Playing in the dirt

(before)

My front flower bed has needed a little TLC.  I'm a thinker and I couldn't decide what to do with it, so it took me months to make a decision.  Layla was a big help with ideas!  We had so much fun digging in the dirt together.

(during)

We had tons of leftover landscape bricks laying around, so I decided to line the bed to give it a little more definition.  I thought about putting the mums in a semicircle, but Layla saw a fun way to place mums on pinterest.  It turned out fun!

(after)

I'm thinking I'll add more stuff and I still have to get pumpkins and put out my scarecrow for the fall season!  This is a pretty good start for a couple of dirt digging girls!

Us lately. A random update.

Fall is setting in here in Ohio and I couldn't be happier.  

I seriously don't know if I can be talked into EVER moving back to Texas.  It's just so hot there and I am spoiled by these AMAZING temperatures.  This to me is the perfect weather.  High of 72 and low of 50 at night.  I'm in my happy place with these fall temps.

Every now and then a huge group of leaves will fall from the trees in our yard.  I just assumed they would all fall off all at once, but they randomly fall and the kids giggle as the leaves hit their faces. 

Speaking of random....it's been awhile since I've written a random post.  

I'm pretty good at posting our day to day lives, but the random posts take a few extra minutes.  I've been so busy since the start of school and sadly I've put posting to our blog on the back burner.

Monday nights Layla has soccer practice, Tuesday night she takes a tumbling and hip hop class.  Wednesday nights are our free night to relax and catch up.  Thursday night Hayden has soccer practice and Layla practices with the girls traveling soccer team.  Friday nights we usually hang with friends and then the weekend is just whatever. This Sunday we begin fall soccer games.  It seems like we never stop, but we are all happy and loving our schedule.  

Gary is keeping super busy with work.  His travel schedule is about to slow down, but he's been going non-stop.  He is loving his job and it seems to be going great.  He found a position that fits him perfectly and although it is stressful at times he loves it.  I'm so happy he loves what he does.

Hayden is loving kindergarten.  He's learning lots of stuff, including ABC's and 123's.  He is learning how to treat others and hopefully one day he will be able to tell me is friends names.  He can't remember names just like his daddy.  His imagination is certainly growing, as he loves to tell 'tall-tales.'  He can make up some pretty far fetched stories and sometimes I have to wonder what is true and what is imaginary.  His soccer skills are progressing very well.  All summer he practiced his golf swing, and now as often as he can he is outside kicking the soccer ball.

Layla is doing great in Third grade.  She isn't digging math, but loves science, social studies and really loves reading and writing stories. Her spelling skills are awesome.  She takes after Gary when it comes to spelling.  I'm a terrible speller.  She loves dance and I'm shocked by her drive for soccer.  As I mentioned earlier, she was asked to practice with the girls travel team.  I think she was blown away by how good some of the girls are.  I thought she'd be intimidated by them, heck, I was.  She wants to get better and she loves to learn.  After just one practice we could tell a difference in her skills.  I hope she decides to stick with it, but I'm not forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to.  We might gently nudge her, but I want her to be happy and do soccer because she really wants to.

I am adjusting to having both kids in school.  I felt like I'd have so much time to just sit around and eat bon-bons, but I don't.  I'm busier than ever.  If my people would just stop wearing clothes my job would be 50 times easier.  I'm drowning in laundry 85 percent of the time.  I'm trying to go to Zumba/Boot Camp three mornings a week.  It puts me in a great mood and I'm so happy to be able to go.  Also this fall I've finally gotten things done for me, doctor, dentist and hair appointments...you know just stuff us moms sometimes put off in the summertime.  

Daisy and Lily are loving this weather.  They run and play and wrestle in the backyard.  The cooler weather makes them frisky.  Lily has escaped from our yard many times lately.  She is letting the PetSafe in-ground fence shock her and then she busts through it to chase squirrels.  She's run away too many times lately.  She is literally in the dog house.  She ran into a wooded area behind our house on Monday and scraped her paw pretty badly.  That slowed her down for a day or two, but now she is ready to explore again.  I went to Lowe's and got the 'stubborn dog' collar and now she is a little easier to keep around.  I hate to make her wear it, but seriously, we live right beside a road.  She will get hurt really bad if she gets too far away from home.

After living here almost a year, I think we are all over the initial shock of living in a new town.  We are all thriving and loving small town life.  We defiantly like the house we are living in much better than our house downtown.  Sometimes I miss walking to school with some of our downtown buddies, but all in all we are much happier having a big yard to run and play in.

