It's been forever!!!

Not all that much is new over here..I guess.  Chris continues to make our house look beautiful from the outside.  We had the kitchen, the trim and doors on the first floor, Becca's playroom and the family room painted...ahhh...so nice to have freshly painted walls and to put our own touch on the interior!  Becca is doing well.  She is talking so much more and is a whiz with the iPhone (great).  We had our first snow last Saturday.  I was at work, but Chris took Becca out for her first romp in the snow and she apparently loved it.

A few hours of fun

Hair and makeup done, now for some clothes...

Outifit #1--yes, I'm in skinny jeans...

and a hat....

My friend Amanda. We're in our second outfits. I loved my jacket!

So here's the story....My friend's mom owns the (only) cool, cute and modern boutique in Chesterton called Whimsy. The boutique was part of a fashion show at the local country club. My friend asked if I'd be a model in the show...why not?! It's was fun! Whimsy has great clothes. I went in the week prior and Kay fitted me with 2 outfits. Then on Thursday I got my hair and make up done by a local salon and got to strut my stuff on the catwalk. I got super nervous right before going out because I didn't want to fall and I knew 2 people in the audience (I didn't know they were going to be there; I may have reconsidered my participation). In the end, it was no big deal, but a great time to be out with a friend and try something new.

Rehabing our front landscaping has been more than it's cracked up to be, but CJ has it under control! Oh, and Becca's still cute!

The Colt's season begins with a new fan this year!

Mamaw and Papaw came with gifts this weekend. Her mamaw is showing Becca how to get her new John Deere gator going.

The gator is definitately a hit!

Like I mentioned, Chris has been hard at work outside. So here is some photo-documentation, starting with this before picture.

Initial demo. It was tedious; there are a million pavers!

Our driveway, the material staging center.

Chris not only removed the old pavers, but he had to dig down into the clay 4-6 inches. Then he wheelbarrowed in this bigger crushed stone (about 22,000 pounds worth, really).

Then there's a layer of a finer, more sand-like material than had to be wheelbarrowed in. Our neighbor has been so kind and generous with his time and muscle. Thanks Phil!!

Then Chris got to re-lay the old pavers. He thought that was going to be easy and fast...well, not so much. The walkway slopes down 8-12 inches from front door to driveway so Chris couldn't just use a level to insure he was doing it right...many long hours, but it's looking good! Oh, and he couldn't have done it without his trusty assistant!

My new favorite picture...what more needs to be said

Taking a break with Daddy.

Becca loves all the material piles we have in the driveway. Chris and I have thought maybe this should be a yearly thing; Becca will play and entertain herself for 10-15 minutes!

Playing in the clean laundry

We discovered that Becca loves corn on the cob. She can eat a whole ear. I just give her the cob and, well, you see the results (she's moved on to a chicken nugget, but you can see the remnants-everywhere!)

We got a little table for Becca to use and she loves it. Her she and spot are having a snack.

Do like Mommy does!

Becca has been doing more imitating so I've decided I should try and capitalize...see what you think...still working on efficiency, but not a bad start :)

Fruit, Veggies and the Beach...we are outdoor girls (and daddy too)

We've been keeping busy, at least trying. I'm working 2-3 days a week and managing to stay sane, so far anyway...Becca loves me to pieces, I'm sure, but has started getting a bit restless just staying at home with the two of us. Now that she's got all her friends at Kathy's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, just her and I at home, isn't quite as entertaining. Though she's still a little shy initially with people and new places, she's starting to venture out more and explore; it continues to be amazing how she grows and changes so quickly, both physically and mentally.

I took Becca blueberry picking a couple weeks ago. She wasn't as interested in the blueberries as she was in the strawberries last month, but mommy pushed through and filled up our big ol' bucket. (you pay one price for a bucket so I had to fill it all the way up!--it was about 6 pounds, btw.) The weather was gruesome! Glance back at the pictures, the first pic was very early on, the last two were towards the end. Look at how red Becca's face is and her hair is soaked with sweat (she also looks sunburned, but I promise, she's not). I, too, was drenched. It was all worth it, though. The berries are fantastic. I've been putting them in my oatmeal in the morning and then sharing with Becca.

