Green Grass and Blue Skies!!

Well today finally was the day that we got our "grass". Doesn't it look better than the brown dirt?!! Well it will in about and month or two!! It took them about 15 minutes to spray our yard, as opposed to us taking a looong day laying sod and was half the cost. Now we can try out the new fandangled sprinkler system and hope the grass comes in nice!! Maybe by the middle of the summer we will have a lawn worth walking on!!

We planted some nice roses in the back bed instead of strawberries. We planted those in pots. It will make it easier to maintain and replant the strawberries when we need to. Plus now Ryan says he doesn't have to buy me roses, he just has to go in the back yard!!! What a romantic!

Do you know what this is? I had a hard time remembering what is was. But I think they call this a BLUE SKY!! Like the kind of blue sky you see on a beautiful, warm spring day. It has been this way for the last three days and then tonight it is suppose to start raining again. But I guess that is good for my lawn!! We have been enjoying the good weather while we have it. The three younger kids and I spent all afternoon yesterday, and I mean ALL afternoon, out in the sun. It was wonderful!! I hope I am not the only one having a nice spring day!!

Easter 2009

Well our Easter morning was a quiet one. I think the kids forgot what day it was. We had to prod them to even start looking for their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny at our house is a sneaky individual and he likes to hide the baskets for the kids to find. We went really simple this year. Each kid got a coloring/sticker book and a few eggs with some candy. The girls loved their princess coloring/sticker books and Ayden was really excited to get his Star Wars:Clone Wars sticker book. It was big enough that it took him longer than a day to finish it. I guess the only down side to sticker books is we now have stickers everywhere. I came into my kitchen Sunday afternoon to a lovely display of princesses stuck to my floor. They are having fun though. Wyatt even got his very own book, which he promptly put in his mouth to see how good it was. He is getting too big too fast.
After church we went to Ryan's grandparents house for Easter dinner and they planned a small egg hunt for the kids. Each kid had his/her own color of egg and they were let loose to find it. It was pouring buckets outside so we had the hunt indoors. The kids really had fun and I think the grandparents did too. It was good to spend the day with family and to attend church to remind us of the importance of the day. We hope you had a good Easter too. Finding Lauryn's basket...she was excited about the skittles!!

Meysa found her basket under the table and was more than thrilled with her skittles too. Heck if I knew they would go that crazy over skittles that's all they would have gotten!!

Ayden finally got out of bed after the girls went in to wake him up. Can't you tell how thrilled he is!!!? (he was really excited)

"Hey do you think they got me a book about monkeys cause they think I am one?!!

"Let's see what this book has to offer a young whipper snapper of 8 months!!"

The indoor hunt is about to begin!!!

Meysa's eggs were yellow and she was really good at finding them!!

Lauryn's eggs were PINK of course and she loved finding them. She even found a few for her brother and sister!! Ayden's eggs were orange and he had a little trouble finding them. I guess they figured since he was older he could handle and little "hunting". He had fun too but I guess Ryan didn't get a picture of him. Sorry Ayden!

Wyatt enjoyed eating the older kids' toys. Yes, in case you were wondering he eats everything!!!

And it looks like Lauryn eats everything too. Can you tell she loved the chocolate in her Easter eggs? Crazy kid!!

I believe I can fly...

...or at least ride without training wheels. Meysa has been resistant to the idea of removing her training wheels. Never mind that when she rides they don't touch the ground. She kept saying that she wanted to take them off when she was older. We kept telling her that tomorrow she would be older and the bike fairy may just swoop in overnight and take away here training wheels. Well we had a visit from the bike fairy two days ago. At first Meysa was very upset. Aimee somehow convinced her to try it once. She agreed and rode perfectly the first time. She has barely been off her bike long enough to eat since. Aimee getting ready to help Meysa start. The camera died as she was riding by. This was the first and only time Aim had to help Meysa start. She has done it all by herself since.

So proud of herself.

Going on a ride with Ayden.

Congrats Meysa, on another milestone. (pretty soon she'll be dating, getting married and having kids--AHHHHHHH).

Extreme Makeover: Heitmann Yard Edition

What a better way to spend a week of leave (of which I have only taken one other the past 12 months - when Wyatt was born) than to do manual labor. We have been saving and planning to completely redo our landscape. It was such a sight for sore eyes. I guess that's what two years of unoccupancy will do to a place. We had someone come in and rip out all the grass and mulch, put in a sprinkler system and grade the yard to be hydroseeded. Aimee and I (with the help of my dad) spent 3 days preparing the beds, planting flowers, laying rock and gutting the gargage. The project is 90% done. Spencer (the lawn guy) still has some top soil to spread and leaveling to do before we call to have the grass sprayed down, so here is just a sneak peak. This is the side yard. Most of the rest of the yard around the house was in the same sorry condition.

Not so much grass, but dirt, weeds and moss, with a few blades of brown supposed grass mixed in. I don't understand why the kids never wanted to play out in the back and were more eager to go play in the street!

Here is the front with the new beds placed and a much simpler and attractive curb side appeal.

The other side of the house. Then a walkway to the backyard. We had leftover pea-greavel and got our neighbor to take it and place it over his dirt you see on the right of the picture.

The view as if you were coming to the front door.

That nasty side yard looks much better and is easier to maintain.

Once the grass comes in the kids should have a nice place to romp around. There is place to play in the sandbox and we will have a stawberry patch just adjacent to the play area (long gravel area under window at the top of the pic).

The side yard in the back.

The yard wasn't the only thing that was driving us crazy. The garage was making me have mental breakdowns. Those who know me know my OCD tendancies (Aimee just smiles at that statement). I was about to admit myself to the state mental hospital if I could not organize that garage a little better. This picture was taken after we hauled 300 lbs of crap out, just so we could get in to organize.

AHHHH. Much better. I told Aimee if we were thinking we would have color coordinated the totes though (reds on one shelf, blue on another, etc!!!!!!!). The garage too is about 90% done. We have a couple big things to take to Goodwill and then we might actually be able to park the van inside. What a novel idea - to use a garage for a car.


We'll we may not have gone to Mexico to see the girls go wild but after our yard is done it will be our own little private paradise. Now I can relax for a few days before I have to go back to work. Next vacation: Aug 2009.

Play Ball!!

Spring is here! That can only mean one thing (well beside spring projects and rain). Baseball has finally begun after a LONG offseason. Ayden is so excited to start another year of little league. He has the same coach and they are the Cardinals again this year. Sorry no action shot because our wonderful camera died during his swing. Look at that form! Patiently waiting for the machine to fire a strike. He went 3 for 4 in the doubleheader.

In the dugout, waiting his turn.

Just prior to the game. They have had a lot of practices rained out this spring so far, so it was nice to have sun and a nice day to play 2!!