Back Yard Bettering

In the interest of reviving this sad, neglected blog, I'm going to tell you about our super-productive week-end. Complete with pictures even!

Before getting into the productive stuff though, check out the boys' new toys. Their Grandpa Mac, who they lovingly call MAC!, brought these for them a few visits ago. They've been through each of his grandchildren and now it's the boys' turn to try to destroy them. Yay!


They're learning words like "gear shift" and "steering wheel" and "horn" thanks to this car. They love that horn.


Ok, back to the productive bit...

I've been in a crunchy kind of mood lately. And when I'm in a crunchy mood, Greg gets worried. It inevitably means he'll be roped into crunchy diy projects, projects like starting our own composting heap! Oh yes.

My grandpa used to compost. He'd dig a big ol' hole in the ground of his lush backyard and bury left-over food scraps in there. When it was full, he'd fill it in and dig another one. Since our backyard seems to consist of mostly rock covered with a smattering of dirt, we have to devise other means of crunchification.

After doing a bit of reading on the interwebz, I came across a remarkably simple set of instructions that involve a 30+ gallon trash can with lid ($15 at Lowes), a handsaw or serrated knife or strong pair of scissors and a drill. Oh! And a husband willing to manhandle all of these things so my nails remain intact.

First, use that handsaw/knife/scissors to cut the bottom off of the trash can.

Joseph, ever the helpful little guy, directing Daddy in his work

Luke, who is kinda in love with that swing, swinging

Back to little boy cuteness...

Gosh, being a mom is distracting.

Ok, back to productivity...

Next, take that drill and poke many, little holes all throughout the trash can to allow air flow through your compost heap.

Bored of helping Daddy so it's time for a few laps around the yard.
I love, love, love that look of determination on his face.

Luke, showing me his battle scars
Poor guy did a back flip off a ramp at our local garden center.
He landed on his face.
It was not pretty.
The battle scars, not his face. His face is always pretty.

This is why we were at the garden center.
2 tomatoes, squash, bell pepper, rosemary & parsley
Me = excited

Next day (because when you have twin toddlers, things always take 300% longer than you think they should)...

Dude. You missed a spot.

Yeah, Dad. HUGE hole. Right there. Between your legs.

::grumble, grumble::tyrants::grumble, grumble::composting::grumble, grumble::football...

In a few short hours (spread over a couple of days) Greg graciously finished the composting bin, and now it lives behind our storage shed.

We added leaves, some grass clippings, a bit of old potting soil and our first table scraps. Then we hosed it down a bit because it should be slightly moist (like a squeezed-out sponge), and we'll turn the pile to mix everything up at least once a month. (Table scraps should always be buried in the mix to minimize bugs.) And in 6-8 months, we should have a nice bit of compost to spread around our yard.


Delayed gratification? Yes, but I'm still happy we finally started doing something. Ideally, I'd like to have a few more of these to help deal with all the yard trimmings and autumn leaves that we obviously never bothered to rake, but we can see how this goes first.


Oh, and this is the reason we planted our container garden on Saturday night after the boys had gone to bed.

Dirt! YES!!!

Ok, Dad, now what are you going to do about this overrun containing wall?

From the mouths of babes, right?


The boys are 21-ish months old.

Blogging FAIL

Oh my.

My last blog post was in November. And the one before that... Ugh. I'm really pretty upset with myself. I'd intended to use this blog as a baby book of sorts, a place to note the firsts, the funny stunts, and all that jazz that comes along with adding new people to the world, and it's just been a massive fail lately.

My usual habit when I get behind like this was to do some SBDP's (sneaky back-dated posts), but even that is just too daunting at this point so I won't even try. I'll just post some highlights, and we'll call it square. Okay?

Let's see... It's been so long that even highlights are kinda hard. In early December Joseph had surgery. His adenoids were removed, and he had ear tubes put in. The gunk that was finally out of his ears meant that he had a language explosion soon thereafter. I knew his hearing was being affected but don't think I realized how much it was holding him back because suddenly his interest in books and learning new words took off. I have no idea how many words he has now, but I find it endlessly fascinating to see him assimilate all this new information so quickly after having a somewhat slow start. He has a real & earnest interest in learning, and I love it.

Then shortly after, we had a 3-week visit from Greg's mom over Christmas and New Year. The boys took to her immediately and had a great time playing & reading books with her, and they got and gave endless hugs and kisses. The Polish word for grandma is babcia (pronounced bob-shia), which was a little too complicated for the boys so they shortened it to baba. Baba, as it turns out, means something not too nice in Polish, but we'll let it slide since they're, ya know, 21 months. Our favorite night time routine during Babcia's visit was the night-night one that involved first a hug & kiss, then waves and bye-byes from the foot of the stairs, then more waves & byes-byes from about midway to the top of the stairs, followed by a quick intermission that included teeth-brushing and stories, but concluding again with persistent top-of-the-stairs bye-byes and kiss blowing. What a production! But adorable. After Babcia left, it took quite a while for the boys to stop trying to find her for bye-bye kisses before bedtime.

