Finally Finished

Above: House with finished landscaping

Below: Finished driveway -- no more gaping hole!

It took us about a year, seriously, from start to finish, to complete our front landscaping. We started last October by beginning the removal of the gaudy '70s white rock, and then the project kind of haulted for about 6 months as we took on other projects in the house. Back in June we finally finished removing all of the white rock, red scalloped brick, dead plants, and ancient rose bushes, as well as half of the driveway, which had a HUGE gaping hole in it when we moved in. After recementing the driveway, lowering the rock beds, adding curbing around the grass, new plants, and new rock, this is the final product. We are very happy with the results, and thankfully, we didn't have to go into debt to do it. We used last year's tax return and some savings to finish it. It was well worth the expense. I wish I had better before pictures. It was pretty awful. But here are some that sorta tell the story.

December 2004 -- House before paint, new windows, or landscaping.

House after paint and new windows, but before curbing, plants, and new rock.

This picture (above) really doesn't do it justice; I made sure I got the BEST angle when I took it, and all the plants were in full bloom, so they look okay.
Above: you can kinda see the white rock, red curbing, and dead bushes behind Abby here. Also the cypress trees aren't hedged.

The backyard also is now finally finished, complete with rock, curbing, and plants.

Here's the backyard before. A work in progress.

Back porch and backyard before ANY work had begun outside.

Installing the rock retaining wall in back. Eric took this picture to show that I actually DID help! :)

Wall and grass installed, but no garden and no curbing or plants.

Are You Okay?

[Esther sitting on her potty in her new Snow White heels]

This happened several weeks ago, but it's too cute not to blog about.

Eric and I were with the girls at Costco, and Esther (my almost-2-year-old) told me she had to go potty. So we rushed across Costco, about a football field's length (from the milk to the front of the store), to take her to the bathrooms. After sitting her on the toilet, I crouched down so that I'm right in front of her, face to face. Her little feet were dangling over the edge of the toilet. Suddenly in the stall to our left (her right, I guess), the woman let out a loud and prolonged fart (toot, if you prefer it more PC). Essie's eyes suddenly turned to saucers; she gasped and looked at me. Then she turned in the direction of the woman's stall and said, "Are you okay?"

Hilarious. Of course, the woman was probably too mortified to respond. Trying to supress giggles, I explained to Esther that the lady was just fine, that she was going potty. The concerned look never left her face. Too funny!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

To the world's most wonderful mother: Hope and pray your birthday is the BEST ONE EVER!!!

Happy Birthday, Mama!!!

Dark Clouds

Love dark clouds in the distance.

It's the promise of a long-awaited rain.

Trick-or-Treating

So here they are again...our Princess beauties, back in full glory,

as we set out to embark on our trick-or-treating journey.

Unfortunately I can't explain the gremlin smile on Snow White (above). It has something to do with "cheese" being the signal smile word, but we can't get her to shake it off. :-)

Cousin Play

Jack and Ethan came to visit again for the last couple days.

Abby and Essie have so much fun with their cousins (the seconds).

Below: Essie Chasing Jack

Essie's tickling Jack.

Impossible to get everyone looking or smiling at the same second, so here's two versions of the same shot.

Harvest Festival

Another annual tradition -- Harvest Festival!!

Every year Eric's school hosts an annual harvest festival, where the entire community

dresses up, plays games, and enjoys all the food and festivities.

As the girls get older, it gets more and more enjoyable.

Yes, Abby is a princess again, and so is Esther.

What can we say? Abby's costume from last year still fits,

and she still loves being a princess.

So there you have it.

And aren't they just adorable?

Though Abby is clearly Sleeping Beauty and Esther is Snow White,

they both adamantly claim they are Cinderella.

If nobody tells them, they'll never know!

Below: Abby is playing bean-bag toss at one of the booths.

I couldn't pick between these two, between Abby's apathetic expression and

Esther glancing away; you choose. :)

Daddy leads the girls in the cake walk.

Sadly, we didn't win. :-)

But it was still fun!