Backyard makeover, we got a walker, and a t-ball video

Where to start?  How about in the back(yard).

Before the makeover

With two big parties (Lukas’ 1^st birthday & our 10 year anniversary) coming up soon, we decided to host both of them at home, and that meant not only making the house presentable, but doing something about the backyard, which until a few weeks ago was a cement walkway and dirt. After a pretty lengthy process to get bids and people to come out to look at the backyard, we settle on a guy and he and his crew were great. They were in and out in a couple days, and in those two days they made a huge difference. They prepped and laid sod, installed an auto sprinkler system (which required cutting through some of the cement walkway), they took out the cinderblock “curb” and leveled out all the remaining dirt.

Before the sod went in we planted a couple fruit trees. Ellie helped measure the hole. Ellie also helped prune the lemon tree and load the recycling bin. 

Cutting through the cement walkway allowed Ellie and Lukas (and on accident Bauer and Sierra) to leave their mark. 

I was also able to start a garden, which didn’t happen last year. And so far so good. I have 2 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, 2 cucumber plants, and green onions. Then I planted peas, beans, lettuce, radish, watermelon and zucchini seeds. And so far almost all the seeds have taken and are starting to poke through the dirt (still waiting on a couple of the watermelon and a couple of the zucchini).

After the fence wash

I also broke out the pressure washer and went to town on the back fence, it turned out really good!

In other news, Ellie loving t-ball. There was a brief period that she wasn’t very excited about it, but then she got to play some new positions (pitcher and catcher), and played on the “big” field where they announce your name when you come to bat, and she’s also gotten REALLY good at hitting! Midway through the year they stop using the tee exclusively and the coach pitches 4 balls to the batter. Then, if they don’t hit one of those they bring out the tee. For the past 2 games Ellie has hit the first pitch each at bat. If not the best hitter on her team, one of the top 2. She still needs a little work on throwing. In fact, she threw much better early in the year when she was doing it wrong (stepping with the wrong foot), now that she tries to do it correctly, she thinks a lot about it, the winds up and throws. In t-ball everyone bats, and you go one base at a time. Until the last batter, then the last batter gets to hit the "homerun" and run all the way around the bases. Ellie got that chance last game.

Lukas is a walker. Although Ellie beat him in terms of how quickly she learned to walk, I think Lukas has her beat on speed. He’s full speed ahead!

Katelyn had tryouts for the Varsity Cheerleading team, and she made it. She’s also in the middle of all her AP testing and took a trip to visit UC Davis, which she says she liked and is one of her top choices for college. And she attended the Junior Prom. 

Mini Family Reunion (26 members missing)

Had a mini family reunion in Oakdale at Grandma’s house warming party.

Moving back into April just for a minute. We celebrated Easter in Oakdale. And when you are out in the country, a ride on the ATV is mandatory.

In other news and notes. Ellie and I took in her first football game. We went to the San Jose Sabercats game one evening and she really enjoyed it. It didn’t hurt that it was hat night so she got a free hat, plus she got a bucket of popcorn. We had seats on the aisle and during each timeout when they played music she got up and danced, and was mildly upset when she never made it onto the jumbotron…Played in the annual Oakdale Bocce ball tournament. Made it to the semi-finals, which was the farthest I had ever made it…