Summer's Close..

It's so hard to believe it is September already, and it's almost as if the weather knew exactly what day it was as the breeze has already changed.  It is definitely very warm, yet the breeze has a chill to it now.  We have been getting some rain lately and just like in the late Spring when you know Summer is coming because even though most days are still jacket worthy there are some really warm days mixed in, it is now mostly hot days but there are some colder days, early morning and late night chills and rain... fall is coming..

And with fall also comes our completed yard, thank the Lord.  We can easily see the light at the end of the tunnel at this point.  Almost all the fence is in.  The sprinklers are done.  We will be getting sod next weekend (at least that is the current plan).  I will be posting pictures of the finished project as soon as it's complete.  Ryan's shop is very close to being finished as well.  The garage door is ordered and the structure, window and man door are in.  The siding and roof will also be complete this month.  I was a little surprised at how tall it is! It makes the house look small - lol.  But am very happy for Ryan and really excited for him to 'move in' to it and start using it for his projects.

The kids are trying to heal up from a cold.   Luckily now it is only a cough and some nose stuffiness.  Jack never got very sick but Lydia did have trouble with throwing up and waking up crying every hour the first night.  I am so glad that only lasted one night.  Poor girl.

Next week Lydia starts her gymnastics class - she is in the Mini Stars class.  She is very excited about it.  She will go twice a week for 45 min each session.  I hope she meets some little friends.  :)

I am starting a photography class on Sept 12th.  It will last for 4 weeks and is called Shooting 101.   It is all about learning to shoot in Manual mode and the basics.  I am very excited!!  I look forward to taking the Processing 101 and Lighting 101 classes as well in the future.   I only have one lens right now and I am so drooling over a Micro/Macro lens..   I can't wait until I can invest in a few more lenses to further my photographic capabilities.  :)

Jack is talking more now than ever and is saying many more words.  He also loves to point at letters and say E! G! D!  Not that he can recognize letters - every letter is one of those three.   haha  
We sold the highchair at the garage sale last week, Jack does great in his booster at the table with us so we thought it was time to say goodbye to it.   It's so nice having everyone around the table now and not having to clean that highchair all the time.

The garage sale went great, mom and I made treats and sold nearly all that we had.  Most of my items sold as well, I have one box full left over that I will try to sell ebay/facebook.   It was a blast, I really enjoyed it and meeting all the different people.

Here are some photos I recently edited.  Most of them are new, a few are from earlier this summer.
I will post in the next two weeks with our landscape updates and some photos of Lydia at gymnastics! :)

Welcome August!

What a crazy month July was! Mentally, physically and emotionally - it was quite a roller coaster month for the Becker family.   August is looking up for us though with the finishing of projects and seeing some fruits of our labors.

We have all our tree's planted and our front gate put in.  1/4 of the sprinklers in.  We will be getting sod the middle of this month if everything goes according to plan (keeping my fingers crossed).  My brother, us and a few others are trying to get sod at the same time to get a better deal.  I hope that all works out well and every one is happy with the end results.  Ryan's garage has it's driveway now and we have purchased all the materials to get it framed.  He is trading work with contractor from this area to help him with the garage.  Ryan is painting his vehicle in return for his services in framing the garage.  Ryan has been working on the car all week and should be done this weekend.

Jack had his first trip to the pool last month for my cousin Brooke's 21st birthday.  He was much more fearless than Lydia was on her first pool trip.  We had never been to the new re-center yet so it was neat to see what that was all about too.  It looks to be a very nice facility.  Lydia and Jack both had a fun time and met a few kids their ages to splash around with.  We went to the fishing lake park afterwards and had fun at the park.

We took the kids to their first carnival last night.  I wish they had more rides that we could all ride on including Jack, maybe next year.  We were all able to ride the carousel, and that was fun. :)   Lydia really enjoyed going on all the rides.  The kids played a few games and each of them one a little prize to take home as a souvenir.  I really hope sometime before it gets cold we can make it to Denver to take them to the zoo and the aquarium!  Maybe September?

Ryan's brother and his family came up for one weekend last month, it was so fun to watch the kids play with each other.  Lydia & Jack sure do love their cousins.  They had a lot of fun while they were here.  :)

Lydia had her first dental appointments this last month.  She did amazing for her first time! She had to get some work done on her second appointment and she did excellent, the doctor was very impressed, and I was so proud of her!  I also had my teeth cleaned last week.   We recently switched dental offices and I am really happy with the change!  This new office is very close to our home and is such a nice clinic, with little to no wait time which is great!  

Please check out photobucket for new photos and videos.  :)

I will update in a week or two with more landscape pictures.  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Summer Updates

Wow so much has happened in the last month!  Our landscape is really coming a long.  We have most of the picket fence done.  The entire north side of the house if fenced.  It looks amazing and Ryan has done an AWESOME job.  He has put in countless grueling hours of physical labor out in the hot sun working on the yard and I am so appreciative of his hard work.  This weekend he will be trenching in the sprinkler system lines, next week the rest of our fence comes in and on the 30th we will be picking up our sod.  After that we will be getting Kaizer back and setting up our new trampoline from Grandma & Grandpa Kennedy!  Fun Fun!

 Shop Side - Cement is Laid for Garage Floor in from of Red house.  Should be finishing the driveway for that soon.

Front

North Side Yard

North Side Yard

Front Yard

Jack also go his first hair cut a few weeks ago with Daddy.  He did great and didn't even flinch! Here are some pictures of that.  He looks so grown up now! :)

We had a fun 4th of July, went to the parade here in town and then watched the city display that night and did a few fireworks at home with the kids.   It kept looking like it would rain but thankfully it was nice weather for the display.

Mr. Jack sure does keep mommy on her toes.  Everyday he becomes more and more brave and adventurous. Into EVERYTHING!!! I swear he is worse than a puppy! Climbing and chewing on everything!   He loves to try to get into the toilet and onto his sisters desk or the kitchen table.  Daddy's tools, wires, and electronics are his favorite toys.  On the upside he and his sister love to wrestle and play together.  Every month that Jack gets older the better they play together.  It so fun to see them laugh and play together. :)

Up on big sisters desk

                                                  Playing peek a boo with mommys shirt

                                                 This is usually what Jack is doing, finding something to get INTO!

Lydia grocery shopping with mommy at Smiths - loving her cool little cart!  She made sure I knew that she did NOT need me to help her push it!

                                              Lydia at the park.  This was the first time she went down a slide willingly, but not only did she do that she went down EVERY slide, even the big twisty ones, by herself and climbed and played on every piece of equipment.  I guess she is over her park fears! Yay!  So proud of her, she had a blast.

   Tanner, Lydia's cousin who is also 3 and Lydia went to the movie Cars 2 together last weekend.  This was Lydia's very first trip to the movie theater!  She really loved it.  She sat next to Tanner and it was so cute hearing them laugh at things and joke about stuff.  At one point one of the cars said he was a lemon and Lydia looked at Tanner and said "He said lemon!! HAHAH!!" and both of them broke out laughing.. hilarious.  :)   I wish the new Pooh movie was coming here, I would love to take her to that.

I will update with more pictures as we get more of the landscape done.  It will be moving along pretty quickly now.  Yay!  Hope everyone is doing great.