Expecting...July 2009

Ready or not, here comes another Storc!
This one's due July 1st. Tate will be 2 years + 3 months old.
We'll find out the gender of this on on Feb 10, so stay tuned.

The Chronicles - closing out 2008

So the last few months have been super busy and I haven't taken the time to update the blog with the most recent pictures of Tate.

December

Ridin' home from Nana's


Christmas morning waiting for Wyatt so we can open presents!


Tate's very own chair...



Chillin'...


Game Day! This was clearly the hightlight of the day.


The Christmas play at school. Tate was a shephard!



"Go Tell It On a Mountain..."



November

Spagetti!!!



Ridin'...


The aftereffects of Hurricane Tate...



October

Halloween was a blast! We went Trick or Treating with our neighbors Phoebe and Aidan. Tate wasn't a huge fan of asking strangers for candy, but he did enjoy watching the big kids race from house to house.

Phoebe the Tiger


Aidan the Tiger


Duck on a Truck!


Quack!


Octoberfest! Tate and Hayley flew to Richmond to attend the annual Octoberfest. Fun, fun!



Hangin' at Nana's


Silly...


Daddy time...



September

Transport...


Watch... (notice his "chair")


Laugh...


Be Super...


Play...


Grin...


Read...


Conduct


Scream

The Lawn: Completed!

The 7-day project completed in 28 days. Cost us an unexpected "land disturbance" permit and 3 citations! Tim went to court last week and was aquitted of all charges. Though he was threatened with contempt of court with his excessive Blackberry use!

Even with all the drama, we are thrilled with our new yard! It looks great, we have WAY less leaf/pine straw maintenance, and we are really looking forward to playing the grass this spring.

Here are a few photos; some leaves have fallen over the newly sprouted grass, but you get the idea...

The hill, now a wall and much farther back on the property. Look at all that room to play!

With clearing out the brush, we now see a bit more of our neighbor than we like, be we can remedy that with a few well-placed bushes!

Look at all that flatness! Plenty of room for a swingset. The second photo shows off the drainage swail.

The End!

The Lawn: Nearing Completion

With the trees down, we could get down to moving around dirt. We moved dirt from the hill in the back yard into the front yard. This allowed us a build a retaining wall in the back and create some flat space, as well as build up the front yard a bit.

Just a reminder, this is what the hill looked like before we started the project:


The temporary hill created by carving into the big hill. We had no idea how much dirt this would be...



Where the wall will eventually go...



The flattened back yard, with a swail to direct water away from house and down the side of the property.


The front yard with a whole lot more dirt on it. Now the land is as high as the driveway...remarkable! Notice the silt fence; the source of much wasted time and money and "discussions" with the city.

Finally! All the Trees are Down!

Tree Graveyard

woops....