Updated Landscaping

I was pretty unhappy with the way our landscaping looked after five years so we did a mini-overhaul.  Below are the before and after pictures.  We took out the huge and puny rose bushes and salvia greggii, added river rock and new mulch, trimmed everything up and transferred a few plants.  I will add a little color after this heat wave!  Hopefully this will look better for longer than five years!

Before - weeds galore and puny rose bushes in front of the hedge and salvia on the right.

Before - huge, messy rose bushes blocking the hedge and more weeds weeds weeds.

Before - yep, more weeds and salvia (on left) to be removed and nana nandina (behind the rock and crepe myrtle) to be replanted/spread out around the crepe myrtle.

Before - salvia on right to get rid of.

TA DA!!!!!

After - I will add some little flowers for color in front of the columns/by the walkway.

After - with crushed granite under the oak tree.

After

After - will put some lantana or plumbago in the open pocket of mulch on the right.

San Antonio Weekend Getaway

In February, I had a quick weekend getaway with my two wonderful cousins.  We had SO much fun laughing, playing mexican train, shopping, going out to eat, drinking and touring a little bit of San Antonio.  Here are a few pics.  Did I mention that there was drinking going on?  Hence the cowboy hat pics in the hotel gift shop...

Sweetness

Got this pic off of Dogwork.com.  A seeing eye dog meeting Pluto for the first time. 

 A D O R A B L E

Maybe some day I will pursue my 'dream' of training dogs to help those in need.

Boo-licious!

Paige's friend Gwynn invited her over to decorate Halloween cookies this morning.  We (I couldn't help myself) had SO much fun decorating them as you can see below.  Do you know that they even make markers these days to decorate cookies (see close up below of mr. green cheek pumpkin)??  Who knew!?!  

Anniversary Treat

13 years of marriage.  I am pretty proud of us.  It feels like 13 years and I mean that in a good way.  I am feeling a little mushy after sharing a bottle of red wine tonight so forgive this post if it is a bit sappy (or doesn't make sense!).

Dominique and I had a conversation not long after our first date about what we wanted in life down the road.  My response was "I want what my parents have" and in response, he joked "a rental house?" as that is what they were living in at the time.  "No no no silly" is what I said "a long lasting marriage, stability, love,  I want to have kids (3 to be exact at the time) and stay at home with them".  And here I am; here we are.  I am so blessed to have been on this path.  Although we have our share of hard times, I know it is important to focus on the good times and the life we have now and how truly blessed we are.  Dominique has given me everything I have wanted and I am so lucky to have him.

Here is a clip of the kids performing an Anniversary song and dance for us.  All day long they told me "Happy Anniversary Mommy!".   How sweet is that?  Paige kept asking for cake and suggested we play musical chairs.  Cracks me up!

Enjoy!


(Copy and paste in your browser the link below b/c for some reason I can't get it to work as just a link.  Technology - sheesh!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIlGQsNvNLc

hot Hot HOT

Our thermoter for outside and inside temperatures.  Yowza.  Austin has had 73 days and counting of over 100 degree days.  The norm is an average of 12 days.  Another fun fact: the first 100 degree day on average is July 11th.  This year it was May 25th.  The last 100 degree day on average is August 20th.  By the looks of the extended forecast, we will blow that average away.

Stay cool!

Best buddies

So Trey and Paige are obsessed with their stuffed animals.  Here they put together their most favorite friends in a 'bed time pile'.

Paige caught this pretty guy eating the seeds/flowers from my basil.

Caught ya red handed!

Bird food

Check out this little bird eating my basil flowers for his breakfast!

Bon Appetit!

Miscellaneous

We finally bought some barstools to go at our kitchen counter. The kids think they are fun to sit at. When I sit there, it makes me want to order a gin & tonic, but the bartender never shows up.

Trey and Paige had a little sleep over last Friday night in Trey's room, however, I don't think there was much sleeping going on.

Silly Face Trey

Silly Face Paige

And finally....SNOW! It started at 6 a.m. and it is supposed to snow ALL day long!! It is just beautiful and I can't get over the size of the flakes! Either my memory has been totally erased of snow from when I grew up in the Northeast, or the saying really does apply "everything's bigger in Texas"! It has been an hour since I took these pics and the grass is now completely covered/white - I will be sure to get a pic at the end of the day to post.