KOHL'S
Before I forget, I got 30% at Kohl's. For those of you without a Kohl's charge, this won't matter, but for those of us who do ~~~ YAHOO!!! :~) Remember if you spend $75 your shipping is free (even if you return most of that $75 worth of merchandise. . . ) So, here is the code for online shopping ~ SAVE30KC

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous ~ well Saturday could've been a little warmer but yesterday was beautiful and I think this is the earliest I have ever cut away the dead flowers from the year before! That's a debatable thing ~ do you leave the foliage on the plants to protect them over the winter or not. I do and I hate this time of year every year. . . It was nice though that the boys can help with some of it now. In fact, Brayton said he would do "anything" if we could have a garden. . . I just might put him up to that! We could get some black dirt and do a smaller raised garden, but we wouldn't be able to use the tractor which is okay with me because that is how the gardens tend to get out of hand :~) (size-wise). While I was cleaning out plants, Chris cleaned out the shed ~ the lady bugs seemed to like the shed for their final resting place. It was so nice yesterday (speaking of bugs) that when I had burned all the dead stuff and was relaxing on our outdoor swing, I could hear a fly buzzing around! Sheesh, we can't even enjoy one nice day bug-free! It felt so good to be swinging with the afternoon sun on my face, so warm and cozy, with the smell of campfire coming my way every now and then. . . hehe Brayton just couldn't get over that Taite was in the house on such a beautiful day! We aren't sure what he was doing all by himself, but we could hear him hooting & hollering through the patio door every once in awhile, so we were a little afraid to check on him! LOL

The Grill
For Chris' birthday I was going to surprise him with a new grill. I was so proud of myself for thinking of this (the last birthday gift I gave him that I did all this research on was a HIT! If you ever need to get your special someone a cordless drill, go with a Panasonic! It's yellow, not as many volts as some, but will hold it's own and has been around our house/projects for about 5 years or so now!), but after checking with some other grill aficionados I know and doing some online research, I had NO IDEA what to get!!! Did you know you can spend up to $8000 on a grill??? Not that I was going to, but then that poses the question, how much do I have to spend to get a "good" grill. . . I had already told the boys that we were going to get Chris a grill for his birthday and that us 3 (Taite, Bray and I) were going to go shopping for it this last weekend. I also told them if they told their dad I would have to kill them (of COURSE they knew I was joking because we were laughing and talking about it in the van on Friday, but Brayton must've thought there was some truth to it). On Saturday we decided to get some returns and shopping done (for whatever reason, a bunch of our recessed lights burned out recently, so we desperately needed those). :~) We were all in Menards looking at grills when Brayton discretely tapped my side and started to walk away. I turned and looked at him and asked him where he was going and he said "no where" and then he did it again. What the heck?? So, Chris moved onto some grills in the next aisle and I moved down in the aisle we were in when Brayton carefully leaned towards me and whispered "I thought we were going to get dad a grill for his birthday" (kind of talking out of the side of his mouth ~ hehe). I explained that I had already told Chris my idea because I really had no idea which one to get and was completely confused. . . He understood, but it was just too funny at the time!

The House
It's so nice that the boys are getting older and we can have the house all picked up and clean for a week now! I know, that is embarrassing to admit, but you know how the island will pile up with papers and mostly junk mail, the living room will have discarded sweatshirts and a sock or two, but we have had the house clean for over a week now and it feels so good! The boys are really doing their part too, which is nice because it takes the pressure off of Chris and I. The only thing is that I feel like this is the calm before the storm because with summer coming (I know, we just officially started spring) we are going to be very busy outside and keeping the inside of the house clean will be a challenge. I'm so excited to get our yard going though on the fire pit and landscaping. The trouble is that most of what we plan on doing is going to be in the backyard.