We're getting close...

I need to spray the grass growing through the concrete. Maybe Monday...

We will get cap stones and finish this off before the big day.

There's Grace in the background.

Rock in this spot...looks pretty good.

The grass seed sprouted...I wasn't sure if it would but here is a picture of some of it.

Nice little pavers lined in a row...

All the flowers lined in a row. Trimed the hedge and planted some geraniums.

You can see my shadow. Can you tell I'm taking a picture?

The palm trees didn't make it so we threw them away and planted this gardenia.

Just another angle. It's all starting to shape up. I'm kind of pleased with the way things are turning out. Now the trick will be to keep it all alive and growing.

Grace and her cholesteatoma

Well we went to the ear surgeon yesterday and Grace has to have some ear surgery. I found a picture on the internet. It's fairly gruesome looking. Caleb keeps teasing her that they are going to remove her ears and attach elephant ears. It almost looks like it in the picture. Check out the link and see for yourself. http://www.ghorayeb.com/cholesteatoma.html Here's a link to wikipedia with a little info about what a cholesteatoma is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesteatoma It's highly likely she will need two surgeries. Poor girl.

and the work goes on...

Well this is what we accomplished today. Caleb turned the dirt over and then while I was trying to get the weeds out he raked most of the lumps and rocks out. Then Emily and I planted and then Emily and Caleb laid the bricks and then we were done. We'll work on the other side of the door area tomorrow...

Once begun is half done...

At least I think that's what Mary Poppins said when she was getting the children to clean up. Anyway we started working on the yard this morning. It's hotter than blazes but we made a little progress. I'm so excited that I took some pictures and I don't feel as overwhelmed as I have been feeling. Gabe was a little curious what I was taking pictures of. I told him for the blog. Here they are...

Remember these old palms we planted out on the "hill"? I'm sure you kids remember them. Well here they are in their new home. Not too shabby.

This picture didn't turn out too well. I was trying to show that we were filling in the sink hole that occurred after we first planted the grass many years ago. I was afraid someone might stumble.


Pulled the weeds and planted a couple of gardenias to go along with the mint and star jasmine.

Cleaned all the weeds out of the rock around the base of the apple tree. Looks nice when it's wet.

Just another angle on the work we did. We aren't half done but we have begun and I'm so excited. It doesn't take much for me. Ha...

Preparing for the "Open House"

Well...we are preparing for the open house in honor of Jessika and Nik. As you can see from these photos we have our work cut out for us. Plants to buy...weeds to pull...grass to plant...it all seems a bit daunting and since the temperature today topped 100 degrees these photos are the only thing I got done. Actually I went to work, took Gabe to get his cast removed and took Grace to the ear surgeon today. Dr. Rubinstein, the surgeon, (not to be confused with the Dr. Rubenstein that helped to discover Rubenstein/Taybi Syndrome but it's some kind of coincidence he's got the name) spent a long time with a vacuum and tweezers under the microscope trying to get as much as possible out of Grace's ear so he could get a really good look at her eardrum. Poor girl started crying eventually so he stopped and prescribed ear drops 3 times a day for 14 days. He said her ear drum is very thick with some sort of bulge in it. So it's either a tube or some more extensive surgical procedure that will need to be done. Won't know which until the drops do their magic. Enough said....bring on the photos.




The view from the back...sort of like rear window except no bodies . I guess we couldn't really have a body under the flowers since we have no flowers. Maybe later.


Side yard...we just did some grading so it's nothing but dirt.




Not terrible but lots of weeds and not much grass. Those pots will be full of flowers on the night of the "open house". I think there are at least 6 big pots. That should add to the ambiance


The other side of the yard...just more of the same.





This is the main walkway into the back where we plan to have the "open house". I'm thinking lots and lots of flowers will make this much more attractive. A few shrubs would be good too. I'll keep you all posted on our progress. Should be great fun...