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.