School Play

School's over, but I haven't yet blogged about the school play the girls were in. The title was "Singin' and Dancin' Through the Decades." They had about 8 songs that the students and teachers (they did a surprise disco number) sang and danced to songs from Grease, Hairspray, Saturday Night Fever, Footloose, High School Musical, etc. There were about 3 weeks of practices almost every day and then three performances (two evening and one day). Natalie was part of the dance crew for "Bop to the Top". Alyssa was going to be part of the stage crew but was asked to be the emcee for the play. It was funny to have her not understand some of the words and phrases the teacher used in her script. I told her if she ever messed up she needed to just say "sorry about that mix up, it was before my time." They did great, even though Alyssa messed up on one thing each performance (different each time), and had a lot of fun. I went to the Thurs. show with the boys - I'm glad Logan likes music and was dancing in the bleachers, otherwise we would have been listening from outside the gym. Robert saw them Friday night.

Spring Soccer

Both girls played spring soccer this year. They both had a lot of fun and did very well.



Natalie barely made the under 8 teams, by turning 8 after the first game. That made her one of the oldest and tallest on her team and age bracket. There was also a girl on her team who barely made the under 8 teams by turning 6 before the first game. So, there were the two age extremes on her team. Her team did really well. They did lose a couple of times in close games, but when they won - they won with scores of 19-2 and 10-3, etc. They had a few rule changes for the age bracket this season. The field was twice as big as last season (still small, but the four on the field for each team wasn't as crowded) and while they kept a four on four game, this time there were no goalies, hence the blowouts for some of the games.

Alyssa moved up in the age brackets to the under 12 teams. They had evaluations (running drills while the coaches looked on and took notes), like to under 10 teams she was on last season, and then the coaches had a draft for the players. Her coach was a college guy who has been playing soccer since he was three. He put her on defense, right by the goal and made her the booter - any ball that came close. The picture above, where she is just standing and watching was a good sign during the game - there wasn't much action down by their goal. She did get some action in her position and did really well. This age bracket started a tournament run at the end of the season and her team made it through, but lost in the semi-final round.

We loved watching the games and cheering for both girls. Mondays and Tuesday evenings became busy with practices and then games. Dinner was always early and rushed. Some Saturdays were crazy when the girls had games 15 minutes apart on fields that were miles apart from each other. The boys were never thrilled about loading into and unloading out of the car as we shuttled back and forth. Those games always seemed to be on Saturdays when Robert was busy elsewhere. We loved the season, but it was nice to sit down as a family to a calm dinner at a decent hour the day after Alyssa's final game was over.
We register at the end of July for fall soccer!!

Chalk one up for Robert

For our last book club we read any biography or historical fiction about Napoleon and Josephine - a great idea to learn about a famous person/people and discuss them from the point of view of various authors.
It also so happened that the High Museum of Art in Atlanta had an exhibit from the Louvre, part of which was a collection of Napoleon and Josephine's things. A couple of other book club members and I went yesterday (the Napoleon/Josephine part of the Louvre exhibit ended today). Robert was fabulous in being willing to take the kids for morning, including running the girls to their soccer games (Alyssa's team won their first tournament game and play again Monday, but it was Natalie's last one). I had missed going to book club last Thursday and discussing the book I read - the girls had their school play that night and Robert had to work late. So, it was great going to the exhibit and learning more about Napoleon and Josephine's love of antiquities and seeing pieces they had in their home. I even donned the head set and listened to the walking tour's information about the exhibit and history.
Chalk one up for Robert!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was great! I asked for a laser level (for all my indoor project plans) and Robert surprised me by also getting a deck chair. I had only mentioned in passing that a deck chair is what I want to get next so I have something besides the stairs or the granite rock of the fire pit to sit on when I'm out with the boys.
I always love the homemade cards and gift the kids do for me (Natalie had planted some flowers in a bowl, but Izzy has dumped the bowl over twice - I'm sure she thought it was food).
At church they had a brunch and visiting teaching program for the last two hours, with the men taking over in primary so all the women could be together.
My planned dinner was going to take longer than I thought, so we had pizza - which was even better. I even got my Mother's Day nap as Logan slept and the kids played great together for a few hours. Robert joined me in a Mother's Day nap, I wonder if I'll get a Father's Day nap!

Natalie's Birthday

Natalie is 8!!
We celebrated Natalie's birthday last Saturday (10th). She wanted to open all her presents (including her family gifts), so on her actual birthday we just had her birthday dinner (they can pick whatever they want, she had chicken enchiladas with lots of sauce and shrimp).
She couldn't decide between a princess party or a butterfly party, so we had a girl party. They all made princess hats and butterfly mobiles. They had a lot of fun with the activities, cake, presents and playing outside.

