New Landscaping!

After all the foundation work that we had done last fall and busy-ness with having a new baby, our landscaping needed some serious attention. It had been abused during the work and neglected in the time since then. Seth was really excited to get some new things planted and I was excited to get some old things removed (well, two Holly bushes in particular). 

The Before

The two Hollys I hated and one big, old, dead bush.

Austin was sometimes helpful.

We had to use our neighbor's truck to pull this one out. It was huge!

And then he was sometimes not so helpful.

He was literally walking around the yard like this. It's not staged. His scalp was NASTY afterwards.

The Rangers were playing...

And back to being helpful.

Graham was helpful by being his content little self.

The After.

These were selected because of the color they will add.

Seth also trimmed up the remaining bushes and did a GREAT job.

The After. Two Hicks Yew and Three Azaleas. Again, we were hoping to add some color to the front.

Showing the color variety a little better.

Overall, it was a pretty great experience and the front looks totally different now. The driveway is easier to drive down and the windows easier to see out of! Seth deserves all the credit for the ideas and the planting and all the watering since then. If these live, it will be because of him, not me. Love you, babe!

Family Traditions, post 1

This is a post in what I hope will become a series of posts about Family Traditions. 

Most people who know me know that traditions, holidays, and new ways of doing things/thinking about things/celebrating things is something that I always get excited about. I could talk about these things all day long and be ready to start again right away the next day. I simply love it. I love evaluating how different traditions would impact me, impact my family, and if the reason behind the tradition could somehow become more meaningful.

This first post is a bit generic, something I plan to do for all holidays (well, not all holidays, but most). I bought some books describing the purpose behind the different holidays--the reason we celebrate the different holidays. Some board books, specifically, and plan to put them out as though they are decorations, around the time leading up to the holiday. And once the holiday is past, they will get put away much like decorations for that holiday would. So they'll feel new to us each time the holiday comes around and will lead to our family's deeper understanding and appreciation of the holiday. 

Here are the books we currently have/use:

I want my kids, for example, to not just think that the 4th of July is about fireworks and food, but that we celebrate America's birthday (and about all the service men and women who sacrificed so that we could watch fireworks and eat yummy food-enjoying our freedom). I want them to know that Easter is not about bunnies and eggs, but about Jesus' Resurrection. I want them to know that there once was a man named St. Patrick (I haven't yet found a book on that specific holiday, though.). Etc.

Do you/Did your family do anything to remember the meaning behind holidays? Not about a specific holiday, those posts will come later, but about all holidays in general... Was there something y'all did that made every holiday more meaningful? I would love to hear any and all generic focus-on-the-holiday's-purpose ideas or tricks or tips you have. 
Do you have any books you could recommend I add to my pile? (Either books on holidays I do have books for OR on holidays I don't have anything for.) 
Please share!

Dallas Arboretum; Dallas Blooms 2013

On Monday, April 1st, we went to The Dallas Arboretum as a family. Seth had that Monday off because he was given a choice between having Good Friday off or the Monday after Easter and he chose Monday. Given that we host so many things over Easter weekend, I was thrilled with his choice. It would give us a chance to reconnect after all the busy-ness. The fact that I got a migraine Sunday afternoon and through the night made the situation all the better because I wasn't "throwing away" the last bit of weekend we had together as a family. 

We were able to get there first thing in the morning and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! Austin walked while Graham rode in the stroller. We got lots of great photos and had a really great time together. The Dallas Blooms was in its last week and we got to do some extra neat things like color and pet animals which are not normally a part of the Arboretum's offerings. 

Here are some of our pictures from our very fun day:

Rockin his new shades he got for Easter!
(I'm not sure how or when, but we got this huge smudge and it ruined most of Easter pictures and Arboretum pictures. The following are the best possible ones.)

I asked him to go up to the flowers. And he just walked up and stood there looking down at them. TOO funny.

I love the look of concentration Seth caught here!

I had bought this shirt without a specific purpose, but thought it was too colorful not to use for some special occasion at some time. And the arboretum trip was perfect. Thanks to Seth for pulling it out!

He loves to just run and run on the open grassy spaces. 

He was so tickled, it was like he'd never seen water before! 

Someday, when I get rich, I want an infinity pool. Ok? Ok.

More grassy spaces to run through. I love the effect these little trees gave the shot.

I don't know where he learned to do this, but he puts crayons behind his ear every single time we color! 

He took off running down the grassy slope and Seth had to take off full-speed to catch up with him, all the way at the end. We had no idea he'd just run right past the animals/people/activity.

I'm not sure about greener, but apparently it's tastier on the other side. 

His feet have come off the ground here, he was so excited. I think it was bunnies inside.

More grassy spaces! 

He stood here forever just letting the water hit him.

And then he was a little upset to realize he had gotten wet in the process.

Without prompting, he just walked up and plopped down in this plant. ! 

And stayed long enough for me to get a photo! 

I thought "Oh, how sweet, he's posing by holding a tulip." 

And thanks to the DSLR, I can show you what happened next. He went ALL BOY.

!

Poor Flower. 

This was new since we'd last been. A huge slide! 

It's hard to see here, but the water gets over 6 inches deep, so it's like shin-deep for him.

I got about 100 photos of him playing with the water. He was soaked.

I loved the little wet foot marks he was leaving behind. 

Who wouldn't want a picture of their Big and Middle Mans walking down this alley of trees!?

Kids would come up and throw money in and Austin would take it out. ! 

Sweet Brother was asleep in the stroller most of the morning.

Anne Marie is a little famous (at least to me) for taking really great pictures of flowers and I kept thinking of her while I was there. I attempted to take some that she would be proud of. Here they are: 

I think this one is my favorite.

This one especially made me think of AM--a picture she'd take.

(We have a family membership thanks to Anne Marie and Mike who gave us the membership for the boys' birthdays last fall. THANK YOU!!!)