Did you Notice?

So I decided yesterday that I need to learn to like yard work and gardening. We certainly have a lot to do in our new place. Our landlord bought it as a mess and didn't touch it besides trimming some trees. Evan and I have always had a deal that I would do inside things--cleaning, laundry, budgeting. He would be responsible for the outside--cars, yard, fixing things. However, he just doesn't have time. I've taken over care of the car and now I think I need to spear head our yard care. But I hate yard work. So I am going to learn to like it and be good at it.

This was the before of our front bricked flower bed.

This is the after shots. I realized that they aren't taken from the same angle and I know the shadows are seriously bad. But besides the two rose/prickly bushes things it is cleared out. I got more ambitious after I took the pictures and even pulled out one of the bushes. The second one caused me to break a hoe (a solid metal hoe attached to a strong wooden handle) in the process and is still there. By the way, deer ate my two tulips--so irritated.

I filled our street black garbage can 9/10 of the way full with just stuff from this small area. It is like only a foot wide. I found: shards of pottery, shards of glass, plastic pot that plants come in, light bulbs (plural), skittle wrappers, chunks of bricks, huge rocks, little rocks, a plethora of plastic flowers both greenery bundles and flowers, plastic rings, trash, and a lot of pine needles. But it only took me like 3 hours to clean it out.

This boy spent the two hours he was outside either on the blanket or in the bouncing toy. He was very happy. I thought most babies don't like the grass, but he crawled all around. I remember at one point I said to Kyle, "Will you go take the pine cone out of Aiden's mouth?" He did.

Kyle dug in the dirt with me, and yes, that is Pig from Super Why on his underwear.

I bought these at Target on clearance on Saturday. They came in so handy because we have no gardening tools. 

We also went for a walk. The other day on our first walk in the neighborhood (which causes me much anxiety because there are no sidewalks) and we found the street that is totally torn up down one side and has a digger, truck, and giant excavator. We stood there and watched for 15 minutes or so and the construction guys even waved at us and Kyle waved back, no prompting. We came back today and sat in the grass; however, the machines weren't working, just guys digging. Kyle took this picture though. He was so excited.

Then we watched some softball at the high school---but Kyle got upset when he realized he couldn't have a turn. We had to leave the melt down was so out of this world.

To end our day, this is a video of Aiden laughing during dinner. Yes, that is Kyle crying incessantly in the background. As I took this video of Aiden, I couldn't help but be struck by how much he reminds me of Kyle as a baby--although he is wearing the same size as Kyle.