Snow Day!

Last week we had our first good snowfall, a solid nine inches in one night.  We do get snow here, but not often a lot at one time and not very long-lasting.  Both Ezra and Maren were most insistent on having snow play time, and they had fun for about an hour and a half.  They played on the fort, swung on the swings, scooped and piled snow all the over the yard, filled dump trucks, and plowed snow with the toy lawnmower.  We started a snowman in the front yard, but it never amounted to much more than a lumpy hill about two feet tall because our snow is so light and fluffy when it first falls.       

Maren and Ezra on the run, pretending to be polar bears in the Artic.

Maren loves the snow this year--hooray!

Happy boy!

My Maren-girl & My Ezra-boy

I am not sure why I have had such a hard time blogging of late, but it has all but fallen off the radar for two months.  No excuses; other things were just higher priority.  Instead of trying to redeem Halloween, Thanksgiving, and half of December, here is a picture of where we are currently.

Maren has three inseparable friends, Baby Emma, named for the newborn sister of one of her friends; Baby Daniel, named for her new cousin; and Baby Cora, named for a friend in nursery.  The first two babies are about the size of an adult's hand, so she carries them around inside her shirt (genius!), which means she still has two free hands to hold a blanket, a purse, a baby bottle, and Baby Cora.  We usually don't go anywhere without at least one of the babies.  She also loves to cook in her play kitchen.  Today she made me beef patty soup, a vegetable medley bowl, and chocolate cake with copious amounts of black pepper.

Hardly a day goes by without some musical performance.  She sings bits of lyrics from "I Know My Savior Loves Me," "I Love to See the Temple," "I Hope They Call Me on A Mission", and "I Am a Child of God".  She absolutely adores her nursery leader Lori, and talks about singing with Lori, doing lessons with Lori, coloring with Lori, etc.

Maren says most words clearly, and can talk a blue streak if anyone will listen.  Just this week she recounted Tigger's sad day when Rabbit banned him from bouncing.  It was complete with the "he said", "she said" of different characters, Tigger facial expressions, and Christopher Robin's response.  Pretty adorable.  She likes to carry around The Book of Mormon and tell me about different characters.  Abinadi, Joseph Smith, and Baby Jesus are her current favorites.  She is a wonderful little praying girl.  She is always first to kneel and fold her arms, and can already say her own simple prayer without help.  Sometimes in church, if she sees someone at the pulpit praying, she will start praying too.  She seems to have come with a special love of prayer. 

Some of her common phrases include:
"Probably yea" (she says this instead of just "yes")
"My Ezra-boy" (her pet name for her brother)
"I'm OK Mom!" (she hollers this as she climbs on counters, pulls random things out of the fridge, removes all my pots from the cupboard, tries to pour her own glass of milk, or starts furiously pushing buttons on my cell phone, etc.  Anytime she thinks she might be doing something she shouldn't, she will first say, "I'm OK Mom!")

Ezra is still enamored with sea creatures.  He wants to talk about what they eat and where they live all the time.  With the aid of the world map on our kitchen wall and the "OK Google" feature, we discuss such things as the migratory route of humpback whales, the eating habits of orcas, and approximate growth patterns of the colossal squid.  Ezra is a curious little guy, who loves to understand his world.  Today he was concerned about our neighborhood squirrels out in the snow, and said, "Mom, quick, ask Google if squirrels have blubber!"

Bear is still his loyal friend, three + years after they first met.  Earlier this month his right leg was hanging by a few tired threads, and in danger of falling off, and after a talk about Bear's future mobility, I finally convinced Ezra that sewing Bear's leg on again was in everyone's best interest.  Happily, with his leg sewn on again, we no longer has Bear fluff in the house.  I was beginning to know where Ezra had been on any given day because he would leave a trail of fluff everywhere.

Ezra's new interest is letters.  He uses scrabble games, my cell phone keypad, a Microsoft word document, chalkboards, notebooks, and alphabet refrigerator magnets to practice his letters.  He likes to try to sound out little words, try to find the letters on a keyboard, and then type them.  His favorite (or most practiced) letters on scrap paper are Q, D, O, A, H, L, and E--the E is drawn with at least ten horizontal lines).  Cute!

