Pages

Pages

Showing posts with label Back yard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Back yard. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Summertime

Summer was busy. So busy that I neglected this blog for a couple of months! But I'm okay with that. I  tried to sit down and write on here SO many times, but I just didn't feel like it. But now that Liam is in 3K (eek!) and it's starting to feel a bit like Fall (ick!) I'm going to find more time to sit down and do this. I love blogging, it's just that taking the kids to the park, and walking down to the beach, and grilling fresh corn, and running through the sprinkler trumped everything else :)

So here's a real quick recap of some of the things we did this summer. I'd love to share it ALL, but that would take me too long. So here's what I have for you:

We kept busy with art & activities (a.k.a. time for me to get some laundry done).
I can give my kids a bowl full of beans & noodles & a scoop and it keeps them busy for an hour.


We took our first trip to Bay Beach as a family.
And you better believe it, Matt and I took turns riding on the Zippin Pippin.


A bike ride & dinner with friends.
We borrowed our neighbors' tandem bike and it was awesome!


We did lots & lots of walking to many places. 
Exploring neighborhoods, the waterfront, the farmers' market, piers, downtown, etc.


We met neighbors and friends at the beach for bonfires.


And hung out at our favorite beaches as a family.


We visited one of our favorites, Bookworm Gardens, a few times.


Matt and I attended my St. Mary's School Class of 1995 (8th Grade) class reunion.
It was so, so nice to see everyone and catch up.


And spent LOTS of time on our back deck & in the yard.
Our sand/water table got an insane amount of use this summer from both kids.


Play dates every Tuesday.


Outdoor concerts and food carts (dinner) at the JMKAC and downtown green space.


And more music and food...


Evenings out with my girlfriends.


I helped plan my future sister-in-law's bridal shower.


And went to the PGA with my mom.


These two grew up so much this summer:

THIS sweetie is full-on walking & running everywhere, eating every food imaginable, screaming/mumbling/pointing, giggling, loving on her brother and just blooming with personality, love and smarts. Chloe, you are simply my favorite little girl ever.


And THIS handsome little man has started going to 3K twice a week, for two hours. Happy and energetic one minute, cranky and moody the next minute. A total 3 1/2 year old! Smart and funny and artistic. He amazes me every day. Liam, I love you 'more than pancakes & syrup.'


Matt, I have not forgotten about you! You are still my favorite man in the world. Thank you for working so hard so we could do all of this fun stuff this summer :)


Peace,
Erin
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, May 31, 2013

Sun shiny day

The weather was so, so nice yesterday! Here are a few quick photos (which I took with a vintage Hipstamatic setting on my iPhone) of Liam's sunshine-y day:

Helping his mama fold laundry...what a great way to start the day...

A stroller ride to the beach...
(the sunshine was clearly in his eyes in this photo, thus the squinty eyes)

A second stroller ride...

Swinging in our backyard...

Playing in the dirt. He loves picking the heads off of flowers...

And to end the day...he got to eat dinner OUTSIDE on our deck!!

It's gonna be a bright...bright...sunshine-y day...

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Monday, May 20, 2013

Yard work = hard work

Our neighbors' chicken.
It followed me around our yard while I planted flowers the other day :)
We've been spending lots of time in our yard, now that the weather's become more pleasant! There's a never-ending list of things we can do in our yard at any given time. 

Our front yard is almost all landscaping, filled with huge hydrangea bushes, shrubs, trees and a variety of perennials (crocus, tulips, bleeding heart, iris, daylilly, daffodils, decorative grasses, hosta, etc). I also plant annuals amongst the perennials once the weather is for sure going to stay warm. 

One side of our home is also landscaped with large shrubs and more perennials. Then there's a huge landscaped area between our deck and yard, and more landscaping that runs along the entire length of our backyard fence. And along an entire side of our garage. We also have a garden planted along the other side of our garage. Phew!

All of this landscaping + perennials + annuals = much to do! We're always trying to keep up with the raking and pruning and trimming and stick collecting. 

It's really therapeutic to me though. It's a great sense of accomplishment when you clean up a section of your yard and it looks good :) 

When Liam is napping it gives me an opportunity to get outside in the fresh air and just zone out. Plus I get a ton of exercise doing it, and Liam LOVES being outside. He either sits in his stroller and watches us do the yard work, or he'll walk around/sit on the ground and play with leaves, sticks and dirt. 

