With the back to school schedule being so crazy, we had our "first day of school" celebration the week before!
And the weekend before.
Griddle Project:
Adrienne wanted to help put everything together
Seasoning the griddle
First dinner!
Backyard Project:
Here's how we ended things last month: new concrete borders put in
Spread 6 yards of good dirt
You can see where the new landscaping joins our old stuff on the right! They did a great job with the transition to our old concrete border!
Of course they found the cat (or I should say the cat found them) at the nursery
LOTS of planting
In progress
Yet another trip to Lowe's
Next step: weed control!
And finally, landscaping stone! When we went to order our stone, they don't have the man made stone that we have for the front of the house anymore (they don't make it anymore) so we had to get creative with our color selection and had them mix two different kinds to come close to our stone in the front.
We've had so much fu watching these hibiscus flowers bloom
View from B's room
We added a stone walkway on each side of the patio to step off.
And our finished kidney flower bed. All that's left now if finishing 7 tons of stone in the far back along the tree line!
Ohio Trip:
This was our view the entire drive from PA to OH.
Loved these smiles from my nephew, H!
Celebrating J's birthday with the Riley side
A&B went hiking with Grandma and Grandpa
And of course, Keely
First Day of School (Finally!!!): After a very long 5 1/2 months, A&B were off to school! Our district is doing a hybrid plan, so they will go to school in person on Monday and Tuesday, then learn remotely the remainder of the week. This has cut the class size down by at least half so there are less people on the bus and in the buildings. Masks are warn at all times except for lunch and a few small mask breaks throughout the day. Both girls would go back to school all 5 days if they could!
J and I celebrated having no kids at home for the first time in almost half a year!
B practices with makeup in her free time! She's quite talented!
Adrienne:
Celebrating S's birthday!
Taking after Mom
A won the Yearbook Cover Contest for her school this year! Of course Covid put production of yearbooks way behind schedule, but we got to pick it up last week :)
Not a morning person
Ben and Em:
Cooking dinner at our friends' house on their outdoor griddle! Delicious!
One of his favorite ways to pass the time
Celebrating J's Birthday
Started to drizzle and my friends know me so well, they brought out the perfect chair lol
Celebrating C's Birthday ~ We were sitting outside, but a huge downpour out of nowhere led us in.
4th of July:
Relaxing in the shade
Recreated the famous homemade ice cream photo of B and Grandpa from 4th of July 10 years ago!
The Original
Enjoying our homemade ice cream sundaes
So many neighbors shoot off huge fireworks that we never have to leave the house on the 4th!
Hilton Head:
Hotel stop on the way down
The girls were very pleased that we somehow ended up with a suite where they had their own room.
Finally made it
Not a bad view from the balcony ;)
Sunrise beach walk on our first morning
Covid signs were all over the place. And resort staff was constantly cleaning and sanitizing everything!
Quiet in the morning
Evening beach walk
Visited two of our favorite places: The Frozen Moo and The Frosty Frog
They took a beach walk just the two of them!
It's a little extra humid in HH
Night time beach trip
Early morning drive back home
Other:
We had our concrete border guys come back and lay over 200 feet more concrete border for our back flower beds and to create some new ones around the patio. It's fascinating watching the whole process. They have a special machine to dig the perfect trench, and then they work together with a second piece of equipment to lay and smooth out the concrete. We have a lot to work on now in the near future! Dirt, new plants, etc.
Ben and I got married in the summer of 2005 when we moved from Ohio and started our life together in South Carolina. We have since moved on to the Pittsburgh area. Brynn joined us in June 2008 and we added Adrienne to our family in June 2010. I am living my dream as a stay-at-home mom and Ben is an engineer.