Books are Ezra's chosen happy place.  If he is feeling sad or needs some downtime, I often find him on the couch with a stack of books, quiet as a mouse, in deep concentration.  He loves a select few shirts, and will get very motivated to do the laundry, and sort an entire basket of kid clothes by himself in order to find a favorite shirt.  He likes to do art projects with me; recently he has tried watercolor pencils, pastels, and acrylic paints, as well as other cut/paste/glitter type creations.

This month Ezra and I have had a number of deep conversations.  I love his thirst for truth!  Yesterday he asked me, "Mom, can God give wicked people blessings?" and "Why doesn't Coleman (our neighbor) go to church?  Is God mad that he stays home?"  Earlier in the month he wanted to understand why poor kids needed our help at Christmas since Santa should be giving them gifts.  He also was confused about how Santa came into our house without a chimney and without a key.  "Is Santa just a Spirit like the Holy Ghost?"  And, "How does Santa know what I like?--we didn't talk at the Christmas party."  He keeps me on my toes, and I love our talk time! 

Sightseeing

My parents came for a visit earlier this month.  We decided to spend our time seeing some of the unique natural wonders in our local area.  My dad is a geologist at heart, and thrilled over the formations at Red Rocks.  The bottom wall of the amphitheater offered good climbing opportunities for Ezra.  The stairs and trails gave us all a good bit of exercise on such a perfect fall day.  We also stopped at the Dinosaur Ridge museum, which certainly helped me appreciate what a treasure trove this area is for the paleontologist. 

I love this picture!  Ezra is saying, "I love you," with fingers, and Maren is trying to say, "Thumbs up!," with fingers.  She hasn't quite figured out how to stick up just a thumb, so a raised index finger is her way of saying it.

We also walked through a section of downtown Golden, and enjoyed the view along the creek trail.  Ezra and Maren couldn't leave without throwing several pounds of pebbles into the creek.  We picked a safe looking rock outcrop and gave them some throwing time.

Butterfly Pavilion

The Butterfly Pavilion is our new favorite place.  We recently got a dual children's museum/butterfly pavilion membership, so we can visit as often as we like.  Sometimes we stop over as often as once a week.  The best time of day is usually 11:30 or later, after most of the school field trip groups are winding down, and the museum is quieter.  If we head over to the pavilion directly after Ezra finishes preschool, its a quick ten-minute drive.  We bring a picnic lunch and stay awhile. 

The butterfly pavilion is devoted to butterflies, of course, but also celebrates many other types of invertebrates.  At the facility you can pet live hermit crabs and starfish, see a baby octopus, lobsters, fish, sea urchins, shrimp, and dozens of types of insects and spiders.  Rosie, the Chilean Rose Hair tarantula, is available to hold--briefly, and Ezra got up his nerve and did it!  The half dozen varieties of scorpions are always fascinating and frightening.  Ezra seems to have a special love/phobia of these nasty critters.  Maren loves to go digging for earthworms in the indoor soil bins and watch the indoor bee hive buzz with activity.  The butterfly conservatory is actually their least favorite part; they aren't too keen on hundreds of small winged creatures swooping in random flight patterns over their heads.
    

Science and biology are fun topics for me too, and I am excited to have an interesting, indoor, nearby destination for the kids when the weather turns colder. 

Snapshots of Summer Fun

Playing in the "sand dunes" at the Children's Museum

Fill bucket, dump, repeat...30 minutes of uninterrupted fun.

Little firefighters in costume and truck at the Children's Musuem

Ezra found this awesome tree on a mountain hike

Enjoying the great outdoors at 9600'

Homemade fishing poles and good fisherman squats--no fish

Primary temple trip and some of our favorite friends

Birthdays, etc.

We had a busy week.  Labor Day family BBQ and Grandpa John's birthday, first day of Ezra preschool, Ezra's fourth birthday, second day of Ezra preschool, and a marathon doctor appointment day for the kids.  In my spare time I painted the garage door, the front entrance/porch area of the house, and painted more kitchen cabinets (the unfinished part from six months ago).

I am so pleased to report that Ezra had a glowing first impression from his new preschool.  As he bounded out the door after his first day, with a big smile on his face he said, "Mom, my teacher is nice, and the kids aren't scary!"  Hallelujah!  My Ezra-boy seems scared of his own shadow some days, so meeting--and liking seven new strangers is a BIG deal for him.  His second day was equally positive, in fact, he asked me twice on Friday when he got to go back to preschool.  It is hard to fathom that he can be so contented after the knock-out-drag-out fight we had last year with his very informal preschool friends group, but, obviously, he has found his good fit.

