Happy Birthday Todd (AND OUR YARD!)

For those of you that read this blog, you have probably seen various states of our yard.  Dirt, grass, mud, half-grass, weeds, rocks, grass again.... I won’t bore you with all the details of our yard debacle but when we bought our house we ripped out the previous landscaping and as far as projects went with remodeling this place, the yard was low on the totem pole. Then one winter, grass appeared out of nowhere. Then it died.  Then Todd started to landscape the yard (slowly).  Then we hired someone.  That didn't work out and the grass that started to grow died.... And since no magic grass decided to appear on its own again, Todd was hired once more, however this time he's been working a little faster.  ;) 

On July 8th, Todd turned 30 again, (amazing, right?) and we gave him the gift of time.  The kids and I left him alone so he could complete his project.

We tried our best to stay out of his way although Thatcher could not resist playing in the bag of fertilizer.  Such a boy!

All flattened, fertilized, seeded and watered.   A rainbow appeared which I took as a good sign.

And now we wait....

And we also are being very, VERY careful not to let anyone walk on it except for Lollipop who is exempt. :)

Todd couldn't get rid of us the whole time.  Later that day we headed down to the harbor to have dinner at Brophy's.

While we waited for our table we headed next store to Endless Summer for some drinks and to listen to music.

When Samantha started making bracelets with her red onions at Brophy's, we knew it was time to go.

The birthday boy kids requested Yogurtland for our last stop.

Happy Birthday Toddy!

And look-y here, the best birthday present appeared 2 weeks later!

We've still got a few more weeks to go but so far so good!

Now on to the rest of the yard......

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Which means our grass is GROWING!

Yes, that's right.  We FINALLY did it, we HIRED someone to landscape our yard. 

I apologize to all the kids who have enjoyed digging in our dirt yard for the past 3 years.  I can honestly say that you are the only ones who will be sad to see it go. Goodbye paw prints, tiny feet prints and adult shoe prints on our dark hardwood floors.  I will not miss you. 

What We've Been Up To

While the kids were at my parent's house doing a whole lot of this:

I was in Palm Springs, doing a whole lot of this:

And Todd was at home finishing our kitchen (almost).  He put in black granite counter tops and finished painting the cabinets. There are still a few things left to be done, but all in all, I feel like we are as close to finishing one room in this house as we ever have been. 

See how far we have come:

Side Note: This is me 3 months pregnant with Samantha and seeing the house for the first time that Todd wants to buy.  I look thrilled, huh? 

One day, I will post the rest of the house "before" pictures, trust me, they are worse than this.....

What do you think?

GRASS!

We are going on two years of owning our little Santa Barbara cottage and we STILL have not finished the darn place.  If  it weren't for my ultra talented husband wanting to do the entire thing himself (and the fact that we haven't won the lottery), we would be finished.  But it is a labor of love, right?

Well someone must have sensed my frustration with the dirt yard because all of a sudden we have GRASS!  It could not have come at a better time of year.   Rain + Dirt = Mud and on our dark hardwood floors with the dog and kids, it creates quite a mess. Thank goodness I don't have to deal with that this year!   Hmmmmmm, perhaps there is a kitchen fairy who wants to surprise me too?! 

Todd says it grew because he has been weeding the dirt for 2 years.  I am not even kidding when I say that I woke up one morning and we had a lawn.  And it was FREE!  It isn't perfect and we are not sure it is going to survive but I am willing to do whatever it takes to make it last. 

"Now son, go mow the lawn!"

I am in LOVE

with my TOMATO PLANT!

Each day I notice that 1 or 2 green ones have ripened into beautiful red tomatoes

I am being very diligent each day with watering it (can't say the same for all my herbs that died recently) but this tomato plant has given me hope that I can regain my green thumb

It makes me so excited to begin landscaping so that we can have a whole yard full of fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. And Samantha can run around on the grass instead of the dirt.

Hopefully soon it will happen!!!

Moving is A LOT of Work

How in the world am I going to get this thing down these stairs? Super Chris!!!!!!!!!!! Super Mom Laurie took care of Samantha all day

The boxes began to pile up
The crew taking a break




Unpacking revealed some fancy jewelry for Sam


And here is Samantha running around naked:

I think it is a sign that she likes the new place