A little R&R after a hard day's work

After a big day tackling projects, Pete gets some snuggles from his little man swinging in the hammock under the pink flowers of the crabapple.



You might also see what's clutched in Austin's hand if you make the picture bigger ;)

Workin' on the yard....

So Pete has definitely made my gardening plans kick off. A couple weeks ago, he built me this bed on the left of the walk to house the 140 daffodils I got (at Walmart for $3 total in January!), the strawberry plants given to me by a friend (thanks Reg!) and some plants I traded a few strawberry plants for (chives, sage, comfrey, oregano, sedum). That's the top picture.

I'm relocating a few hostas that remain in the bed on the right (top pic), my proclaimed "veggie garden" next to the house (it's the only place that gets enough sun....we're blessed with so many trees in the backyard that veggies wouldn't grow well), to beneath two big spruce trees in the second picture. We also transplanted a volunteer maple today that was growing vigorously up between an arborvitae hedge. It was growing out of the hedge at a 30* angle or so but we were able to plant it upright. I'm hoping it survives the transplant (you don't get a sapling out of a hedge without an argument). You can see it in the second pic if you enlarge the picture (click on it) and look in the top left. Yeah, the tree isn't big, but it's probably still a 3-4 year old sapling! Okay, have to give Pete his kudos! He was in the yard digging and transplanting and sawing and hacking and yanking and hauling logs all day today!

Maiden voyage of the jacket

So, I own a motorcycle riding jacket, but I'm pretty sure I could never have guessed this would be how it would get broken in! We have an enormous maple in our front yard that looks like a tree from the black swamp with all of the dead trunks/branches on it, so today Pete went nutty on the tree. He sawed until his arms were jello, and then he sawed some more. Austin woke up in time for me to finish off the trunk....nice timing, huh :)

So, as I am handed the running chainsaw it occurs to me that chainsawing in a skirt and flipflops, though light and airy, would be STUPID! I realize that chainsaws are designed to maneuver through wood, certainly nothing a pair of jeans is going to stop, but my bright idea was to bust out the motorcycle jacket with kevlar (or whatever) plates going around some parts I'm partial to (arms, chest, etc) and the helmet would certainly be a deterrent should my face and the chainsaw meet in some horrible kickback scene...(ummm, yes, I am my father's daughter, in case that last sentence caused you to ponder the similarities ).

So, in the absence of the wonderful safety equipment encouraged by the university this was my best makeshift protection.

And Pete laughed....

And then went to get the camera thinking some of you might laugh too ;)

Momma's little helper

So our fantastic garage sale find turns into a smile-inducing photo for me. I vacuumed our rug earlier today and Austin, upon seeing me haul out "momma's vacuum" trucked over and got his vacuum and helped me vaccum our rug.

This is my Nana....

After reading the doggie story with Mom, Austin trucked over to Nana with it to read it again with a whole 'nother spin on things! Here they take a break to melt Mom's heart....oh, I mean smile at the camera.

Moon!

Austin and I are reading the book about doggies and on one page there are 9 doggies howling at the moon. Austin's pretty excited that he knows what a moon is and can sign it, so here he is signing moon, baby language version. His little palm facing out, moving it around vaguely in a circle.

Coincidentally, the sign for "airplane" looks similar and he's taken to calling any unidentified engine noise (meaning we can only hear it) an "airplane." And surprisingly, more than not he's actually right. Lawnmowers are "mo...mo..." too.

The little things we get a kick out of right? You listen to them say "bah!" for 4 months straight and a "mo!" is pretty freakin' exciting!

Hmmmm....

Time out for some rejuvination.

Hmmmm.....it would appear his hand made it down his pants again.... eh, what'r ya gonna do?