Meet Max!

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I got a chance to visit with my uncle and aunt that came for a visit for the weekend from New Jersey.  He's been ill lately so it was nice to see him looking well again.

In other news... I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!

As I sit here typing I can hear the men outside leveling the brick!  Which means they will be done soon! Which means I can get out my patio furniture and start adding the final touches to the Oasis!  Can't wait!!

Meanwhile (because we don't have enough going on) we added a new member to our family this weekend!

Blog friends.... meet Max!  Isn't he cute???

Here he is begging me to get him down from the folding camping chair.  One of the kids put him up there and he couldn't get down.

Snoozing on new patio brick!  He hates the sun.

He's been stealing my slippers  every chance he gets!

Max is a Huskie Lab (or is it Lab Huskie?)  He was born April 23rd and he is crate trained.  He's sleeping from 10:30 at night until 6:00 a.m. (new mothers dream) He would probably sleep longer but for some reason my body has been naturally waking up between 5:45 and 5:55 a.m. (no alarm clock).  It must be the new mommy faze.  I'm enjoying getting up before the rest of family and hanging out with Max and having a hot cup of coffee uninterrupted.  ooooh...  I'll show you my new coffee maker soon that I got free with Airmiles.  I'm loving it!

I'll be back later this week and hopefully show you a finished backyard Oasis!  See you soon and enjoy your week!

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends!

Today I'm just gonna hang out around the house, reading my large overflowing pile of magazines and stare longinly at the backyard and our pool.  Good news... I think they might be done the largest part of the construction by the end of day today. They've promised all the sodding and soil and the wood fence and gate into the backyard will be done by tomorrow afternoon.  Fingers crossed!

I've got a surprise for you and why I'm so desperate for the fence to go up.

Think... blonde, soft with a Buddha belly. :-)

Check back next week.

Hydrangea Love and a Sneak peak

Well there were groans and cheering heard all over the place this afternoon as school let out for the summer around these parts.  Groans from parents and cheers from these two...

Both of them came running through the back door and S. promptly threw her backpack in the garbage pail.  Ran over to me and screamed "I love this time of year!"  and started to do her "happy dance".  Two seconds later the second one ran through and did the exact same thing!  Groan, Groan.

Ok.  I'm done with my groaning. 

So the construction guys have made some progress on backyard reno and I can actually see the end in sight. 

This is the view from my kitchen patio door. Around the corner there is also a walkway.  At the very back you can also see the treehouse that I'm turning into a pool bar/treehouse. Hubby built that two summers ago.  There are two large pine trees growing through it. The fencing is also all new.  On the bottom right hand corner you can also see the post for the new pergola. And in case you are wondering, there is grass on the right side... or there will be when new sod is laid on the mud that is there now.

When I was out there "inspecting" last night I noticed that my Hydrangea was buried under some tools.  Boy was I peeved. I ran into the house and grabbed my shears and managed to save some blooms. The stems were a little warped and twisted, but I managed to get enought for a small bouquet.

I planted the bush last fall.  Are these pretty hardy?  I'm not sure how long they were under the tools.  I really hope they don't die until I can get out there to clean up the garden beds.

Anyhoo... I've hidden from the kids long enough. I'm going to go enjoy my flowers my kids. Enjoy your day!

Dreaming of Backyard Oasis...

Let me just say that I am being so patient right now! For those who know me... I am the most impatient person evaaahhh!    So while I wait for the construction guys to finish the backyard I have been looking around blogland for some DYI backyard inspiration.  Lookey at these lovelies!  I'm seriously in need of new outdoor cushions for the loveseat and chairs!

Source: Decor Mamma

I love the colours that she has used.  Check out the red Adirondack chairs.  Love them!

Source: 33 Shades of Green

I love these cushions!

Source: A little of this, A little of that.

Oooohhh!!! What about this one?

I can't wait to get started!!  Have you done any amazing things in your backyard?  Leave me a comment and link to your backyard DYI - so I can check it out.

Keep your fingers crossed that the backyard will be done soon!!  Pullllleaaazeeee!!!

Getting my craft on!

