Weekend Project

We've made a list of some projects that will help us finally complete our home transformation.  It's nothing that desperately needs to be done since we moved into a renovated home, but it's some personal preference things that we'd really like to accomplish this year.

-Fence in our backyard
-Tidy up the landscaping
-Put a fireplace behind our garage
-Finish our family room (I am sooo impatient for this one.)  This includes purchasing artwork, curtains, and a recliner.
-Finish up curtains in some random rooms like the unused living room, small kitchen window, and Arya's second small window.

The fence installers will be here Thursday so we'll get to cross that off the list.  And this weekend we got to cross a little bit of the landscaping off the list.

I think I've mentioned before that before we moved in the renovators planted a bunch of new grass seed.  Since we moved in in January we really didn't know what it would look like.  Unfortunately a lot of it didn't grow so we ended up with a pretty patchy yard, but it works for now and we want to wait until next spring to fix it when the temps are lower.
But one spot in particular really bothered me.  They did really well making our front door and walkway look nice, most likely assuming that's the door people would use.  However, we use the side door, and the spots on both sides of the steps was an eyesore.  It was really sandy soil and it's almost always shaded so nothing but weeds grew there.

It seemed like a small enough task to handle and I thought it'd be a quick project I could do on my own.  I was wrong.  It wasn't horrible, but it definitely took me way longer than I thought the first day.  Thankfully I had some help the second day :)  I dug up all the weeds and moved some dirt around and it looked something like this one both sides.

We decided for now just to lay some mulch down.  I'm going to wait until the end of summer mark downs and get some big pots so i'll be able to put some potted plants for decoration next year.  We laid down the mulch and then lined it with marble rocks to try an even out the mulch meeting the pavement.  It looks so much nicer and makes a lot bigger difference than I thought it would when walking into our home.

The finished product

5 on...Saturday

So it doesn't have the same ring to it as Friday does.  But yesterday was, as all of you know, my birthday so I was planning on waiting for today so I'd have lots of good birthday pictures.  But lately i've been way worse than normal, which I was already pretty terrible, at taking pictures of anything.  So, my plan is a failure.

But nonetheless, here's my five on Saturday

/one/
Thursday we got to spend our evening at the doctors.  Casen had high fevers and then cold symptoms and has had a terrible cough going on 2 weeks now.  So we thought it was probably a good idea to bring him in just to be safe.  The good news is he's okay.  The dr said whatever is going around this cough can last up to 3 weeks so we just have to wait it out.  The bad news is his sister also went in and she didn't fair so well.  This was new information to me, but maybe others have heard of it.  I guess sometimes in little ones when they get a sinus infection instead of draining out the nose like it's supposed to it drains out their eyes.  So she's got a double eye infection.  Yes, it's a gross as it sounds.  So she's on a prescription to hopefully clear that all up.  Everyone in our house is still pretty sick.  I am so ready for it to be over.

/two/
Friday morning I got this lovely for my birthday from Caleb.  I'm going to take actual pictures once I get it all situated how I want it.  If you've been to our house you know that we have no bathroom counter space.  We just have the small vanities because our bathrooms are pretty small. The tiny bit of vanity space we do have gets quickly taken over by my hair and makeup things and it's impossible to not drop something in the most likely wet sink.  Caleb officially solved my problem :)  It fits perfectly in our master.

/three/
Since Morgan has recently moved to Virginia and is living only about 15 minutes from us we got to spend a lot of our birthday together.  She surprised me Friday morning and brought over a yummy red velvet cake.  You get to have cake for breakfast on your birthday.  It's a rule.

/four/
After breakfast we got ready and headed out for some chinese for lunch and then after Caleb came home from work we all met up for dinner.  They live in an apartment complex with a pool (yay) so aftera quick trip for some swimming gear we all headed there.  The kids (and i'm pretty sure caleb and tim) had a lot of fun in the water.

On a side note, i'm not sure how it was mine and Morgan's birthday and we have zero pictures of us from the day.

/five/

Probably not exciting to anyone else, but our fence installation date has been set for this coming Thursday.  We can't wait.

I suppose since i'm posting a single picture on a Wednesday it should technically be labeled a wordless wednesday, but I have to add a few words in anyways :)

Caleb hard at work in the academy.  So proud of my man.

Father's Day

First I just have to say how thankful I am for my dad.  He's the funniest guy you'll ever meet and the best papa there is :)

For some reason I only got pictures of the first half of our day.

Sunday morning Casen and I woke up early and tried to sneak away but Caleb caught us.  We ran and got some Starbucks for breakfast and came home to give Caleb his presents.  He got some new running shoes and a nice new knife.  Casen of course told him both presents before he opened them, but that's life with a 3 year old.

