50 years, Yard Work, and parents' day off!

I had a little BBQ for Bentley a couple weeks ago for his birthday. He turned 50! We had some food in the backyard and had a few friends and family over. I am realizing now how small my family is, and how far away all of Bentley's family is! We wish we could have spent it together, but he got a phone call and happy birthday wishes from everyone....very nice! I'll be planning a little party for Jake's 6th birthday next!

Bentley and I finally have a weekend off together coming up! Since he works Sunday to Thursday and I work Monday to Friday, we only ever get Saturday off together. Well, I took Friday and Monday off and he took Sunday and Monday off so we will have a four day weekend together for the first time in a long time....not counting my maternity leave of course. So we tossed around a bunch of different ideas about what we were going to do on our long weekend. Daytrip to Bellingham? Overnight in Seatttle? Maybe Vancouver? What did we decide? You guessed it...yard work. It has to be done. Bentley has got a good start on it. He and our neighbor shoveled about 10 yards of topsoil into the yard today. Bentley then smoothed it out with a board and then rolled over it with a heavy roller that he rented. Then he seeded it! Hopefully we will have a nice lawn where a stinky pond used to be! I can't wait to see how the grass grows. This weekend we will just have to seed a couple of other small areas, move some trees and plants, and plot out where we are going to build a patio. Who knew owning a house was this much work? Once it's all done it won't be so bad. The majority of the work will be done, and it'll all be minor maintenance after that. We're also going to be getting a swing set for the kids. Bentley doesn't think we should, and I do....I wonder who'll win that one...:)

So our Mr. Jakers is almost done Kindergarten. Only one more month to go! He got a visit from a firetruck today at school. He just thought that was the coolest! He got to sit inside the truck and learned all about fire safety. We now have to plan out an escape route! He just loves school. I am glad for that. It makes it so much easier when they are eager to go and are excited about learning. He is quite a challenge right now though. I think this age is harder than any age so far....terrible twos/threes was nothing compared to this!! Temper tantrums and defiance all day long....how many time outs can one kid get in day? The neighbors must think we're awful....Pretty soon he'll have no toys left either...lol. Everytime he behaves inappropriately, we take something away. It is exhausting...but hopefully will be worth it in the long run.

Amy is walking...and practically running sometimes too. My favorite thing to watch her do is carry something while she's walking. I love it when she carries her sippy cup around under her arm...just keeping it close in case she needs a sip! She is just the cutest little thing....and very loud! She is always screaming and can say quite a few words. She is proving to be a real girly-girl. She tries to put her own shoes and socks on, she likes to brush her hair and she looooves to talk on the phone. She puts it to her ear and says "Ello?, Hi! Hi! Bye Bye!" We just love both of them to bits!