the beds all over again! Oh, and I forgot to mention that in there I did all of the edging too. That was one of the biggest, most time consuming, and painful jobs of them all.

Now we just have to fight the clover and the brown patches that are creeping into the lawn despite all of the watering!

This is the front bed...near the road. It has two HUGE trees in it along with some shrubs and flowering plants.

This was the worst bed to work on! It is on a hill....which is actually steeper than it looks in this photo. That meant that the (wet, heavy) topsoil...and subsequently, the mulch, had to be pushed up the hill to the top of this bed. Not fun! To add to the difficulty, whoever planted the plants in this bed must have been drunk! They were all clumped together in one area. We had to dig them up and move them around. While it still isn't perfect, but it is much better than it was! And we managed to get this affect by moving a minimal number of plants. We also trimmed up the hedges earlier in the spring and there was a LOT of edging work to be done here also. I think this was our biggest accomplishment.

At the front of the house........

This is the bed where the chipmunks live. They keep digging up our nice, neat mulch!

Heading up the front walkway.....

.....Looking from our front step out across the lawn. That is our neighbour's house you see in the distance.

Overall, it was a lot of work, but I love how it now looks! Now we just have to maintain it.

We learned that mulching is WAY easier than laying topsoil (especially wet topsoil). Also, we may consider putting in some kind of edging along the beds in the future. That would be a huge job...and expense. But, if it keeps the grass from creeping back into the beds, and me from having to dig it all up again, it might be worth it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Ojibway Park and the Tadpole Experience

On our recent trip to Canada we took the kids on a hike at a conservation area called Ojibway Park. The idea was to burn off some energy and get them out of the house. I think we succeeded! Beware, a LOT of pictures are to follow! :)


First up is Noah...running....nothing unusual there!

Kevin and I, with Noah behind the camera lens!

Miss Rebekah....

Noah and his shadow....

On our walk we came upon a pond that was full of hundreds of tadpoles. Noah had been learning about tadpoles in school and he was thrilled at our discovery. He insisted that Kevin catch some for him to hold and examine. Kevin went along with the plan once he was coaxed along a bit. :)

Our froggy and tadpole friends.

Noah holding his little buddies.....

Bekah's turn.....

The scenery.....

The froggy habitat.....

Where's Mom?

Bekah with a 'blow thing' (a.k.a. a dandelion that has gone to seed).

Noah climbing on a fallen tree...

It was actually pretty high up off the ground.....

Mommy's turn!

Of course Daddy had to get in on the action too!

Bekah's version of 'climbing the tree'......

Daddy and Bekah having a hug...

A great end to a great day!

Red Bull Air Show

While we were in Canada at the end of May, we stumbled upon the fact that there was to be an air show, sponsored by Red Bull, the day after we were scheduled to leave. We were a bit disappointed, thinking that we would miss all the action. Imagine our surprise when we were driving along the river two days before the scheduled event and we saw that one plane was out practicing for the big show! We pulled into a water front park and enjoyed watching the entertainment that ensued!

This pic shows Bekah standing on the Canadian side of the riverbank....that is Detroit, MI that you see in the distance.

Bekah worked on her pitching arm while she threw rocks into the water.

Noah had to get in on the action too....

In this shot you can see the exhaust from the plane as it flew between the two floating cones on the river....

A close up of the same stunt.....

Overall, it was a surprise but enjoyable show! The kids got to run off some steam while we watched and marvelled at the stunts. And, we even got a few good photos too!

Oopsie Moments - Part II

I have decided to share some more oopsie moments from our household. I figure everyone deserves a good laugh sometimes!


My oopsie happened when I was working in my stamp room. I had a specific stamp in mind that I wanted to use. When I went to look for it, I couldn't find it. I had recently transferred several stamp sets to CD jewel cases for storage and thrown out the original packaging. My first thought was that I accidentally threw out the stamp with the packaging. My second thought was that I couldn't exactly re-order the stamp, because it was a Paper Pretties stamp that had been sent to me as part of my Guest Design Team assignment. It would be a bit difficult to hide my mistake when I had to re-order a stamp I had already been sent!

Of course, all of the trash had been taken out to the road because it was garbage day. I actually had to go out to the road, pull the bag from the can and bring it back to the house to go through it. So gross. It also happened to be the same bag that had Bekah's wet night time pull-ups in it. Ughhhhh...... And guess what?? No stamp! After my garbage picking (and subsequent HAZMAT shower), I didn't even find what I was looking for!

Then I suddenly had a light bulb moment....I decided to check the aforementioned CD jewel cases to see if I had accidentally mislabelled one of them. Sure enough, there it was...in a case labelled with a manufacturer other than Paper Pretties (don't tell Christie!!). *wink* The mystery was solved...but the journey wasn't exactly fun.

Kevin's oopsie beats mine though! I had to go out for a short while. Kevin was home for the day, and I remember as I left, hearing Rebekah say that she needed to go potty. Kevin was going to deal with Bekah's needs and I headed out for my appointment.

