Patio, Front Walk & Fire Pit Makeovers

Poor Ryan caught a cold at church last Sunday that basically put us both out of commission last week. So I am definitely looking forward to catching up on things this week and enjoying time with my happy-again boy! There's is nothing sadder than a sick baby.

I planned to share this post last week, but here it is a little later- the finished product of our patio, front walk, and fire pit makeovers!

Goodness these before picture are rough. But we're so excited about how the finished product turned out and feel like our backyard and front walk is so welcoming now!

Patio Before

Bear in mind that this house was built in 1945 and looked like this and this when we bought it.

The word "random" is very fitting for a lot of the "befores" on this house. In the past five years, we've tried to blend the "random" or tear it up altogether and replace it with a fresh and new look. For this project, we decided to extend the patio so that it covered or replaced all of the dirt, concrete, and stone, so that the driveway now backs up right to the patio, without random gaps in between.

We also tore down the wall on the right so that the patin now opens up to the yard, and we covered the back wall with flagstone to match the rest of the patio.

Patio After

Fire Pit Before

Matt and my brother-in-law Jeremy built this fire pit a few summers ago (see that post here) and did a great job with it. The problem was that the stone around it (which was set- or not so set- with sand by our sod guy) was moving and weeds were growing in between the stone. We knew it would be so much cleaner and nicer if we reset the stone around the fire pit in cement and extended the area to fit more chairs.

Fire Pit After

Front Walk Before

We created this front walk with Matt's parents' help on one of our first major yard work days (that post here). When we first finished it, and for a few years after, it looked great! The problem was that I couldn't find the tiny stones anymore that had to be replaced every so often. And, as we learned, the larger stones were pretty much a safety hazard walking up to our front door because it was impossible to keep them in between the large flagstone pieces. So again, we wanted to set this in cement and decided to use this original flagstone in the back to extend the fire pit area and lay new flagstone here that would match the patio.

Front Walk After

We are SO happy with the turnout! Now I just want to get out and do a little planting and lay some pinestraw to finish it all off. 

I plan to be back with some recent meals posts and #nelsensdays posts later this week- see you then!

June's Mid-Month Confessions

First of all, thanks for all your sweet words on My Ten Favorite Posts. I know you were just wanting to win the giveaway ;) but I appreciate how sweet y'all were in your comments! The winner of the giveaway is at the bottom of this post!

Also, sorry I forgot to mention which day we'd be hosting the Mid-Month Confessions this month. Hopefully you still have some fun confessions ready to share! You can pretty much count on it always being on the 15th unless it falls on a weekend, in which case it will be the Friday before or Monday after- whichever is closer to the 15th.

Be sure to check out Elizabeth's confessions and all of the others in the link-up at the bottom of this post. If you don't have a blog but are feeling up for sharing your confessions, you can add them in the comments section- we'd love to hear them!

Okay, let the confessing begin:

1.

The other morning, I was holding Ryan as I was walking around the house looking for my bra (which sounds a lot sketchier than it was come to think of it), and, like I usually do, I was telling him what I was doing: "Ryan, mommy is looking for her bra." At which point, Ryan repeated, "Ba." Since I was in fact looking for a "bra" and not a "ba," I without hesitation repeated nice and slowly, "Brrra. Brrra," to which he repeated, "Ba." After a few too many rounds of this (mind you, I'm still walking around the house not even processing our conversation), I stopped and realized what I was doing. So proud mom moment- my 10 month old now knows how to say hi, bye, dada, mama, papa, Tal, and bra.

2.

Last Friday night, Matt and I had a date on our new patio (pictures to come later this week!). For dinner, we made not one, but two Red Barron pizzas that we cut into four triangles each. Just to give you the full picture, we were sitting on a blanket, Tal was laying in between us (because even though he had the entire yard, he wanted to be on our little blanket in between the two of us- oh Tal), and I had just dipped my third triangle of pizza into ranch dressing (tell me I'm not the only one who dips pizza in ranch?!) and was mid-bite when Matt said, "Can you imagine having to date right now?" I about spit out my food from laughing so hard. Considering I was working my way through almost an entire pizza (gross, I know, but those Red Barron's are just so darn GOOD!), my answer was NO, I cannot imagine dating right now. Matt and I ask that question from time to time (usually when it's a Friday or Saturday night and we're ready for bed in the nines), but something about his unintentional timing made me crack up and feel extra thankful that I found someone I could eat an entire pizza in front of and not think twice about it.

3.

On the same night, Matt and I both had dreams that Ryan was in the bed with us and was crawling toward the edge. First I dreamed it and grabbed poor Tal suddenly (yes, our 75lb dog sleeps in the bed with us). And then a few hours later Matt scared me to death when he grabbed me with both hands and held me tight before realizing I was not a baby falling off of the bed. The next morning we both cracked up at the irony and at our weird sleeping habits.

4.

A few nights ago I was ready for bed well before 9 and asked Matt if he could close the bedroom curtains because it was so bright outside.

