happy birthday mom!

i love my parents.

i mean, of course i do - they're my parents.

but really, they are just good people too.

sean and are are actually blessed that both of our parents are still married and are wonderful people.

since building the loft, my parents are here once a month for about a week.

i am always so thankful for this time.

not only are they really helpful with the kids, but they love projects!

sean and i used to love projects, but then we started 3 "little projects" that take up all our time now!

and if it weren't for having my parents around, nothing would get done around here!

sorry dad :(

so guess how my mom chose to spend her birthday?

with us (yay!).

cleaning up our yard.

hauling 2 box trucks full of junk away to the dump!!!

so sweet!

so i rewarded her with a present from lisa.

she has another necklace i gave her years ago that she wears all the time,

so i knew she would love this!

then we brushed the dirt off our bodies and snuck away during naptime to go get pedicures together.

nothing better than having someone else do your dirty work while you veg 

and get caught up on celebrity gossip!

so is jen pregnant?

i never found out!

yard pics (in progress):

we've had this fireplace built since before our house was completed (4 years now),

yet we never finished it!

it needed firebrick inside to be functional

and a lot to be aesthetically pleasing!

we hired help for the masonry work.

we had the firebrick layed in a herringbone pattern and it just looks so pretty all done!

we also finished off the benches attached to either side of the

fireplace with stone that was original to the house.

after clearing years of pile up form the side yard, 

we (aka my parents and sean) were feeling ambitious.

so my parents and i tore down the beautiful gazebo that was original to our house.

a tough decision, but the thing was so rickety that it was beyond repair.

in fact, we have always had it blocked off so no one could access it for fear of injury.

it felt really good to go at it with a sledgehammer!

almost all down!

*****

and here's the yard now, all cleaned up!

ok, mostly clean with a few rugrats thrown in.

view from the back door.

there are 3 tiers to our yard - 

1st is the concrete area - great for tables (that aren't broken and splintery like the ones we just tossed), 

and bike riding. 

2nd level is the grass and garden. 

3rd is the empty spot where the gazebo was. 

this was my little project area.

there were already plants here, but smooshed together then a lot of voids, 

so i moved and repositioned and love it!

this bed sits right outside my kitchen window.

we have visions of a fountain going against the non-window wall.

when we win the lottery.

the wheel barrow was my grandfather's.

remember it, gram?

this is the view from in front of the garage.

you can see our giant playpen at the end.

my lovely potting bench with a huge chalkboard beside it.

the fireplace all done...

for now.

see how pretty the seats look?!

my goal for the summer was to get our ugly cinder block walls coated with a smooth stucco, 

but i think i'm out of luck.

i'll take this progress any day though.

planter on one side of the stairs on the 2nd tier.

our little garden.

our thumbs aren't entirely green, but we get better every year.

we have planted:

sugar snap peas, corn, strawberries, 3 kids of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, basil, watermelon, cucumber, artichokes, carrots, cantaloupe, bell peppers, and green onions.

the cleared off 3rd tier.

future home of a hot tub.

but until we win the lottery that we don't play, it will get paved with stones and be a seating area.

not sure what we'll be sitting on other than the ground,

but it'll still be a sitting area.

with a  really good view.

our teepee, covered in sugar snap peas.

so good that the kids can just go and grab the fatties and snack on them fresh.

love that!
 

a few apples on our tree.

just enough for each of the kids to pick for their first day of school.

the planter bed filled with flea finds and hydrangeas.

doesn't get much better than that!

window box outside the loft.

i think i need one of these outside my kitchen window.

dad?

view from the loft stairs.

the pretty loft.

why do they make kid's slides so ugly?

-lindsey