Happy Easter!

Saturday we went up to Waco to the zoo again. Lauren seemed to have a pretty good time. We got there late in the day so we didn't have time to do the whole zoo before they closed. We missed out on seeing the Bengal tigers, but we pretty much saw everything else. It's always a nice day when we go walk through the zoo.




We had a nice Easter. We woke up and went to Katrina's house for donuts, then went to church. Afterwards, we came home and had lunch, then Lauren opened her Easter basket before taking a nap. The rest of the day was spent hanging around the house.

Now we're just counting down the next week and a half before Lissa, Sarah, Evan and Ben get here. It's hard to stay patient, but we're doing our best, and we're keeping busy. Tonight we're going to go to Katrina's house for pizza. I need to start getting some party planning done for Lauren's birthday party, too. I think we'll probably grill some burgers and have bbq type food and a cupcake cake. Hopefully it doesn't snow again this year the day of her party.

Luke, the zoo, the countdown

Congratulations

Puccini family!

Luke Puccini

was born on

Monday,

March 17th.

Today, Lauren and I are headed to Waco to go to the zoo again. It looks like the weather is going to be nice and I'm ready for a good day out and about.

We are counting down to Ben's return home. We have less than two weeks. And Lauren will be TWO YEARS OLD two weeks from today! Yay! Lissa, Sarah and Evan will be here for Ben's return and to help us celebrate Lauren's birthday.

We don't have any plans yet for Easter, but Lauren is on the Easter Bunny's list with a basket of toys.

Trees and a froggie kiddie pool

After Skipper left, we had some rain. It was bad enough that one of the limbs that overhung the house broke off of the tree and hit the roof before landing in the driveway. Thankfully the roof held up. There was one shingle at the bottom edge of the roof above the driveway that ripped a little bit, but nothing to worry over. It did get our butts in gear, though, to have someone come out and remove the three dead oak trees. I called around and got five different estimates and a crew came out yesterday. Less than 5 hours and $1,000 later, my house looks naked. In the picture below, the three trees were on the left of the garage, you may be able to see the stump. The trees used to tower over the garage, they were as tall as the trees on the very left edge of the picture.



So this morning I will be making a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot. I need to buy some bushes, I'm going to put in a little hedge on that side now, about 3 feet from the driveway, close to the property line.

It was a tough week besides the tree. Lauren and I both caught some sort of stomach bug. She was sick on Monday and I was pretty bad on Thursday. But we're both feeling much better now.

Yesterday Lauren and I went to lunch with Katrina, Katherine and Ethan. We did a trip to Lowe's and then Walmart and came home to a new yard. In the afternoon we went to Katherine's house so Lauren and Ethan could play in the kiddie pool. We didn't stay too long, but Lauren loves the water, as usual, and had a great time.

We are still waiting to hear Ben's leave dates. Hopefully he'll be home in three weeks for Lauren's birthday. But even if he misses it, we'll just be happy to have him here.

Skipper and the lawn, naturally.

Lauren and I drove to Austin on Sunday and met up with Charity. We picked up Skipper at his hotel and then went to dinner at Papasito's. It was delicious. After dinner we said good-bye to Charity and then headed back to the house. Skipper spent two days working on things in the yard. He rebuilt our fence on the side of the house.

It had been so tilted that I couldn't open it because the bottom corner would just dig into the ground. He also mowed and edged the yard and put down weed n feed with ant killer. Yay! Thank you so much, Skipper! He also fixed my car since my check engine light came on the day before he got here. There was a hose that had split and he replaced it. My car was getting only about 14 miles to the gallon with that broken hose, I'm so glad I barely drove it and had Ben's car to drive instead. Now I'm back up to my nearly 30 mpg.

Yesterday the weather here was bad, rainy and really really cold. One of the branches on a dead tree on the side of our house broke off and hit the roof. Only one shingle was damaged, but it still is not fun to deal with. I'm trying to get recommendations from our realtor and friends and neighbors of someone to come remove the trees. Last time we got an estimate it was somwhere around $1000 per tree. Ouch. That's pretty expensive, but replacing the roof would be expensive too. Thank goodness no one was parked in my driveway when the branch fell.

This morning Lauren and I got up and found snow on the ground. It's melted already, but it was neat to see. I'm ready for warmer weather, though.

And a picture of Lauren just because I want to post it: