Water Baby

Vivi took swiming lessons at Wilson Park, along with her friend Jacob.  The pool was freshly filled and pretty cold in early June!  I think next year we'll wait until July.

Jacob and his mommy, Lee...

Chase got to watch this time...

After Vivi got used to the cold water, she loved her lessons.  They sang lots of songs and played fun games.

Here they are singing London Bridge...

We went to the Farmer's Market with Sarah, Les & Will (Tom was opening the new Slim's in Norman, OK).  The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a great time.

Vivi moved up to her new class today.  She is in the same class as her friends Will and Thompson and the boys she started with in the infant room (Hudson, Henry, and Owen).  They have "water day" every Monday and Friday where they get in their swim suits and play on the slip and slide and in the sprinklers.  She loves it!

Our Yard

We took these pictures a few weeks ago and the plants have already grown in a bit more!  This is the view from our front landing...

We have real grass and it is lush.  Damian is obsessed with it.  I got in trouble for putting a bird feeder in a tree over the fescue.  Who knew the birdseed that fell would sprout!

All of the hostas, loraipe, ferns, and peonies were already in our yard and just transplanted.  Some purple flowers have already bloomed from when these pics were taken and we're going to add more splashes of color this weekend.

Our rain garden is just in front of the spruce tree...

New Japanese Maple...

I'm still pondering on what to plant in that space behind the rose bush...
I'm in love with all of our new pea gravel walkways...
Hard to see, but a shot of the rain garden.  I'll try to get a better one this evening.  It is more defined now.

View walking down the side of the house to our courtyard area...
Seating wall with built in grill...

Rain barrel and big slabs of stone for steps...

We use our downstairs covered patio all the time now.  Thanks Bill & DeDe for the outdoor furniture you gave us when you moved.  It is perfect in that space!

Gravel area is for drainage and for an extra parking space.  Vivi also enjoys playing with all the stones.
We spend a lot of time out here now...

Drew and Jay are meticulous in their work...

Damian's favorite feature (besides the grass)...his antique grill.  It was original to the house and they refinished it and built it into the seating wall.  We hope the kids have lots of wonderful memories cooking on it as they grow.

And last of all, my veggie patch (veggies are double in size now!).
We still have dreams of phases 2, 3, and 4 for our house/yard.  Next year!

Happy Bday Kate!

Happy Birthday Kate!  Saturday, we drove to Ft. Smith to celebrate Kate's 1st birthday.  She looked so adorable in her tutu and enjoyed every minute of her party!  Brad and Sarah made a delicious meal and it was fun to visit with everybody and meet more of Brad's family.

It didn't take her long to finish her cupcake...she loved it!

Thanks Sarah and Brad for inviting us to share in Kate's special day!  It was the perfect 1st birthday party!!

New Interests

The weather has been gorgeous and we've been having tons of fun!  Damian has been playing golf, I've been going to yoga, and Vivi starts swimming lessons tomorrow!  She's already part fish.  She loves baths and showers, opens her mouth under the running water to drink it, and loves getting her face wet.

We are LOVING our new yard.  We spend a lot of town sitting on the rocks looking at our rain garden, watching the butterflies and birds...ahhhhhh, it's so relaxing!  I think Max likes it most of all.  He lays in the grass for hours at a time!

Damian and Vivi blowing bubbles and Max watching...

We've had a good time entertaining our friends with our new grill (the one original to the house that was refinished and built into the stone wall) and grass.  The Andrews came over to help us christen the grill.

Vivi getting coated with sunscreen so she can play with Milla...and Milla holding Vivi's milk for her...

Every weekend now involves smores...

This past weekend we had the Maners over for dinner Friday night and then the Hansens and the Shockleys came over on Saturday night.

Since the weather has been so nice, we take advantage of eating every meal possible on our deck...
We brought out Vivi's baby swing for baby Henry and Vivi likes climbing into it.  I think she'd like a hammock.  

I'll try to get around to posting the pictures of the yard tomorrow.