We finished our landscaping yesterday. Now all we need to do is wait for the landscaper we hired to put in our grass. It was supposed to be in March 30, but we are still waiting. So we'll see.
All that rock is done and spread out. Ryan did such a good job with it all.
Our last project was the sand box. We waited until last to do that becuase we had to level the ground there, so it was a lot more work. Then we dug holes for the swing set through the dirt and barrier. Then Ryan brought over the wheel barrows of sand and I spread it all out.
But when it was finally finished, we enjoyed watching how much our kids loved it.
They were so cute building little sand castles and filling buckets with sand.

Rock and sand are here. I spent the evening laying down the rest of the weed barrier and Ryan shoveled rock into a wheel barrow and put it in piles around the yard. It was a lot of work.
There is a lot of rock. Ryan is a real trouper. First he planted about 25 trees and shrubs, then he shoveled and wheel barrowed rock all evening yesterday. What a man.

We have been in the process of doing some landscaping in the back yard. Over the last week, Ryan has planted about 20 shrubs and 6 trees. He is such a hard worker. In this picture you can see a pine tree and in the distance is an apple tree.
Here you can see 6 privacy shrubs we planted along our short fence. Also the first tree is an ornamental Pear tree. Ornamental means it doesn't grow fruit. But it has white blossoms in the spring that are beautiful. Behind it is a maple tree. Then a pear tree (that does grow fruit) and a Mount Saint Helen Plum tree (that is the one with pink flowers in the very far distance). Ryan thought it would be perfect since I was born a couple weeks before Mt.St.Helen's erupted and my maiden name is Plumb.
Ryan and Brandon played a little baseball tonight. They were pretty cute.
Brandon got into the camera today, so I decided to take a picture of the kids. Kathleen isn't that much bigger than Brandon, she is just a few feet closer to the camera. They were having troubles posing.
And lastly for my embarassment, and your pleasure, here is a picture of how fat I am getting. Not just in the tummy, but everywhere. I just keep hoping it comes off again. But I am 6 months, so not too much longer until we know if it is a boy or girl.

The kids loved the Easter Egg Hunt we went to for our subdivision. Kathleen is a little timid and backs down when she sees a kids heading for the same egg as her. Which, if you know Kathleen, is really odd. But two years ago at a hunt, a kid was taking eggs out of her basket, so she decided that was more fun and started handing out her eggs.Brandon, however, was an egg collecting maniac.

We saw the Easter Bunny and the kids were a bit timid.
All in all, we had a fun Easter weekend. The kids made a haul and loved every minute of it. But they have been on a major sugar high since Saturday.

Kathleen and mom teamed up to make all these marvelous Easter Eggs yesterday. Don't they look great?
Daddy and Kathleen did shrink wrap on a few of the eggs.
Brandon was fascinated by the dye sizzling in the vinegar.
Daddy helped Brandon to dye eggs. He loved it.
Mom helped Kathleen, although she was mostly a pro already and didn't need much help.
Daddy and Brandon teamed up to make all these spectacular eggs. Their eggs turned out great too.We had a lot of fun dying Easter Eggs yesterday. Kathleen is already planning it again for next year.

Ryan died my hair again. It was a little blonder than I wanted, but I let Kathleen pick the color. Pretty brave, I know. I just took the shopping cart to the hair dye isle and put her in the cart and said, "Pick one." So it really isn't bad. My hair has also seemed to have some curl this pregnancy. If I don't brush it after I shower, it is really curly. It is weird.
For fun yesterdeay we went to Chuck E. Cheese's with the kids. It is kind of pricey, but they get so many tokens they never get bored. Brandon's favorite was the ski ball. He walked up the thing and would throw the balls in the hole. Kathleen loved the rocket ship. It is so much fun. Then last night we decided to make Granny Worthen's homemade caramel corn. The kids were in heaven making the pop corn.
I think this is the first time I have ever tried to replicate one of Granny's recipes and had it turn out. It was the best caramel corn ever.

We ate the caramel corn and watch "Narnia." Kathleen went and saw it in the theater with her daddy and has been begging for it ever since. The kids were in heaven making a sticky mess of everything and watching all the animals on TV.Kathleen's favorite part of watching a movie is dancing to the end credits. Sometimes, we have to go back and watch the credits again. I know, it's unheard of. But she was going nuts last night with her dance routine (all the caramel corn I am sure). Then she said, "Mom, take a picture." So I took a picture.
She's got her 70s dancing down pat. The funny thing is, I don't know where she learned it. But it was darling. All in all, a fun day at our house with daddy home.

We were supposed to have a family reunion at our house this week, but it all flopped. Jared and Heidi came but were only here Thursday night through Friday. But while they were here, Brandon took quite a liking to his Uncle Jared.
We had a lot of fun the one day we had some family this week.But we were pretty sad they had to leave. Sweet little Xander got really sick and cried the whole time. Poor bloke. So Jared and Heidi went hom.I was really depressed that no family was here. So Ryan reassured me we would have fun anyway. So we went to the zoo.
Kathleen and Brandon loved the slide. Dad even went down a few times.
This Leopard really liked Brandon and Kathleen. It came out from hiding just to play with them. They loved it.
I always like the big cats. Since there aren't any Lions at the zoo, my favorite are the big tigers. Man I am looking fat.
Ryan really liked the camel for some reason. Maybe it didn't make him feel as bad about the lump on HIS back. Just joking.

After we left the zoo, we went to the park to play on the toys, swing, and have a picnic lunch. Kathleen loved feeding the ducks some of her sandwich. A bite for her, a bite for the ducks.
It was a perfect day. Just as we were getting ready to leave, it started to rain. We had such perfect timing and such fun yesterda at the zoo and park.