Maren had her #2 birthday a few weeks ago, and Ezra had his this week.  It is birthday season here at our house, so I will share their birthday celebrations together.  When I was growing up, my mom made a special request dinner on our birthday; I decided to continue that tradition in our family.  Maren and Ezra requested the very same thing this year: homemade macaroni and cheese and a fruit bowl.

Maren isn't much of a cake eater, so we put two candles in a bucket of strawberry ice cream, and she was tickled.  Ezra had a very specific request for a very special birthday cake.  He is enamored with ocean life right now, so he asked for a chocolate cake with an iceberg, icy ocean waters, and lots of cold-water sharks and whales, and if possible a narwhal.  I had fun creating his request, and aside from the narwhal, I nailed it.

Ezra and the shark cake, he was so pleased!

Maren (non-cake eater) loving her cake-on-a-stick

No surprise here, Ezra's favorite gift was the $6 tube of sharks

Grandma joined us for Ezra's birthday and had a few belated Maren gifts too.

Maren's birthday ice cream

Maren was VERY focused on her birthday ice cream

Maren--and Ezra (by association) got an IKEA kitchen for her birthday

Sweet Reward

 I haven't said much about the garden, but it is thriving, despite a heat wave/drought after our early summer flood.  Our late summer garden is not a very pretty thing--everything is overgrown, partially covered in powdery mildew, and limp from the baking sun, but productive.  Pictured below is a sampling of the first tomato pick, as well as a few squash, cucumber, and zucchini.

Dallin thought it might be fun to try an heirloom black tomato this year, and it is the hardiest and happiest of the lot; it will soon be as tall as him.  The heirloom black aren't quite black, but more of a purple-green, and truly melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  We planted the yellow pear again, and it gives us cups and cups of sweet treats.  We also have two different types of cherry tomatoes, one of which makes fruit the size of a golf ball, and wonderfully juicy.  
 

My Little Miss!

Maren Marie is TWO years old! 

I wanted to celebrate her special day by documenting some of her cute mannerisms.  She has become much more verbal in the last six weeks, and is able to communicate fairly well in a monosyllable style.

For example, she might say the following: "Mommy come.  Boots me.  Wee-wee.  Help."  (Interpretation: "Mommy come with me.  Help me put my boots on.  I want to go on the swing.")

Or this one: "Daddy come.  See room.  Pretty.  Ezra, me.  Wow." 
(Interpretation: "Daddy come with me.  Do you see the family room?  It's so pretty because Ezra and I cleaned it.  Wow!")

Or this one: "Mommy!  Ezra no-no.  Boom me.  Sad me."
(Interpretation: "Mommy, Ezra hurt me.  I'm sad.")

Maren has never used her own name.  She refers to herself as, "Me," and when she describes her actions she uses that pronoun with it, "Sleepy me."  "Happy me."  "Pretty me."

She rarely ever uses the word, "yes," even if the answer to a question is in the affirmative.  Instead, she communicates her approval with "Huh."  So, people who talk to her, but don't know her well think she is hard of hearing (he he).

"Maren, do you like to play outside?"
"Huh."
"Do you like to play outside? (a little louder)
"Huh."
Puzzled looks and knowing giggles from Mom follow... it is just one of her funny quirks.

I hope Maren doesn't hate me later for this, but I think the moment is precious: fancy free with her favorite pink boots--and little else, watering the vegetable garden.  We love our sweetie girl!

Summer Highlights

We have had such a great summer!  The best part was spending lots of time with both sets of grandparents, many aunts and uncles, and most of our cousins!

In mid-June we saw my six siblings, my parents, and my niece and nephew in Utah.  In late June, we met Ian for the first time, and spent a few days with Rhys and Liz.  We attended the wedding of a close family friend, and saw more extended family on Dallin's side.  Reva and her kids spent nearly a month at Grandma Roslyn's house, and we had many opportunities to socialize with them while they were here.

Here are some of our summer highlights with family:

Family camping trip at Redman Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Camryn and Ezra in the meadow next to the campsite.

Judd & Camryn (Utah cousins) with Ezra & Maren at Grandma's house

Celebrating the marriage of Dustin & Liliya at the Salt Lake Temple

We got to meet Ian for the first time!