Sadly our house in Texas still hasn't sold.  It is under contract and we where thrilled to be signing on the dotted line to sell it for good this next week....UNTIL...the inspector didn't turn the water BACK off after the buyers inspection.  A vacant house shouldn't have water turned on in my opinion.  The refrigerator malfunctioned/leaked and water damaged the entire house.  The mistake wasn't caught for about 10 days.  You can imagine water leaking into a hot house in Texas for that long.  

So yea, we are dealing with that crap.  It's a hot mess.  I'm so over the homeowner experience; it is not the American dream in my opinion.  UGH!  One of these days we will be free from that house.  I'm choosing to stay positive when it comes to that topic.  I can easily cry a river if I let myself.  I just can't believe we have so many memories there, but it is causing us so many problems.  

On a lighter note,

Football season is in full swing and it is so fun to cheer for our Texas teams while watching our friends here cheer for their favorite teams nearby.  Baylor plays West Virginia and that game should be super fun to watch with some of our friends who love WVU.  All my buddies are trying to convert me to Buckeyes fan, but I can't do it.  I can't wear red.

I'm excited for football nights with friends and bonfires roasting marshmallows.  I think burning a pumpkin candle while cooking dinner tonight put me over the edge when it comes to fall.  I'm really enjoying having my windows open here in the house.  Having my windows open in Texas was a favorite thing, but we only got to do it for a few days.  It seems like it was always too hot to open the windows.  Anyway, I'm loving the fresh air and it defiantly puts me in a  great mood.  I love waking up and adding an extra blanket in the middle of the night!

Bring on the chilly weather and all things fall and winter, especially soups and chili!!  Hopefully I'll find time to try some new recipes and post them.  Nothing makes me happier than cooking and taking pictures of my food!!

a picture is worth a thousand words

This picture tells an amazing story.  It is a wonderful peek into our summer mornings.

*I am sitting on the porch with my camera in my hand, in my gown drinking coffee with Daisy on my lap.

*Layla is filling Lily's pool with water while still wearing her pajamas.  Her hair is all scraggly and her face still shows fresh lines from her bed sheets.

*Lily is one happy dog.  She is part lab and we all know labs love water.  The dog goes bonkers when the hose is turned on.  She bites and scratches and drinks the water all at the same time.  This $10 pool was the best purchase yet!

*Hayden was cuddled up on his porch chair with a pillow, but he decided to go check out the situation.   He grabbed the first pair of shoes he could find and they are dads shoes.  He was clomping around like a boss.

 We love to be outdoors.  When the kids are home they are playing outside.  I haven't set up the DVD player or Wii yet since we moved.  Hayden lost his iPod touch, so he doesn't play it.  Layla is using her iPod touch mostly for music.  They don't really seem to care about electronics right now and I am okay with it.  I'm happy they love it here in our new yard.    

The yard comes with challenges.  Hayden will pick up any bug he finds.  He was playing with a bee the other day and he killed it with a stick.  He wanted to show Layla the 'dead' bee, and he lost it and then stepped on it.  It stung him.  Poor little guy, but he learned a lesson.  

Before we could get some of the brush and shrubs cleaned out Layla and Gary got poison oak.  Both kids were eaten by mosquitoes.  I was too.  We've seen spiders and all kinds of creatures.

But the yard also has amazing moments.

We've watched deer play in the morning.  We watch squirrels play all day and the kids have named them.  We think we saw a bunny rabbit.  It's like animal kingdom around here and there is never a dull moment.  

I hope one day the kids look back at this picture and remember what a fun memories we made in our little farmhouse!

Let's talk laundry

These are the interesting thoughts swirling around in my mind.  

There are lots of things different about the laundry here in Ohio.  As I mentioned before my washer and dryer are downstairs in the basement.  I actually have to make time to walk down there and DO laundry. (In TX the washer and dryer were right next to the kitchen = super convenient )  I'm good with the basement now.  (a few weeks ago it made me tremble)  Having a radio makes it all better.  When I wash, dry and fold I dance around a bit.  It isn't so bad after all, but different. 

The weirdest thing about doing laundry here is the lint.  I'm trying to figure out why the dryer produces so much lint here vs. back in Texas.  It really is so strange.  I have to empty the link tray with every single load.  What is the meaning of this?

Another thing different is the water.

When I was a kid my mom would sort clothes into colors.  I did that for a long time, but then I realized I didn't always have to sort by color.  Some days I'd just throw it all in there and it would be fine. All the colors stayed vibrant.  Now, since our move I am back to my mom's way.  I have to wash the whites separate.  Now,  I feel like I need to bleach our whites, but using bleach has never worked for me.  It seems like I'd pour bleach in and it just makes the stuff yellow.  Anyway, so now I am on a mission to figure out this white situation.  Do I just buy color safe bleach?  Should I try to bleach my whites and maybe since the water is different it will work this time?  Yep...these are my laundry issues.

