Phase 2 - Part 2

We have been in our house two years this month. When we bought our house it needed a face lift. Or at least a little make-up.

PHASE 1 - The Interior
We repainted the whole inside. (And when I say we, I mean the nice guys from our church.) New paint on every wall, every door, every cupboard, and every vent. New carpet upstairs and new tile in the downstairs. It was a whole new house.

PHASE 2 - The Exterior
But now that the inside is mostly done, it was time to move to the exterior. I really want to be able to entertain outdoors and it really hasn't been an option. When we moved in, the back yard was a hodgepodge of plants; fig trees, plum trees, palm trees, a random tiki hut, and even some cactus. It was all quite bizarre. We pulled most of it out. I don't like bees, and the only thing Kevin hates more is spiders, so anything that bloomed had to go. Then we got dogs . . .

We love our boys, but they destroyed the back yard. They dug holes, chewed up sprinklers, and ate threw the fence. (In their defense, the fence was pretty rotted.)

The first part was to put up our patio cover. I'm not sure I wrote about it before, but about 6 months (maybe a year ago), we (again, not actually us doing the labor) put up a patio cover. The main reason for the cover was to block the morning sun that heats up the family room and kitchen. After fighting with the HOA for a month, we finally got the cover up and were very pleased with the results. It's cooler, and we enjoy the fans we had installed as well. The boys have chewed on the plastic drain pipe, but the alumi-wood cover seems to be fine.

This last week we started part 2; the block wall. We only did the wall on one side, and will eventually put a dog run along side it. Lets see the boys chew through that!

Stoney Masonry did the work, and so far, we are very pleased.

Here are the materials I came home to find in my drive way last Monday.

And the view of the back yard after the fence was down. Anything green belongs to my neighbor.
And the almost finished wall. We are waiting on the final inspection before they wrap it all up.

My goal, or at least the one I keep telling Kevin, is just grass before Baby comes. I just want to be able to let the boys back in the yard to pee!

Fat and Happy

Pregnant women are frequently asked "How are you feeling?" It doesn't bother me. It's polite. I did it, too. But my common response lately is simply "Fat and happy." Both are true. I'm gaining weight . . . at quite a rapid pace. I make excuses; I'm hungry all the time, my back hurts and I want to put my feet up after work, I don't sleep well so I don't get up early, I sit at a desk all day so I'm not active. But the truth is, I don't really care. Sure I would love to be like my friend who gained little, had a healthy baby, and was back to her regular clothes in 5 days, but truthfully, I don't want to work that hard. I like being pregnant. I like eating. And whatever, most pregnant women gain weight. I may regret it after Baby comes and I have to stay in maternity clothes for longer than I wanted. I'm already kinda wishing I had slowed down only because my work clothes are pretty snug. But oh well. Mostly content. Loving feeling Baby move around. Watching my belly grow and move of its own accord. Fatter than 6 months ago and very happy.

Here is belly at 24 weeks. Belly button is out and spreading.

Baby Shower

Last month we got to help Rachel prepare for Baby #2 with a little shower. I would post pictures and tell you all about it, but Rachel has already wrote about it on her blog. And she is such a better blogger than I. Not only is she a great blogger, she knows how to throw a party. Even though the theme of this shower was my idea (stolen from blog stalking), Rachel's small details made it all come together. Head on over the Rachel's blog to see the pictures from our little tractor party.