Sod and an Early Mother's Day

Josh and I have been wanting grass in the backyard since the day we moved into our house but finances have always stopped us from going through with it. Since my birthday is this week, my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday and I thought “grass” so, my family is all giving me money for my birthday that is designated for the sod and we decided to put it in yesterday, before the weather gets too hot and/or home depot stops selling it.

We got 500 sq feet and during Claire’s morning nap (3 hours) we laid it all and it was finished. We left one side of the yard dirt because we hope to put cement down next year so Claire can ride her little bikes around. We also are going to have to water it by hand for the next year until we can afford a sprinkler system. I am so excited for Claire to be able to run around back there finally, she LOVES to be outside.

That afternoon we drove out to Chandler to spend and early Mother's Day day with the Mom and Dad McKenzie and of course Aunt Shelbe. (We saw Uncle Corey for a brief moment too. )

Claire went swimming in the big pool with dadda and grandpa but she is still unsure of grandpa at times. As soon as Claire got out of the pool, she went potty on grandma’s new rug that is in the patio area. While she was going, she looked super upset/embarrased, but Grandpa said it was okay and Claire promptly continued running around and jabbering to herself. I am sad I do not have a picture of this.

Claire got to try mangos for the first time but she mostly enjoyed her strawberry. As you can see.

Waiting For The Breakdown

Have you ever had one of those days (or months) where it seems like you just can’t get a break? That is what our past two weeks have been like. First, the garage door went on the fritz AGAIN. It has been giving us problems off and on for about 5 months, but it finally threw in the towel. It only opens halfway, one time. After that, it just grinds on itself and you have to open and close it manually. No big deal though, we can live without that.

Then our dishwasher broke, we don’t know what is wrong with it. The buttons on the front panel don’t light up so we thought maybe a fuse had gone out. Josh ordered a part online and it turned out to be the wrong one. He ordered another part and it was the right one but when he changed it, it still didn’t work. No big deal though, we can live without a dishwasher.

THEN my car started smelling like gasoline and smoking so we took it in and it need over $800 dollars worth of work to change the fuel pump and fuel line. Then the A/C stopped working. No big deal though, we can live without that. I drove around for a few weeks with the weather getting hotter and hotter. Poor Claire, stuck in her padded car seat would be dripping wet when we got to where we were going. We are eternally grateful that Mom and Dad McKenzie thought we couldn’t live without that and helped us out.

I am just waiting for the next thing to break.

In other news…. Claire got a swimming pool!
We got a while back at Goodwill for only $16 and it is a Little Tikes. We filled it up in the morning and set it in the sun to warm up. By the afternoon it was HOT. Claire loved it.

She was in there for a long time chasing some balls we put in there and sitting on the top step of the slide splashing her flippers in the water.
That morning, Claire found her first chicken egg at Nana's house. As you can see the chicken had JUST laid it and Claire wanted to hold it very badly.
We were afraid she would throw it down or squeeze it too hard, but the egg eventually made it safely to the refrigerator.