Hugs

I will not play Tug O' War,
I'd rather play Hug O' War;
Where everyone hugs, instead of tugs,
And everyone giggles and rolls on the rug.
Where everyone kisses,
and everyone grins;
everyone cuddles,
and everyone wins.
- Shel Silverstein

Video: Landon James' Birthday

One Month!

"Hey Dad, I'm one month old! I'm the coolest!"

Here is a video of Landon trying to mimic Erik. He has been getting a tad better each day with his vocalization!

This Time Last Year: Christmas 2009

This time last year, we were deep in the spirit of the holidays while living in Japan. The 80's song "Last Christmas" breathily sang by George Michael was on repeat on every store and we were hopped up on candy canes and wine.

VAQ-136 Christmas Party at the happening Trilogy lounge on base.

Shenanigans with Emily (Eerie Santa) and Aya-chan. This should be one of those "create your own caption" photos.


Our little Christmas tree in our little abode.


Our nice dinner out to enjoy some hibachi style grilled Wagyu beef from Gato's. It's worth the two train connections and an awkward cab ride.

This Christmas will be much different: We will be with our families and we have little Landon creating the shenanigans!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Hi. I'm thankful for boobies. Burp."

Tiny Bubbles

Our little man sure does love bath time!

"Hi. Burp."

The bath time below was a result of some major explosive poop time on Grandma Marian. He has never done this to us before (yet), so the inaugural flying poop was quite a surprise when she went to change him for the first time. It was a bit ironic that we have lived here for months without a drop of anything on the carpet and then the last night in town, a mustard poop shower. We sent Grandpa "The Dude" Lloyd on a carpet cleaner run - the stain was quite persistent.

"All clean! The carpet, however, is another story..."

It's all True...

...The sleepless nights, the poop, the pee, the crying, the fussing, the cuddles, the sore nipples (mine, not his), the poop, the hiccups, the poop, the crying - it's all true. He is still super cute (at times) and is coming along with some basic eye contact skills, but I really love catching tiny glimpses of a smile. Yes, it's probably gas but I don't care - I'll take it. It's the only thing keeping me going in this sleep-deprived and hormonal state at this point.

Some snippits from the quote log this past week:

After realizing Landon was breech and my time spent in labor at home was ultimately futile:

Nurse: Well you should have just come in sooner and saved yourself a few extra hours of unnecessary labor.

Kate: *Glare*

After using diaper cream for the first time (and liberally):

Erik: "Landon, you have enough butt paste on you to paste 8 butts together."

While we were roto-rootering our son with a thermometer to stimulate a bowel movement over the weekend:

Erik : "Maybe we should put on some soothing music or something for him."

Kate: "I don't want him to have a complex about Jack Johnson for the rest of his life."

Peace and diaper grease,
Kate

Birth Story: Landon James Halvorson

Around 3:00a on Tuesday morning, November 2nd, 2010, I woke up with some cramping pains. Having not had any contractions nor any other signs of labor in previous weeks, I just kind of brushed off the pain as the Braxton Hicks ("practice") contractions and tried walking around the house to ease up the crampiness. Erik woke up but I told him to go back to sleep and I assured him it was nothing.

In the meantime, the pains were coming more regularly every few minutes and I started to finally have my suspicions that something (THE thing) was going on. Then I went into crazy nesting mode, putting things away in the nursery, cleaning up the kitchen, etc - stopping every couple minutes to breathe through a contraction. By 5:30a, I told Erik it was time to call the doctor. They told us to come in to the hospital to be checked - yay! And yet: I hesitated some more. I told Erik I wanted to take a shower and repack my bag - I was pretty sure once we left, we weren't coming back. I think I was hanging out to absorb the last few quiet moments, as well. There was excitement in the air as Erik and I were anticipating what lay ahead and it was just a very special moment. We arrived at the hospital around 6:30a, Erik with coffee in his hands and me with a pillow stuffed in mine as I worked through the contractions.

Sure enough when we were evaluated at the hospital, we found we were in active labor. But when the nurses were checking me, they looked slightly quizzical and a debate started whether they were feeling the baby's head or the baby's butt. Sure enough, it was butt. Poor guy was getting his buns poked at. The doctor came in with the ultrasound machine and confirmed that the little booger was indeed breech. This means somewhere between his Thursday appointment and Tuesday morning, he had a disco party and flipped around. Erik and I thought his movements were odd throughout the weekend, but we did our "kick counts" and everything seemed fine movement-wise. Now we know that - after months of being in the correct position for his grand exit - he was poised for a different entry into the world.

