Mother's Day Weekend!

The weather for Mother's Day weekend was going to be A-mazing so my one wish was for us to work as a family in the yard creating a new garden space for my fruits and veggies. 

On Friday when Rachael and I took the kids to the track to walk...Zeke was complaining about his eye hurting. He'd been having some eczema flare ups around his eyes so I thought he accidentally rubbed some of the cream in his eyes. By the time we got down to the track he was crying and it was really bothering him. I took a look at it and realized that he was having an allergic reaction to something...most likely grass or pollen. He'd had this happen before. He said he went into a plant to find something and he was also wearing his coat that he left out in the grass all night. Who knows! Thankfully Michael was home so he came and got Zeke from the track and went to Bartell's to get some Benadryl. 

This was how he looked once we got home from the track. Poor guy...thankfully it didn't really hurt it just looked awful! 

Before we got started on yard work Michael decided to spray deck cleaner on the deck. We moved all the cushions inside and the kids decided it would be fun to build a fort.

Ella in her little room under the table. 

It basically took up half of our dining room. It was pretty epic! 

First task was to remove the big shrubs next to the play structure. 

I told the kids that they needed to be outside and I wanted them to help. It's one my favorite things when we work together as a family. The three older kids were hauling branches with me over to a tarp on the easement. 

That a big shrub!!! 

Making a dent! 

While taking out the shrubs we found plenty of yard toys that the kids had lost over the years. One of them was Jack's boomerang! 

Almost finished!

There was even more space back there than I originally thought. It was amazing how much ground space was covered up by shrubs!!! 

We are pretty sure that little tree is an apple tree. Our neighbors tree right on the other side of the fence is an apple tree and the leaves look the same. I wasn't sure how it would have planted itself though. All the apples that fall off rolled down the hill and would never be able to roll up and over this far. Then Michael told me that about 3 years ago the boys grabbed one of the apples and they used it for target practice with the BB gun. After they were done with it he said he chucked it into the middle of the shrubs right there. Crazy!!! I definitely didn't want to take it out so we are working with it. 

This was the stopping point on Friday! 

This day was also our 21st Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated by having some friends over from church. We did a backyard fire pit night where everyone brought there own food. Michael went and picked up Famous Dave's for us...I was craving BBQ! We sat around the fire and just chatted it was great. Very low key, but fun way to celebrate! 

On Saturday morning we put our truck to work! Have I mentioned that I LOVE having a truck!!! We had piled all the shrubs up on that blue tarp on the left the day before. The older boys and I worked at getting all those branch cut into smaller pieces and loaded them into the truck. We had two blow up pools that had holes in them and needed to be taken to the dump as well. We ended up using those pools like a tarp to cover the whole load. A week before this Michael and I had gone to Costco to buy a new TV...ours just quit working and we also picked up the tie downs for the truck. 

While we were loading the truck Michael was working away at building the garden bed for me. We had these leftover concrete blocks from our big retaining wall we built years ago. In fact we had exactly the correct amount we needed! 

Zeke man wanted to help, but I really didn't want him handling the plants. His face was already looking so much better. He mainly helped Daddy by holding the level and handing him tools. 

Looking good! When I had envision the garden space I was thinking he would use the concrete blocks on all 4 sides, but Michael thought that would be a waste...why not just use the tree rounds as part of the border. We know eventually they will rot, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

For lunch we swung by MCD's and ate in the truck and then went to the dump. We waiting in the line for an hour and a half! Everyone was going to the dump and since they had every other spot blocked off to adhere to social distancing it was taking longer. They were also checking ID and making sure you actually lived in King County. The kids did great though and it was a fun outing. 

After that we went to the Carpinito Brothers and bought 2 blueberry bushes, 4 tomato plants and 3 zucchini plants and a couple plants to fill in areas in our garden beds that were sparse. We were also picking up a yard of dirt for the new garden bed.

It was funny because as we waited for the topsoil to be loaded into the truck another guy pulled up and asked us if we were waiting. I chatted with him a bit and told him this was our first time getting anything like this in our new to us truck. That's when we looked at our truck bed and his eyes got all big and he said..."That's a nice bed!!" I thought it was so funny and told Michael we've already had someone have truck bed envy over our truck! It was cute!!! 

These older boys did so great with helping unload the dirt! They took breaks, but they worked so hard. They definitely needed showers after we were done. Unfortunately 1 yard was not enough so Michael and Owen went back and got 2 more yards in one trip....have I mentioned how much I love having a truck!?!?! :) 

By this point we were done for the day! We got cleaned up and headed over to Lance & Rachael's for dinner. Rachael made the yummiest Chicken Wings in 3 flavors and I loved them so much I went out and bought the same type of spices to give them a go myself. 

The next day was Mother's Day! After online church we all went in the truck to Lowe's to buy the top stones for the garden bed. We also went to Carpinito Brothers again, but I honestly can't remember why. I just know we were down by Kent Station and Michael wanted to buy lunch for us to celebrate Mother's Day. We tried to get lunch from Mama Stortini's, but they weren't opening until 2pm. Then I called Red Robin, but they aren't serving the sandwich that I usually order because of their limited menu so that was a no go. Michael said go ahead and call the Mama Stortini's in Federal Way and we'd just have a later lunch. I did and that particular one was actually already open, but they weren't serving pizza and that's what I had my heart on. It was a total bust! I was a bit grumpy because I had just wanted to have my leftovers from Famous Dave's and I was fine with that, but then it just turned into a fiasco. We came home and ate leftovers and all was fine after that! 

My only goals for the rest of the day were to plant my garden and read in my hammock. While I was laying in the hammock Michael came out and said he was going down to Viva Marina in Des Moines to pick up a Margherita pizza and Caesar salad for dinner for us. It was so sweet! The pizza was amazing and was just what I was craving!!! 

My pastor also delivered a rose to me for Mother's Day. It was the most beautiful and interesting colored rose I've ever seen. It smelled so good and it almost lasted 3 weeks! 

This was it after over 2 weeks! It brought a smile to my face every time I walked into the dining room! 

Side Note...that's a picture of Zeke when he was around 2-3 months old. That was in a picture frame, but it fell off the wall and broke. I just need to head down to IKEA and pick up a new one. I know they probably won't have the exact one anymore...these have been on the wall for quite a few years. There were 8 frames in all that matched so I know it's going to bug me if one doesn't match. Buying 8 new frames is going to cost a pretty penny so I'm putting it off!