Our Backyard

While this has very little to do with the girls, other than now they have more room to play and less space in which to get muddy, Dada has worked so hard on this project that we have to show it off.

The construction zone is completed... for now.


Here is what the back yard looked like before the work was started.

This is looking to the south side of the back yard, from the patio. Basically we had two levels, both levels were fairly small. The entire yard slopes toward the house, so there is a need for something, but the wall we had chopped up the yard significantly.

This is looking north, along the back of the house. You can see how little space we had below the wall.
Even the widest part was not much wider than the small climber we have.
The top part wasn't much better, as there was maybe 6 feet up there. Plus, the wall created a great make-shift balance beam and launching pad for little Miss Dare Devil.


The plan was to push the wall back and make a raised planter in front of the fence and increase the size of the lower level.

So, Dada went to work.

Unfortunately, the photographer (Mama) kind of forgot to take pictures of the progress, so you'll have to look beyond the kids, to the background to see the hard work.




Once the sod was cut and the dirt was cleared, Dada needed to dig down, level the ground, and put down the gravel before he could start putting in the new wall.




Needless to say, we are all so happy it is done, but none more thrilled than Dada. No more sod cutting, taking apart the wall - one block at a time, no more moving 5 or 6 yards of dirt - one wheel barrow at a time, and no more rebuilding the wall - one block at a time. Ugh! He's our hero though!

Here is our new space.

Looking north, with the house off to the right. We fenced in the bed for the fall/winter to keep kids and dogs out. The plan is to plant some fruit trees along the fence. We are also planning on putting our tomatoes up there next summer - partially because we want to expand our garden, partly because... well... just look at our current garden below. We weren't sure what would take - apparently almost everything.

We overestimated what the garden could hold. Notice the cucumbers (nearest to the camera) trailing over the fence, and ready to head down the stairs and the tomatoes (farthest from the camera) pushing the fence over. Oops!

Looking south, house to the left. You can see the beautiful new sod we decided to put in.
There used to be another wall here by the stairs, but we had to always have a ramp to get the lawn mower up and down. So, Dada did a wonderful job of filling it in and creating a slope for the grass.


Yay Dada!

Kara's 15th month

This was a big month for Kara. She is working hard on standing and walking.

She's trying to go to a standing position from everything.

And will cruise along anything she can.

She wants so badly to walk, but seems to have little patience to learn - every time she tries to take steps, she starts to run, which in turn becomes stumble and a fall. So, bear crawling is still her most common mode of transportation.

She LOVES the sandbox. Unfortunately when she plays in it, she usually ends up wearing quite a bit of it and we find a lot of it when we change her diaper. Ewwww!


We used to think that Jana was a flirt - Kara aces her out of that title, hands down! Kara is so expressive and she has all those adorably manipulative faces down.... you know the puppy dog eyes, the "I'm so cute" look, the coy smile. Ugh! We're in for it.

Here she is hamming it up for us while eating her snack at the table.



Kara enjoying the chair - it's the perfect size for her to climb in and out of.

The toy of choice this month is definitely the Tigger plane. She LOVES this thing. She's taken to backing it into the corner of the kitchen so she can get onto it more easily.

Jana Practices Being a Flower Girl

Oh Shaun and Meghan, we hope you are ready for the glory that will be Jana in your wedding! :-)


She's been practicing for you.



But the best, is definitely the video of her practicing. Hope you're ready for the "Pick them up!" and putting her basket on her head! Hee, hee!

Jana Paints Her Nails

Jana started coloring on herself with markers in Kids' Court when Mama works. On Thursday, Mama went to get her hair cut. When she returned, Dada and Jana had been coloring. This was the result of Jana's artistic whim. Check out those fabulous legs and arms!

She told Dada that she "wanted green toes like Mama has purple toes."

So, it was time to give in and let her have "painted toes." She's so excited to have toes that match Mama's.


She's so proud of herself, can you tell?

Kara vs. the watermelon

Kara hasn't liked watermelon. She's a texture kid - like her Mama. Because of that, she usually gets one bite of watermelon into her mouth and then spits it right out. Jana did the same thing last summer, but loves it this summer.

Because of this, we were greatly surprised when Kara started reaching for my piece of watermelon at dinner. So, why not? She was happy to play with it and then tried to feed it to herself. (Please note the extremely messy face from the spaghetti.)

The only problem with Kara's eating of the watermelon was that she was trying to eat the rind, not the actual watermelon.

Man this kids keeps us laughing!

Fabulous Giggles on a Dreary Day

Here in the Northwest we are having a gross fall-like, rainy, dreary day... in August. So, instead of doing outside projects, cleaning, or anything productive, I found myself looking through pictures and videos.

I just had to share this.