I sat in labor for another hour or two - they tried to slow things down with medicine, but everything was moving along a little too quickly to nip the pain in the butt. I have a whole new respect for women who naturally progress through labor without relief - those several hours of contractions were admittedly very painful and all attempts at breathing/focusing were half-assed in effort as my eyes begun to cross.

By 9am, we were headed to the OR to prep for our c-section and Landon James Halvorson was born at 9:43am. It took a few seconds to hear his cry, but when the sound hit our ears, Erik and I started crying immediately. The doctor's first words were "Wow, what a nice round head you have!" And then it became known to us that the kid had a full head of hair. To our surprise: It was a full head of brown hair. Erik and I both kept commenting that we thought he would be blond. Erik was able to walk over to the clean up area to meet Landon right away and follow him to the nursery. I was able to greet him with a kiss while the nurse nuzzled him against my face and it was of course a ridiculously special moment that was far too brief. I hung out for another 20 minutes or so while they finished up the business on my tummy. I was then reunited with my new little family about an hour later in the recovery room.

So overall things did not go as envisioned originally, but what really does in this life, anyways? He is here and he is healthy... and I believe he is happy. It will be our mission to keep that going for the rest of his life.

All our love...

Happy Halloween!

Next Step: More Jet Noise!

It is official: Erik has finished Primary. This means the first part of pilot training is complete so now he can move on to a more specific platform. And of course he got his first pick - Jets. This is a really great milestone! The random hours, the various instructor personalities, the various fellow student personalities, the scheduling nightmares - it can all take a toll on a guy... especially with the combined stress of wondering if he will finish in time before Peanut arrives. I will also brag (since he won't do it himself) that he graduated on the Commodore's List with Distinction, no less! So...raise a glass and toast him wherever you are. Peanut and I are so very proud of dada-to-be.

"Smell you later, T-34's!"

So where do we go from here? Thankfully he selected jet training in Kingsville, TX which is about 45 minutes south of Corpus Christi (the other option would have been Meridian, MS). He will continue with a more specific training jet at that location - we should be there about 12 months. At the end of that? He will get assigned a particular jet (*cough* Prowlers *cough*) and we can hopefully make our way back up to Whidbey Island, WA to rejoin our friends!

"Aloha, T-45's!"

This does mean we will be moving next month. Second time this year. And now with a newborn. To a town where they list "Chili's" as the fine dining option. Wunderbar. The saving grace being it is only 45 minutes south and apparently they can deliver your stuff the same day that they pick it up - this blows my mind. I bet the stuff from our 2 month Japan move that journeyed across the sea may arrive in better shape (as it was packed by meticulous Japanese hands and 5 tons of paper and tape) versus what these local Tey-has guys will pound out in a day. Time will tell.

Will keep everyone posted of the move plans. We are trying to secure a house in the next couple days before you-know-who gets here!

Our Other Pumpkin

While incubating one pumpkin, we decided to purchase another for $3.99 at our local grocery store. Erik has been excited to carve a pumpkin this past week so he can get his skills back in action and impress Peanut down the road. He did a great job; it's spooky... but not too spooky!

"Innards... gross!"

"I'm too pumpkiny for this."

Concentration

Final Product! Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife!

A Birthday Has Been Scheduled!

Although anything is possible in the next week or two, the doctor has gone ahead and scheduled an induction date. This is based on the fact there hasn't been any progress or signs of labor. I suppose Peanut is super cozy so I will take it as a compliment.

So! We will go in on the evening of November 3rd to be induced for an intended delivery date of November 4th (around the 41 week mark). I really really really do hope that Mother Nature will start things on her own before then, but I'm overall comfy with this back up plan. It's hard to articulate this, but after all the anxiety and worry and getting ready over these last several months, it's almost anticlimactic that the delivery day is almost here. It's difficult to convey the feeling, but it is a positive and special place to be.

Until then, I'm keeping my tootsies up and enjoying the calm before the beautiful teeny weeny wittle storm!

