Working on the Yard: Sprinkler and Grass

The blessed day has come: sod has been laid.

I am one happy lady today. We had some great friends come help Rich do the work, and are so grateful for all the help we've received on this life-consuming project. Mike and Steve stayed super late and were finishing up with a flood lamp as their guide, and the missionaries stayed as late as they were allowed. I'm so happy that I uploaded many, many pictures.

  We ended up being a few rolls short, so Rich and I made a quick trip to Santa Rosa to pick some more sod up so we could have a finished product. 

We're so happy to have this finished--probably no one more than Rich. 

Of course there are still yard projects awaiting, but this was obviously a GIANT step in being done.

 Mostly he's just happy the raking part is over for now.

Rich worked SO hard on getting the yard irrigated so we could put the grass in and keep it nice and pretty. Rich had never done a sprinkler system before, but he googled everything and worked out the perfect plan. He's very smart.
 
Devin learned where his tummy button was while working in the sprinkler trenches.

The sprinkler project is where I ended up being the most helpful. It was so much fun to work together and feel like I was a contributing member to this yard project! Most of the time we were putting in sprinkler Rich was exhausted from all the other things he was doing so I was able to keep tabs on the operation and help him think through things. We make a great team--he does all the manual labor, and I stand around and direct :) A nice man down the street told me to make sure I let my husband know he's done a great job. I concur.

Devin's contribution to the sprinkler system was watching Sesame Street for a longer-than-normal amount of time. I felt bad about this, but there was just no way to keep the wee one out of pvc cement, etc while trying to help. 

I don't think he's overly damaged from our overuse of the TV in this case!

He's actually just pretty thrilled to have sprinklers to play with.

We are very happy with the finished project and will be watering it profusely over the next month to make sure it grows and grows so we can have many happy summer nights playing on our wonderfully green grass.

Little Things

One of my favorite quotes is "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." Robert Brault

I don't always do a great job at embodying the essence of that thought, though I try. Lately I've been focusing too much on the wants and have nots and if onlys, instead of focusing on the little things that bring me joy. Gratefully I have been blessed with some happy coincidences, tender mercies, and perfect moments throughout the past week to realign my thinking.

Which brings me to another favorite thought: "Life doesn't have to be perfect to have perfect moments." And that, my friends, is the theme of the Britton family. We are decidedly imperfect, but there is some perfection there, nonetheless. 

Well, Hello There Summer

 We've welcomed summer with open arms: swimming, parades, and more swimming at the lake.

 

Devin is truly a little fish. He loved the pool on our first outing and took to the water perfectly when we headed to the lake. We are looking forward to some swimming lessons later in the summer and are sure we'll be spending many afternoons in the water.

And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing more of the awesome farmer's tan that man of mine has going on in the coming summer days. It's a testament to all the time he's spent in the sun working on our yard. Summer is going great!

Father's Day 2011

Love my baby's daddy. He's my favorite man. 

He made no dinner requests this year, but that's because I already knew what he wanted. We had ribs and baked beans and corn and breadsticks. I later made him brownies. All because I think he's the best daddy in the whole world. 

During Rich's after-dinner nap he snuggled with mister bear. Devin was a bit perplexed that his daddy was hogging his bear. 

Later my boys played and laughed and tickled, and I smiled all the while. 

 

Love these boys!

Sorting Shapes

I finally got some pictures of Devin playing with his beloved shape sorter, and since I insist on making sure one and all knows that he likes the shape sorter, I felt the need to provide photographic evidence of this truth. 

The best part is that Devin has to put in the circle first. Usually he has the circle in one hand and the crescent in another. We may move on from there. It's been like this from the beginning, when we could not, would not sort shapes if we do not sort the circle first. Well, this day, the circle was nowhere to be found. And the wee one was very sad. He just kept repeating "ca-ca, ca-ca," which is how I learned this is how he says circle. Anyway, we had to go on a circle hunt. He rummaged through toy bins and peered into his plane, and was distraught all the while. Mama saved the day by discovered the rogue circle under the TV stand. Crisis was averted, and shape sorting continued.