Have you moved and noticed differences like these?

I am a laundry basket hoarder.  We have laundry baskets in all our bedrooms.  Since I have to carry the laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs I feel like I must be getting a workout.  I love my laundry baskets much more than I did in Texas.  I need them more than ever in a 2 story home.  If the laundry basket isn't there when I need it I could quite possibly have a melt down.  I'm not dramatic at all am I?

So, that concludes this edition of lets talk laundry.  I'll let you all know how my whites turn out! ;)

monday night randoms

Gary and the kids made pancakes Sunday and there are leftovers.

Leftover pancakes are the bomb.  The kids love anything with syrup.  I am with them.  Syrup is so good, but I like the butter flavored syrups.  Everything is better with butter flavor added.  Mmmmm!  I love a good waffle too.  Random.

This is a nativity set that I absolutely love.  I'd really like to get a more current nativity for the kids, but I just love this one that my grandma gave me years ago.  There are some things I am super sentimental about and this is one of them.

Daisy Mae is lazy.  She is a bit bored without a giant backyard to play in.  She does have a new BFF next door.  They have a golden retriever and she runs and plays with her every day.  But Daisy really has a nice and easy life! ;)  Super Random.

Our house is 2 story and there is no way Gary was gonna climb on the roof like he did in Texas.  So ... this is it for our outdoor decor for this year.   We have an outdoor tree and our tree inside peeks out the front windows.   I need to snap a shot during the day so you can see the cute bows.  Anyway,  It's fun and festive for this year.

I wonder where we will be next year? 

nothing too exciting...

Our weekend was full of errands and unpacking and organizing.  I wish I could say it was awesome and cool, but I guess it was in a way because we got TONS of stuff done.  

We cleaned out the horribly cluttered garage.

We or should I say Gary cleaned up the backyard.  The shrubs and grass were grown up all crazy like and Gary cleared the walkway in the backyard so I can park in the garage and walk through the backyard to the house.  I'm thrilled to be able to park in the garage!

We took the travel trailer in for a price quote.  (It was wrecked on our drive from Texas to Ohio.)

We bought a new ceiling fan, rug and toilet seat.  Gary installed Layla's new ceiling fan and 5 seconds after we left the room the globe to the light fell down and shattered.  Thankfully no one was in the room, but what a mess that was to clean up!  I'm thrilled about the rug in the living room.  We may get something with a little more color, but we have a khaki rug for now.  The toilet seat speaks for itself.

We got an offer on our house in Texas this weekend, but then the offer was withdrawn.  Booooo.  I'm good with it.  It just wasn't meant to be.  It was hard news to hear because we got a little excited, but it just wasn't in God's plan.

Gary grilled steaks for us this afternoon.  The weather here in Ohio was amazing.  It was a wonderful day.  Layla doesn't have school tomorrow and she is thrilled.

And....I'm so exhausted and sore from working all day long.  I'm watching Homeland and going to bed.

I hope your weekend was great and Happy Veteran's Day!

adjusting to our new home...

Hey y'all!!  I'm so happy to be typing this blog post from my handy dandy laptop!  I have missed posting from my laptop.  We finally have our At&t network set up.  We all have a Wi-Fi connection and I couldn't be happier.  I realize this makes me a nerd, but typing blog posts on my iPhone just isn't the same.  Blogging (like cooking) is a form of therapy for me!

We are getting all settled.  I have taken one room a day at a time and I'm getting our family settled into our home.  Some things are set up nicely and some things are just were we set them at the time.  I know it will take awhile to get settled in and I'm not going 'all out' because I know we will be moving again soon since we are renting this house.

Layla has attended her new school for two days and she seems to like it so far.  She makes me so proud!  I am currently searching for a new preschool for Hayden.  My plan is to get him into school next week, but whew...I have been on the phone with customer service reps for days.  I just need to relax for a day or two.

The kids seem to be adjusting to our house just fine.  We have all hardwood floors and no carpet.  We have two flights of stairs plus our basement.  They are handling the stairs well so far.  

Gary and I are also adjusting to several things:

  

1.)  The heaters are natural gas and there are 4 thermostats.  I can't get the whole house heated the same.  Some rooms are cold and others are burning hot.  I know we will get it figured out.  I was spoiled by my house in Texas.  

2.)  Washing clothes in a basement is a new experience for me.  The room with the washer and dryer has a ceiling of pipes.  IT is creepy.  The other parts of the basement are nice.  I've just never had a basement.  

3.)  Cooking with gas is a whole new ballgame for me.  I like it so far, but gas cooks WAY HOTTER than and electric range.  I burned my hand and set a pot holder on fire.  So yea...that's fun.  I'm slowly getting it though.