Playing with the Wisconsin (in-transit-to-Texas) cousins at a water park

Hanging out in downtown Golden at the favorite ice cream shop

We celebrated three upcoming birthdays for Forster (almost 6), Ezra (almost 4), Maren (almost 2)

Brother & Sister

I haven't taken many pictures this month, but I did catch this.  Ezra and Maren are trying to love one another, mixed with a lot of screaming and crying too!  I am grateful for this photo on those days when sibling love seems hard. 

And I am grateful for encouragement like this: 

"God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were.  He cares that we keep on trying...A [Latter-day] saint is a sinner who keeps on trying." --Dale G. Renlund

"One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final."  --Thomas S. Monson

As the Toddler World Turns

Family dynamics are an evolving, living, moving reality.  And, as our toddler dynamics go, we are taking a turn in a not-so-pleasant family dynamic.

Little Maren seems to have turned a new leaf that has left me struggling to adjust.  She has never been a great sleeper, but lately, the bedtime/nap-time routine has become traumatic.  She doesn't want to put on pajamas, she won't let us touch her teeth, she thinks she needs four glasses of milk, and twelve songs, and even if we give what she asks for, most every night she screams for an hour once she is in the bed and the lights are out.  About four nights in seven, she also wakes up around three in the morning, mad, thirsty, and not a bit sleepy.  We circle the house, we sing songs, we get milk, and then I pass out on her floor exhausted praying she will just give it up and close her eyes.  Sometimes we repeat our cycle again at four in the morning.   

She and Ezra share a room and miraculously, Ezra is sound asleep within the first five minutes of her bedtime screaming banter.  (Bless him!  He has always been an awesome sleeper.)  And, most of the time, he sleeps through the middle-of-the-night vigils too.  But, of course, he is up and perky at 6:30 or 7 am, well rested, and interested in having breakfast with me and Maren.  Maren gets woken up earlier than she ready for, and the over-tired emotional toddler has a rough day too...again and again.

The good news is it's summer, and we have had lots of cousin time, and pool time, and park time, and children's museum time, and ice cream time, which equates to a few hours every day of quality distraction.  The other good news is these cycles are just that--cycles--and we will move on to some new, uncharted challenge sooner than later.  So, in a nutshell, we aren't getting a lot of quality sleep over here, but we are soaking up our share of Vitamin D, and consuming a good deal of ice cream.  Huzzah for summer!       

Update on the Little People

At almost four and almost two, Ezra and Maren are both such a joy.  I am trying so hard to live in the moment and love these days of little people--especially before school and soccer and Scouts and ballet interrupt us.

EZRA

Ezra is conscientious, attentive, imaginative, and deep.  I have been drawing a lot lately, and he has taken to it too.  He is fascinated by ocean life, particularly sharks, whales, walrus, and penguins.  Most his art projects involve shark depictions.  His "shark" is a circle with many, many horizontal lines for teeth, and two large bug eyes.  He loves to play games with letters, such as saying a word (milk, starfish, asparagus, etc.) and then he tells me the letter and the sound it makes.  When we read, Ezra will sometimes pick out familiar letters, such as "Mom, that's 'E' for Ezra!" 

We are at the library every week, and drag home at least thirty books every time.  He combs through the entire stack in the first day, and then spends the rest of the week carefully re-examining his favorite ten.  All of our reading has given Ezra quite the imagination.  In his play, I hear little snippets of ten books, either by way of character names, plot or conflict.  It is highly entertaining.  He has also started making up his own songs and belting them out at the top of his lungs when we swing in the backyard.

He takes an interest in cooking, yard work, and all living things.  His new favorite toys are screwdrivers, pliers, C-clamps, shop vacuum attachments, bungi cords, and safety goggles.  The garage and the tool shed are way more cool than any inside toy.       

Learning the gospel is a continuing hunger for him.  Ezra has deep spiritual wells, and truly needs to hear the stories of Jesus every day.  Recently he has said such things as, "Mom, I feel so good when I read the Book of Mormon with you!" and "Mom, you are a good lady, you read me scriptures!"

Ezra tends to be measured, logical, and the voice of reason with his play group.  He is fun, but only if he has silly friends, otherwise he can be kind of serious.  Ezra is good at being an oldest child!  He understands the rules, and likes to make them clearly understood.  He continues to be wary of any new experience, but is also developing more courage.