This is one of those videos that I could watch over and over again. I hope it provides even the slightest amount of enjoyment that it provides us. I can't watch it without laughing.

Our girls

Our girls are so funny.

Some moments they are cracking each other up - laughing harder than anyone else can make them laugh. Other moments are filled with tears, screaming, and scrapping over toys.

But, they love to be together.

While Mama and Dada cheer for Kara and her standing and attempts to walk, Jana's response is priceless. "Yay Kara! Kara is standing, Mama. Kara is standing!"

This started out as a hug, but turned into a wrestling/tickling match.


Jana was coloring on her easel and Kara was sitting in Jana's chair next to her. They had been scrapping over who got to sit in the chair, but in the end, I caught them grabbing hands and giggling at each other.


Keep loving each other girls - you'll always have each other.

Kara Mae Stands!

While Kara has been letting go of things and standing (that is until she realizes that she's standing and then either grabs on again or drops to the floor), we can now say that she stands on her own.

In the last two days, she has gotten pretty good at standing up from sitting, on her own. She's even able to hold it now for 3 - 5 seconds.

Pardon the cloudy pictures. I didn't realize that we had little Jana finger smudges all over the lens.

Is she standing up or power lifting?


Look at our big girl!

She even stayed up for long enough to let the camera recharge and for me to get a second picture.

Another major milestone she's accomplished in the last few days is that she's taken her first steps. Last night she was stumbling back and forth between Mama and Dada, but today she took three solid steps from her laugh and learn house to Mama. Yay!


Now this is completely unrelated, but since I got the picture tonight, I have to include it.

Jana ranged from the 30th to 50th percentiles in height until she was 2, then the 80th percentile at 2. Kara (who started 2 lbs, 3 oz bigger) was around the 50th, but dropped to the 19th at her one year appointment. I just kind of assumed that she was still that small... apparently I'm very wrong.


I was shocked when I compared these two pictures.

Here is Jana one week short of 15 months standing at the kitchen table.

Here is Kara at one week short of 15 months at the same kitchen table. Wow! Go Kara go. I hope you've got some of Grandma's tall genes and not Mama's short genes!

Jana is 2 and 1/2!

How can Jana be this old? She's becoming such a little girl... no more baby!

She's becoming so silly these days. It's fun to see her intentionally being silly. If she's not being a stinker, she has so much fun making Kara laugh. Here she is being silly on Maiya's bed. Please note the different krocs on.

Goofy girl with her goggles on while she plays in the sandbox.

She's such a ham.

Here she is being a goof on the rocking elephant at Grandma and Grandpa's. Please notice her fabulous outfit. She dressed herself that day. At least we know she's not color blind. :-)


Clapping for herself while in the backyard. Not sure what she did that she was so proud of, but too cute nonetheless.

She's still obsessed with her binky. Here she was trying to put the leash on it so that I couldn't take it away (binkies are supposed to be relegated to the bed only).


She's also starting to get into dress up. Except that she wants to dress up in Kara's clothes. Her she is in Kara's swim suits. A bit too small, you think?

"Helping" Daddy with the backyard.


You know she's her mother's daughter... not so graceful.

Please explain how one tips over a car like this. And yes, that is her climbing out of the bottom to get free.
While this isn't one of her most spectacular days (no blood running down the leg), here are her legs at the end of the day. The funny part is that I have a picture of them earlier that day (to show Sheri that Jana always has bruises and skinned knees), but I had to take another shot after she re-skinned her knee. Most of the time we don't know until much later that she's done anything and she doesn't know how she did them. Ahhhh. Our rough and tumble girl!

And finally, one of our favorites. The day we left on our trip to the cabin on the lake, Jana woke up pretty early, but put herself back to sleep. When we went to finally get her up, this is where we found here - on her bean bag chair in her room, lounging, sacked out!


She's obsessed with her bike these days and asks about a hundred times a day to go on a bike ride. However, she seems to lose interest and wants to run around, instead of ride around, once we're at the top of the hill. The rule in this house is that once Mommy or Daddy has to carry the bike around the block, then it's time to go home.

Unfortunately her newest phrase is "I can't." Ugh! Where did she learn to say that and it's meaning!?!?!?!

Another great moment was when she was begging for a binky from Dada and sang the old Chili's commercial (I want my baby back ribs song), but her version that Daddy pokes fun of her with: "I want my binky back, binky back, binky back."

One that not only made us laugh, but impressed us was when Grammy was visiting. After hearing someone blow her nose, she asked "Grammy what was that?" Something was said in reply like a nose being blown, to which we heard, "No Grammy. That was a dinosaur noise." Pretty stinkin' funny and cute!

We love you so much big girl! Thanks for making each day better, punky!