Corrie's b-day

She had a big fun-filled day! We took turns (well, tried) with her new swing, wheelbarrow and dirt digging tools, wagon rides, and this floam stuff: The real homemade strawberry cake and frosting. The strawberries made them both pink! Yumm..

Happy Birthday, Corrie!

Corrie is 3 years old today :o We're celebrating tomorrow. I'm leaving Skype on tonight and tomorrow (Sat.) so if you want to call and say happy birthday, our handle is 'powell365' :)She chipped her tooth last week on the sidewalk (ouch!) and you can see it in this "cheesy" pic.

Corrie roasts marshmallows...

...from a distance?

Children's museum at Indy

We finally made it down to Indy for the children's museum. Half of it was under construction, so it seemed a bit overpriced to me.. but Corrie had fun. I didn't get the camera out much, but here are a few.
Here was the couch potato in the 'healthy house'. She liked all the plastic play food in the kitchen, with a life sized fridge and table.
Mary just looked around most of the time :) She got a really good nap in, though.
There was a huge water table area, and a sand play area:
The main attraction (until the Egyptian exhibit opens) is the dinosphere. Here is Corrie on a 'dig':
They supposedly have a parade at the end of the day, but this time it was the hokey pokey. This was a nice break from her running-in-circles "dance"! (You really should click on the 'HQ' and view in High Quality. Tip: press play, then press HQ, then hit pause, let it buffer for a minute, then press play again)

Photos by Corrie

We've taken hundreds of pics and clips of her by now... and now she wants to give it a try. Not only do these serve as a trip through our house through the eyes of a two-year-old, but it's interesting to see what she chooses to photograph. Here's what happens when she runs around with the camera:

Bathtime for Livy

'Borrowing' some more pics from Betsy on facebook :)

Corrie quotes

(chain gang song, helping dad in the yard)
"We're workin'... to get the job done.. Workin'..to get the job done.."

(about to play with a loud toy)
"You better close your eyes, it's going to be real loud!"

(with toy phone)
"Hey mom, it's grandma and grandpa and the fishies calling!"

Takes 20 seconds!

Please take 20 seconds to cast a vote for my friend BJ Hill and his young family. BJ's a good guy and was a great friend while I was at Kansas. His wife, little boy, and baby#2 due this July, have entered a home repair contest with their local radio station - and could really use the prize!

Vote here, daily if you want to, from May 13 - May 23.
http://www.kjls.com/index.php?page=fixmyhomevoting09
**Their entry is the first one at the top, signed "JH" (Jayna Hill, his wife).
Pass the link along if you can!

Here are some pics of what he's working on:

Mary minute

This was about 1 or 2 weeks ago, but she's even more active now. Amazing how much she's changed in just the last 2 weeks...

visit from Shepherds

You may not have missed the post, but I did :P Here's a link to Shelly's post about their stop at our place on the way to Chicago last week. There are pics of Lewis and Corrie playing just like old times...

another Mary minute

a Mary minute

Welcome, Livy!

Congrats to Steve and Betsy Powell: Livy Bryn born 5-11 @10:15 am, weighing 7lbs 2 oz. and 20 inches long. Here are some pics from Betsy and friends on facebook :)

Mother's Day

So I know mother's day is coming up but I would like to spread some of the love...

to my husband! Not only has he been working like crazy, ending the semester at school, entering into the busy season of engagement shoots and wedding weekends, and transforming our yard, he's had "the touch" with Mary. After sleeping through the night for a month or so she has decided to change our happy little schedule. She has been waking up crying and generally mad for the first part of the night. Last night and the night before Brian has gone in and put her back to sleep. I don't know how he does it! I read somewhere that high need babies bring out the best in their parents and am finding this true. I am so thankful for him!

Happy early Father's day Brian, smile.

"between a rock and a hard...wall"

Four courses later.. I think I may have a course of larger flagstone (from the garden divider wall) as the top and final course.
The least fun part was trying to fit and level the larger pieces for the stairs. Trial and error meant lifting and replacing those monsters 4 or 5 times each.. It was nice to have it finished though! Still need one or two stepping stones at the top of the stairs, but I'm waiting to fill the dirt in first and let it rain/settle.
You can see the drainage ditch* in the background. Hopefully this will divert a lot of the water that comes down the hill and relieve pressure/erosion for the wall itself.
*Runner-up for least fun part :)

Yes, I've been living under a rock... wall.

So the Powell parents visited last weekend, and somehow Dad and I got started on a huge yard-transformation project. (Remember how we transplanted 4 or 5 trees the very first day we moved in? Multiply that times about 50.) The two issues were 1) a slight slope towards the back corner of the house. Our basement isn't there, it's just a crawlspace, but Dad was concerned. My concern was 2) that quadrant of the property was patchy and in shambles - and I wanted to make better use of it. Below are a few pics.

Dad started to adjust the grade, and pile up the dirt in a 'berm' fashion where we'd start the rock wall:
Below: You can see two or three courses of the old rock 'wall' in the background. Four days of rain recently had made it even worse. A larger view of the place behind the kitchen/patio we're talking about (below). I plan on taking down a divider wall in the garden to use as stepping stones on the left -- as a path around that curve to the stairs that weren't built yet :) The middle might remain grass, but we have to reseed it with a shade mix.
Corrie loved the action. She played with the little garden spade - mostly just dumping dirt wherever she wanted. Here she is doing something with the file we used to sharpen the shovel (some roots from that corner tree were almost 4" thick!). Dad is taking down the rest of the old wall and staging the rocks for the new one.
A few Corrie quotes:

[grandpa coming close with the hose] "Don't water me, I'm not a plant.."

[wanting to go back outside] "I have to go water my plaaaants! See? They're all saying 'I'm thirsty', 'Me too', 'Me too, me too!' See?"

Stay tuned! I'll post pics from what I got done on Monday and Tuesday -- the wall is mostly done and the stairs are pretty nice. Less aesthetic? - digging a drainage ditch behind the whole thing.