Getting Deeper into my 50's

Well it's my birthday today....and it's been a wonderful birthday weekend! I've been able to celebrate for 3 days now. Friday, Bob and I went to a friend's daughter's wedding (Mitch & Diane Maurer's daughter, Erin) and then went out to dinner at the Outback and then to the movie, "Switch" with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. It was a cute show....and dinner was great! We loved having an actual "date night" which seem to come few and far between so we appreciate them even more!

Saturday, we went out as a family to Spaghetti Factory!!! Always a fun place to go. We reminisced a couple of times about going to the Spaghetti Factory every time Grandpa Everton came to town so it will ALWAYS hold special memories because of that. Then the "girls" (Ksenia, Mal and I) went and tried to see the movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" with Julia Roberts but halfway through the movie the fire alarm went off and the whole theatre had to be evacuated! They said we could get a free ticket for our inconvenience and then we could also go back in and see the rest of the movie where it left off as soon as the fire department cleared the building and OK'd everyone to return. So....after a short delay, we went back in and watched, maybe 5 minutes more of the movie and the alarm went off AGAIN!!!!! I know!! How often does this happen??? Never! So this time we received ANOTHER free movie ticket and called it quits and went home. So.....we still haven't seen the end of the movie.....BUT we have TWO FREE MOVIE TICKETS!!!! Ksenia lucked out in a way because she is actually reading the book right now and was a little unsure about wanting to see the movie until she had read the book. We had to leave the movie right at the point she had read the book so now she can finish the book before she finishes the movie. It was still fun to be out with Mal and Ksenia!

Then, today, my ACTUAL Birthday, Zach, Ksenia and Lucas came over for dinner and brought with them the MOST DELICIOUS Blackberry Cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust!!!! It was my request for a birthday cake and it was EVERYTHING I could have wanted. Bob grilled chicken for dinner and we had a delicious meal and Mal did dishes for me. I also enjoyed phone calls from my wonderful brother, Mark!!! and also from my kids, so it couldn't have been a better day!

I hope to just keep celebrating through next week when we have ALL the kids back together for the HOOD TO COAST!!! Watch for a report of this exciting event to come!!!!

It's Time to Start Again!

Well, it has been over a year since we've posted anything to this blog and so it's time to START AGAIN and keep our family blog going.

To start with, we are in the middle of a huge renovation project of our front yard. I wish I had taken a "before" picture of our yard, but sadly, I didn't, so those of you who are familiar with our home need to remember what it used to look like. There were two HUGE pine trees in our front yard that made it so very little of the house was really visible from the front. We also had a maple tree to the left side that grew like a weed. We would cut it back and before we knew it, it would have grown as big or bigger than before and started taking on strange shapes. We also had some big bushes lining our driveway on the right and arborvitae around the deck and at the sides of the house on both sides. Our deck used to be similar but a little smaller, but had seen it's better days and it needed to go.

SO, with the help of many friends, we have rebuilt our deck, which we LOVE. It is built out of Timber Tech which is the material that you never have to refinish and is very durable. We also built the deck so it could be easier for Beau to navigate having handrails all the way down on both sides.

Then, we also decided to clear our front yard and start a new landscaping plan. The trees provided us with wonderful shade and privacy, BUT the roots were pushing up the deck, our driveway, and sidewalks, and we were afraid our foundation would come next. The roots are the size of some tree trunks. They also were so shady and dropped so many pine needles that nothing could grow well underneath them. They also were extremely MESSY!!!! I will not miss constantly sweeping and vacuuming pine needles and buds from my house. It was a sad day the day they came down because it was like saying good bye to old friends, but it's giving us a feeling of starting over with something better now. It's hard to move on and accept change when you've been used to the same thing for so long, but change is a good thing and a time of renewal! This is something we need right now because of all the other changes we've gone through as a family this past year, with Beau's health.

So if you drive into our cul de sac and wonder where our house went, look closer....it's still there but looks very different because you can actually see it!

I will continue to try to post new information more frequently and use this as a way for you to keep up on Beau's progress. More about him next time!