Tree Shopping

After shuttling Nora back and forth to and from Yoga, and Kyle got all three stumps out we were excited to move on to the next step in our developing landscape plan. I don't know if I should call it special time or just plain being a trooper...but Lincoln came along with us this afternoon to a tree nursery. Otto was napping and Nora asked to stay home with Grandma. I'm not sure what he might have been envisioning when he happily agreed to come but I'm pretty sure it didn't live up to his expectations. Kyle and I liked checking out trees and plants and coming up with a plan of what we want to add to the yard, Lincoln liked driving around in the golf cart! After we ordered 2 new trees, some bushes and grasses we headed home, but made a detour to Jeremiah's first! Lincoln's choice - red of course! We had dinner out on the patio tonight. It's been really hot during the day but it's starting to feel like it might break soon with breezy and slightly cooler evenings. Fall is in the air...almost!

Friday Fun!

After swim this morning we went made a special stop at the Glass Knife - AKA "Cake and Cafe" by the kids. The boys got to pick out donuts and drinks and we got extras to bring home. Lincoln did so well ordering and they were great while we sat and shared a monster donut. After our special snack we headed home to trim Cort's nails and head to his vet appointment.

All three boys were awesome at the vet and we were all happy to see Jessica for a few minutes when she popped in to say hi! Later this afternoon Susan came back and the kids were really excited to see her and share all their library books with her! Tonight we went out to eat at one of Nora's favorites, Shake Shack. Unfortunately we missed sunset but it was still a beautiful night out on their back patio on the lake. Pretty good start to the weekend!

Two a Days!

Just your average Thursday evening pool-side at the Y! Not pictured - Nora with her head underwater while the teacher gives instructions and Otto climbing the back of a lounge chair! At least the weather was beautiful!!

Library Day

While Hurricane Michael barrels ashore in the panhandle we're just getting some rain bands and tropical skies. This afternoon after picking Nora up from school we headed over to the library. The kids spent time playing and picking out some books to get while I went in search of some seasonal books and whatever else might jump out at me to mix up our reading list a little. I'm always nervous going straight from school to anywhere and today was no exception, but it went just fine and the kids were great! Otto made it clear when he was ready to go though. We're not expecting anything more in the way of weather from the giant storm but are thinking of everyone in it's path, this is not going to be good for anyone up there. There's been a request for a standby team for Child Life Disaster Relief and Children's Disaster Services but I feel like I'm still playing catch up from the last deployment a bit so as much as it tugs at me a bit to go, I'm going to sit this one out. Besides, Nora in her infinite wisdom told me that there are other helpers ready and waiting to go and it's my turn to rest this time.

Love of Learning

Lincoln has been showing more interest in going to school lately. Whether it's the "Furdy Furdy School" in his imagination or requests to go to Nora's school he's clearly deciding that he'd like to do a lot more learning. So, I've been trying to take advantage of Otto's naps and provide him with some of his own activities to do while Nora's at school. Today it was red/orange swirly, scented with a bit of koolaid, water with some fall flair and tongs to play with on the light pad. He loved it and spent close to an hour hard at work. This evening Nora has swimming lessons so it was back to Y and home late due to a weather delay to the start of class. 5:30 lessons are not the most convenient especially since the boys won't stay in the kids area! I get called every time we try!

Click On, Click Off

Since Susan was here for the day and Kyle drove Nora to school, Lincoln got to sleep in and then have pancake breakfast while I took Otto to swimming. When we got home there was plenty of porch playing and hanging out around the house. Otto is at the age where he loves having things put on, then cries to have them taken off, then immediately cries to have them put back on again...tons of fun! Haha! I had volunteering tonight so Kyle took the kids and Susan to meet up with her friend and we met back at the house in time for bedtime.

Working Outside

Today was a busy and messy, backyard day! As it turns out, when the tree guys dropped the big trunk it landed right on an intersection of sprinkler lines. So Wednesday night when the sprinklers were supposed to be running it dawned on us that something wasn't right...lo and behold, flooded yard! So, first line of business today was repairing the lines. We found 2 broken spots that are now fixed. With that mission accomplished it was on to removing the stumps from the 3 Ligustrum bushes that were chopped, well starting to anyway. Cort and Otto were very willing to help but it's going to be a pain in the butt job! Someone came and ground the big tree stump but left the 3 smaller stumps. Kyle moved on to the roof while Otto kept a watchful eye with "the patio" in hand. The birdseed box is still going strong, just living on the porch now! All the time outside today inspired our landscape plans, hoping to cross somethings off our outdoor list in the coming weeks! This evening Susan flew in en route to her girls' week down here.