Aaaww! I know everyone has these of their children, but I have to say that those kids are pretty cute.
The Back Yard April 25, 2009
I’m fascinated with the weeds in my backyard. The neighbors say that before we came, the weeds were fence high. Their roots are like a foot long, and as wide or wider than my thumb! I really wanted an organic garden back there, so instead of weed killer, we covered most of the yard with black plastic, stones, and some mulch to weigh it down and smother the weeds. You can see the plastic in the background here:
We left it for about 6 weeks, and when we took it off, we saw it had worked pretty well. We had a bunch of family over (Thanks family!!!) next to help us till it all up, and loosen the soil to throw grass seed.
The hard work kind of paid off. We have some grass- though not as much as I’d hoped. Looks like it will take a couplle more yrs to really get things going.
My Masterpiece April 25, 2009
Having made friends with Katie and Amy a couple years ago, I started believing I, too may be some kind of Home improvement guru in the making. Turns out, not so much. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not half bad. I just don’t seem to like it as much as they do. Anyway, here is my first big project.
I bought this dresser at a garage sale for $15. It needed knobs, some work on the drawers, and some paint. (Most of it was white, but some had been sanded off).
Katie helped me find drawer guides online.
I bought the knobs at Home Depot.
Matt bought me a good sander, and it took forever to take off all 100 coats of white paint.
Finally, I painted (and lined the drawers with fancy smelling paper).
Let’s take another look:
Chicago April 25, 2009
In February, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t gone anywhere without a child in 3 yrs (Samantha’s age), and that come May, I’d be nursing for another year. Quickly approaching the mark in pregnancy when they won’t let you fly, I called a friend, and said- let’s go somewhere!
Not real enthused about the idea of being mistaken for a whale in dire 
straights, I avoided all beach vacations like the plague, and settled on Chicago. Thank Heaven for friends like Jackie who are as desparate as I am to go anywhere as long as it means nobody’s diaper will need changing. It snowed most of the time we were there.
Having lived in Fort Worth and Austin, I never considered myself a country girl, but I gotta say… Chicago made me reevaluate. Having decided on a restaurant for dinner that first night, we hailed a cab, gave hime the address, and were on our way. When he stops in the road in front of the restaurant, I paid the cabby, who conveniently took his tip from the bill I handed him- almost 30% of the tab. I almost asked for change, but shrugged it off, and went to opened door. I could hear he was saying something loudly in a very heavy accent, but it took a while to process, “watch out for the bicycle. As a side note, I’d like you to know that every person we encountered in Chicago seemed to be from a different country. Anyway, I opened the door right into a man on a bike who stumbled, and laid his bike down.
I felt terrible. I asked if he was okay, but he was very busy yelling at me and the cabby that we needed to watch out. Mr 30% immediately starts saying he told me, warned me… I didn’t listen. I wanted my tip back, but I had to admit this was my fault. So this goes on for a minute or two – me asking if he’s okay, offering to call for medical assistance, telling him it was my fault (not the cabby’s), and him just yelling at both of us. Then some girl shows up saying she’s part of some bike organization, and that he can sue the cabby if he wants. She writes down the number of the cab, saying he’s supposed to pull up to the sidewalk, that I need to be more careful; I could kill someone like that. Off drives the cabby, and I still don’t know if the man is injured. When all is said and done, turns out the man thinks he’s okay, and rides away. As we walk up to the restaurant we have so carefully chosen, and maimed womeone to get to, we see the sign: Closed for renovations. Chicago was not looking very hospitable.
Despite the rough start, we did have a good time. Here we are at the Field Museum. 
If you’re ever in chicago, don’t miss this. Nerd that I am, it really was bliss to wander around the exhibits of natural history. Among many other things, we saw a special exhibit on the Aztecs, and toured an ancient Egypt exhibit with a life-size model of a tomb. We probably needed another ten hours in there just to see the exhibits on the other levels. We missed out on one exhibit about a slave ship turned pirate ship, but we had to take this picture.
Jackie convinced me se should see the Sears Tower, which I could have cared less about, but when it was all said and done, I was so glad we went. The view was just spectacular, and being up there was fun. It ended up being one of my favorite things we did.
Child Labor Cont’d April 25, 2009
So I’ve mentioned before my affinity for putting my oldest to work, but 8 months pregnant, I gotta tell ya- I don’t know what we’d do without her. Last Sunday, both of us feeling those Sunday lazies, we naturally turned to rock, paper, scissors to determine who would be getting off the couch to feed our hungry little guy when Sam declares, “I got it, guys! I’ll do it. No problem” Pretty soon, both our kids were sitting on the kitchen floor sharing a carton of blackberries.
As if that wasn’t cool enough, the other day I tried to grab a quick shower during Levi’s unreliable morning nap (I don’t know why I thought that would work- the boy has serious radar). Sam comes running in seconds after I step in telling me he’s crying. So I wash up as fast as I can, and get out, but as I’m drying off, I don’t hear my screaming baby. I wasn’t sure whether to run in without bothering with clothes, or to enjoy an unrushed moment getting dressed. Turns out, I could have given myself a pedicure. I found her in his crib, reading him a story. When I walked in, neither one of them wanted out, so I snapped a picture.
Children in this photo not available for rent or sale.
