New playscape!

Oh boy!! We have a new playscape! The girls are loving it, the neighbors are loving it, and I am loving it because everyone is outside! It took us FOREVER to get the thing together, the girls were all about helping hand us boards and screws. We put down a weed mat and edged it in. Then we are in the process of filling it with pea gravel. We need to get another truck load. We had heard that it is better to fill it with pea gravel than mulch because the pea gravel can absorb some of the impact if the kids were to fall. The playscape has a place where the monkey bars would go, but we are going to get another slide to put there. Sure don't need the neighbor kids falling! We are so fortunate and blessed that the girls are each other's very best friend. They do absolutely everything together and it just warms my heart. I have said it before...not having a sister, I didn't know what this whole sisterhood bond was about and how very early it begins.

Here are the girls sitting on the picnic bench that is underneath the fort.

This is Lee up in the sky fort putting things together.

The girls and me putting the glider together. The glider is Claire's favorite and she can make it go way to high for my comfort!
This is the girls with their friend Bali that came over to check things out.


Here are Claire and the neighbor Rachel trying to help Lee with the pea gravel.


The girls having fun with the neighbors having a contest to see who can go the highest. Great...

Someone reading this, help me PLEASE!!
Bentley has been destructively chewing things! He chews up my patio furniture, he chewed on the girls' picnic table. Anything plastic that is left in the yard is chewed up into tiny splinters of plastic. Here, he chewed through our extension cord one morning, unplugged of course.

So, upon further investigation, I figured out why the the rain sensor to the sprinkler system doesn't work....Bentley chewed through that too!
I do not know what to do! I have gotten advice on spraying the Bitter Apple spray, doesn't work for us...someone told me to rub Tabasco sauce on things.....okay...extension cords too? Right! I think he chews out of boredom during the day when he is outside. I have tried getting him the interactive toys that you hide treats in, well, he rips them to shreds trying to get to the middle to get the treat out, instead of being a good boy and rolling it around and seeing what happens. I am truly at wits end with his chewing. He turned a year old in December, so I know we are looking at 6-12 more months of this. UGH!

Of course, I love that dog to death! Just wanted you to see that he is still in one, happy, piece! I haven't dismantled him yet! ha, ha!


Lee finished his bookcases. We got them moved inside. They are looking good. He had the cabinet doors specially made to fit his dimensions. They just lack a coat of varnish and then I will post pictures!

Oh! And if you haven't heard....the Leander/Cedar Park area is getting a new Schlitterbahn!!! We are soooo excited! The city passed it on Thursday. It will be a $360 million resort! Some of the hotel/cabin rooms will look like treehouses, up off the ground. Looks pretty cool. Most of it can be covered with a retractable roof, so that it can be enjoyed while it is cool outside! It will take a couple of years to finish, but I expect all of our friends and family to come check it out with us!! Free place to stay! our house!

Road Trip

We just got back from a great "trip" to Lee's parent's house. We had a really good time. I am not sure who had more fun, the girls? or Bentley? Brenda and the girls made a gingerbread house together. The girls thought that was pretty neat.



This is Corinne at Olive Garden, being silly.

And Claire.
Brenda is going to be teaching a basket weaving class at San Angelo University during the Spring semester. We were cutting and counting reeds for the students to use. Everyone was in on helping!
Corinne thought she looked like a Longhorn.

Even Lee.
And Claire helped.
Lee has been busy trying to get the bookcases finished for his study. Last night he was in the garage sanding everything down and made quite a mess. So, I took a picture of him. By the way, there is sawdust EVERYWHERE!!! We are going to need hurricane force winds to come through there to get all the dust out!