The Party That Never Quits

Since moving onto our block, we've been having fun playing house and tidying up the place. It's like living in  cubby house, and so far the novelty of that hasn't worn off.

There's a lot of wild grass stuff that needs to be hacked away before we can do anything, so that has taken up the most of our time outside. I mowed the entire front lawn on Tuesday, which took me a good three hours or so. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a relatively guilt free tan (since I was working) only sort of forgot about using lotion and subsequently fried my back. It's finally started to blister and peel today, so Adam is having a great time seeing how large the pieces of skin can be when pulled off. I'm letting him, because oh my gosh, the ITCH, and it's stopping that.

We were very blessed when friends of ours mentioned that they had acquired some old ride on mowers that they were going to fix up, and offered us first dibs. Adam hastily accepted, and today was able to play with his new toy. He managed to mow a substantial part of the back area of the lawn before a belt gave way, but he is incredibly delighted to have something that will make the yard work so much more easier.

The rain has finally remembered where it supposed to be, so we have been able to see how our tarpaulin is standing up to the wind and water. It is incredibly loud, especially at night, when the wind picks it up and so on and so forth, but that can't be helped if we want the water to drain off it. When we first put it up, we had it all nice and neat and lovely. Unfortunately, during a night of large quantities of rain, the water all pooled and weighed it down to the point it was nearly touching the ground! Adam and I were up at 3 in the morning trying to empty it before it broke everywhere. It was rather amusing. Normally, in any other circumstance, I'd be irritated, but knowing that it was going to be one of the stories that we'd look back on when remembering building our very first home, it made it very easy to laugh through it.

The kids are learning their surroundings, and have staked claim to a particular tree that Troy has already fallen out of. They've hooked up a swing, and quite often I see them perched up there in the branches with their drawing pads. Since there is not a lot else for them to do, they have taken to reading more, performing puppet shows and writing stories. They are good at staying in our yard, even when close to the road (we live in a cul-de-sac, so nice and quiet) since we don't have a fence yet, and are enjoying not having restrictions placed on them about where they can and can't play. They are totaly delightful in their enthusiasm for picking wild fowers for me... it makes me sad that we have to mow them all down.

The cats have settled in, they like being under the containers during the heat of the day, or under the cars during the late afternoon, and are indside with us during the evenings and nights. I am so much more aware of how much they scratch my furniture though!

In all, it's been a fun almost three weeks. It seems unreal that it's only been that long... it seems like ages already. It also makes the fact that i've ploughed my way through three series of Bones already slighly more intervention worthy. The kids are back to school in 15 sleeps, and then our routine can become a little more regimented. For now, we are just enjoying the laid back, do as we please rhythm we've got going :)