:) making the rest of us look bad even when he first wakes up

Casen is still really sick and his eyes are constantly watering, so pictures didn't work out the greatest

Our plan after breakfast and presents was supposed to be church, but since Casen is still really sick, we decided it was best not to pass whatever he caught to the rest of the Sunday school class.  We laid low and watched a movie while Arya got her nap in and then headed to the arcade, fun for kids...and their dad.

After the arcade we met up with Morgan and Tim and headed to an ice cream social at Walkerton Tavern. It was a pretty cool place.  It's a tavern from the 1800s.  They had a band playing and some yard games, but it wasn't much for the kids to do.  So we got some yummy free ice cream and took a tour of the tavern and then headed home to some air conditioning.

We had some strip steak and garlic potatoes for dinner and then it was already time to put the kids to bed.  This weekend flew by.  Can't wait for the next :)

I'm so thankful for having a husband that's so great with our kids.  He really is an awesome dad.

5 on Friday

Here we are again

Drawing a blank on this particular Friday, but I shall do my best.

/one/
Last weekend we asked Casen what he wanted to do and "going to the fish store" was his answer.  So we had a fun day at Bass Pro.  We had Auntie Mo and Tim meet up with us there and we tried out the restaurant attached to it.  Caleb and Casen had their first taste of alligator.  I wasn't a fan, but they both really liked it.  I'm thankful both my kids are completely happy just wandering stores for entertainment when it's too hot or too rainy to play outside.

/two/
We've had a sick little man on our hands.  Tuesday out of the blue Casen started saying his back really hurt.  Shortly after we noticed his fever and he had the aches so bad he walked hunched over and winced when you even touched him.  He still has a low grade fever and seems to be starting a runny nose.  I'm not really sure what he has.  We think most likely the flu.  His temps were around 103 with no meds and as cute as he is, he looked awful.  But it looks like he's finally on the mend.

/three/
I think I have finally perfected my cookies..you know that recipe every mom has that they get to pass down to their kids?  Both my mom and my mother in law gave me their cookie recipes and i've made them both, but I wanted my own.

/four/
Caleb found out his permanent shift after he graduates the academy will be midnights.  Please pray for this upcoming transition for us.  I think it'll be a great shift once the kids are in school, but until then I think it may be a little bumpy.  I'm glad Caleb just had an alarm system installed because i'm am one huge baby about sleeping alone at night.  I'm so proud of him though and am thankful he has work to go to, no matter what shift it is.

/five/
Does anyone have plans for Father's Day?  Caleb said he wanted to do some low key stuff around home so I think Starbucks, church, checking out a new park, and grilling some yummy steaks are what's on our list for Sunday.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Happy Friday :)

If you know me well, you know I love Needtobreathe.

If you've never heard them you should probably stop whatever you're doing and listen to all their albums.

But on a more realistic note, i'm more than impressed with their newest worship song.  Check it out :)

We came home from church yesterday morning to find all this being dropped off in our yard...

In about 2ish weeks the Geiger household will be gaining a fenced in backyard!  We can't wait.  We have no complaints about the neighbors, but when the houses are so close together, it's just nice to have a little privacy (when you're running around looking like a crazy person with your kids.)  

I will post the finished product.  They said they'd finish it in a day so it's just a matter of finding out the actual date they'll be here to do it.

5 on Friday

I'm not sure I even have 5 facts for this Friday, which is even worse considering I haven't blogged anything else this week.  I guess summertime is making for less blog worthy material.

I will give it my best shot

/one/
Last Saturday we ventured to Maymont.  It's a beautiful estate that we've been to a few times.  We've managed to miss out on the petting zoo each time, so that's what we went for this time.  It was a little disappointing.  They just had goats, cows, and horses.  I heard someone mention they were headed to pet the pigs, but we never saw them.  But hey, it's free and they are they are all really accessible to interact with, Arya especially enjoyed that.

 

Casen's sad face is because he hurt his leg getting out of the stroller.

/two/

Sunday we visited a church that we think may be the one.  We've tried out a few without much luck.  Of course, you don't know for sure after just one visit, but it's the first one that we've really enjoyed so we're hoping :)  

http://www.vertchurch.org/

She was pretty cute in her "pretty pretty" dress for church

/three/

I found this in our bathroom this week.  I have a cute and creative husband.

/four/

My sister is officially living in Virginia.  It's been nice to have someone to hang out with while Caleb's working.  She's already watched the kids so Caleb and I can have a date night and she's offered to watch the kids anytime I want to go grocery shopping childless (anyone with kids knows this is a big deal.)  Her and Tim are getting married this summer and my bridesmaid dress is officially on its way!

(mine will have straps though)

/five/

We've had some pretty hot days lately.  Next week is supposed to be close to 100.  I'm not looking forward to that, but the kids have been able to enjoy their water table.

And some bonus info (I guess I did have 5 after all)

Caleb has officially 2 months left until academy graduation.  We can't wait to celebrate and see family and friends this August!