4.)  We have a detached garage and so far I haven't parked in it.  We need to move a few things around and I'll be able to park my Jeep in there.  The garage is behind our house in the alley.  There is really only parking for one car.  So Gary will always park on the front street.  It's all really different, but once a gain nothing we can't handle.

Daisy Mae has gotten into trouble for eating garbage.  She was in the backyard today and tore into a trash bag.  She has never acted like a scavenger, and I don't want her to start now.  Once we get our recycle and trash bins this won't be an issue.  She is such a stinker for acting out.  Y'all she stunk so bad I had to give her a bath.

I feel like I could go on and on about our adjustment.  I'm so glad to be able to blog regularly again.  Also I am glad to be able to catch up on my blog friends blogs too.  I have missed blogging and twitter.  I'm excited to get back into a routine all together.  

Everything is so different now.  Before Gary's new job he worked from home and was very much a part of the kids daily lives.  He still is a very active father, but now his office isn't at home.  The kids and I went from having him at home 24-7 to not being at home for almost 12 weeks straight and finally now to him going to a job every day and getting home in time for dinner.  You know?  It's new and exciting.  I love preparing dinner for him when he gets home from a hard days work.

Have a great night!  I am heading to watch Grey's!!!  I have missed my TV shows too!  ;)

our week in pictures

The kiddos had a dentist appointment and  

Hayden got to watch Layla get her teeth cleaned.  He thought is was the coolest thing ever.

He watch her go right after he had already gotten his cleaned.  It was fun for him to see what he just had done.

"Mommy, she is going to clean dem!"

Layla was so brave.  She looks nervous, but these kids have trips to the dentist dialed in.  

We are happy to report, NO CAVITIES and two very cooperative kids.

Subway!

Mmmmm!  The kids ordered salami sandwiches.  I was shocked, but they ate every bite!

This is Gary's handwriting.  Yes, meal planning has rubbed off on him.  I am so proud!

Some nights I actually set the table fun for us.  I'm cheesy, but Layla and I love dining fancy some nights!

I hadn't made chicken spaghetti in months.  You know why?  Because I could eat the whole pan.  Ahhhh.  I love it and it was such a delicious treat!

The kids are getting really good at Mario Cart.  I am really terrible at this game.  I try not to act disappointed.  Maybe one night I'll sneak in there and practice while every one is in bed.  I'm just so stinkin' competitive.  I don't wanna lose.

I took a picture of Mr. Yellow Grasshopper.  He was just hanging out outside the garage. 

I was enjoying rest-time with the kids.  I'm laying on the Dora couch and my Twizzlers pillow.  Daisy decided to jump on me and then make herself at home all sprawled out on her back.  She is one spoiled rotten dog and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We got the best watermelon at Kroger.  Oh my it is so delicious.  

Watermelon is one of my favorite parts of summer. 

I have no words.  Hayden falls for her tricks every time.  They both made me laugh so hard.  They were trying to walk on the tile floor.  They were clanking around and tripping.  Goodness gracious.  They think they are so funny!  I'm just thankful for no broken bones.

One of my favorite summer dinners.  Tostadas.  They are so easy and light after a hot summer day.

The ingredient for these pictured above:  tostada shells, pinto beans smushed into 're-fried' beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and salsa and sour cream for dipping.  This meal would have been perfect with guacamole.

I saved the funniest picture for last.  Sweet Hayden has cleaned his plate all week long at dinner time.  I'm so proud because usually we beg him to eat a few bites.  But after dinner on this particular night he said he felt like he was growing and we needed to measure him!

That is our week in pictures ... I hope you have a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!

landscaping makeover

Last weekend I talked Gary into transplanting our front shrubs.

I just felt like the shrubs in the flower beds were too big.  They were obnoxious and out of control.

I am so thankful for Gary.  He yanked those shrubs up in just a few minutes.

I think it looks so much better.  

I have some work to do redesigning my front flower beds.

For now I am just letting them rest and planing and thinking about what we are going to do with them.  I'm excited to plant new spring goodies soon!

We didn't want to waste the shrubs so we planted them out in our back yard.  Well, Gary planted them and I helped as much as I could.

We measured them and then the digging party started.

My job was to scoop the dirt out of the holes so we could place the roots down deep into the ground.

I painted my nails the night before.  Duh!  That manicure was short lived!

The kids had fun playing in the holes!

I am thrilled with the new shrubs in the backyard.  So far they are doing ok with the transfer.  They are definitely in shock, but hopefully the soaker hose will help them live!  Hopefully I will post about our new front bed soon.  If I could ever decide what I want to plant!