C's Blog

This weekend we started our first major project at our house. We're adding a patio. Sounds simple, right? ha! (You must not know me well enough.)

Over the course of the past few weeks, I talked Bryan into doing a paver patio. They are gorgeous, and "if we do it ourselves we can save a ton of money!" I said with enthusiasm. Which is true, but it turns out that we left a few digits out when estimating our original cost and now, mid-way through the project, we're doubting ourselves and how much we really want to spend on this right now.

Luckily, we haven't bought many supplies yet and most of the work we did this weekend was demolition and preparation. So, now, we're thinking that since the digging is done and the site is ready for installation of materials that we're going to price out having a concrete patio poured.

Any one out there have contact information for a reasonably priced handy-person who might help us with this?

One thing great about this project is that it makes our new house feel more like home. I was on my way back from an errand this evening and I had a feeling of comfort as the familiar road home stretched before me. Reminiscent of my childhood, the shadows on the streets from the framing trees hugged my car and safely carried me back. I felt the corners of my mouth grin and my shoulders relax. I looked back at Isaac sound asleep in his car seat. Such a good feeling. Reassures me to know that we made the right decision to build this house and excited to know that my son will grow up here.

I know, I'm a big sap. I'm also exhausted, so that probably has something to do with it. : )

I'll post some photos and stories from our excavation tomorrow. For now, it's nighty nite for me.

In the same sense that all parents think their child is the most beautiful in the world, Isaac's artwork impresses me as much as some masters' works.

I can't get over the fact that my little guy is creating these masterpieces at only 17 months. In fact, I think I'm more proud of his artwork than I've ever been of my own:

   

I mentioned, in my previous post, about beginning our first major home project. What I didn't mention is the piece of machinery that we rented. It's this super cool piece of equipment called a Dingo. Yes, a Dingo, like "the Dingo ate your baby." (Only the Seinfeld fans out there understand that one... Bryan didn't get my joke, either.) Anyway, a Dingo is like a mini-bulldozer that you walk behind and without it, we'd still be digging.

There were a couple of different scary moments when I thought that we might have purchased the rental. The first of those moments, Bryan got it stuck in the mud. It was so stuck that the tracks were completely submerged in our thick wet clay backyard. It took three men and a lot of patience to recover it. (I didn't take a picture of this because I was too busy sweating bullets.)

The second time I thought we purchased the Dingo was when Bryan overloaded the bucket and it literally went up on its front end. I DID take a picture of this before the rational part of my brain started freaking out at the mental image of me rushing Bryan to the hospital for the infinite number of terrible endings that this could have had. Luckily, it landed softly back on its tracks.

Here are two pictures of the Dingo in action: the first is Isaac in amazement at his Daddy in the back yard and the second is the aforementioned Dingo Wheelie:

   

And how could I have a misc. photo post without some cute pics of my favorite little man? He's really growing these days, looking more like a little boy each day: