Yard Work

Today we had a yard work day. We went out right after breakfast, about 9:30am, and started working. I cut down the huge vines near the front door and Brice and I took turns digging/slicing the roots out. Once the vines were gone I raked the "Liriope hill" and Brice raked the "Rose of Sharon" flower bed and Nathan shoveled the leaves into the wheel barrow which we dumped on our compost pile (many times). Nathan has just gotten a brand new nifty little shovel from Home Depot that's just his size but still strong and sturdy. Last year's Miss Spider shovel was cute but it didn't take Nathan long to break the wooden handle off. We're hoping this new one is a little tougher.

At around 1:30pm we took a break and went to Culver's for lunch (well Nathan had just finished a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cup of grape applesauce and a sliced apple, the kid's a bottomless pit). The weather was nice (got up to 57 degrees, perfect for yard work) so we ate outside at the picnic table near the fountain.

Nathan wanted a peach tree to go with the Asian Pear tree we have in the yard because he "likes peaches a lot more than pears" so we went to Home Depot again (third time this week) and got a peach tree to plant and also got raspberry, blueberry and blackberry bushes to plant (actually they are more like sticks but they hope to be bushes someday).

When we got home around 3:15pm Nathan called Brandon to see if he could "have a playover". Nathan and I went to pick up Brandon and went to Joe Glik park while Brice continued the yard work. We stayed at Joe Glik park for about 45 minutes then came home. Nathan and Brandon played in the basement, Brice took a shower and I tried to clean off my desk in between calls of "Nathan/Brandon is bothering me!!!!" "Will you put on a video for us?" "Nathan won't share!!!!" "Brandon won't get out of my way!!!" ...etc...etc... are we having fun yet?

Around 6pm I made dinner which included pancakes, plums, tossed salad, pizza bread, roast beef sandwhich, oatmeal bread, apple and whatever leftovers we found in the fridge. After dinner Brandon "borrowed" some toys from Nathan (which he does every time he comes over and we pretty much never see them again) and Nathan and I took him home while Brice stayed home to clean up the dinner table.

When we got home Nathan went right into the tub. He then had 15 minutes to play with his trains before getting ready for bed routine. He's now in his jammies reading some books with Brice while he has a snack (I said he's a bottomless pit). Another good but exhausting day!

Brice's birthday

We celebrated Brice's birthday with our friend Scott Carter. We went out the night before his actual birthday because we couldn't get a babysitter on Saturday. We met Scott at Lotawata Creek Restaurant in Fairview Heights at 7pm. We had a couple of rounds of drinks while waiting for a table and then had a great meal. We then went to the Showplace 12 across the street to see a movie. It was a rare occasion where we had no kid and no curfew (haha) and we had a lot of laughs!

Saturday morning Nathan and I served Brice his morning tea in his new Over The Hill mug and gave him his presents. I gave him two D & D books which he started reading later in the morning. Nathan gave him "Dog Train", a book and CD that has songs with kid lyrics performed adult style by mostly rock n roll performers. Nathan said he and Daddy could share the book and read it together and listen to the music together.

Saturday evening I went to a trivia night at the Y to raise money for Relay for Life and Nathan and Daddy stayed home and had a boys night in. Good time for us all! Happy Birthday B!

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WaterPark

Yesterday, Sunday Feb 26, 2006, we went to the Korte Recreation Center in Highland, IL where they have an indoor water park. Nathan had a fabulous time going down the small slide and jumping off the side so Mom could catch him. We also went down the "little river" to the "vortex" and spun around and around. Nathan even managed to hold his breath and go under water a few times and is getting braver all the time.

After the water fun, we had hot dogs, popcorn and gatorade at the little snack shop they have, then played on the play structure outside for a while. This will definitely go on our "do it again" list. Unfortunately we forgot our camera so we have no pictures. Next time!

February 22, 2006

I have just created this blog and have no idea how to use it, but I'm going to learn!