Thirty and Still Nerdy

Last week Erik and I celebrated our 30th birthdays and I must say we are feeling pretty darn good! I think the whole having-a-baby-thing usurps the anxiety one may feel with closing the chapter on their 20's. Still, I would be lying if I said there wasn't some "Yikes, life is changing so fast!" thoughts floating in the air from the combination of everything. But all in all, we feel just plain blessed and lucky with where we are at.

Erik's birthday was nothing crazy, but a fun time nonetheless! Matt came down to visit, we watched a bunch of football at Buffalo Wild Wings (Redskins won in overtime!), they hung out Dewey's Beer Garden and we noshed on slow cooked bbq pork sandwiches later in the night. I also got Erik a PlayStation 3 (or as I liked to call it: the PS3-0 in honor of his birthday) which he has been faithfully playing since then. Whether the purchase prior to having a newborn was an intelligent choice? That is debatable. If anything, at least Peanut can use it to watch The Wiggles on Blu-Ray over the next couple years.

"I don't know it yet, but I am about to log 30 hours of Lego Star Wars playtime in the first week of having this."

Erik blowing out the candles on our birthday cake for the week. Maybe I'll make an effort for his 40th birthday to load the cake up with 40 candles. Until then, we are going with the decades method to avoid mass amounts of dripping wax.

In case Peanut decided to show up on our birthdays, we had his game time outfit ready.

My birthday was perfectly lazy and Erik surprised me with a really nice sewing machine after I had been making some comments over the last year or two that it was something I was interested in getting into. I promptly headed to the library to start getting my learn on. If you receive a couple mangled pillows as a gift or notice the curtains are all uneven in our house moving forward, just bear with me as I learn.

30th Birthday and 38 Weeks!

Trying to be artsy and form a heart over Peanut, but my puffy fingers were a little off in their design.

So no birthday surprises from the little one, but it is for the best since Erik still has a few more flights left before he can wrap up things here in Primary. As long as Peanut stays put until then, the timing will actually work out perfectly since Erik will have some extra free time on his hands to help out and love on us when baby is here!

Thanks to all for the wonderful birthday wishes!

I Believe You Now, Betty

Wow, when you don't eat the cookie dough along the way (aka "the one scoop on the cookie sheet, one scoop in my mouth method"), it turns out recipes really do yield numbers such as 3 dozen cookies. Who knew?

I know it's generally "frowned upon" to eat potentially salmonella-laden doughs and batters, but it is indeed one of the food groups I look forward to having a relationship with again down the road. Ah Peanut, if you only knew what mommy gave up for you for the last several months.

We Are Accepting Bets

As the date nears, we are starting to question more: What is this little guy going to look like? We chose not to get the 4D ultrasound to leave an element of surprise and I'm glad we are holding out. This time next month, we will know - in the grand scheme of things, we can wait. We made it this far, right?

Time will tell if he has Erik's high cheeks (gnome cheeks, as I like to call them) or my pronounced eyes (google eyes, as Erik likes to call them). We are pretty sure he will have light eyes, but will he be a brunette or blond? Or - gasp! - will some of the red head genes on my mom's side somehow make an appearance? I keep thinking he will look like a mini Erik, but we shall see :o)

Night Flights

After a temporary hiatus due to a clogged ear, Erik is back on the flight schedule! And not just any flight schedule... but the night flight schedule. He now gets to fly with the birdies bathed in moonlight. That's just my poetic take on things, though. Erik hasn't historically been a fan of flying at night and I can't blame him - I'd get the heebie jeebies maneuvering in the dark skies, too!

Regardless: Kudos for another milestone! This leaves him with a few form flights to complete and then hopefully he will be able to officially reselect for the jet community within the next couple weeks. Again, his hope is to eventually get back into the Prowler/Growler community so "graduating" here in primary with a jets bill would be the required step for that direction. I am 99.9999% sure that is going to happen, but it will be nice to see it on paper in the next couple weeks since the military is really good about playing around with those 0.0001% possibilities.

Don't Judge the Bright Pink Pants - At Least They Fit

Seriously, we have 6 more weeks of this (or more)? Things are still moving along uneventfully which is a wonderful thing, but lordie oh lordie I've been falling into the standard third trimester woes. My toes and fingers have taken on a sausage-like appearance and Tums have become my personal candy of choice. And you just can't feel that great about yourself when roaming the aisles of Target looking to purchase a "butt pillow."

