Makes Me Smile

I may not be regular enough to do those "makes me smile mondays" blogs, but that's the title that came to my head when I saw this and snapped it.

The Photo Every Mom Has...

Okay, maybe not EVERY mom, but I personally know a lot of moms that have this photo of their child, but it doesn't make it any less of a good photo.
Even so, it was not staged.
This girl keeps me on my toes.

Backyard work

When we moved into our house our backyard was gorgeous but it threatened some future problems that reared their heads last year.
Our backyard is really small and there were several trees in it that would have been great in a large yard, but were too big for our small yard.
Last year our grass started dying, even though it was getting water, as well as a few other plants.
We also had a problem with the sprinklers hitting the wall too frequently since the lawn went right up to it, causing the stucco to crumble.
So, last Fall we went to work on making it work for us. Zach took out two trees , several dead bushes and the sprinkler system. We roto-tilled and took out many bucket-fulls of rocks. Then Zach replaced the sprinkler system, put in concrete borders all the way around, laid sod and planted a few new plants.
Owning a home is quite the learning experience!
Before pic:



During Pics:



After:


Gwen taste-testing the backyard. Everything goes in this little girl's mouth.

For the Records...

I figured it's been a while since I've done an update on our family so here's a few details about us lately.
Gwen: It's still such a cutie. She's really all over the place now that's she's walking and has been for about a month. She's also been signing for a couple of weeks and I love it. But, it's funny because while Lincoln signed strictly as a form of communication, Gwen will sign and try to say the word at the same time. I know that girls communicate earlier than boys, but it still kind of took me back when she would try to say "more" before she would sign it.
Now, when we teach her a new sign, she'll try to say it first, then catch on that we want her to do the action too. She usually only says the main vowel sound or the initial consonant sound of the word, but it's clear that's what she's trying to do.
She still is a great self-entertainer, unless she's teething. Lincoln often will follow her around, instead of the other way around.

Lincoln: Is becoming a big help in many ways. He's pretty good about cleaning up after himself if I remind him. It's fun to have a conversation with him and now that he doesn't take naps everyday, I get to have more one-on-one time with him. During that time I decided to start working with him on small little things like his colors, shapes etc. It's fun for me because it's like I'm back teaching, only it's stuff I never got to teach and a one-on-one environment. I'm just taking my time with teaching him this stuff since I figure we have a while before he needs to "perform". He still prefers being outside-but doesn't every kid? He loves to ride his razor scooter and actually has pretty good balance on it.

Nikki: I've just joined a book club and am loving reading again! This book club is a fun one too. We read Percy Jackson and the Olympians for our 1st book and now have The Hunger Games to read this month. A little note on the Hunger Games book. HIGHLY enjoyed it and read it in one day. In my opinion-it's WAY better than the Twilight books and maybe even almost as good as the Harry Potter books. I'm still deciding on that one. The only thing about it was that it was a little violent. But considering the premise of the book, it could really be a bit more violent. I'm grateful it's not. I may also be a little more sensitive to violence than most since we don't have TV.
I'd been putting off reading for a while because I'm a bit of a binge-reader. I read-read-read, then have remorse after not doing anything else all day so I take a break from reading for a while. Now with a book club- I have a reason to read at least one book a month. So if any of you have read a good book lately--please tell me so I can suggest it.
What else have I been up to--the usual stuff like piano teaching, accompanying, mothering, wifing(such a word should exist), sewing...etc. Life is still very good!

Zach: Still rides his bike to work about 3 times a week and just got new pedals and shoes for his bike. Just finished,sort-of, the backyard. A post will be coming really soon with all the effort that job took. It seems like lately we've been doing a lot on our home. Most night's he would come home, then hurry outside to work on something. I'm very grateful because he always does such a good job and it makes our home seem more like OURS.