MAREN

Maren is fun-loving, wild, hyper, and very aware.  She has a lot of gusto for life.  She screams with delight at the splash park and at the sight of any park.  She is quite adventurous.  She climbs, scurries, and explores at rapid speed.  And, oh is she Miss Independent!  She wants to brush her own hair, put on her own pants, put her own dishes in the sink, and climb into her own highchair.  At the pool, she has no fear.  She refuses to hold our hand, and wades right up to her chin with enthusiasm.

Maren has a just a handful of words, but uses them with great purpose and force.  If she is pushing the stroller on a walk, and I am in her way, she will belt out, "Mommy!  Beep-beep!"  If Ezra offends her, or does something she knows is wrong, she hollers, "Ezra!  No no!"  At long last she has discovered the love of reading, and asks to have the same three board books read twelve times with, "Mommy!  More read!"

Maren has a strong personality, and can be intense in her emotions.  She has a great capacity to love and to feel, and shows an intensity of compassion.  For example, recently at the park one of her friends fell and got hurt.  With a real keen sense of urgency, she dropped what she was doing at the other side of the park, and ran to her little friend, wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed her on the cheek.  On another occasion, one of Ezra's friends hurt her head in the bathroom at church. When Maren saw her coming down the hall crying, she ran to her with open arms, and gave her loving pats on the back.

Ezra rarely had tantrums, but Miss Maren has some intense angry outbursts, and usually humor is the only thing that breaks the tension.  She adores Ezra, and will share nearly everything with him, if she can sense it will help him feel happier.  She is extremely loyal to Ezra.  There have been times when she hears Ezra ask for something from another room, and Maren will use all her small girl resources and powers to go and find it and bring it to him.   

Dinner Teamwork

Tonight, around dinnertime, Dallin was browsing my recipe book for an appropriate option for his Sunday night meal.  Ezra was nearby and noticed an intriguing recipe featuring pasta and bacon.  He had strong feelings about the recipe, and had a great desire to make it for dinner, so he and Daddy made it together!

Ezra does take an interest in cooking, but has never been so focused in the execution.  I think it had a lot to do with one key ingredient--bacon.  At any rate, Ezra was grating cheese, adding milk, stirring pasta, and sprinkling in green onions and bacon.  It was a true father-and-son effort!  I was so pleased to see his interest.  Of course, he was so proud of his contribution and soaked up the positive feedback like a little sponge.  Three cheers for Daddy and Ezra, the heroes of our Sunday dinner!

Ezra and Maren chipped in together to help me make brownies after dinner.  They each took turns adding an ingredient, stirring with their whisks, and then licking them when the job was complete.  Hooray for teamwork!

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great four-day weekend for the Memorial Day holiday (Dallin took Friday off too).  We took advantage of the time and did a new family activity every day.  On Saturday, rain notwithstanding, we took a nice walking tour of downtown Golden, had lunch in a local sandwich shop, and then took a drive on the scenic Lariat Loop byway up to the top of Lookout Mountain.  The byway has a speed limit of 20 mph, and 15 mph on the hairpin turns, and it is an appropriate speed given the great quantity of bikers who traverse the road in all sorts of weather.  At various points along our slow ascent, it was pouring rain, and these hardcore bikers were still out--and loving it.  We also saw at least a dozen deer browsing the mountainside in mother and fawn groups.  The views were fantastic on the way up, and at the summit.  Our scenic drive took us up in elevation about 1700 feet, and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees.  When we did reach the top, we dashed to the edge of the cliff, snapped a few pictures and ran right back to our car.

        

Grandpa Visit

My dad came to see us for a quick weekend visit in April.  The highlight, I think, was our visit to the Museum of Nature and Science.  The last time I went was when Ezra was a baby, and Maren wasn't born.  It was about time we went to see it again!  They have made some nice improvements since our last visit, especially for kids.  The museum now has an entire Discovery Zone wing devoted to younger children (0-8) with nice sensory activities involving water, digging, building, climbing, and experimenting.

I think, though, Ezra and Maren were most enamored by the North American animal displays and the Prehistoric Journey (dinosaurs).  I can't imagine how impressive a moose or a brontosaurus must feel when you are barely two feet tall!  Grandpa especially enjoyed the Gems and Minerals section.  We loved having a jolly Grandpa Scott at our house for a few days!