Natalie told some classmates at school that she was born on Mother's Day (actually we came home on Mother's Day, but sometimes her birthday falls on Mother's Day). One of the boys in her class told her that she must be a really special person since she was born on Mother's Day - how sweet!

The Mighty Tree Has Fallen

After all the trees Robert has taken out, there was still one that needed to be dropped. It took a bit of planning - it was a HUGE pine and leaning toward the house. Fortunately there was a large oak between it and the house and we hoped that the oak would cushion any miss drop of the pine. Pine trees make us nervous as one good freeze and they can snap or they could become beetle infested or dying, while still looking pretty good on the outside.









After much planning, it was winched to a tree in the woods, to pull it away from the house. Getting a rope around the upper part of the pine (to set up the winch) was quite a sight to see as Robert tried everything from shooting an arrow with a string tied to the end of it to throwing a rock with a rope tied to it.
With his partner in crime, Casey (who has helped drop many of our trees), they began.











Once the cutting started, we were sent to the far side of the kitchen, but looking out the window we saw it fall.
It missed the house and the porch. It missed the fire pit, we were glad. It got the compost bin! We were going to get rid of it anyway.
Its many branches didn't deter Logan from playing in the sand box (those have since been cleared away). And the kids love walking along the tree and having a place to get a jump start for the swing, which is tied to the oak.
Robert was on an adrenaline rush the rest of the day!

I believe that if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, it will still make a really loud crashing sound!

The Sod Saga

I'm way behind in my blog, mostly because we have been preparing our yard and waiting for sod. Now it is here! it is in! and here is the story! (no, saga really is the right term - keep scrolling down.)

This is our back yard when we bought the house. You might not notice that there are a variety of different grasses, and mostly weeds that look nice right after they are mowed. We wanted grass, all the same type.

We started killing weeds, bringing up sand and digging in the back yard last summer. The complete outdoor watering ban, due to the drought, postponed our plans and left a mostly dirt yard for the rest of the year.

This spring we started again. There was a partial lift of the ban, to allow watering of new landscaping. We tested our soil, put in needed lime and fertilizer and borrowed a tiller to mix it all in (we had been doing it by shovel - we were both grateful for the borrowed tiller). The patch of grass we left (in the background) is the same type we were putting in. The grass in the foreground is what we had and we hope to replace that part (about 1/4 of our total back yard, but not as much dirt) this fall.
Although you see Robert tilling out there, don't think he did this alone while we cheered him on from the deck - I was pausing solely to take a picture of our progress. It is beautifully smoothed by my efforts. The whole time I was raking, though, I kept thinking of my lack of the "Y" chromosome and the innate ability that comes with it to see the perfectly groomed sand hazard on the golf course or infield of a baseball field. I say this with no disrespect to the females who share a love for those beautiful sights or to the possible unfair generalization that all males do, but I thought I was definitely in need of some of that ability to eye in my raking. It turned out well enough with Robert only seeing a need to correct a little, all the while grateful that I did all the initial grading. Tilling was exhausting enough.

I took the test in order to water new landscaping on our allotted three days a week between midnight and 10am. I got a 100% - sure it was open book, but still I got 100%! Taking the test allows us to water longer than the 25 min. of hand watering everyone else is allowed on their three days.
We called many places looking for sod that could be delivered and finally found one (it really took about 10 sod places to have what we wanted available now). It was to be delivered this past Monday, but Friday night we had such a terrific storm come through that the sod was to wet to cut and be delivered Monday. So, we waited one more day.

Robert took the day off and waited longer than he would have liked Tuesday morning (the truck came after 10am, instead of the "between 7am and 9am). But, finally the truck came and we were all excited.

The boys (meaning all three) were thrilled to watch the truck unload. It had the fork lift stuck on the back of the semi and they loved watching the driver take it off and unload the pallets.

Because of the hill down to the back yard he could only unload it to the end of the driveway. We were just glad it was finally here.

The tractor and trailer has again been worth it's weight in gold, again, as Robert transfered the sod down the hill so we could lay it.

Again, don't think he did this all on his own . . . I'm pausing to take a picture!
We're just glad the house was still standing after the boys were left to fend for themselves for 3 hours (Logan went down for his nap about half way through) - thank you PBS!

When we first started, we thought we totally overshot how many pallets we needed - that darn math and trying to convert from square feet to square yards!!

Logan didn't know quite what to do with grass instead of dirt. We are glad he is small enough to not do too much damage to the new grass. The other kids we can ban from going on it until it is established, Logan is another story.

Half way through, we didn't think we would have enough and started planning where we would option out of grass for now. In the end, it was EXACTLY the amount we needed.

WE HAVE GRASS!!
Izzy didn't quite know what to do with it and ran all over, sniffing everwhere (it is good she can't do much damage either).
We now have another reason to pray for rain, especially as today is our two day stretch of no watering (our days are M, W, Sa). But, as I post this, we are receiving a nice soaking rain with chances for downpours later.