So... in case you are wondering I got my camera fixed.  Now don't laugh too hard... my rechargeable battery was dead. AND... the charging station had an extra one in it that I didn't know about.  It took the young-looking guy about 5 seconds to figure it out - even though he "has never seen one of these cameras and their store doesn't sell them and the technology is probably outdated and I'd be better off buying a better camera if this battery died again". Ummm...Yeah... thanks young-looking-guy, i'll try to revive the dead money tree in the backyard this weekend.

Anyhoo, now that I have a camera again, let's get back to blogging.

Yesterday, while I was trying to keep little A out of the mud-pit called a backyard, we went to my fave dollar store.  We picked up a couple of things...

And then I put my almost 4 year old cutie patootie to work. 

I took the the floral foam and cut it to fit the terra cotta pot and took apart grass thingies (about 5 bunches) and cut them down to the size that I wanted.  And then little A started sticking them on.  It took him long enough for me to drink my tea and watch the Y&R- about an hour of silence!  In case you are wondering... my kids love it when I put them to "work".

Here's the finished product.  The total project cost about $8.00 (plus tax).

Not bad for an almost four year old, huh? 

Hopefully next week I'll be able to post about my backyard, but for now here's a quick pic of my front yard. 

And that's just one side!  The other side has about 5 more construction trucks, diggers and bobcats.  I can't even park my soccer-mom-van in the driveway.  They've promised that everything will be done by next Wednesday!  Kids finish school on Tuesday... I need more craft ideas!!!

Family Update

When I started this blog I had every intention to fill it with inspiring and fun posts at least once a week.  Looking back on my posts... looks like that didn't happen.  So here are my excuses reasons:

1.  I have three kids that at one point or another over the past 6 months they have needed their mommy.

2. H., my 9 year old daughter was struggling in school and the teacher was "suggesting" we hold her back a year.  A week after this "suggestion" she brought home two math tests that were an A- and a A++ (she answered the bonus question).  hmmm... not the type of student that should be held back a year in grade 4.  Mother's instinct told me... something wasn't right.  After many, many tests, it turns out that she is moderately to severely hearing impaired on her right ear, and has some hearing loss on her left hear.  Given the fact that she can't hear, she has done great.  Let's just say that her teacher has now changed her tune.  She will be getting hearing aids soon, and I'm hoping grade 5 will be easier for both of us.

3.  My backyard is under major construction!  And no we are not doing the work ourselves.  My husband build a tree house between two trees a couple of years ago.  The kids never used it, so I'm having  it switched to a tiki bar.  ;-) Our deck ( 25+ years old) was rotting and cracking everywhere, so we are replacing it with interlocking brick slabs. And our swamp pond is now gone and being replaced with brick patio too. We've also replaced all the wood fencing, cause the old one was rotting too.  Right now, it's a big mud pit with all the rain we've been having around these parts.

4.  My camera is broken!!  Yeap!  Who wants to blog when there are no pictures!  Just 4 years ago I had 4 digital cameras and now nothing.  We bought the first one, the second and third my husband won them at golf tournaments and the fourth was a Christmas gift from his work.  I either sold or gave away the first three and now my last one doesn't work, and the backyard contractors ripped out the money tree that was growing the backyard.  >:-(

5.  A. is no longer in daycare.  I missed having him around.  Since he starts Junior Kindergarten in the Fall I wanted to enjoy his almost-four-year-old crazyness on a daily basis.  Of course this means that he has to be monitored  entertained constantly.

So that's about all I have to report for now.  I'm taking my camera to hopefully get repaired and then I'll post some pictures of the progress of the back yard.

Fireplace Inspiration

I have been patiently waiting for a new fireplace for almost five years now.  Of course my focus has been on other things such as kitchen renos and basement renos and bathroom 1/2 renos and such.  But I've been waiting and waiting to address the issue of the ugly fireplace in family room.

It needs a facelift... and I needed inspiration.

I found these...

 (http://www.hazelmeremantel.com/)

(www.bhg.com)

(www.hgtv.com)

(http://www.hgtv.com/)

What about you?  Have you done a fireplace reno or facelift?  I would to know about it to get some inspiration from.