Waiter, There's a Baby in my Soup...

I hope my fellow readers (all two of you) don't get tired of me posting pictures of Ellis. It's just so much fun to take pictures of him right now. He's smiling so much and is so expressive (think shrill screeching noises when excited) that it makes taking pictures of him fun. He has started eating baby food and is LOVING it, even peas, the worst of the baby foods in my opinion. Hope you enjoy the series...

Leapin' Before Thinkin'

I've always done this. I have a lack of restraint when it comes to a new project. I just go full force doing it. This is a good and a bad thing. Good because I get things done, bad because I find myself in gigantic I Love Lucy plot lines. Like the time I thought I'd just sew up some pajama pants for the kids because I was tired of not knowing how to sew. First pair turned out okay, second pair I thought I knew better than the pattern maker. Ugh. Not so good. Story here.

Which brings me to this last Thursday (4 days ago). While perusing the KSL classified listing, I came across an ad for bulbs and spring flowers that a woman was selling from her yard. They were a great price and I have been dying to plant something in our front yard because it's so baron. So, great right?

$20 later and about 5 million bulbs and roots later, I'm thinking, okay this will be easy I'll just dig up the dirt in my front yard, make it all curvy and cool and then plant these flowers. Riiiiiight. This is how it started.

Also let me preface this by saying that Bucky was sick all weekend. So, I knew I would be on my own. This only adds another element of stupidity to my antics. :) When I had tried to tell Bucky that we needed to have the neighbor boy come over and till up the soil he said, "Nah, I'll just come and dig it for you. I can do it." Okay, go ahead. After about a half hour of digging he agreed that we needed some help from the rototiller.

That was the best thing that we did all weekend. After I get done raking it all and adding some amendments to the soil a neighbor walks up. He starts chatting about gardening and about talks my ear off about using rabbit poo and pigeon poo and cow manure to fertilize his yard. To which I am not trying to be nice and listen, but I'm burning daylight here, guy. He leaves and I get back to work.

Then, 20 minutes later, said neighbor drives up toting not one or two buckets of rabbit poo, but 5 buckets of this stuff. Ugh. I'm trying to hold back the vomit as I'm layering the poo, that is still a little too fresh for my liking, into the flower beds and garden boxes. I just barely got all the plants into the ground before the sun went down yesterday.

It's such a nice feeling to have it mostly done (besides mulch and brick edging). Here's the after pictures of the front yard.

The Coming Summer

We are trying something new. We are going to try and grow things. Things to eat and flowers. Gulp. I'm excited, but a little nervous because I have, ahem, a very black thumb. I'm not proud of it, but I'm working on it. I love gardens and imagine myself working the earth and making things happen. Buck and I were outside all afternoon on Saturday digging things in and planting. We planted 2 blueberry bushes and a grape vine and prepared a place on our slope for strawberry plants.

I welcome ANY and ALL advice on gardening! I'm even composting some things in the garden boxes. Ellis loved being in the pack ALL day yesterday. Here are some pictures of our adventures. Enjoy and please leave suggestions on growing things!

The Parable of the Front Door

I married a man who is almost the exact opposite of the father I grew up with. My dad and brothers are all very hands on and know how to make things work (ie: cars, bikes, tools, and the like). Bucky spent most of his high school goofing around, making people laugh, and pursuing music. Bucky is just as smart as anyone I've met and has a creative side that is seemingly endless.

When we were first married I constantly compared him to my dad. Unfairly, but I did it just the same. And he did it like wise with me and his mother. I constantly felt like I had to live up to this larger than life, amazing woman that he called mom. Over the years, we have relaxed a bit and realized that I will never be his mother and he will never be my father. Thankfully! We are our own people and have unique qualities that we both benefit from.

Fast forward two years ago when we bought our house. It's a cute little house built in 1942. The rooms are small and cozy and it has been remodeled some. Except the front door. Just painted. Bucky has been battling that front door since we've moved in. He's tried to make the seal better with weather stripping and we've put a towel at the bottom to stop the draft. To no avail. It's still drafty and the dead bolt doesn't work and you have to literally hip check it to close. Not good. So, yesterday he had had enough. He went to Home Depot determined to fix the problem. After applying two different weather strips and pulling them off again, he finally found one that worked. The door shut perfectly. Dead bolt and everything. Miracles never cease. :)

But Bucky was determined to fix the draft, so he installed a sweep along the bottom of the door to stop the draft. We took the door off the hinges and nailed it on. Perfect. The door now has no air coming in. The only problem is is that it will now not open. The carpet is higher than the thresh hold. Bucky got really discouraged and said something to the effect of of "Look at all these stupid unfinished projects I have around the house. I can't fix anything."

In previous years I might have concurred with him, but this time I realized that it didn't matter. It matters to me that he tries and fails more than if he doesn't try at all. It matters that he makes me happy and that he makes other people happy. It matters that he's a great father. And you can't compare that to anything else, really.

The Party...

Stuffed animals and kids everywhere. It was actually really fun. We got to meet my sister's new boyfriend. Super nice. Didn't manage to get any pictures of them together. Dang! I'll catch them next time. :) Thanks to everyone who came and played.

Our Evelyn Violet

Evelyn Violet came into this world on a Sunday morning. We had the planned c-section for the following day, Monday. But I went into labor early. The surgery was quick and went well. I was relieved because as any of you have been awake for a surgery know, it can be quite scary to say the least. As they placed this beautiful girl into my arms I remembered how precious she was. Bucky asked me what we should name her and I said Evelyn Violet. I was set on this adorable name.

"That sounds good. Evil and violent." That's all he said. And that my friends is Evie in two words. He was spot on. I should have named her Georgia or Rose or something else, neutral or sweet. She was not a good sleeper and threw up so much we had to wear a full sized towel over our shoulder to protect ourselves, but she was cute and sweet when she wasn't doing either of aforementioned things.

Evie grew and grew and started kindergarten this fall. What a change. She LOVES her teachers and classmates and still HATES getting up in the morning, but at least I can ship her off when she gets whiny. :) We are excited for her to turn 6. It's a turning point, I think, into childhood. I love this age. It's an age for learning and curiosity. So we're excited for you today Ms. Ev, we love ya and happy birthday!

Ellis - 4 Months

Things are really starting to look up for this kiddo. He began life a pretty unhappy guy and now look at him. Every day I just kiss the crap out of him. Thanks Dad for the early birthday present (the camera used for these pictures!). It was really thoughtful and I dare say one of the best surprises I've had in a long time.