Tractor Tippin'

Ryan bought Aric a Tractor Tipping game yesterday while they were out at the bookstore.  It's a cute idea of rolling the dice and moving your cars around the board tractor tipping and hoping Frank doesn't come after you.  Whoever has the most tractors at the end of the game wins.  Laura was over yesterday and she and I tried to play the game with Aric. We tried until he decided it would be more fun to claim all of the game pieces for himself and re-enact the tractor tipping scene from the movie.  It kept him entertained for the rest of the day.

This morning Aric stumbled out into the living room.  He climbed into my lap half asleep and sat there for about two seconds before asking. "Mommy, where are my tractors?"

The Fence

Have I mentioned how excited I am about getting a fence in the backyard?  It has been such a huge adjustment for us to move into town.  We are actually not even in the big city, but right outside of it in a township.  It sounds great, but Ryan and I have discovered just how much we like living out in the country.  It's the little things like not being able to take the trash out in your underwear that you miss.  Not that I took the trash out in my underwear much, but now anytime I go outside people are watching. 

Case in point-  when we had our yard flagged for the fence I went over to the neighbors, introduced myself and let them know about the fence and wanting to make sure they had no dispute over the fence placement, etc.  Well, Mrs J (as I'll call her) was chatty and seemed nice enough until she said, "so you have two little kids, right? and so and so said your husband is in the Army, right?"  Which made me walk away from the conversation with thoughts screaming in my head.  "The neighbors are watching and taking notes and talking with each other!  Ahhhhhhh!"  For the record I do scream in my head sometimes, it's quieter that way.

A fence will shield us from that.  They won't know when I didn't fix my bedhead, or that my clothes are mismatched and covered in snot or banana or whatever else was wiped on them.  They won't know that I decided to experiment with black eyeliner and feel glamorous in my sweatpants and bedhead.  We can hide.  Well that, and I won't have to be worried about the kids trying to run into the street, and the dog will have a bigger area to roam.

So close to having my own little utopia in the backyard:

Update

My husband has complained that I haven't updated this in a couple of weeks.  One cute photo of Kellyn apparently doesn't work. 

Last week was a sleepless week.  I was sick, the kids were sick and I didn't sleep well any night.  Every night I was awake for hours and hours.  Some nights I got up, others I tossed and turned.  By this past weekend I was exhausted and feeling the lack of sleep throughout my body.  I think last night was my first night of "good" sleep in well over a week.  It wasn't even that good since I had to get up with Aric at midnight and get him back to sleep in his own bed, but it was good enough that I am feeling better today.

We're still enjoying the new kitchen.  After living with it for a couple of weeks we are finding we are still pleased with the changes we made and the functionality of the space.  I purchased the extra tile to install in the entryway, but have decided to wait until at least April to have that work done.  I wanted to give myself some time off from projects before I start more. April is already filling up with projects: entryway tile, more painting in the guest room and guest bath, a garden in the front yard and a vegetable garden in the back yard. 

That's not to say we aren't having work done right now...

The backyard doesn't quite look like this today.  The posts are a bit straighter today as our fence guy is outside setting them right now.  We knew we wanted a fence before we moved in and it's nice to see that coming to fruition.  It'll be a private, big, safe place for the kids to play and a space for the dog to roam.  The sides of the fence will be wood privacy and the back will be chain link.  We'll have some seclusion from our neighbors and not block our view of the rest of our backyard.  I am ready for spring and being able to spend more time outdoors enjoying our yard with the kids.

The only other exciting thing going on is that Kellyn learned how to climb out of her crib.  She's not a budding 17 month old gymnast.  Her crib design gives her an unfair advantage:

The bar across the front gives her a foot hold to swing her little leg over.  It sure has made nap and bedtime really interesting.  Ryan and I constantly have to check on her when we lay her down to make sure she's still in bed.  She's not nearly ready to be moved into a toddler bed.  In the meantime we'll just keep checking on her.

And that's about it for now...

Stolen

I'll give you one guess on what Kellyn stole out of Aric's room.

I'm glad someone is using them, because for some reason Aric won't wear them.