Do you ever wanna do THIS?

I saw this today at Dawn's Blog (Because I Said So) and sometimes it is just so what I want to do!! LOL!

We have grass!!

YAHOO!!! We have all the sod laid. Michael even cut the first stuff this afternoon. Part of the lawn looks like a golf course, the other part, not so much. We are hoping with all the rain and watering that it will catch up!! :D

I started weeding the gardens this afternoon as well. Gotta get the old lilacs pulled out, and plant some stuff from around the yard. I'm mostly container gardening with the veggies this year. I have 3 tomatoes and a pepper plant on the deck. I did plant a hill of cukes in front of the deck. I have containers with flowers - marigolds, snap dragons, dalias, gerbera daisies... I think that's it. It's coming along nicely.

Michael put the bistro table and chairs together this afternoon after cutting the lawn. They match the house so well!! It's in taupes, whites, and another colour, which I'll say is a sage green, but I forget right now. I can't wait till it's outside!! I hope we sit at it lots... with the marigolds keeping the mosquitoes at bay! :D This photo is similar to what we purchased. We had a 25$ gift card, and money on the CTC M/C so the thing was FREE!! My mom can't wait to come and play Boggle outside now :D

Dora!

Sophia got to meet Dora today!! We broke the rules and went 'shopping' today. It was the grand reopening of a local Canadian Tire store. They had Diego there on Friday, but we couldn't make it. So today we went for Dora. She was just leaving for a rest (man, I have been that person inside those costumes, the heads are HEAVY and they are HOT!)... but we talked them into letting Sophia see Dora just for a minute. I got a couple pics (still on the camera, I'll share them tomorrow!)... and she was THRILLED!! Usually she's terrified of big dressed up stuff, but I guess Dora just isn't the same as all the others. Zachary on the other hand... he was shaking like a leaf, and would NOT get out of the cart! LOL!

OK, here are the promised photos! :)

1000 visitors!

I see that today sometime, I surpassed 1000 visitors to my blog! YAY!! What fun is that. What motivation to keep posting, and try to post more frequently :D

Exciting News coming your way!

We have some exciting news, we hope!! Can't say. Yes, I like to torment you. Please pray for us in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully we'll have something marvelous to share with you all!!

We really do have grass!!!

Ok, we have about 2/3 of the yard with grass, the rest with dirt. This weekend Michael spent sodding the yard. We rented a rotitiller on Friday after work, and I kept the kids at the park with some friends, and Michael tilled the yard. I forgot to take 'before' pictures, but I'm sure I can find something in the thousands of photos we take every year!! Basically, the yard was weeds and hard packed dirt/clay. It's been that way since we moved in 10+ years ago. I used to not care. If it was green I was good to go!! However, now we have children. Children LOVE to play in yards. We have a little blow up pool. It necessitates bare feet on the weeds grassy area, and truth be told, it was NOT comfortable. So we took the bull by the horns, and have embarked on a front yard remodeling. :D

Saturday Michael got up bright and early to get the tiller back to Robertson's Rentals in order to save about 20$. I then zipped my mother to Toys R Us to meet up with her bus tour. On my way home, I stopped in at a yardsale and got two great purses, a pair of fun sandals for Sophia for next summer, a sweater for JA, a compilation of Disney stories book, and a travel tic tac toe game! All for $6. I did well. I might have shot us in the foot with the sod tho! LOL!

So I came home. I got the kids ready to do some errands. I called around about sod. I priced it out. MAN, delivery is ridiculously expensive. Ok, so maybe at 1.25 a litre it is 'justified' (ha hah... I don't really think so! I can do a LOT of driving for 35$ (and that was the CHEAPEST!!). So Michael hooked up my Dad's wee utility trailer and headed to Broadway Gardens. We needed 69 rolls of sod. He got the last 39 rolls. So now we need 30 more, but probably more like 20, as Michael forgot to take out the pool area that will NOT be sodded.

It looks great!! It's hard for the kids to stay off. It was hard for ME to stay off, and I make deep impressions in the sod/dirt! LOL! It's all good... and next Saturday it will need it's first haircut!

So it's exciting times here.

Steven Curtis Chapman

I know that this is all over the internet. It's just simply sad and tragic. That poor boy. The family. I can't imagine the grief that this entire family is feeling.

Here's a little blip about it, and a song from SCC himself.

"MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, DAUGHTER OF STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, DIES IN ACCIDENT AT FAMILY HOME

NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles."

I can't figure out how to embed YouTube stuff, so I'll post that song later!

Ok, I think I got it now :)