a productive saturday....

we have been attempting for a least a month for a productive Saturday.

if it's not one thing, it's another.

mostly rain has been our hindrance.

thankfully, yesterday that was NOT a problem.

it was a PERFECT day for working.

there was tree trimming, there was mowing, there was lots of weeding and there was LOTS of sweating going around here!

AND we FINALLY got around to redoing the side flowerbed. laying a new path sounds very easy in theory, however, in reality, it's A LOT of work.

thanks to the hub who worked his cute little bahookie off.

last night, as i closed the curtains, i was happy with our progress.

stop on by, it may not look this good again for a long time.

maxwell was extremely proud of the fact that he could drive the loader. daddy has much faith.

my hanging baskets are coming along very nicely thanks to Miracle Grow.
love u.

the finished product.

another angle.

the hub looks mighty fine up there.

fresh dirt. me likes.

my dear mother. spiffin' up some old chairs.

the thorn in my side.

the pile of pavers, overgrown by weeds. the beautiful view from my kitchen window since last summer.

good grief, can someone please give the hub a few more hours in his day so we can get this sorry mess taken care of???? on a positive note, the grass is sure a nice shade of green.

my children's play area. um, yes, that sandbox did have sides at one point. the contruction zone has widened.

a big mess but what wonderful little memories it's creating.

the before shot. minus all the little pebbles, those blasted things.

fresh sheets=summer bliss.....

summer has set in! oh, the sweet smell of sheets off the line!!

this would have been a perfect little, magical shot if not for the big green hose line and that blasted pile of pavers in the background!

still, sorta pretty.

can't you just smell it???

now we're cooking......

daddy got himself a new grill.

not by choice.

ok, here's how it went down.

a few weeks back, while grilling, the hub noticed that the flames were a little higher than normal.

so, like every good man does...he investigated.

sure enough, our less than 2 year old grill had rusted out burners.

he makes call number one to Costco.

the gentlemen on the other end said, "here's a 1-800#, you can order yourself new parts."

that of course, irritated me.

why?

well, why do we buy things from Costco?

for their great reputation for standing behind their products-of course.

but whatever. just my thought.

so we waited.

and grilled some more.

and burned more food.

and more....

until last week.

i was cooking ribs, which are greasy anyways but again, whatever.

thankfully, the hub came home so i was off the hook to finish up dinner.

love that.

while i was out in the yard....(he cooks, i garden, everyone wins)

i hear him yell.

i look up to see flames engulfing the grill and my hub attempting to pull the burning grill away from the house!

he quickly pulled it away and put out the fire while i ran inside for the fire extenquiser.

the hair on his arms was cinged but no burns.

the side of our house, black marks all the way up the side.

thankfully, no one was hurt. no tank blew up.

and we ate pizza for dinner.

unfortunately our grill didn't have such a happy ending.

after a quick phone call to Norm over at Costco, we got ourselves a new grill.

PLUS, they gave us the difference in price so now mama has herself a new grill AND some store credit. maybe i'll get a new awning for my patio after all!

and this is why we shop Costco!!!!

school spirit??

i full on admit it, i'm one of those moms that wonders WHY mothers let their children dye their hair.

well, wouldn't you know it....i'm now eating my words.

that will teach me to judge fellow mothers.

a few weeks back, jack, who doesn't have a fearful bone in his body decided that he wanted to color his hair for spirit/field day.

he was on the red team.

duh, had you not figured that out yet.

so since the boys needed haircuts anyways, i had the dude at Great Clips color it for him

AND

of course, this is the night that we needed to make a trip into bellingham. of course it was.

i keep saying, OUTLOUD, when someone would look at him funny, "honey, you are going to have to wash that out after tomorrow!!"

yup, think i said it 12x's.

gotta give it to the kid though, he didn't care if anyone else did it with him.

he was going to have team spirit....

and boy, did he have spirit.

no matter how embarrassed i acted, i was proud of him for his boldness....love that about him.