Gardens -- Entrances

Here's a few pictures of what's happened at our house lately. 

First, We ripped out a big bush from the side of our house.  Then we had to replace it with something more aesthetically pleasing to our occular functions.  So if you look closely, you'll see a Purple Sandcherry, among some flowers of an unknown description to me (david). 

We also discovered a Rose bush growing between our Peonies, which I think I remember buying last fall, and Steph's Mom thinks she remembers us having ever since we lived here, and Steph can't remember a thing about.  But we'll see how it grows, and enjoy it!

This is our entrance now!  We find it is a little more open.

And when all that was done, it was time to relax and enjoy a bit of the shade.

This year we've planted beans, carrots, tomatoes, and peppers, and we're trying strawberries from a hanging basket or two.

Thanks Mom and Dad VandenDool for your help with the bush and garden!  It's looking good!

May: Spring and Baby

Thought it was time for an update!  The last few weeks have slowed down considerably in our lives!  We're enjoying our renovations and the beautiful weather.  I've been enjoying the slow-down at school, although pretty soon that should translate in me attacking the HUGE pile of marking I have since report cards are coming up!  Dave's been working every day and baseball season has started up again, so that's fun (for him, and social for me!).  We had a midwife appointment this afternoon.  Everything is going well!  She found the heartbeat right away--it was about 148-150 bpm.  And we have the ultrasound next week Tuesday, which we're really excited about!  So that about sums up what we've been up to.  We went out yesterday to take some new spring pictures--Enjoy!!

Enjoying the "lilac den" at Sunnidale park

Apple Blossoms

Baby Belly at 18 weeks and 4 days

Some tulips and purple sandcherry bushes (which I'd like to add to my garden!)

April is done!

The month of April has come and gone!  And what a month is was.  Extra-Curricular activities, done; renovations, almost done; and now we have time again (I think....)!  Time to do all the other things that haven't been getting done!

We thought that we'd post some pictures of our new bathroom and vinyl floor, which we're really excited about.  We're still working on the walls for the bathroom (a mirror, etc.) and the trim is all cut and in place but not all nailed down yet.  But we're loving how it all looks and the amount of space we have in the bathroom!

The bathroom and floor look a million times better than they did before!  We love them!

The flowers were from the school as a thank-you for being one of the directors for the school play.  Very beautiful flowers--even more beautiful now that the play is done!!

Oh and Dave and I are even now.....he spilled apple juice on the laptop (which we still have to bring in) and I just spilled pomegranate-wildberry juice on the carpet (which took 15 minutes of scrubbing to get out....).  Life has been way too crazy over here!  Looking forward to slowing down!

Freakin' Out

Wow, we are really 'Freaking Out' over here!
For a long time we haven't really had much to talk about on this blog of ours, but this month has become crazy busy!  So here's what's going on -- !

1) Renovations - Sometimes it's frustrating to be a supply teacher, and really hold on to very little hope of securing a full time position, at least for the time being.  But sometimes I have to say that we are really thankful for the work that we DO have.  This work has blessed us with a steady income, such that we've been able to save up enough to do some renovations in our house. 
Previously, we had just been doing a lot of painting.  NOW, we're moving on to new things - Like a new main floor washroom!  (Anyone who has sat on the toilet at our house knows how uncomfortably small our washroom was!)  So we're installing space-saving, and hopefully water-saving, toilets and sinks.  The new and improved washroom is almost done.  At least, it should be done by today or tomorrow.  We hope.
We're really excited about that.

Part of the renovation also involved a new vinyl floor which is going in as I type, through the entrance, hallway, washroom, and kitchen.  This should also be a nice improvement!  We're looking forward to seeing what it looks like in the end!

2)  Steph has been CRAZY busy, with being pregnant, battle of the books (school), Hoops for Heart (school)(raised over $4000!), puking (gross), a FaithgirlZ praise event, the school play, teaching (somehow), these renovations, and being pregnant.

This is slowly taking it's toll on Steph, who will be really, really, really happy when all this STUFF is done and over with.

She'll be even happier when it's summer.  I think.

3)  I, to add to Steph's Stress.  wrecked our computer.  A little bit.  You see, Steph, being pregnant, likes to have a glass of juice, water, fluid, on hand at almost all times of the day.  One day, last week, we sat and watched a tv show on our computer.  Steph had a glass of juice nearby.  But she never drank anything out of it.  We got a phone call.  Steph went to do something else.  I talked on the phone.  Started playing with things around the computer.  Accidentally knocked over the FULL glass of Apple Juice onto our laptop.  And now our Wireless Internet feature doesn't work on our computer,  and the keys are all really, really sticky.  -  Really, really.

So, if you don't hear, or see us on the internet for a while... It will likely be a result of our computer going in for repairs.  And knowing the repair process at Future shop (where our warranty is...), this will likely take 1 or 2 months.  If they can fix it at all...

Excitement

Just thought I'd share that at our midwife appointment today we got to hear the baby's heartbeat.  It was going at 150 beats/minute.  Very cool to hear!  It's really in there (as if the sickness hasn't been a good enough indication)!

Big Changes

Well, some big changes on the way! 
In the more immediate future, we're working on renovating our bathrooms--starting with the main floor.  My parents were down on the weekend and Dave and Dad worked on moving all the plumbing.  We've picked out a new vinyl flooring and Dave has to paint.  So I'm pretty excited to see how much better this main floor is going to look with all the new things!  We're also going to tackle the main bathroom--with my new whirlpool tub--but probably not until the summer when we can devote the necessary time to it.

And in the more distant future--about 6 months--we'll be changing our life as we've known it with a new baby!  The anticipated due date is October 12--fall must be popular this year because we know a few people due in the same month/season!  So we're getting more excited the more people we tell; we're finding that it becomes more real by telling people! 

So those are the changes going on here....hopefully nothing else comes up!  I can only handle so much change at one time!!!

The birdfeeder had a small problem

So... when I built our birdfeeder, I knew there was a small problem.  That is... I knew that there were certain structural weaknesses in it that hadn't worked out the way I had hoped; and those weaknesses meant that the birdfeeder could be wrecked easily, should something happen to it.

And the story is this:
The European Starlings, and their companion blackbirds, were really annoying.  A) because they ate all the birdseed in under a week.  B) because, after eating said birdfeed, they said "thankyou" all over the railing of our deck.  (No, our cedar deck is not a natural white colour!)
So I decided to move the birdfeeder away from our deck, seeing as it is now Spring, and I wanted use of our deck.
So I brought the feeder to another location in our yard, and started hammering the rod that it sat on into the ground.  I wasn't being too careful, as I was kindof annoyed at the birds, and had half a mind of kiyboshing the whole idea.
Anyway, I wasn't being too careful, and the birdfeeder popped off of the rod it was sitting on, as I hammered it into the ground, and the birdfeeder fell to the ground and broke into about 10 different pieces.
So I said, "Well, that settles it!"
And threw it into the garbage. 
The garbage truck came and took it away.

So. Goodbye my European friends.  Goodbye.

(we'll see if any other birds still go for the suet feeders which still remain...)

A small fact:  European Starlings were introduced to America buy Shakespearean Society members who wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeares writing.  - Great Idea, eh? - Now they are one of the most common birds in southern Ontario, and swarm your bird feeders in an annoying fashion.