After seeing Joseph's immediate improvement from his surgery, we decided to also get ear tubes for Luke, who did not have the same snot issues but whose ears always seemed a little worse off than his brother's. His vocabulary has also improved, as well as his love of books, but we are still waiting for the follow-up exam to see if they're helping with drainage. Ew, right. Poor boys.

I celebrated a birthday, first with girlfriends who I adore, next with my dashing husband, and most recently with one of my best friends in the whole wide world. That was part of my birthday present, a trip out to L.A. to go visit her & her husband & her growing baby bump. I had a super-fantastic time and a much-needed break. It also meant my first real time away from the boys, almost 4 whole days! I'm happy to report that they were complete angels while I was gone! Well, as much as you can expect any 20-month olds to be complete angels.

The first morning they saw me after my absence, I got some extra smiles and cuddles from both, but the drama level was lower than I had anticipated. I'm going to chalk that up to how much fun they had with Daddy & Mimi while I was away - and not to how little they seem to have missed me. :) It made my vacation time that much more relaxing knowing in what good hands I'd left them.

Since then we've pretty much gotten back to normal. I'll probably post some pics from my blogging hiatus just because I can't resist, but other than that I'm going to consider myself caught up.

Done and done. And I'll try to be better. I promise.

Monkey Boy

And now here's some Luke lovin'. This is from earlier in the day on Halloween. Luke spent most of the day in his costume.




As for this next one, this is an every day occurrence in our home (minus the monkey suit). You may want to turn down the volume for this one...




Luke is almost 17 months old.

Joseph Checks Himself Out

I'm a bad, bad blogger. It's not that we haven't been doing anything. It's that I haven't had the time to really sit down, edit pictures, write little stories. And now I'm months behind. ::sigh::

Mimi has been dying to see something on this blog soooo here ya go.

This was Halloween night after bathtime. We usually play on the bed for a bit while getting the boys dressed and ready to wind down. I pulled out the video camera to capture random cuteness, and Joseph made a bee-line for me. You can flip the viewing screen of the camera so he always wants to see himself in action when I'm filming. It's adorable. But, really, if you're not his mom or grandma, you're probably going to find this minute+ a little boring. But if you DO happen to be his mom or grandma, golden. :)




Joseph is almost 17 months old.

Evil Genius

That's what Greg called Luke this morning when he woke me up from my sleep-in day. I may not go so far as to say "evil", but that boy is definitely crafty.

They are both deeply in love with this toy cell phone, so much so that we keep it hidden most of the time to avoid WWIII. Well, Joseph somehow unearthed it and was happily playing with it in the kitchen when Luke caught sight of it, and all hell broke loose. All I heard was lots of screaming from the shelter of my cozy bed. I'm pretty sure that's when I grabbed Greg's pillow, threw it over my head and fell back to sleep.

Meanwhile Greg tried to diffuse the situation, but all that did was lead to more screaming. Finally he picked up Luke, brought him to the living room and handed him the remote control, another hot item that causes much strife in our house. Luke grabbed it, didn't even play with it, and walked it straight into the kitchen. He had a plan. Sitting himself on the ground next to Joseph, he laid the remote on the floor between them and just waited. Sure enough, Joseph abandoned the cell phone to grab the remote. And that's when Luke got up, took his prize and all was right in the world again.

That was his intention the whole time. He's already hatching plans & strategies to get exactly what he wants. We're scared.

Clever, clever boy. :)



My guys are 14.5 months old.

Get A Haircut, Hippie!

As you can see, we've been putting off Joseph's first "official" haircut for far too long. The problem is I love his hair. It's so fine and soft and yummy, but it's been getting in the poor boy's eyes. And recently he's started pulling on it sooooo it's time...


I'm especially going to miss these wispy bits in the back. ::sigh::


It's only hair, right. (By the way, I recently gave my own a big chop too as you can see from the pics above. Seven inches! It feels fantastic and is so much easier, which means fewer ponytail days. Yay!)

For Joseph's big chop we took him to a cute, little place that caters specifically to children, Pigtails & Crewcuts. The place was p-a-c-k-e-d with last minute back-to-school kids. We had a 45-minute wait and were in dangerous naptime territory. Luckily the place is specifically designed for over-stimulation, from the retina-burning wall colors to the TVs playing movies to the walled off playroom in the back. Thankfully the boys had no trouble entertaining themselves while we waited.

