Our First Home Cookout

Spring time is officially here!  It was a beautiful day on Saturday... so we had a cookout!  Aaron had some yard work to do, so he started early and I did some last minute back porch decorating while he worked.

He'd bought these aerating shoes a few weeks ago so that he could help our yard be more green.  The dogs think that it's a game when you put them on and stomp around the yard...

While he mowed and trimmed (in prep for aerating), I headed to Home Depot and Lowe's to buy some backyard plants and a candle!  A Snapdragon flower and a rosebush (that needs some work...).

I also busted out the beer cooler tin!!!!  Nothing says 'Spring Cookout' like outdoor beer!

Aaron finished his yard work and started work on the ribs while I put together the fruit and veggie trays.  Gus tried to help Aaron with the ribs... he volunteered to be the taste tester.  Fortunately for us, he is too short to eat off the counter.  He tries though.

It was a small cookout... just Aaron and I, John and Hannah, and Jake.  But we had fun!  Cornhole, football, and just hanging out and eating.  Gus ran around with everybody and Lucy chilled on the deck.  

It was a not-so-late night, but I crashed HARD on the couch after everybody left and we cleaned up.  Sunday morning, we finished the yard work (aerating, seeding, fertilizing) and then relaxed for the evening while the rain hopefully helped our yard efforts.  (I say 'our', but it was mostly Aaron... I sewed things for Renee's baby shower and did laundry.  I only helped aerate for about 20 minutes.)

Since he was fertilizing, Aaron wanted the dogs inside for a while... so they supervised from the windows.

With the rain helping water all of our new plants/seeds, we settled in to watch some Game of Thrones and relax.  The dogs were big supporters of that idea...

Happy Spring and cross your fingers that the grass grows!

A Fence for our Furry Friends

As soon as we started looking for a house in VA, we knew we would need a fenced in yard.  We would not have enough land to just let the dogs run free.  So when we finally moved into our house in late October, we started thinking about fences... and then time flew past and it was snowing and nobody installs fences in the snow.  So we waited.  We bought an electric fence, the dogs stay in the yard, problem solved, right?  No.

The electric fence didn't cover our front yard, so we had to take their shock collars off when they came inside or else they would get shocked crossing into the dining room or family room (ask me how I know the exact spot...).  Which means every time they wanted to go outside, you had to put their collars back on (all 686209682 times a day that they decide they want to see what's going on inside, but immediately want to go back outside).

And then there was the little issue of us living on a corner lot... which means that there is a sidewalk that runs the length of our back yard.  And then there is this completely unnecessary alley way behind our yard.  Neither of these seemed like a big deal... then it stopped being winter.  In the Spring, kids want to play outside, people want to walk their dogs, families go on walks, people run outside... all things that seem normal to a person but were SO EXCITING for Gus and SO TERRIFYING for Lucy.  The barking.  It was a frequent thing.  They don't bark a lot... but every time something new happened in the neighborhood, they would both alert the entire street that "There was a squirrel that ran up a tree 6 houses down!"  Because they are nice puppies and they just wanted to make sure nothing went unnoticed.  Neighborhood watch.  They are it.

This is an old picture, but now that it's 70 degrees, Lucy sits right next to him to help watch the neighbors.

The barking at things was not a huge issue, but it scared the people who walked by since they don't know that Lucy would NEVER approach them and that Gus is a big softie.  So once it was NOT snowing anymore, we got started on fence things... quoting different companies, writing up the HOA application, talking to 4619672879266 people about the HOA application, and scheduling things.  And then it all worked out that our fencing arrived early and they could install it... on Saturday.  While Aaron was in Georgia for the Masters.

So on Friday night I drove our furry children to Mom and Dad Ballews.  It seemed ideal to have them out of the way for this.  There is no way they would have cooperated with being inside all morning when there were things going on outside.  It would have been a nightmare.  