When I arrived home a couple of hours later, Kevin was out doing yard work and Rebekah was playing on the play gym. Bekah was playing on the play gym in her underpants, that is. As it turned out, Kevin had put her on the potty, then taken her outside to play without putting her skirt back on! She played outside for two hours while he worked, and he never noticed that she was in her underpants! She was so happy to be outside, that she didn't notice either! She has an excuse though...she is three! When I asked Kevin where Rebekah's skirt was, he told me she was wearing it. She clearly wasn't. He said, "oh...I guess I forgot to put it back on her...". Ummmm....yeah, I think so too.

Well, that is all for today! Thanks for stopping by!

A New Career??

If you are at all squeamish....DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!! This post is truly disgusting but too notable not to share!


I think I may have a career as a surgeon in my future. LOL. We had a little incident recently when my skills were put to the test.


The day before we took the kiddies to the Eric Carle museum of Picture Book Art, we had been outside laying topsoil. We had seven yards of topsoil delivered....wet topsoil, actually. If you have never laid topsoil, you probably have no appreciation for how much seven yards really is. It is a LOT of topsoil.


Anyways, we spent days laying the wet, heavy topsoil. The last of it was done by Kevin the day before the trip to the museum. We went to bed that night, and everything seemed fine.


The next morning after his shower, Kevin called me up to the bathroom. He had something under his arm....and he wanted me to look at it. The conversation then went something like this:


Kevin: Can you take a look at this? I have something under my arm and I don't know what it is.


Me (after looking): Ummm....that's a BUG!


Kevin: It's a bug???!!!!! (picture wide eyes here)


Me: Yup.


At this point I assumed that it was a tick...but I had never in my life actually seen a tick. So I ran down and did a google search....'tick removal'. I found a step by step for how to remove a tick. Now let me tell you....the instructions are very straight forward, but it doesn't really work out like the instructions say that it should.


You are supposed to grip the tick with tweezers near the head, near the site where it is attached to the skin and 'gently pull', without squeezing, in order to remove it. Yeah, well gently pulling does nothing. I pretty much had my foot up on the counter I was pulling so hard, and this thing was not letting go. So gross.....


Next, it started coming apart (of course)! The thing came out in about eighty pieces. For the life of me, I couldn't get the last bit out (presumably, the head...and the most important part to remove). The tweezers weren't working...so then I moved to a needle. That didn't work either. Next I moved to a cuticle tool...it is kind of like a v-shaped blade. I have to give Kevin credit...he barely said a word, and I basically had to dig this thing out like the eye of a potato. YUCK!!


After the carnage was over, I rubbed antiseptic into the wound (he yelled then!) and then I put antibiotic ointment on it. I have to say....it healed up beautifully!


I am so glad that it was Kevin and not one of the kids! It would have ended up in a trip to the clinic if it had been one of the kids. It would have had to be numbed up before it could be removed on one of them. But, because it was Kevin, I just did the procedure myself! :)


Now I am completely paranoid about ticks.


Bug spray, anyone?

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

A few weeks ago, during the kids' spring break from school, my friend and I took our combined 5 kiddies to the zoo in Providence. My kids had been there once before, so if you have been reading my blog since the beginning, then you have probably seen some other photos that look almost identical to those below! *hehe*

We only spent a couple of hours, but it was fun for the kiddies and we got some good pics.

'Alice the camel had one hump, Alice the camel had one hump...' Remember that song from when you were a kid?!

From the indoor viewing area, we got the best view of the giraffe(s). This fella was quite social, and he walked right up to us.

Noah and my friend's little guy....being foolish....being boys. The seem to think anything ridiculous is hilarious...

Noah with my friend's oldest child. She was his very first friend here in the USA. Her mother was my very first friend here too. :)

Rebekah and the little funny man. They are only two months apart in age.

My friend's two girls.....

The whole crew.....two six year olds, two three year olds and a one year old.....yikes!

Four little bums in a row!

Noah and Rebekah on the camel.

I am sure with summer coming and school being out, we will be making more trips to the zoo. I have to do something to keep these kids busy and out of trouble!

Stay tuned, as the summer progresses you might get to see some elephant pics if you are lucky!

Mother's Day 2008

My Mother's Day gift this year was priceless. Noah made it in school and proudly brought it home to me. It was made from construction paper to look like a woman's vest. It had a doily collar and buttons down the front. When opened, it revealed a typed page of text, with the blanks filled in by Noah's hand. He obviously sounded out the words himself, and the child's perspective that it offered was hilarious!

Noah's words are in red, my commentary is in blue:

I love my mum. I know what she looks like. She has bloo eyes (my eyes are actually green...Bekah's are blue) , and blond hair. She is 90 feet tall (he said that he didn't know how tall I was, so he just guessed), and is 33 years old (I am actually 32 years old!). Her favorite thing to eat is tlape (tilapia...this made Kevin and I crack up! Noah obviously remembers me making him eat tilapia....and it obviously had an impact on him! I would much rather eat cinnamon buns, chicken wings, pizza, or nachos....but he didn't think of those! LOL). Her favorite color is pinc. Her favorite thing to do is cudl (cuddle). When we are together we like to we like too cutl (cuddle). I know she loves me a lot because cudle (we cuddle).


Love, Noah

I have to say, I will put this gift in a safe place and keep it forever. One day, when Noah is getting married, graduating, or having a baby of his own, I will pull it out again. :)

Priceless!