Yard Progress

This fall Stephen and I decided to work a little bit on the back yard. We wanted to get some dirt to get the dirt patch all leveled out and plant grass seed. Since half of our yard is torn up we knew we probably couldn't do it all at once, but we could at least get started. So I looked on KSL last week for anyone wanting to get rid of top soil for free. There were plenty of people with free dirt. I hadn't called anyone yet, so I sat down again and looked them up, but just as I was about to I found an ad for free sod. I got a hold of the guy to see if he still had any left. He said he did, but he gave the free stuff away already, but still had sod; he just wanted $50 for it to help cover the cost of his sod cutter rental. I asked how much sod he thought he had, and he said 80-100 square feet. Well, 100 square feet of sod is almost nothing. we needed somewhere around 1,000 square feet to cover all the dirt patch, but we figured it'd be a start and maybe we'd just seed the rest. So we went to pick it up that night, and come to find out, he had way more than 100 square feet, so Stephen asked him which was ours; he said all of it. We ended up taking two truck loads home--around 600 square feet! We were so excited.

The next day we went to the dump and got a truck load of compost to level out the ground, and that one load did half the dirt patch. So, to fix half of our torn up yard cost us only $80! I can't wait to finish it!

BEFORE

 DURING

AFTER

We love our new backyard, and hope the sod comes back to life and greens up a bit, especially since Zander will be able to play a lot more in it next summer, and can't wait to sod or seed the last half. We're hoping to find a swing set to put back there, maybe put in a sand box, and plant a few trees for some shade.

His Usual Antics

We found a dandelion by the garden

 He had to taste it first

 Then make wishes and watch them float away.

I love, love, love this little boy of mine! I am so blessed to be his mom. He's a little explorer, teaser, climber, and so independent. I love that he wants to do things by himself. He has blessed my and Stephen's lives beyond what we had imagined. Zander loves it when daddy comes home and gives him a big kiss. He like to play with mommy in the afternoon and climb all over me. I throw him on the beanbag, swing him around, chase him up the stairs, and take him outside in the yard to explore; those are some of his favorite things.

His latest thing is wanting to stand up by himself. In church, he'll stand on the bench and throw both his arms in the air like "Look at me!" to the people sitting behind us with a huge grin on his face. I was surprised to see that he was daring enough to do that while in a shopping cart as I was pushing it. He looked like he was surfing for a while with one arm barely holding on, until he caught his balance and stood without help. He's such a stud!

It's All Fun and Games...

 Until someone gets stuck.

A Dad and His Boy

Zander loves his dad. I'm so glad they have such a close relationship already. Makes me happy.

Look at that little, squished nose!

Look Familiar?

Every time I go in Zander's room to check in on him to make sure he's asleep at nap time, I find him like this. Or more often than that I find him bent in half with his bum sticking in the air. Look familiar? He naps just like his mama! I usually have to lay him down on his  back so his legs don't fall asleep. Silly  boy!

A Look at My Domestic Side

A few weeks ago while Stephen was out of town I kind of started to run out of things to do. I had seen recipes and heard of people making their own crackers, and thought it was too much of a hassle and effort when I could just buy some from the store and save myself the trouble. Well, since I had an afternoon free of chores I decided to take a whack at it. Well, wouldn't you know, they were SO easy to make! Four ingredients, and 15 minutes in the oven. Done. They were delicious to boot! I made whole wheat cheddar crackers. I loved them because they were fast, and I know exactly what went into them, and Zander and Stephen loved them too. I felt so cool after they were all done. Look at me and my domestic side!

I also made some killer caramel corn and candy popcorn for activity days the other day.

Labor Day

I had Stephen get Zander dressed and and ready for the day on Monday. After he finished I noticed that the two of them matched, so I went to my bedroom and put on a matching shirt too so I wasn't left out. I came out and told Stephen we were one, big, happy, matching family! I was just teasing him, but he didn't like the idea of all of us matching, so he tried to change, but I wouldn't let him. I had to take a family selfie in our matching outfits just to spite Stephen because he hated it so much.

We spent the whole day together, really just running errands, we didn't do anything special but in the evening we dug up our onions and carrots out of our garden. This was our giant carrot for the year. This was one of my favorite days.