Erik's excitement always puts things into perspective, though. His daily chats with my belly reminds me how special everything really is. And it's little moments like that or looking at Peanut's little clothes all lined up that put me back into the "attitude of gratitude." This experience deserves the utmost reverence!

In an unrelated note, we hope everyone is enjoying the football season thus far! There's nothing like lazy cooler weekends with lots of fun comfy foods (and Tums, of course!) to say that Fall is here. I think our heat index dropped under 95 degrees this week - great success!

Let's Go for a Spin!

We put together the strollers the other evening and they are looking pri-tty pri-tty spiffy. To put things into practice more, we strapped in Tutu Teddy (Erik's old bear) and Doug (my trusty sidekick stuffed dog) to test out the straps and everything. Assembly passes with success!

Sand Between The Toes

Sometimes in the hubbub of everyday life, we unintentionally ignore the fact that we do, indeed, live along the Gulf Coast. The beach is a simple 20 minute drive away and there isn't really an excuse to not visit and plop our butts in the sand more often. My only stipulation is that I like to be there and back before 11a to avoid the super heat. [Kate's Meteorological Scale: "Regular" heat is an index of 95 or 100. "Super" heat is above 100.] Erik isn't as much of a morning guy on the weekends as he still has the option to imbibe in the evenings, so its up to Peanut and I to make things happen. He was a trooper!

Afterwards we stopped by Snoopy's to get some fish and chips and sit along the water just a taaaad longer before we proclaimed our love for air conditioning and headed home.

Yummy in the Tummy Pot Pie

Erik was sweet enough to offer to make Sunday dinner this week and he was eager to try making a pot pie again. The homemade crust turned out great and the recipe has been perfected. Check!




















(Miller Lite is not part of the recipe.)

I Need More Twigs

This past weekend, I found myself up at 4:00a baking banana bread and sorting out all of Peanut's new clothes for their first wash. By 5:30a, I was wishing that Babies R Us was open so I could go get more supplies (enter: Kate's face and hands smushed against front windows of store).

This must be part of the "nesting" instinct. We still have a couple months to go, but I have this itch to have it all done!

Side Note: The amount of little plastic tie thingies they put on baby clothes collections is ridiculous. It took me 10 minutes to take apart a package of little socks since they were all individually connected to the cardboard piece and then individually connected to each other. Oh, but what cute little itty bitty snuggly wuggly socks they are!!! They have little dinosaurs on them! :o)

Furniture: Check!

We were excited to receive the baby furniture on Friday. Erik and I had a hard time pulling the trigger on a set we liked and it was ironic in the end we picked something very easily. For as many options as we mulled over, it came down to the Babies R Us guy going, "Well what about this one over here?" And its like a halo of light shined upon Peanut's furniture. Done. Check!

Click on the photos to see bigger versions.

Before: The nursery filled with boxes and goodies.

During: Chubby girl in the corner relegated to reading directions and handing over screws as needed.

After: Build massive cardboard and styrofoam pile to discreetly take over to Target's recycle dumpsters that we occasionally sneak stuff into.

As for the "after, after" photo? Well we didn't quite finish it all this weekend. Plus the nursery is still functioning as my home office for the next 6 weeks or so. So hopefully in the coming weekends we can take some more pictures as the final transition occurs! So very exciting!

Local Wildlife

I feel like this is the only place we will ever live that I will encounter a crab, a cockroach, a gecko, a crow and a seagull... all by 8am on a random morning. And all around the perimeter of my house. Ick.

Let's Chop Up This Tie!

As I am bopping along with baby, Erik is flying along with flight school. After being stuck idle for quite a while due to lack of planes, it picked up and then really picked up. A huge milestone this week: He soloed! That means he got to surf among the clouds all by himself. This is a nice big step in the pilot training process - if you see him, make sure you give him a pat on the back... or a virtual pat. We are very proud of him!

Along with flying solo comes the tradition of "Tie Cutting." This is a small ceremony/ get together in which students that have flown solo in recent weeks celebrate the milestone. They each wear a tie that their "on-wing" cuts ... if I had to guess, I suppose it symbolizes the fact that you are no longer tied to anyone in the plane...? Deep stuff, really deep stuff. As with any little ceremony, there will probably be a certificate, some beer, some chicken wings, giggles and stories.

Erik didn't want to cut any of his nice Hong Kong ties (agreed!), so he headed off to Burlington Coat Factory to find the worst of the worst. And what he founds comes pretty close.