Becca loves the beach!! The sand, the wet sand, the water, everything, she loves it all. We spent 4 hours there today and she sat down once to shove some mac and cheese in and off she went again. It's so fun to see her roam around and be a busy body. We went to Manistee with Sheri and her family (plus some other friends) just a week or so ago, and while there Chris was a crazy sand builder. Becca was apparently watching him closer than I thought because today she seemed to be trying to replicate what Dad was doing at the beach in Manistee; she was digging a hole, then climbing into it, then looking for me to fill it up with water to make a mud pool. It was so fun!

This is the bounty! I picked my first three zucchinis and felt so proud then we left for the three day beach trip to Manistee and when we got back, these 14 zucchinis were ready and waiting...so if you get a larger package from me, it's no secret what it will be (no, not zucchini, but delicious chocolate chip zucchini bread)--if you don't, sorry, don't be offended :)

The weekend before our mini-vacay we went to Michigan to see my gramma who is doing rehab in a nursing home after falling and breaking her elbow. She's slowly building up strength and balance. Becca was the hit of the nursing home! She was running all over and seemed to enjoy riding in great gramma's wheelchair.

Oh, and on a random note, Becca's favorite song...and yes it really is her favorite, she can be crying and fussing up a storm in the car, then I put the song on and she calms immediately, smiles, and usually starts waving her arms and dancing...the song....Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus (really, Becca, Hannah Montana already?)--it's actually adorable and the song is very catchy (afterall I'm the one that downloaded it on iTunes, hehe)

Our yard and Strawberry Picking

We have been loving the outdoors! Our new yard, though lots of work, has also been fun, beautiful, and educating! I thought I'd share some pictures with you... (I wrote underneath the pictures after realizing I usually write above the pics--there goes consistency, oops!)

These are my favorite lilies. They're smaller than the very tall ones that are all over Chesterton, including in front of our house (see pic below).

These tall lilies are also very pretty.

We planted our garden in the middle of May and soon started to see some sprouts...that's the broccoli peaking out

Now it's late June and check it out! It worked! Veggies are actually growing. We might get a couple carrots (that's what was planted to the left in the picture), but the rest is going great! From left to right we have Romaine lettuce, broccoli, baby flat leaf spinach and zucchini. Those were all started from seed. In the back we planted some green, red, orange and serrano peppers, plus grape tomatoes all from starter plants. The two rows on the right in the back are sweet corn that Chris planted from seed. We've already enjoyed a bunch of spinach and some Romaine :)

We have some apples coming on our apple tree.

We had a few dozen sour cherries-which were yummy! I have since eaten them all!

We have two peach trees and they are loaded with fruit. I really hope they ripen up well! Peach pie and cobbler are in the forecast and maybe even some canning (then I'll really be a farm girl!)

We had a wild turkey roaming around one day. The next day she returned with 8 little turkeys...so cute!

Chris put up drywall on the east wall of the garage where he is going to be building his work bench. This is a before shot...stay tuned for the after shot. The drywall is currently up, and the work bench is started.

Chris also installed motion sensor lights in two places. He had to mess with the hardwiring to get the lights where we wanted. It really is amazing all that Chris can do. He's done so much at this house and all that he did in our condo downtown. He's not "handy", he really is like a true professional. I'm so lucky! We're so lucky. He enjoys it, does it well, and works for free! (well, for beer and food and an occasional smooch)

He also planted the new bushes on the west side of the house. We got rid of a bunch of overgrown plants that were hiding the house's beautiful facade. These bushes should grow up and together and look great! We're so excited to be adding our own touches.

Becca and I went strawberry picking. It was great fun. The strawberries were delicious and abundant. At first, Becca wasn't too sure about the berries, they were a bit tart, but she came around and ate a bunch!

Notice her hands--red! She kept eating and squishing them...a good day. I'm planning on going back soon and bringing Chris. I think he'd get a kick out of doing this with Becca.