Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl!

Catherine Kay turned one on June 1st. I know this post is a bit late....and as it seems to happen...life has happened and time has passed by. But this picture of my baby girl after eating her birthday cupcake was so cute.

I can't believe a year has gone by and it has been wonderful having a baby in the house again. And to have a girl has been even more precious. The bows, the dresses, and all the pink...we are blessed and so happy that we have a baby girl. I hope I still feel this way when she becomes a tween, teen and then a 20-something. Hopefully my blog will still be around and I will be able to look back at this post and remember I wanted all of this. For now....Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

We decided it was time to install a paver patio. The project has taken longer then we expected due to the manufacturer not having all of the pavers. We went with two colors and the edger color had to be made! Crazy, but that held up the project for a few days. Here are some before and during pictures. They are finally laying the last of the pavers today and will start the irrigation and landscaping tomorrow. Welcome to summer and welcome to my new backyard!!!!!!

We have a walker!

This video was taken just before Catherine turned one and you can see that she is working hard on walking. She has gotten better with time, but still prefers to crawl most of the time. And I don't blame her because she is one fast little crawl. Enjoy the video.

Our garden, 2011

Kevin has worked hard on our vegetable garden for this year. He decided we should try raised beds this year. The weeding and acidic, clay soil in last year's garden was tough. I do like the raised beds and it is a pretty garden to look at. We have pole beans, cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, carrots, 3 types of lettuce and herbs growing. Kevin also decided to build the trellis himself. He found a bamboo patch growing wild in the neighborhood and build the foundation and netting during his free time. It is working as planned and looks quite nice. Enjoy the pics.

The pole beans with bamboo trellis and netting.

Our flower garden portion of the garden. It is filled with day lilies, hostas and azaleas.

A view of the back side of the garden...with the compost pile and pumpkin patch growing wild.

Front view of the garden.

Gardening and landscaping projects.

We have been busy this Spring updating the landscape around the house. Most of our landscaping from last spring did not fare well and had to be transplanted to the vegetable garden area, where it has thrived and flourished. So we have learned what types of plants to place in the front yard. Here are some pictures from our landscaping projects. I believe we are done until next Spring when we would like to add a tree flowerbed to the front yard. Enjoy the pretty pictures.

Pictures of the front flowerbeds planted with a boarder of Pentas.

Our Knockout Roses in the top flowerbed. We also added a Crape Myrtle tree. We really like how it turned out.

Kids enjoying the summer

We have had a nice start to summer after the tease that spring brought. The kids have enjoyed being outside and over the Memorial Day weekend we set up the blow-up pool. Found out that it has a leak...which is expected...so we will be purchasing another one later this summer. Oh well, what can you expect from a blow-up.

Here is Catherine looking too cute after her bath with her pink bow.

Catherine loved her playtime in the pool. I think she liked the mud and mulch eating even more...and it was too cute seeing her in her diaper and pink hat. What baby doesn't love being naked.

Look Mom, a pinecone as big as my head.

Here is William dancing to some music and posing in a picture with Uncle Jason. He was the "lucky" one/adult who was picked to sit in the pool with the kids.

And I believe the kids have inherited some musical skills from Mommy. I often catch Paulie and Catherine playing the piano. They just love to make music. William has started electric guitar lessons and really enjoys it. He is quite good for only going a few weeks.