Eric's "little" project

Eric was really feeling the need for more gardening space and so he decided to transform our side yard into his gardening haven. Here is the beginning of his labor of love. After he cleared everything away we had to have the sprinkling system in that area changed a little bit and then Eric got to work on the garden boxes. After lots of research and price comparisons of different options, and a few trips to Home Depot he got to work.

Step 1: Finish building the garden boxes (Nov. 7th)

After all the boxes were built and lined up (if you click on the picture you can see the string he used to make sure everything was straight), he spread bark in between the boxes.

Step 2: Spread bark in between the boxes (Nov. 8th)

Step 3: Have a dumptruck deliver a load of top soil (Nov. 8th)

Step 4: Move Soil from driveway to boxes (Nov. 8th...it was a long day)

It was fun to watch the pile of dirt shrink, but it took all day and I was getting worried that they wouldn't finish. We were also expecting rain which would have washed the soil away.

Step 5: Plant bulbs, rake dirt to smooth it out (Nov. 8th..a very long day)

This was Gabe's Job mostly and he did GREAT! He worked so hard and was Eric's right-hand man until the job was done. They were out there until 9:00 at night and all the other kids were in bed...except poor Gabe he was such a trooper!

Here is Gabe still plugging away the sun has gone down but not our Gabe. He told Eric toward the end of the day that he was feeling "flat", Eric thought that was a very good description. Later on he said that his legs felt wobbly. Poor kid...maybe there were some child labor laws violated here??

Step 6: Add some "fertilizer"

Eric thought this would be a good way to get rid of the pumpkins on our porch from Halloween...who knows maybe we will end up with a accidental pumpkin patch.

So here is the pile slowly shrinking away. The last load was definately worth documenting!

The Final Wheelbarrel

Good job Guys. What a day. Eric started out the day by asking Gabe if he wanted to earn $6. But it was such a long day and Gabe did such an awesome job that Eric gave him $20.

These guys never took a break...I brought out lunch and dinner, and lots of gatorade.

Looks good!!!

Before----------Mid-project-----------After

Before------------------------------After

Before----------Mid-project------------After

Mid-project------------------------After

Eric was finally finished but even with all this done he still felt we were missing something so just over a week later he decided to add...

Step 7: Make a compost bin (Nov. 16th)

Workin' out

We thought this was pretty funny...Elijah was trying to work out with us. Such a cutie.

I usually end up having to hold Meg toward the end if she is awake.

1/2 way there

My little Meg is already celebrating her half birthday. She was 6 months old on the 6th. I took a few shots of her to commemorate this monumentous day.

I have a hard time keeping pants on her. She does her little army crawl and she has no bum to hold the pants on so they just slip right off her as she slides along the ground.

To move all she can do at this point is army crawl but once she gets to where she is going she will get up on all fours and rock back and forth.



She is doing better at night and is so much fun to have around.

Emma's new hobby

A while ago Emma asked me for a jump rope. I didn't really think much of it. Well I guess she also told our babysitter that she wanted a jump rope because one friday our babysitter showed up with one. It was so nice of them and Emma loves it and jump ropes all the time!!! I finally decided to take some pictures.

I asked her one day who she played with at recess and her reply was, "no one, I just jump roped." She always tries to get a jump rope at recess, but sometimes they run out.

One year older and wiser too...

Eric did a wonderful job making this birthday great. Since my birthday actually fell on Sunday we got to celebrate Saturday and Sunday. He planned out a whole day for me on Saturday. Here is my schedule.
9am Facial
10am Haircut
11am Pedicure
12:30pm Reservations at Tony's a new steakhouse that officially opened that day (very good by the way)
2pm Capitol Theatre for the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.

It was really fun!! They were running late for the pedicure so I had to reschedule that because my schedule didn't allow for a lot of wiggle room. After the haircut I went home to nurse Meg and get Eric for dinner and the show. I have the best husband ever and it was so nice of him to make all those arrangements for things I wouldn't set up myself.

The celebration didn't stop there. Sunday morning Gabe made me a homemade birthday card...

I thought it was so cute and creative of him...Thanks Gabe!!

I am pretty sure Gabe made my card, but I found this a little later, it looks like he might have gotten some help.

I found this little note in my bathroom.

(Meg love=Meg, that's what Gabe calls her)

And this little note on my plate at dinner time

(Chuba Buba=Elijah, again, that's what Gabe calls him)

Gabe wanted to make sure that every one was involved in wishing me a happy birthday.

Emma also gave me a little present. She said she got help with spelling from Gabe at the beginning and then did it herself...I think I can tell when Gabe wasn't involved any longer. I thought it was pretty cute-that's a mermaid in case there was some uncertainty.

Sunday evening Eric prepared a really fancy, yummy dinner. Sometimes we have fancy dinners at home after the kids are in bed, but for this fancy dinner our older kids were invited. The two babies went to bed and then we had my super fancy 4 course birthday dinner.

Course #1: Homemade butternut squash soup Course #2: Garden Salad

Course #3: Chicken Milanesas with pasta and marinara, Course #4: Birthday Cake

Emma helped me blow out the candles.

Eric fixed my family cookbook by taping all the recipes down so they don't slide around anymore and gave me some scripture marking pencils, I know that might sound not that exciting, but they were both very thoughtful and cute. There was also one more birthday present from Eric...he did all the dishes, basically almost every dish we owned, especially after making the butternut squash soup. Thanks Eric for treating me like a queen. I love you lots and lots.