Spring Garden

Spring garden crops, in early May BEFORE we had a week of rain.  The broccoli is literally twice as big now.  Peas are already sending out their tendrils and climbing the wire trellis.  The green onions and leeks in the background survived the winter and are putting out flowers.  I hate to cut them back-- even though they getting tough--as they are covered with honey bees most every day.  I do love to support the local pollinators. 

Temple Site

On a recent Saturday we took a little road trip to see the new temple site under construction.  The Fort Collins Temple is scheduled to be completed sometime next spring, probably about this time next year.  We will be in the new temple district, so we decided to check on its progress.

The drive to the new temple will be about the same as our current drive to the Denver Temple, but the traffic route is so much nicer.  The highway is rarely ever congested, and the scenery is pleasant.  I was surprised to see the temple spire from the exit ramp!  Construction seems to be going well!

Ezra was excited to see the temple--and the building equipment.  The new temple sits adjacent to a chapel that happens to look very similar to ours.  He and I used the restroom inside the church, and then came out the south doors that look out at the temple.  It was a surreal feeling to walk out of what felt like our chapel, and see the temple on the other side of the parking lot!  Ezra noticed it too.  "Mommy, the temple came to our church!"

After our temple site visit, we spent some time in Fort Collins, which always seems to put Dallin in a peaceful, reminiscent mood as he remembers his college days.  We found a terrific park, played awhile, and had a picnic.  It was a perfectly lovely family day.

The Busy Month

Hmphf...a month has passed since my last blog post.

All I can say is spring and I have a love-hate relationship, and while I relish the newness and warmness of spring, it has a tendency to put this gardening girl into a whirr of activity to keep up.  I have to beat the heat, so all the hard labor gardening projects need to be completed before June!

Since my last post:

• I acquired a small quantity of retaining wall blocks (40 lbs each) and built another raised bed for warm season vegetables.  Yes, yes...that would be in addition to the two existing 20' beds already built for vegetables.  Sharing vegetables is one of the ways I try to be a good neighbor, and we often have much to share.
• I (tried) to solve a drainage problem by diverting water to a little runnel and then built up a short wall around it for asparagus.  The little canal has been filled in with good earth, and one year old asparagus stock was planted on April 1.  Asparagus does not start producing until it is 3 years old, but we are looking forward to that time!
• The early spring crops in the two main vegetable garden rows were also planted April 1.  This year I am trying broccoli, and so far so good!  It rained for a solid week at the start of May and has been cool and overcast ever since, so my plants are doing marvelous.  I anticipate a BUMPER crop of kale again--it is hardy vegetable even at 2" tall. 
• Our backyard is overflowing with landscape rock of the 1-2" variety, but also has an abundance of interesting boulder-size geological specimens.  I picked the most interesting ones and build another rock wall raised bed for a perennial flower garden, which is something I have hoped to plant for years.  It is in!  I selected a dozen or so of the sun-loving, long-blooming types, and hope to attract many a butterfly.
• Oh, and I forgot to mention that we brought in 2 yards of good garden earth for all the new planting beds, and another yard of well-mellowed compost for the existing garden beds.  One wheelbarrow full at a time...
• Dallin and I worked for the better part of two weeks with a pick axe at intervals (long enough to rest sore muscles) on the LAST tree stump in the yard.  At long last, the Siberian Elm stump has been removed.  Please folks, don't ever plant such a tree in your yard, especially 10" from your AC unit!
• I dug a foundation for a shed, then we brought in a yard of road fill, and then we laid concrete slabs on top the road fill, and then we built a shed.  
• We built a shed--it really needs its own bullet point.  Dallin hopes to never, ever, ever do that again.  It took 8 hours--enough said.  
• And finally, we found a very cheap play fort on Craigslist, we rented a U-haul to pick it up, we mended the poor broken thing, made a "kid zone" area and are currently in process of assembling it.  It is still in need of a several more repairs, but it much more stable and play worthy now.

Whew.  That was my month.  I have pictures, and good arm muscles. 

Perennial flower garden bed with rock wall (to the right of our back door).

Raised garden bed: future home of warm season vegetables (to the left of our back door).

Foundation for the garden shed.

Garden shed in process.