The pavers in front of the pool and along the border.

More pictures on flickr for you to enjoy!

The school we chose is exactly what I would have dreamed up if I had. It is so warm and inviting. Children seemed respectful and dignified. The playground looks fun and the teachers seem very nice. The teacher that Annie and Kimberly will have has been teaching there around 30 years!

So later this month I will be enrolling our two precious first borns into preschool for the fall. I sit here typing this through tears. The time really does fly by and this is a huge advancement in their lives for me. I know I have to let them go, they are ready, but am I?

In the past my life changed in one moment. It was the scariest day of my life. I am so thankful that this happened to her while we were awake. I don’t want to even contemplate the outcome had we not been.

I have a relative whose son passed away this Sunday night. I cannot imagine their pain as they deal with this situation. I think of them often and lift them up in prayer. Always wondering why them or why in the night when they couldn’t help. (Sorry I am not provide more details but it is not my story, I am just writting about my reflections.) I pray his parents and surviving triplet sisters find peace.

In other news the sod is finally here and should be installed tomorrow.

I took the 3 ladies to buy the flowers. This was a nice experience and they all picked out some special ones. We bought them and headed home. We had to go to dance class so we left the flowers and we were planning to plant them after rest time. (Yeah I call it rest time now. No sense in thinking that these kids would nap anymore.)

The kids got up from rest ready to go. As I mentioned the other day Kimberly really wants to be a landscaper when she grows up and was very interested in shoveling rocks and digging holes. Since the laborers just piled the rock up in the area it had to be moved and that was quite the daunting task to this housewife. I am strong, but 3 ladies helping really complicates things. You can see the piles of rock in the above picture.

We got the rocks out of the way, dug the hole, and planted these plants. Anybody with a guess on how long that took? Anybody say over a half hour! It really gives new meaning to the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen.” I decided that I was going to need backup and we waited for Daddy to come help us move rocks and plant the other 2 beds.

While picking out plants for the garden the Girls came across parsley. They wanted to buy it for Nacho, their guinea pig. How could I resist? Here is the parsley.

Unfortunately the sod will not be being delivered tomorrow as expected. They said Thursday or Friday. I hope it is Thursday. The pool area is completely done. It looks great!

Kimberly, our little supervisor, has been out there the entire time. She loves to watch the men work and told me today that she wants to be a digging guy when she grows up. She is so silly I bet she will change that idea the first time she digs a huge hole.

Here is our yard before the laborers arrived.

Here is is after the demo and with the trenches.

Their lunch is over so they are back out there working.

Bill and I finally decided that it was detracting from our time at home. We didn’t like the look of the yard so we basically avoided it. Just like when you have a terribly dirty spare room that you just close the door on so you don’t have to see it. We used to love to spend time with the kids out there but now we didn’t. Something had to be done. Long gone are the days that Bill and I can spend 20 hours on a weekend working out in the yard putting in sprinkler lines or laying sod. We knew we needed help.

We decided to get some estimates and find out what would work for us. We signed a contract on Saturday and they will be coming to do the work tomorrow. They will be done in 3 days!!! I was so shocked to know how quickly this transformation will take place. We are so excited to have a wonderful space in our yard to enjoy our family. I will post pictures of the before and after. I think it is going to be so wonderful.

Apparently you have to brush it down 3 to 4 times per day to make sure it will be nice and smooth. Let me tell you it would have been nice to have a nice cool pool to jump into after scrubbing that thing down for a half hour.

Now you may fill the pool with your tears.

I had to catch a picture of the girls. The pool construction photos are not complete without these pics. The girls have LOVED each phase. They love to go out and watch the “worker guys.”

If you click on the gallery of photos you will also see the 3 dolphins that we have placed on the steps. One for each girl.

Annie so proud of her pool and so ready to swim!!

If you are one of our friends or family you can check out the first skinny dipping in our pool! HERE So cute!!!

Tomorrow they will be doing the gunite/shotcrete!!!

Almost time to bust out the bathing suits!!!!!

(not sure if I could have used more exclamation points. )