I try to be a good person, but admittedly I do end up judging people that wear Ed Hardy stuff. Judge, judge, judge. There, I said it. That - however - should not detract from this glorious achievement by the hubs. Good job, shipmate!

24 Week Belly

This past month has been nice and comfy! I guess I've been at the height of joy in the 2nd trimester. I feel like I am slowly joining the 3rd trimester fraternity recently, however, as the rapidly growing belly is beginning to bring its first taste of discomforts to come (I believe my recent words waddling out of Olive Garden were something like "Erik, it feels like I don't have enough tummy skin for this.").

I wouldn't have it any other way, though - can't wait to meet this little guy :o)

Meanwhile, Peanut is still our little Squirmster McGee, bopping around all hours of the day and night.

Happy Father's Day!

It was nice to be at home for Father's Day this year, which always seems to fall around my parent's anniversary, as well. Plus the beautiful rolling green hills and wildflowers of Pennsylvania never disappoint. I had plenty of moments driving down the back roads, loving the scenery, and then am humorously brought back to the present day when a large bug splats against the windshield or I have to swerve to avoid possum roadkill. Aaah yes, the circle of life.

Anyhoodles, for their anniversary, I escorted Jim and Babs to the Charles Town Slots and Racing. Just for slots, though - no horsies on a weekday. We enjoyed the buffet and then my mom proceeded to find a good machine where they made about $75. I think dad was more thrilled than mom.

Father's day was spent in Lancaster, meeting Jamesy at his place and then going to the Olive Garden. Which doesn't sound fancy or anything, granted, but it was a really nice time and I finally got a big ol' hunk of tiramisu that I've been craving for quite a while now.

Here is a picture of Dad and I before I packed up and headed back to TX.


He promises to work on the front patch of missing landscaping before my next visit.

San Antonio Weekend

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we decided to drive a couple hours to visit San Antonio and see some sites besides the local big butts of Corpus (I'm not being mean, tis the the truth). Anyhoooo... we had a great time although it was boiling hot and there was little or no reprieve from the sun of the south.

We spent the first day at SeaWorld, although didn't take any photos as it took all my energy to just traverse the large adventureland park and dodge kiddos and strollers and 4 gallon buckets of cotton candy. I enjoyed the sea lion show the most (come on, a mystery show where the otter is the suspect - how can you miss?!) and the obligatory Shamu show was impressive, too. Apparently Peanut really likes inspirational/ethnic/ethereal music, since he was moving like crazy during the Shamu show where they play Enya-like tunes throughout.

Otherwise, we spent most of our time in downtown San Antonio, along the Riverwalk and visiting sites like the Alamo.

From San Antonio May 2010

I can't believe the Riverwalk doesn't have any handrails to keep all the intoxicated bar goers from falling in, but I guess its only like 3-5 ft deep in the busy areas. There is a $500 fine if you fall in - we learned that from a mini tour we took, not from experience.

And lastly, after many attempts, we've proven it's impossible to take a photo in front of the Alamo without getting the butts and fanny packs of others in the background.

From San Antonio May 2010

18 Week Belly

Looking bigger (and sleepy) at 18 weeks...


Never thought I'd be excited to say the we are gaining weight, but here it goes... we are excited to be gaining weight.

Last week marks the first week that I officially felt Peanut move. I maaaay have felt it earlier, but passed it off as little gas bubbles previously. Beano or baby, beano or baby? Baby! I was feeling guilty that I only got to feel him for now, but sure enough, Peanut kicked Dad's hand last night while we were all snuggling on the couch! It was so awesome to see the look on Erik's face...

Glamour Shot - Week 16

We had an ultrasound today and it was much less blobby than the first peek we got at 10 weeks. It actually looked like a little baby in there! We could even see its little fingers and toes - just absolutely amazing. We also saw what every father dreams of seeing on his baby - a wiener. Turns out Peanut is a boy! Erik has been walking on cloud nine ever since we left the office and wearing a slap happy grin.

Here is Baby H's profile view - all snug as a bug in a rug (or as a duderus in a uterus...?). His head is on the right side of the pic and you can see the button nose. That's his bell-ay on the left side.


I will save Peanut's modesty and not post the wiener photo. I will keep that for the baby book that is put on display when his first girlfriend comes to visit in the years to come.

Happy Mother's Day!

Paint the Nursery: Check!