Joy

I feel that one of my chief responsibilities as the mama is to make sure this little guy is joyful. That we have smiles and laughs and tickling everyday. I've discussed how the little man is reticent with his emotion, but when he is in the mood, he can giggle and tease and smile like a little boy should.

Catching these happy times on camera can be difficult, but at least sometimes I get shots that personify the joy and happiness of my wee one.

And as long as he's smiling part of the time, I'll count the job I'm doing as alright.

Mischief

He knows when he's doing/done something he shouldn't. He juts out his bottom lip and gives me a look that says, "So what are you going to to do about it?" And mostly my reply is, "I'm going to try not to laugh."

Affection and Emotion

Devin has never been overly demonstrative with his affections. He didn't smile at an early age and laughing took awhile. He's reserved. People generally refer to him as "an old soul," which I agree with. He loved the seriousfaceness. I blame all of this on Rich. I mean, try getting an emotional response from that man of mine. I dare you. But I love them both dearly, so it's really just become a fact of life. 

Devin has never been attached to a blanket or an object to the point of needing it for comfort. He did enjoy his giraffe lovie for a few months when a wee babe, but then he could have cared less. He enjoyed "Mister Bear" upon introduction (this was the first object I would say he cognitively showed affection for) and loved on him periodically, but he could go weeks without ever pulling Mister Bear out for playtime. Devin didn't give kisses or hugs to even Rich and me in abundance until recently.

All of the above is just to preface the new phase the wee one has entered. He's all about the stuffed animals right now. He carries them around, gives them kisses, and wants them near him at all times. During lunch on Monday his dog (that's really a small bear) sat on the table so he could be seen all the while. Rich went to get Devin from playing in his room on Sunday and found the dog perched on the chair watching over the wee one as he played. I find this new behavior refreshing--and hilarious. We've been able to use the stuffed animals to learn about sharing and being nice and giving kisses and being soft. And anything that helps my wee one understand that giving the mama more kisses is a good thing wins in my book.

Water Time

Devin was in need of some new entertainment last night, and it was blazing hot, so I brought out the buckets and let him have some water time. One would think we would have done this before, but notice the enormous amounts of dirt in the background. I wasn't sure I was ready for all the mud, but I got over this trepidation for the sake of the wee one's love of water.

I'm a really nice mom and started spraying him with the hose. He loved every minute of it. Later, when Rich tested the sprinklers, Devin just ran out into the water and started dancing around. I am just imagining what fun we'll have once we actually have grass.

By the end of the night, the wee one was sopping wet. 

Pretty much a perfect summer night.

Fuzzy

We like to call him peach head now. He's adorably fuzzy.

Working on the Yard: Garden

I'm most looking forward to having room for a garden!

We had to wait till we had a fence so the deer wouldn't eat everything, and I'm so happy to grow some fresh stuff this year. Rich built these beautiful raised beds for us, and we're going to try out the square foot gardening idea. I made a grid of where to plant everything, and am a little nervous to grow corn since I've never tried that before. I'm hopeful we won't kill everything!

We planted everything Memorial Day weekend, and then it rained cats and dogs the next weekend, so I was worried all the seeds washed away or rotted, but the progress this week allayed those fears and we have adorable seedlings popping up, with only a few losses.

I didn't get a great picture of the actual raised bed construction project, but it was a team effort. Rich did such a great job figuring out how to best maximize our space, and as such I got a surprise 5th box. The boxes are all irrigated, as well, so I don't have to worry about forgetting to water them.

 

This is obviously not a gardening picture. But this is how Devin looks when saying tractor. I think it's super cute and wanted to remember how he said this beloved word.

Rich isn't actually gardening here, but rather removing bushes so we could finish the fence project and also get to our raspberry bushes. 

Because in all the random landscaping the previous residents did, I thank them very much for planting raspberries--even if they are in an odd spot.