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.