Last weekend we decided to paint Peanut's room. Not knowing if it's a little guy or a little gal, we went with a neutral green color. This is not a big surprise for anyone who claims to know me :o)

The room was originally a violet-pink color which may have worked out fine if there is a girl on the way, but the fact of the matter is that the nursery-to-be is currently my home office... working in a pink room all day was making my eye twitch.

As we painted, we could start to see outlines of the castles and stars and stuff from its previous resident. Pssh, Peanut's room is going to be soooo much cooler than that.

"Hey, who's idea was it to have the short one paint the room?"

We are planning on getting some nice darker walnut baby furniture so I think it will look really sweet in the end.

"Let's get physical, physical..."

How exciting to hear baby's heartbeat today! My pulse got in the way for a bit, but finally the doctor was able to find the little thump-thump-thump of Baby H. It was going pretty fast - around 165 beats per minute, but that's a good thing! It made me think of an image of a baby in 80's style aerobic gear, just hanging out down there, doing his thing.

We are excited to have another sonogram, but that happens in a couple weeks, so we will just have to be patient. They may be able to guess the gender at that time - which would be fun! - but I've heard many-a-story of gender swaps that we'll know to take the info with a grain of salt.

Where the Magic Happens

Continuing the theme of our domestication, we went furniture shopping the last couple weekends. Its kind of a fun process until you are in the 10th furniture store and, as a result, your nights are filled with visions of dovetail joints dancing in your head.

Erik and I have somehow managed to elude the need for bedroom furniture such as dressers for the last 10 years. It was time. Erik's t-shirt collection is well into the 3-digits and some need a folded home since many of the classics are warping on their hangars.

Our budget allowed for a bed and 2 dressers and delivery, apparently. Of medium quality. We tried to go with Ethan Allen, but turns out our money there only gets you a dresser and maybe a night table and maybe a stick of chewing gum.

Our decision-making came down to its normal point of "Ugh, let's just get it over with." We are classic Libras indeed, unable to make decisions without first weighing all possible options and reviews. So most of our decisions are typically just made on information-overload induced exhaust at a certain point. But hey, it works for us.

Here is the resulting decision!


We will see it in our own house next month! One of the pieces is on back order, so what can you do, what can you do.

Next purchase? Furniture for Baby H! I'm not quite ready to go back to the stores yet - we shall wait another month or two for that. Must... restore... energy for next... big... decision.

Yay for Visitors!

We had such a nice time this weekend with visiting family friends, Jon and Kathi Kissane. Its always great catching up with the "The Colonel" and Kathi and hear stories from their Army career. Erik always loves talking work and throwing acronyms and lingo around, so they are the perfect conversation partners!

We ate at the Padre Island Burger Company out on the island (as the name would imply) and it was so very yummy. I didn't realize they were half pound burgers, but the peanut and I were hungry so we did our best to tackle the patty. It was great to sit outside on the deck and watch everyone drink beers - just seeing a summer brew in a nice pint glass made me smile. Even if I only had some lemon water to sip on.

Meat coma followed shortly thereafter.

12 Weeks

We need to improve our belly pic photo approach, but here is our first shot. The belly has popped out a bit, but it basically looks like I've been eating too many donuts lately rather than harboring a growing baby. Although it could be because I indeed have been eating too many donuts lately.


Donuts or baby? Probably donuts.

For as much as my body has been morphing, its still a little bummer that I haven't been able to gain any of the weight lost the last couple months. I've been told it will easily pick up over the summer and I'm sure I will soon have to eat my words. Sweet, delicious words.

As we look to close out this pivotal first trimester, I'm glad to say the nausea has been subsiding. I think Erik appreciates that advancement, as well, given he doesn't have to hear my sporadic moaning and heavy breathing at random points throughout the day. Thumbs up!

Green Thumbs

Our backyard was quite the mess when we moved in. The dandelions were as tall as me in some severe cases. It took a few hours on a Saturday afternoon to dig most of them out (Erik did most of the work!) but it was very rewarding to see a clean slate at the end of the day. Next week we will get some grass seed on there to fill in some really random bald spots.

Here is one corner of the yard with the massive dandelion bushes:

Thumbs down

And here is the same corner after some elbow grease:

The progress called for a popped collar!

Someday when the yard is in all its glory with minimal bald spots, we will share more pics. One weekend at a time!