Saturday morning, I woke up early so that I could run to Redbox and get myself some entertainment.  And then I heard a truck... and at 7:05, they started installing our fence!  So much for Redbox...

They worked crazy fast.  I was impressed.  I also was only partially paying attention... I got sucked into watching Downton Abbey.  And it is fabulous!

8 episodes later (don't judge me), we had a fence!  It took them about 7 hours and they only asked me 4 questions!  They just came in and did their thing and took off (with the rest of the payment... priorities).  And it looks awesome!

I went down and got the pups, went to dinner with the in-laws, and came home to let the dogs out... without their collars!!!!

Lucy was hesitant... as always.  Gus ran out into the yard and ran in circles trying to figure out what was going on.  But all of that quickly ended because they were just so tired.  So we went to bed.  Sunday morning, and really most of the day, was spent like this...

Sun bathing and resting.  And not barking at every passerby!

Happy Easter!

This is probably the first weekend in a while that left me more tired than when it started.  Holidays have that effect...

I spent most of the week baking and cooking for Easter.  I made 4 loaves of bread on Wednesday (I meant to make 2, but didn't completely read the recipe before adding ingredients), another loaf of bread on and Cidic (Slovak Easter cheese) on Friday.  I also made Chicken salad on Saturday morning for a potluck/clothing swap with some friends.  I was cooked out... and that isn't even that much cooking.  Good thing Aaron does a lot of the cooking in our house!

Paska bread and Cinnamon Walnut bread!

Cidic -  aka. cold scrambled eggs with extra milk and butter

We dyed Easter eggs on Thursday too!  Turns out, it is WAY less exciting when there are only 2 of you, you are both over the age of 10, and you only dye 12 eggs.  But we dyed them anyway!  It took a grand total of 10 minutes.  And yes, we used solo cups... we are classy like that.

We had our own Easter on Saturday.  We woke up far too early to take my car into the shop for an inspection before Aaron drives it down to the Masters and then we came back and enjoyed the traditional Liggett Easter breakfast!  With leftover wine from the night before...

The breakfast includes Cidic, Paska bread, kielbasa, ham, and a dyed egg with your name on it.  We added Cinnamon Walnut bread in case Aaron didn't like Paska bread.  Turns out, he's a big fan!  So the Cinnamon Walnut bread is probably out next year.  Too much work, not that good.

We also had our Easter egg war.  When we dye eggs, we each write our names on an egg with a white crayon before we dye it... so that once it's dyed, your name appears!  We made Gus and Lucy eggs too... because they are my children and I treat them like people.  At breakfast, you bash the eggs together on the ends and whoever's egg doesn't break wins!  You do this on both ends on the egg with everybody at the table until there is one egg left with at least one side left unbroken.  They win!  Gus won this year!  Aaron was sad...

This is the 3rd year in a row that the Egg War victory has eluded him.  Last year Lucy won and the year before that I won.  Maybe next year is his year... he's already planning his strategy.  He's far too into this.

After breakfast, I went to the clothing swap and Jeff came over to help Aaron put a back splash in our kitchen!

After the swap, we headed down to Mom and Dad Ballew's house for Easter!  Joel and Brent and their families were already there and we spent the night just hanging out with family (and watching UK lose... but we will not speak of such horrid events).

Easter morning was chaos.  8 adults, 3 kids, 5 dogs, 2 showers.  It was nuts.  Aaron and I brought the extra loaf of Paska bread and everybody ate it for breakfast and seemed to really like it!  After the madness was over, we went to church and came back for a delicious Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt!  It was perfect weather!  Aaron and I were in charge of hiding the eggs... 

After the eggs were found (and hidden and found again multiple times by the kids), Brent and Jessica left, Joel and Linetta and their kids napped and had quiet time (for the non-napper), and Aaron and I hung out on the back porch with Mimi and PopPop.  After a little while, we also packed up and headed home to do laundry and relax at home...

It was another great weekend... but I think I need another mini-break after all of the excitement!  Happy Easter and happy Spring!!!!