Painting Rocks, ROCKS!

Anna and I decided it would be a fun afternoon activity to get some paints from the craft store and paint some rocks for her Grandma Jojo's garden (shhhh, don't tell, it's a surprise).  Little did I know this would turn into an almost daily activity for hours at a time.  The $5 I spent on an assortment of paints was well worth it and we have had a blast!!

She's very serious about her painting

Even Zach has fun watching us :)

Seriously, we painted a lot of rocks

Ears Pierced!

Anna decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced today.  She was a little nervous, but did great!

Growing so fast...

...both of the kids and the four baby robins in the tree outside our front door :)

Happy Father's Day Part II

After a very long day I revamped Danny's workbench in the garage. It's not quite done yet, but take a look at the transformation so far.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Happy Father's Day

To the best dad in the world from your adoring family. 

From the moment Anna met you she knew she loved you and from that moment I knew it too.  My shy girl that didn't want to talk to anyone wanted you to hold her.  We both fell in love with you at the exact same time and you fell in love with both of us.

It's the way that you made me want to have another baby after swearing I would never go through that again.  It's because I knew how much it meant to you and how great it would be to share it with you. It's the way the the kids look at you and they way you look at them. It's the way you look at me, even when I am being impossible.  It's the way you love us all unconditionally.

There is not a moment that goes by that you are not the best dad you can be.  It's all these things that make me fall in love with you every day.  Happy Father's Day, we love you so much.

Before and After... Are you ready for this?

Let's take a look at some before pictures...

Did we meet our goals from my March blog?  Let's see!

1) Grass covering 97% of my backyard. Would say 100% but I have two kids and two dogs, not likely.
 I'd say so!! We are working now on getting the weeds out and keeping it thick and healthy so we don't have to start over next year.

2) 100% of my front yard covered in lush green grass.
Not quite.  There would be but we removed the dead tree the other day.  It is looking good though and this goal will be met by the end of the season.

3) My flower bed to actually be a flower bed so when we have BBQs people aren't walking in it because they don't know it was a flower bed... My fault for giving up on so quickly last year and planting late.
YES! Flowers are in full bloom.  They are all perennials so we should have a nice showing next year too. I even went as far as to put a honeysuckle vine on the fence behind the flower bed (not doing much yet) and yellow climbing roses on the back fence.  I also put in all kinds of flowers that bloom at different times so that the bed always looks nice :)

The picture doesn't do it justice. There are actually lots of pretty flowers in bloom

 
4) Berry garden with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. I have decided a raised bed will be best to keep my kids (and their little dogs too!) out of it so it can have a fighting chance this year. Not expecting a huge crop, that will come next year.
Check!  I put in a small raised berry garden with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.  We have had two strawberries so far, one was eaten by the fat robin that swoops at me and the other Danny got to enjoy.  Again, not expecting much this year, hoping for more next.

5) Permanently fencing in Anna and Zach's play area. Already started this, so it should be easy.
Done and done.  It is SO nice not to have to clean up after the puppies every time Anna and her friends want to go play.  We also added a nice playhouse to the wonderland this year.

Just how he rolls...

Zach is a wiggle worm!  This kid is always moving.  He isn't crawling yet (thank goodness) but can definitely get around.... Take a look:

Also, I updated his 6 month post with information from his doctor's visit.

6 months

I can't believe with each passing month how big my baby is getting.  This week Zach turned 6 months old and is such a happy baby.  He smiles all the time and I can't tell you how many people have commented on how much he smiles.  He isn't quite sitting up on his own yet, but we are getting close.  He rolls front to back and back to front to get where he needs to go.  He still is trying to crawl, but mostly just pushes himself with his legs.  We have experimented with some new foods, but they seem to upset his belly still so we are sticking to milk and rice cereal for a few more weeks.  He does love to eat and watches everyone as they eat.

UPDATE 6/10/11:
 We had Zach's 6 month doctor check up.  We started by splitting up his shots and only doing 2 this time. We have to go back in a month to do the other 2, but so far, he is doing much better. Last time we had shots he spiked almost 102 fever, was throwing up and fussy for days.

Zach is still in the bottom 5% for height, weight and length. He weighed in at 14lbs today. He is growing just fine, but still just a little guy.  Anna was even smaller as a baby and is now in the 50% for weight and 75% for height, so I am not worried about him catching up.