Trailers Away!

On Monday, I finally purchased a bike trailer for myself..well, really for Andrew so that I can ride my bike when Danny isn't around to watch the little man. Danny & Andrew actually got the trailer attached to the bike & we went for a short ride that night and Andrew loved it! We've ridden every night, even in the rain.

That's Doctor Donelson! and Doctor Rogers!

This weekend we had two good friends, Sarah & Stephanie graduate with their respective PhD's at OSU. We didn't make it to the graduation ceremony (Friday night)...but apparently Garth Brooks did (he recieved his MBA) and was nice enough to take pictures w/just about everyone in attendance! Andrine hosted a party for Sarah on Saturday & I went over a little early to help set up-we met a lot of Sarah's family & had a really nice time visiting. We are so proud of each of these ladies & wish them all the best....as long as they don't leave Stillwater;)

Towels, playsets & trees!

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew & I went to Dallas to visit Jamie for her birthday....and she had the most fantastic towel in the guest bathroom. So, on a trip to Tulsa, I got a couple of the towels for our master bathroom as well! this week we managed to find a used playset for Andrew-he's been having so much fun at school w/the playground equipment and didn't have anything at home. He loves going down the slide-mostly backwards, but who really cares when you're having fun, right? The finale for the week was delivery of our trees! I'm so excited to have them in the ground & being 'finished' with the yard-now we can plan our yard-warming party this summer.

Birds have found us!

Well, we're not sure if it's because of the landscaping & adding all the plants or if it's because there's bird seed available-but we have all types of birds showing up in the yard. Last year we got a great feeder from Pam & Jerry as a housewarming gift-we put it out, but never saw anything other than hummingbirds. Last week, & I were at the table & a bird came up to the feeder. We were both sort of stunned & Danny said "well, maybe I should change out that seed". He put fresh seed out & today we've seen at least 20 birds all over the yard. While I was getting bed pictures, I saw this hummingbird fly in-he landed on the tomato cage & I managed a shot!

Finally! The yard is (almost) finished....

Well, I think the yard is 99% done. I still need to relocate the iris and peony plants....and the nursery still needs to deliver & plant our two trees-a lacebark elm & dwarf atlas cedar that go on either side of the hill. Four beds were added-the rock (center), two flanking the back gate & one along the back wall of the house. We really tried to incorporate plants with rich colored foliage & evergreens in these beds. It was a challenge passing up my usual favorites at the nurseries since our yard has a southern exposure, i.e. full sun all day long! Granted, once the elm gets a few years older, the yard will be more like the old house in terms of shade. We also put in a bed specifically for veggies-it's the one w/the large trellis & tomato cages-the plants don't really show up since they're still so small. I also tried to put some different sedums/rock plants in the wall-hopefully the rains won't wash out all the soil around them! You'll also notice the fences around all the beds....the pups think we put the beds in for them to dig around making 'puppy beds'.....I only threatened their lives a couple of times-mainly after I'd found Oscar 'fluffing' my mulch!

Lion King....IRL!

This Saturday, we went on a behind-the-scenes tour at the Tulsa Zoo with Danny's parents to see the big cat exhibit. Even though we were safely behind 'bars' (yep, I would have preferred a little less safe-no petting, bummer!) it didn't detract from the true wildness & majesty of these animals. There's just something about cats (and for anyone that knows me, that includes literally any kind of cat) that just gets to me-no matter the size, each one is so graceful, with all that intelligence & power....Oh well, I'll stop now;) Another huge highlight was the carousel *yippee*! It was Andrew's first time & he got a little nervous a couple of times (after we switched to the tiger-the giraffe didn't go up & down) but did great-as you can see by the smiles. We used his harness....and he persisted in walking himself-if we tried to hold the tail, he would whip around & take it away and start walking again. Ah, the independence of kids;) I hope to have the finished yard pictures soon, but this morning it started raining & hasn't stopped long enough for me to get outside.

lawn + dirt, rocks & free labor = landscaping

This was our weekend project (still in process-metal edging for all the side beds). Thank goodness for great friends & family to help. Luke came by with a spare tamper & Momma & Daddy came in to help as well. We finished the berm, wall & replaced the sod by the time lunch rolled around-we expected to take all day just to finish those three! Today we all got up & worked on cleaning up the side beds (along fences & wall of the house) and decided we would attempt to get the metal edging installed on those as well. Now we just need to get some plants & mulch;)

Is it Andrew or the UPS man;) !!!

Those of you familiar with my family will recognize an uncanny resemblance between these pictures of Andrew and a certain, anonymous individual.

My new do!

So yesterday I saw Richa & the end result? I have a 'swoop'....aka bangs. I really can't remember the last time I had hair 'lightly feathering across my face;)'...well, I can, but Aunt Willie Bell cut me loose w/scissors & I created my own bangs-you can imagine the result!

Lazy weekends

These are just some randoms from the last couple of weekends out in the neighborhood. Andrew loves the geese & we had to drag him away from this flock across the street from our house. The geese recognized the imminent danger & kept just enough space between themselves and our little monster!
Andrew manages some crazy hair in the mornings and this was a particularly nice example;)
Andrew was helping Danny w/the dogs-mainly it involved Abby & Oscar eating Andrew's apples!