5.

I bought Ryan a toothbrush and toothpaste after seeing my friend Andrea post a picture of her brushing her son's TWO teeth. Prior to seeing that picture I hadn't even thought about brushing Ryan's 7 teeth- two of which he's had for 6 months #momfail

6.

I told Matt this week that if I was 10 years younger and not married with a child and a dog, I would be okay with being the girl Sam Hunt is talking to in his "Take Your Time" song. And then I looked up the song and realized he wrote it about domestic violence and wanting to take a girl away from an abusive relationship. Which is great and commendable for sure, but totally ruined the song for me. I definitely had a different Rico-Suave-type guy meets a girl in a bar image in my mind. Definitely not what he was going for apparently.

Okay now it's time for you to link up your own confession posts below! And don't forget to add this button somewhere in your post! Just copy the HTML below the button, paste it in the HTML section of your post, and the button will appear in your post and allow your readers to link back to this page so they can see the other posts in the link-up.

<a href="http://notesfromthenelsens.blogspot.com/search/label/Confessions"><img src="http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz49/tricia_nae/Clients/MidMonthbuttonFinal_zpsf70f331f.png" border="0"></a>


And the winner of the $25 gift card is:

Congratulations, Ellen! 
Email me {notesftn@gmail.com} or leave a comment below letting me know which gift card you would like!

10 Months!

This past month has been SO fun! On top of getting to go on his first two trips, ride on a plane, play in the sand and swim in the pool, Ryan's little personality is really starting to show. He is saying more words, and maybe even cuter than the words he is saying is his attempt at saying words that are way too hard for him and come out as total misses after lots of concentration and effort- i.e. his cousin Jackson is BAAA. Sweet boo.


First plane ride


He loves to "talk" back and forth with repeated silly sounds and has started to initiate interactive games like, "Where is Ryan? PEEK!" and "How big is Ryan? SOOO Big!"

This month he has also started eating whatever we eat for dinner. Sometimes we eat early enough where we all eat together, and other times I make him a separate little bowl for the following night.



 The new meals and foods he's tried this month are:
lasagna
chicken divan
scallops
shrimp
Jamaican akee
quinoa
quinoa chips
papaya
grapes
greek yogurt
string cheese
garlic mashed potatoes
grits
hummus
stuffed peppers
mexican lasagna
sweet potato fries
fig bars
spaghetti
Island Soyaki Tilapia
Fig Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

(recipes for italicized meals found here)

Munching on shrimp and scallops in Turks & Caicos

He crawls super fast now and loved getting to climb the stairs at the beach a few weeks ago. He would make it up all four flights of stairs and banter to himself ("ba, sheesh, mmm, ma, dat, dada) the whole way up. Melt.

He has also gotten quite good at pulling up on anything and everything and will take some risks to let go for a few seconds on occasion.

He loves giving kisses and sometimes wipes his tongue all over your mouth when he leans in for a kiss. It is the funniest, cutest thing.

We visited my old school this past month and ate with the teachers in the teachers' lounge

I think Ryan thought he was a celebrity ;)

He loves my teaching buddy Lynn!

Sometimes when I go to get him after nap, he waves hi and I melt.

And speaking of waving hi, the grocery store might be his favorite place to greet people.

He was pretty fascinated by his first pool experience in Turks & Caicos! 

(More pictures of this trip here)

Saying hey on his first walk on the beach. :)

He loved watching the seagulls...

...and checking out the rocks around the resort. ;)

Me and my buddy on Mother's Day. :)

Swinging is one of his favorite things!

And park days make him extra sleepy :)

We visited Great Muggie and Great Papa one last time before they moved.

One Tuesday morning we went to Little Acorns at Avalon and Ryan got to meet Batman. He had so much fun playing and eating that he passed out on our walk back to the car, slept the whole way home, AND transferred to his crib...

...even his little waving hand was sleepy. :)

Open Gym with Grace!

A surprise park visit from daddy! Tal's face- hahah

I love the way he clasps his little fingers over the top. Sweet buddy. :)

This month he's started drinking out of my camelbak and loves it!

Watching the birds- love a nakey baby bottom :)

10 Month Photo Shoot!

Dates to Remember:

5/6- said "mama"

5/7- initiated "peek-a-boo" on plane

5/7- initiated copycat noises "ah"- "ah"

5/8- said "papa"

5/9- "said "up"

5/11- said "dada" (by far his favorite word right now!)

5/14- tried to say "apple"- "apppp"

5/16- "figured out how to clap (golf clap for the first couple of weeks! right hand still and facing up close to his chin and left hand clapping down on it)

5/18- crawled over to me, pulle dup and gave me a kiss multiple times without me asking. Melt.

5/20- "bye bye" when leaving the gym

5/25- did "How big is Ryan?!" all day

5/25- started fake laughing and fake coughing when other people laughed and coughed

5/27- hard laughing when I walked in front of him on the beach and then turned around to say, "PEEK!"