A few more photos I took of flowers growing in our yard right now:




Front walkway leading up to our house



In front of our chimney

I planted our garden last night. I planted mini pumpkins, which I think Liam will get a kick out of when Fall arrives :) I also planted lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini and we'll be planting a ton of tomatoes once we get the plants. We buy our tomato plants from our neighbor, Jane, because she does such a great job at getting them started. 

As much as I'd love to plant more things in the garden, we've decided to just get the rest at our wonderful farmers market every week. Our farmers market is open on Wednesdays AND Saturdays each week, so it's really easy to just run there with Liam and pick out some fresh veggies.

Our garden. Brown for now. But before you know it,
 it will be full of green yummies!
This is where we'll be getting out tomato plants from --
our neighbor's green house!
I use rocks (that we picked up ourselves from the beach) as garden markers.
I write on them with black Sharpie markers.

 Did you plant a garden this year? What did you plant?

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Bloomers


One of my favorite things about our yard is watching the plants and flowers come to life in Spring. Once the rain falls and the weather turns a little warmer, our yard becomes a colorful playground for the birds, squirrels and insects (and neighborhood cats).

I took a few photos of the flowers that are blooming in our yard right now:

Daffodils
Tulips
My favorite color of tulip


Gnomeo is keeping a watchful eye on all of the flowers

Hyacinth

And here's a cool metal flower I bought at a local craft fair a few weeks ago. The flower head is made from old rusty horseshoes. I wonder if the horseshoes will bring luck to our gardens this year?


______________________________________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

4.29.13
We all went for a a long walk on the beach and picked up some cool driftwood & rocks

4.30.13
Matt and I enjoyed working on some crafty projects in the driveway

5.1.13
I got a few of our flowerbeds cleaned out - what an accomplishment!

5.2.13
I enjoyed drinks and dessert with three of my girlfriends

5.3.13
Liam and I browsed around at the mall for a few hours & he behaved so well!

5.4.13
Liam giggled and giggled while swinging in his new swing

5.5.13
Enjoyed chicken wings, ordered in from Legend Larry's :)

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 29, 2013

A thrifty weekend

We had a thrifty weekend.

We excitedly said YES to our neighbors when they offered us their beautiful playground set for our yard. It has swings, monkey bars, a rock climbing wall, a lookout tower and a slide.


It will be perfect for Liam to play on as he gets older! And the coolest part is that they just gave it to us. They didn't even want any money for it. They were just excited that Liam (and any other future Bremser kids) will be able to use it and enjoy it. We feel so, so blessed that they thought of us.

It's in pretty good shape. We have to anchor it to the ground yet, once we figure out exactly where we want it in our yard. We may add a few shingles on top of the lookout tower and a fresh coat of stain to the wood. I'm hoping to find a toddler swing (at a rummage sale) so Liam can swing in the sunshine this summer.

Liam is already enjoying playing with rock climbing rope and likes to crawl underneath everything. And he loves swinging on the swing with his mama :)



We also picked up a plastic swimming pool for free from our neighbors house! They had it on the curb, so we took it. Liam's going to love splashing around in it this summer.

Okay, and one more thrifty thing from this weekend: there's a church a few blocks away from us that had a huge baby & kids rummage sale on Saturday. They had crazy amounts of kids toys, bikes, books, clothes, etc. Matt and I rummaged through the 12 month and 18 month boy clothes and found some great finds for Liam. The best part is - all of the clothes cost us only $14. And that included a sa-weeeet pair of garden boots for me :)

Here are a few photos I took of Liam this afternoon in our backyard:


I love this little boy so dang much!



He finds random sticks in the yard and thinks they're the coolest things on the planet.

Exploring.
 _____________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

4.22.13
I pruned all of our hydrangea bushes in the sunshine, on Earth Day!

4.23.13
I enjoyed talking to some people that I used to work with

4.24.13
Liam enjoyed coloring a birthday card for his pal & then we delivered to him

4.25.13
We found out from our veterinarian that our cat Marlee is all healed :)

4.26.13
We enjoyed delicious burgers that Matt made on the grill

4.27.13
We hung out with my brother for a few hours

4.28.13
Liam and his friend Reegan had fun playing on the new playground set
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)