When it was finally our turn, we got the taxi chair! (There was also an airplane and a fire truck, both admittedly WAY cooler than a taxicab, but we figured he wouldn't mind. At least we have a few years before we have to fight THAT battle.)

Joseph wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He was draped and dropped into the driver's seat but now what?

Daddy convincing Joseph how cool it was to drive

I missed what Joseph's stylist's name was. It sounded suspiciously close to "curry". She had many tattoos and piercing and was totally sweet and FAST. I guess you have to be for this job. She's laughing here because I was sitting with Luke in my lap. When I lifted the camera, the straps were dangling in front of his face so he stuck his head through them as if he were the photographer, instead of me.

It was cute. You had to be there.

Whatever Greg told Joseph, it worked because he was completely engrossed in driving that taxi. He didn't make a peep when she sprayed his head repeatedly with water.


In fact, most of the time when she was messing with his hair, he sat perfectly still. He probably loved every minute of it - definitely gets that from his daddy.


When the car eventually got stale, we busted out the pinwheels, buying "Curry" 5 more minutes of happy boy.

Dude, your mom's going to be pissed when she sees that marker all over your arms.

Meanwhile Luke may not have ridden in the taxi but not to worry. He was having a great time too. And it's a good thing because at this rate, it'll be YEARS before he finally needs a cut.


I'm so happy they're content just to live vicariously through each other at this stage. Makes life much more peaceful.

Joseph's cut lasted for a total of about 10 minutes. As she added the final touches (gel!), monsieur enjoyed a refreshing snack before he & his brother were chauffeured home to enjoy a 2-hour reprieve from their busy, busy day.


So first haircut experience = SUCCESS!

I wish I had thought to take a good 'after' photo, but I didn't. Needless to say, hair will no longer be encroaching on the poor boy's eyes and ears. For a little while at least.




My handsome little men are 14.5 months old.

Wedding Week-end Away

Since they were born, I've never spent a day away from the boys. I haven't been ready to spend a day away from them. But the time finally came.

My good friend Terra, who I've known since we were about 13, got married this week-end in Dallas!


I couldn't be happier for her. Jason is a great guy and obviously head-over-heels for Terra. It was a sweet wedding and so nice to catch up with her entire family, many of whom I hadn't seen in, oh, 15 years!

**And since I'm doing a sneaky post-dated publish on this one, I can spill the beans (since she already has to all her friends and family). She's also PREGNANT! I'm sure she & Jason will be great parents to their lucky little one. I could not be happier for them!**




Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

My absence meant that Greg was home alone with the boys for 28 hours. He was understandably a little nervous at this thought. He'd never spent a whole day alone with them, much less got them up, fed, clothed, entertained, napped, bathed and back to bed all solo. It is no easy task.

But I'm happy to report everything went fantastically! Not that I had any doubts or anything, but I know how tough it can be. I called a few times to make sure everyone was surviving. They were not only alive but having a great time!


Greg put the phone up to each of their ears during my calls so I got to talk to the boys, reminding them to behave and take it easy on their old man. :) And to tell them how much I love and missed them.


Apparently, they'd sit there, perfectly still with the phone up to their ears. Greg was sure they knew it was me. They'd have big smiles on their faces when they heard my voice and kept wanting to hear more after the other one was done. Made for some very long one-sided conversations, but it was too cute to resist.


When I finally got home (traffic on I35 is a beast!), I was greeted with huge smiles and hugs and lots & lots of kisses. Love it!


My sweet boys are almost 14.5 months old.

Mmmm, Plums

So this morning I was working in the kitchen, and the boys were puttering around in there with me. Next thing I know, Luke has pulled a big Costco-sized container of plums off the kitchen counters and onto the floor. (HOW they got tall enough to do that, I have no idea...) Of course, plums scatter everywhere, and the boys laugh & dive for them. They each have one in their hands, and I was about to take them but the look of pure joy at having scored their new loot was enough for me to say, Ack, whatever. I left them to play with the plums because what are they going to do with them, right?

When we give them fruit, I always peel the skin, cut them into small, bite-sized pieces and dole them out as needed. Well, apparently that has all been a huge waste of time.

I look down & Luke has already bitten into his plum, and it's partially eaten. 5 seconds later, he's devoured the fruit and tossed the pit on the ground! Joseph is in the process of doing the same thing.

Okaaaaay.

Like I said, HUGE WASTE OF TIME! :)


My big boys are 14 months old.

Luke Lovin'

Luke has a bit of an ornery streak in him. Just like his Mama.

You never know if he's coming in for a big hug or a good, hard hair yank.

(which is why Greg is bracing himself just in case)


But when it's hugs...

...they're pretty awesome.

Luke is 14 months old.