Our New Landscape

Well, if you've been following our blog, you know we were stumped last weekend. We got over it, though, and made use of the four day weekend (Friday was a family day - thank you Air Force!) and did some serious rebuilding and planting. I am SO proud of Phil for building these beautiful retaining walls for the new bushes. He BUILT these - and I'm married to him!

Work in progress...
He had to dig out the bricks that the previous owners had.

LOTS of dirt. I think we made four trips to Home Depot in ONE DAY to pick up dirt and various parts.

Finished! Complete with hanging pots on the porch. I love how the house isn't so covered anymore with the old overgrown stuff.

The new Casa de Swenson. Phil put in the main retaining wall in front of the porch, and also redid the smaller ones on either side of the driveway. There are azaleas in front of the porch and boxwood by the driveway. We can't wait to see them in two years after they've grown a bit.

The only thing I still need to get is a little rocking chair for the porch.

A closer look at the little plants we put in earlier tonight.

Stumped

Phil got to work removing yet another HUGE stump from the front of the house.

This time, he called in some reinforcements.

Adam loves working in the yard with Dad. His specialty is dirt analysis.

While the boys were hard at work, I played with my new toy and practiced taking some outdoor shots of my favorite subject.
He's got his dirt and his shovel. What more does a boy need?

My beautiful boy.

Saved my favorite for last!

With Adam's help, Phil wrestled that stump out! Today he is building a little retaining wall and the next step is planting.

Cookies

What a beautiful sight: a sea of chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven!

This guy was a fan.

Frying Pan Farm Park

Adam and I have been doing some exploring. Frying Pan Farm is a real working farm just a few minutes from our house, so it's a nice destination for us during the week. This was his reaction a few days ago when I told him we were going to visit a farm...

It wasn't crowded at all, so I was able to let Adam roam free and choose what he wanted to see. He loved being able to run around!

He stopped to say hello to the sheep and cows.

But, his favorite animals were the chickens. We revisited their coop several times.

Adam has really gotten into trucks and diggers lately, so I wasn't at all surprised when he wanted to get a closer look at this.

I'll see YOU at Thanksgiving...

We only stayed for about an hour this time - brilliant Mama chose the hottest day of the century to visit the farm! We were both super sweaty and ready for some cool down time with the water table at home.

Hard Core

We've been doing some landscaping out front - another novelty of owning our house. We're pretty pumped. Unfortunately, I didn't really take any before pictures, so I'll just show you some random shots that kind of show the front of the house too. No one had done any work outside in a long time, so everything was just really overgrown and too big for the house.

You can see how that bush is eating the flag, and our cute little porch is totally engulfed by the bushes in front. BUT, I love our tree when it's flowering!

The tree shrubs on either side of the house are actually growing into it - not for long!

Considering I didn't technically even know what a branch cutter looked like before this morning, I think I'm pretty hard core.

The aftermath.

Look what my hard core cutting revealed! I was so sad to have to remove this little nest AND eggs from its home. I wish I would have noticed it before I started - I may have spared this bush until the eggs hatched.

Now, THIS guy is HARD CORE! Look at that stump! It was an epic battle.

Hard Core.

I'll show you more pictures when we get new stuff planted. It's going to be great!

New Camera!

Ever since I started the blog, and especially since Adam was born, I have developed an interest in photography. I think it's mostly because I adore capturing my boys and the precious moments they give me. They are beautiful to me. Soooo, for my birthday, Phil super surprised me with a new camera so that I can better showcase their beauty! I'm still a rookie, but I'm so excited to learn more about the camera and take lots of pictures. Though I will never have the serious unbelievably amazing skills of SUSIE (she has a total gift), she has kindly been giving me some pointers on how to use my camera. Hopefully you'll be able to follow my progress on the blog. We're upgrading, people!

Why do I feel like the camera is more legit since it came from Japan? I don't know. But, I do.

Here are just some of my random first-attempts. I do have one of the best models out there.

Adam's first popsicle! He doesn't really understand that there's a time element in eating a popsicle, so it usually melts before he is finished. Oh well.

Here is a new friend that has made his temporary home on Adam's picnic table. I keep watching to see this guy bust out of his cocoon.

Thank you, Phil, for a wonderful gift!

Helper

Adam has been really into helping me around the house lately. Even though his "helping" sometimes creates more work for me, it is still pretty funny and it makes me happy that he wants to help me.

He empties the dishwasher.

He's really good at laundry.He's very careful about getting everything inside before he shuts the door.

He also enjoys sweeping.

And, he always does it with a smile!

Water Works

Adam got a water table to play with out on the deck - he loves it! It's been good for hours of outdoor entertainment already, and we've only had it a few days.

Love his little smirk in this one.

Happily at work. You'll notice that Pooser has also been enjoying the deck with us. She actually is pretty good about staying on the deck as long as the gate is up. She likes laying in the sun.

Mama's DayS

That's right - two days for Mama!
My birthday was on April 23, but we celebrated a week later with some friends. We had old friends (we've known Chris and Anna for a while - they are not chronologically old), and some new friends that we have just met in Virginia. I love having people over, and everyone got along so well, even though it was such a random group! Phil made fish tacos and we had a DQ cake for dessert. It meant so much to me to be able to celebrate with this group.

Friends, new and old. L to R are Becka and Prakash (Baby M was born just a few days later!), Natasha and Ka-Loon, Phil, Anna and Chris.

Here is another photo to prove I was there.
I had a great Mother's Day as well. These are roses Phil and Adam clipped for me from our yard - they smelled SO good! So fun to have rose bushes (this will also significantly lower Phil's flower budget.)
Phil made me steamed muscles for an appetizer before dinner.

And, we had lobster for dinner. It was even cheaper this time - $5.99/lb.
My Mama's Day dinner :)I didn't get any pictures of me with my boy on Mother's Day, but we had a good time playing and visiting a little garden farm by our house. Thank you, Adam, for making me a Mama and blessing me every single day! I love you!

Regular

Things are starting to feel a bit more "regular" here in Nova. Here are a couple of shots of our new life as usual...

"I got to use the spoon all by myself tonight. I think I did pretty good."

"Did I mention I'm kind of a big deal?"

Taking a little rest with Dad.