Cuteness

Time for a bunch of pictures to make you say "awwwww"

 Dietrich can't wait for the picture to be taken before he's yelling "I see it!"  This reminds me of back when I had a film camera and a little girl wanted to see the picture after I took it.  My kids will never know what it's like to wait months to develop film and then go "wow I don't even remember taking this picture!"  The will just say "I see it" and see the picture right then.

 Rocking the animal print...

 Caught this sweet boy reading a story to his sister.

 Our friend's Corbin and Griffin came to play.  Corbin is a month older than Dietrich 

and Lenorah is a month older than Griffin.  

Patio!

It's SUMMER project time!  As you know, every summer brings a big project to our house and this year it's a NEW PATIO!  I can't find a before picture for your viewing pleasure, but imagine a big rectangle of dirt with some gravel and a few paving stones thrown in, got it?  Yep, that's what this area under our deck looked like.  I'm turning 30 this year, whoa, and Bryce decided we should have a patio so that the backyard looks great for an outdoor BBQ party.  He was trying to decide if he should start with a patio or the sprinkler system out back when a very wise friend (Jeremy) said that he should do the patio first, so he can sit on it and drink a beer while contemplating the sprinkler system.       

                                                                                                                                                

                                     

 Our friend Rick suggested bringing the brick out here to the slab that comes off the stairs from the deck so you don't have to walk/trip through the grass to get to the patio.

 And then when we had lots of extra brick my mom suggested bringing it out in front of the slider so that again you don't have to walk on the grass to get to the patio but also dogs and kids will have a few more feet  to clean their feet off before getting in the house.

Bryce really got a work out doing this project, to properly prepare to lay a patio he had to dig out about 6 inches, then fill in with gravel, compact the gravel, and then fill in with sand.  The sand had to be leveled and compacted as well (this all sounds so quick and easy just writing it out, but it was several evenings of hard labor). Then the brick laying was quick!  And thanks to the wise Jeremy for coming over and helping with the brick laying.  Then he had to put down more sand to fill in between the bricks as well as put in a barrier on the edge so that the bricks won't move out into the yard.  We were really surprised at how HUGE this area is now that it's not a dirt patch.  We are loving it!  At least we will be as soon as it stops raining and we can go sit on it and contemplate the next project!

Not about the house

We have actually been doing some projects around our house, but I'm so distracted by babies that I haven't blogged about those yet.  They will be coming though, I promise!  In the meantime, here is a blog about poop (you're welcome).

We started today with a trip to the kids' Doctor, shots for both of them, yay!  If you have never been in an exam room with a screaming 2 year old and a 2 month old, you should try it, it's awesome!  You think you feel bad letting them poke your baby, wait until your trusting two year old starts screaming "OWIE!!!" and looking at you like "OMG MOM! You just let these people HURT me!"  Also, awesome that Dietrich can say HURT.  "Hurt, owie, hurt!" as if that doesn't break a mother's heart. 

But we made it through that and ran some errands, after Costco I sighed and said "we made it" Dietrich copied me.  It's pretty hilarious to hear that come out of a two year, I'm sure the mile long lines and crazy Friday traffic at Costco really stressed YOU out Toddler.

So we are home, and baby is sleeping away, good girl.  And I'm working on things in the kitchen when I look down at the baby's swing, what the heck happened?  Why is it full of poo?  She hasn't even been in it!  And it dawn's on me, Dietrich has been sitting there.  Oh yes, he exploded, in a most explosive sort of way.  So I quickly escort him to the bedroom for an entire outfit change and sponge bath.  After that I start packing things to the basement to put in the laundry, including his jeans, shirt, and the cover off the swing.  I come back upstairs to grab the diapers and I am greeted with "CUTE! CUTE!"  Dietrich has opened one of the birthday presents for tomorrow and is showing me the "Cute!" outfit inside.  Gee thanks!

Then I go back downstairs with the diapers and when I come back up I am greeted with a very happy "MORE!"  Yep, he got himself more cereal.  Well done boy, well done.