A stroll through our backyard

It's going to be cold, wet, and possibly snowy today and I was looking through these pictures from last weekend when it was warm, sunny, and perfect in every way and thought I would post them.  Damian, Vivi, and I were taking a stroll through our backyard after church looking at all of our opportunities!  

I just love this one...

We've been dreaming about landscaping and have been working with our friends Jay and Drew who own Ozark Alternative Earthworks to figure out what we should tackle first.  Jay and I went to junior high and high school together and it's so neat to seem him running his own company! 

Jay and Drew specialize in rain gardens and utilizing the water that already exists on your property.  As you can see from the pictures, we have a blank slate after not touching the yard in 3 years and all the construction.  We are really excited about the things that they have thought of and put on paper for us and can't wait to see it come to life.

See my compost bin over by the stone fireplace.  Damian gave it to me for Christmas and I already have some very nice looking soil in there!  I'm so excited about it!!

We have a pile of stone leftover from the construction where they tore out walls and patios that we will be re-using...

This is the spot of our future veggie garden.  Boriana and I are taking a class next weekend at the Botanical Garden on organic gardening.  She and I have talked about all the yummy things we are planning to grow and are ready to start planting.

Little Vi is teething again.  She has her hands in her mouth a lot right now...

The Farmer's Market opens next weekend...YEA!!! 

A Few Weekend Pics

My mom came to visit us this past weekend because Montessori was closed on Friday for Spring Break.  Vivi had fun spending the day with Lola Grace!  They played in the park, read lots of books, and Vivi even got a new toy vacuum!  Here are a couple pics my mom got while she was here...

Thanks again for helping us out, mom!

The Hansens invited us and the Andrews over for lunch on Sunday.  We had fun catching up and playing with the kids.  

Milla and Vivi in deep concentration...

Baby Nick hanging in his swing...

Vivi's 14 Month Check Up

Vivi had her 14 month doctor appointment on Thursday morning. We were able to take our time getting ready and having breakfast, which was so nice on a Thursday! We also had some time to read books and play and I got a video of Vivi climbing onto her pink pony.

Vivi had a great check up. She is now up to 23 pounds. She's in the 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight....still on the tall and thin track. Dr. Grear also commented on how strong Vivi is, especially her calf muscles (those are definitely from her daddy!).

We are so happy that Vivi's appetite is back to normal ever since she got her tubes put in. She still loves grape tomatoes and clementines and has them at least 3 times a day. She likes toast, too (especially rye). She also likes Indian food! We recently had corned beef and cabbage for dinner and she loved that meal, too. We've been really surprised by how much (quantity) Vivi can eat. We're going to have to start ordering her own meals when we go out to eat!!!

Lola Grace came to spend some time with Vivi on Friday, so more pictures to come!

Catch Up

My goodness, we have been so busy and I'm just getting the chance to catch up.  Last Friday, Chase Nordin turned 1 and we were invited over to help him celebrate.  Lee made a fabulous dinner...a build your own pasta bar.  She is an excellent cook!  Thank you Nordins for having us all over!

Vivi and the birthday boy...

Happy 1st birthday, Chase!

Lee, Jason, Chase, and big brother Jacob...

Milla loved the balloons...

This is Vivi's friend Hudson from school.  They have been in the same class since they started.  He is a couple months older than her.  They are good buds!  In fact, Vivi's journal from class says that she has planted some kisses on his lips.

Damian and Lawton...

Amy and Lee...
This party was B.Y.O.H. - Bring Your Own Highchair!!!  Lee thinks of it all.
Jacob and Greyson (Hudson's big brother)...
Vivi thought Greyson was hilarious...

Chase LOVED his cake!

All the kiddos enjoyed present time.
On Saturday, Leslie, Sarah, and I had a girls day out full of sushi, sping clothes shopping, and mani/pedicures.  Vivi and Damian had fun playing during the day, and then we met Steph and Brian for dinner to catch up and hear more about baby boy Kendall!

Tuesday night, Damian hosted a bug boil meeting.  It's hard to believe May 2nd is almost here! The committee is hard at work planning and making decisions...

While they were meeting, Les and I took Will and Vivi to the park.  We've been going every night since the weather has been so beautiful!  Vivi is now and expert at going down the slide and swinging.  She can also hang from the money bars.

Go Horsies!

This past weekend, we met Abby, Ron, Emily, Emma, and Sam at the lake...great idea Emily!  Sarah, Brad, and Kate weren't able to make it since they are working on moving into their new house in OKC.  We missed them!  We went to the horse races on Saturday afternoon and then had a nice steak, sweet potato, and roasted asparagus dinner.

I got off work a little early so that we could get a head start on the drive to Hot Springs on Friday (which by the way did not actually happen and we ended up forgetting lots of things, including half our clothes!) and caught Vivi in the middle of a buggy ride with her friends.  She is sitting in the back with Hudson.

The cousins on Saturday morning...

Vivi really liked the horses!  She got really excited when they rode by.  She would wave her arm in the air like she was saying, "go horsies!"  One of the jockeys caught a glimpse of her when they were trotting by before one of the races and he stuck his tongue out and winked at her.

Abby was the big winner that day, using the very statistically sound method of choosing the winners by the names she liked the best. 

The kiddos playing before dinner...

Last night, Susan, Eric, and baby Nick came over to have dinner with us and we had a great time catching up.  Nick is 3 months old and soooo adorable!  He also goes to Montessori and is currently in the same room as sweet little Milla.