Memorial Day

We often spend Memorial Day weekend at the lake, but this year we decided to stay home so we could work on the house and get things done before our trip.  Mike and Adam (neighbor) pulled out an unbelievable amount of metal from the creek.  I wish I had taken a picture.  My grandfather used it to help build a bank along the creek, but due to the erosion that occurred after Hurricane Lee, much of it was exposed and really dangerous.  Mike put some stone on the floor of the greenhouse and today the boys and I scrubbed the outside of the greenhouse.  I (along with help from my mom) spent over an hour pulling out staples and nails from the floor.  Mike picked up the hardware flooring this morning and my dad helped him carry an entire trailer full of heavy boxes into the house.

My mom babysat the boys for a little while on Saturday morning so Mike and I could go furniture shopping.  When I got home my mom told me she had made 14 baskets and almost beat Owen in basketball.  Playing sports with Owen is definitely the way to his heart and he's pretty lucky to have such an athletic grandma who is willing to play basketball with him :)

Last night Nana Way watched the boys for a little bit while Mike and I went to dinner.  They love when Nana Way babysits because she's a sucker and will play endless games of Chutes & Ladders and Candy Land with them.  Luckily the leprechaun stayed away this time and didn't lock Nana Way out of the house.

This morning the boys and I went to our neighbors pond to go fishing.  Both boys caught two fish and had such a good time!  They have asked if they can please go fishing every day. Owen and Adam are loving the fact that they have so many neighbor kids to play with at our new house.

We played in the creek for a while too.  It was so refreshing!

And tonight, after working hard all day on the house, we went to Papa and Finney's for dinner.  Finney made the most delicious meal- ribs, steak, chicken, rice, beans, bread, mac & cheese.  We are so lucky to have a wonderful family always willing to help us out!!

Also feeling thankful for this wonderful country we live in and all the men and women that have sacrificed their lives so we can enjoy freedom everyday.

Sweet Summertime

On Friday I took the day off work to go along with Owen on his fieldtrip to Lake Tobias.  We had a lot of fun learning about cool animals and getting up close to them in their habitats!  Owen's buddy Isaac was with us for the trip.

 

Owen asked me to take his picture with a goat and as I was taking the picture another goat came up and goosed him.

Friday after school I was playing basketball with Owen and accidently went to block him and my arm hit his mouth.  The one tooth he still had on top was bloody and hanging by a string.  Later that night it came out while he was eating, but since I wasn't home, Mike sent me this picture...

Today we spent most of the day sitting on the deck, hanging out with our "new" neighbors while the kids played for many, many hours.  Squirt guns + mud + climbing trees + pizza party+ canoeing down the Snitz  (all while in just your underwear)= one very fun day.

 

 Mike made the kids take an oath that they wouldn't cry before they tackled the rough rapids of the Snitz Creek with Papa Doc's old canoe.

 

 We came home after our crazy fun day and got baths, put on jammies, and Adam begged for just one show.  He was passed out within a few minutes.  Cup of cereal between his legs, wearing two medals.  Cracks me up!

Tree Removal

I want to do a lot of before and after shots of the things we do to the house.  We did that with the house we are currently living in and it's so much fun to look back on all the work we did and see the changes. 

Here are some pictures of the house with the two beautiful Sycamore trees. 

They were huge and I loved them, but wouldn't love them coming down on our house during a storm especially after all the work we are putting into it.

We had a bunch of estimates, but decided to go with Climb High for the removal.  They were much cheaper than the others and had good reviews. They took a video of taking down one of the trees.  You can see it on You Tube by clicking HERE.

Jenny sent us a picture of the view from her yard while they were getting cut down...

Before

After

 

I asked one of the guys that was part of the tree removal crew how these trees compared to other trees they've taken down and he said they are about the biggest they've ever done.  He said they don't get much bigger than these.

I wasn't sure what I'd think once they were gone, but I do think it opens up the house a lot more and brightens it up. I am anxious to replace two of the smaller trees that were cut down and blocked some of the road.

Tonight we had fun feeding the fish in the creek.  They were really jumping!

Super Wonderful Weekend

We've been spending a lot of time working on the house- Mike even more than me.  Right now it looks pretty awful, but hopefully not for too long!  Tomorrow we are having two huge Sycamore trees cut down.  I hate having trees removed, but these are so big, old, and very close to the house that they need to come down to keep things safe.  The guy cutting them down told Mike he is going to use a Go Pro camera to make a fast time video of the entire process.  If you know Mike, Go Pros are his thing so he was excited about that.  We also had a man stop by on Saturday and ask to go dumpster diving in our dumpster for metal.  I guess there are people that go around asking permission to remove metal from dumpsters for money.  Mike said he could which actually helped us out because he took some weight out of our way-too-full dumpster.  I'll do a separate house update sometime this week. 

On Saturday I had the privledge of photographing a beautiful 40th anniversary party. 

It was my first real deal photo shoot and I had such a good time, despite being nervous.  I learned a few things too- like I NEED to take a class, I should invest in a wide angle lens for large groups of people, and I must enjoy taking pictures of kids more than adults because I had a ton of kid pictures.  I think I'm just more comfortable around kids since I'm with them all day long.  And all the kids at the party were absolutely adorable which made taking their picture lots of fun.  It was an honor to be part of this special day celebrating two amazing people.

 

This morning we headed to Baltimore so the boys could finally meet their new cousin.  It was a short, but very sweet trip.  Lots of baby lovin going on.  Owen never used to show much interest in babies, but lately he's started liking them.  I think he said to me at least 20 times since we got home this afternoon, "I just want to hold the baby.  When can I hold him again?" 

 We went to Federal Hill for some windy pictures.

 Tonight the boys ran in their last race for the Healthy Kids Running Series. 

After the races were finished they had an awards ceremony. 


Adam was happily surprised that he (along with every other participant) got a medal.  The first place winner in every age group also got a trophy.

 Owen won every race so he got a trophy. 
 
Adam wasn't happy that he didn't get one too.

Whew!  What a fun filled weekend.  I'm off to bed!