Surprises.

We are loving our new yard and fence, but are very sad that winter came so early. We still get out as much as possible, but we'll just have to wait until spring comes to fully enjoy it. Clayton surprised me the other day by giving me permission to use the back part of our yard as a small garden. Actually, he gave me a larger spot than I even wanted! Who is this man? So, I'll have a fun time gardening this spring, if I can get around because....

Well, just when you didn't think we had any surprises this year...our little baby surprised lots of family and friends. I am very happy about it and, though we planned it, still a little stunned. We were going to wait until next year, but something started nagging me in my mind. "Your 35, it said. If you wait, you'll be 37 when you have your third child and you won't have your body fully back until 38." It also said, "wouldn't it be so nice to have your family established and there won't be any large adjustments for a while after a new baby?" I also worried, though, that I wouldn't get to enjoy Audrey as much because a new baby would take over my time. So, I asked Clayton what he thought and he was happy with the idea that we could have our little family complete. So, we tried with the idea that if it didn't happen right way, we would wait so that the baby wouldn't be too young before I went back to work. He/She has great timing! I thought I was due May 25th, but I was a week later than I thought. So it looks more like June 1st. I hope the baby is born a little early this time so we can have a May baby. And, it wouldn't be terrible if I had to miss the last couple of days of school. I haven't told the head or principle of our school, yet. So if you know them, keep this under your hat for a while longer.

So here is a little look at our little surprise.

Fancy Chef

I just wanted to share a story and some cute photos from today. I have been pretty tired the last few weeks (even before the cool weather came our way). So, when an opportunity came to lay my head down for a few minutes, I took it! Audrey had just woke up from a three hour nap and Colin had encouraged her to play with him. I have kept the last two boxes that her diapers came in and he turned them into "boats" this morning. Flashback to this morning..."Mommy, look at our boats!" "Wow, Colin. Where are you going?" "We're going to....Jamaica!" "What do you know about Jamaica?" "It is warm there and there are sharks in the ocean." Seriously, what three year old knows such things? I LOVE his school and the children he is surrounded by.
Anyway, flashforward to this afternoon. So they were playing in the "boats" and I was laying down in another room close by. Colin was playing so well with Audrey and telling her to watch out because sharks might get her. It got very quiet for a few minutes and then he started saying something about animals. He had gone to get lots of stuffed animals to put in the boxes to make the play more creative, and comfy! I only knew this from listening because I couldn't hear them. I tuned out to what they were saying for a little while, but then I heard Colin say, "watch out the monsters are coming up the stairs!" Audrey didn't say anything. Then, Colin said,"you know Mommy is really a monster, don't you!? She really is." Then he went on to play with her and that was that. I just thought that was funny.
Later, we went to Target and I bought some dress up clothes for Audrey's school. I couldn't help dressing her up in them before giving them away. She is a pretty fancy chef! The feathers would just get in the way.

Weekend of work.

This is the last blog about the yard - I promise!! This past weekend my dad came down to bring us pumpkins and some cut cornstalks for decorations. We decided to go ahead and ask him to build our fence because our yard was complete. So, despite the off and on rain on Saturday, it is finished. Well, Clayton just has to attach the handle to the large gate and it will be done. He is also repairing the deck and will then give it a nice coat of new paint. We both decided that, after our beautiful brickwork was finished, it didn't look very nice. We did take the grill down and clean it off. This makes it look much nicer and it is roomy. So, enjoy these new photos. This was the set up on the drive pad. They had to "dog ear" each board before putting it up. My dad works HARD! This was one of his only breaks for the whole weekend. Clayton has a new respect for him, I think.

Okay, this is only the second break! Colin loves him. He was outside basically all weekend long - finding worms, playing with his trains on the sides of the fence, etc.

Privacy - ahhhh! Children can't get out! This is a new concept. I still can't be outside without getting nervous when they go towards the alley. I guess that will wear off eventually.

This is the adorable little picnic table my dad made for Colin's birthday. He took half the measurements of the one he made at home (his house) that we used for years. Both Colin and Audrey love it.

This is a funny look on Audrey's face. She was just eating and I caught her. She's not mad.

I couldn't get a good picture of them both together. They were spitting their milk out and laughing. I love our yard!

Clayton and my dad worked well into the evening to get the gates completed. This is at dusk and they are still hard at work.