Sunday, February 21, 2010

New Yard

Well this was not exactly how we wanted to spend our weekend, but it had to be done. We live in an association and they have been after us for along time to fix our yard. When we moved in the yard was dying and we tried everything we could to keep it alive but ground cover and weeds kept coming up and pretty soon there were more weeds than lawn. We were told by the association we had to fix it. We had no choice but to put a new yard in. Deven and I thought really hard about what to do and decided we didn't want to deal with grass so we decided on a rock garden. Deven had to take a couple of days off work so we could put it in. We worked on it all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. In fact, we put the last rocks down as it was getting to dark to see but we did it. Not exactly the way we wanted to use some of Deven's days off, but we had no choice. Anyways, we think it turned out better than we thought. We really weren't sure what we were doing, we had the image in our mind, but we were just making it up as we went along. So I don't like to brag but this is one time we are proud of all our hard work. Dylan was such a trooper and sat in his pack and play for almost 2 days straight but he was so good for us. Gracie helped us lay down rock and would get the water for us, when we needed it. Thanks to Audra for letting her come and play when she lost her attention span so we could get things done and thanks for sending over Bobby we enjoyed having his slave labor for the afternoon. Now we have to clean out the cars as they are covered in dirt and rocks from all of the hauling we had to do. So that will be my project tomorrow as well as the garage. We have red dirt here and it can make quite a mess. Lucky ME!!!


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

FUN HOLIDAY WEEKEND

We had a rough week last week but managed to have a great weekend. We had a flu bug that we just passed around. Good thing is was only a 24 hour bug, but we couldn't all get it at once we took turns all week long being sick. Gracie started it off, passed it to Deven, who gave it to Gracie, and of course I was the last one and ended up with it on Friday. But Saturday came and we were ready to get out of the house. We had a great weekend. We started to put our yard in, had a great valentines day, I got to participate in the Great Aloha Run, and we even got in some beach time. So here are a few pictures of it all. At the top is the me finishing the race. There were close to 20,000 participants. So the top picture is just after I crossed the finish line. The race started at the Great Aloha Tower in Honolulu and ended at the stadium.
My biggest fans. Gracie was so excited to come cheer me on. Her kindergarten teacher was also running it and she told her she was going to be there to cheer her on as well. She was really disappointed that we didn't see Mrs. Scott.
I was finally able to get some new pictures of Dylan. He is now 10 months old. He is such a happy, sweet boy. At his last appointment he weighed 23lbs. He is my chunky monkey. We just love it. He is so squeezable.

We asked Gracie what she thought about Valentines and she said it was a time to exchange lots of treats and cards. So we thought it would be fun to decorate her door with and get her lots of treats.
We did well. She was so excited. Dylan didn't quite know what was going on. But we still decorated his door and made him a giant cookie as well. He just wanted to smash it, but it was still fun.
We decided to do something different on Valentines and go have breakfast on the beach. The kids were up at 6 am so we made some yummy breakfast and headed out to watch the sun rise. The kids just had fun playing in the sand and we enjoyed a relaxing morning.
We went down to Waikiki beach on Saturday and of course had to get our favorite melon pops at the store across the street. Dylan loved them. He sat there grunting until he could get a lick.
Gracie just loved to tease him with her Popsicle. Poor little guy he just wanted some licks. We will finish putting our yard in this week. Deven worked so hard on it Monday afternoon. After he was all sweaty we decided he needed a break and headed up to sharks cove for some snorkeling and ended with a fire pit and smores. I of course always forget my camera, but it was a great way to end the long weekend.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Book Time

I just had to write about the new thing we started at our house. I have so many books I want to read but just never feel like I have the time to sit and read. So I decided this year we were going to have book time at our house. Every day after Gracie finishes her homework she picks the room and we take our books and some toys for Dylan and get ready to read. I set a timer for 30 minutes and during that time Gracie has to read books or work in some of her activity books. The first time we tried it Gracie didn't think it was so neat but now it has become my most favorite time of day. Dylan plays and tries to get my book, but Gracie usually reads at least one book to him and then makes sure he has several books to look at as well. I forgot how much I love to read and it has been such a great time for all of us. Gracie even asks everyday when will it be book time. So sorry no pictures, but I just wanted to share one of my most favorite times of my day!