from overgrown mess to biking by the garden :)

Little man is napping, little ladies are sprawled at my feet busily working on a "welcome Grandma Krisanne and Jonah" poster for the front door.  I loaded these photos one morning and am going to steal a few moments to post to the blog.

Our messy overgrown yard is now a sweet little courtyard.  It started a few weeks ago when Matt borrowed a skill saw and cut a slice out of the fencing, added a few hinges and turned it into a gate.  (Have I ever mentioned that marrying an engineer has its perks?!?!)

Then we hired a contractor... who started bringing loads of gravel rocks and workers to clear out all the weeds and lay down a layer of rock.

They then poured a layer of concrete and topped it all with a layer of sandstone. 

We opted for no grass for several reasons (to keep life simple - no lawnmower, no maintenance; because we heard only bad reports from folks who tried to grow grass from seed or sod; and because we need a safe car-free place for our kids to play on their bikes and riding toys).

We did keep a one meter wide patch of soil at the end for our garden-to-be.

We're loving it.  Looking forward to picnic style meals and hopefully adding a grill sometime this spring.  And in the meantime doing lots of bike riding and talking about our garden (see the flowers the girls have optimistically 'planted' already?)

Kids and I are doing great.  The house population will double late Friday night when Grandma, Krisanne, Jonah (and then a few hours later) Matt arrive at the airport.  I've been busy working on some kitchen projects (prepping, cooking and then freezing huge pots of dried beans, big batches of baked goodies to share, breakfast-y foods, and the like.  yum.)

Yesterday we made cookies for some friends. 

In case you are wondering, that is what Isaac looks like right before he takes a big bite of cookie dough.  Yeah.  One less cookie for the oven :)

Isaac is awake and we're off to see our neighbor friends!