Meet the pets

Last week we decided we hadn't had fish in awhile and needed some more. So Liam and Riley bought a fighting fish each...meet "Swimmy" and "Sammy". They are a gorgeous royal blue and teal. At the pet store they were oohing and awwing over any other pet they saw. "Do you think Daddy would EVER let us have a hamster?" Knowing their dad has never had one, and just thinks of them as stinky rodents, I told them..."Well, you'd have a much better chance if you let mom ask him, instead of you all begging and pleading". Sure enough, dad gave the ok, and on Saturday we brought home our first REAL pet, Nibbles. Oh my goodness the boys are so in love with her! I only let them take her out in the bathroom so she can't run away, or if they put her in the clear ball. She is a squirmer...mostly cuz she's little. I think only 2 months old. So far hasn't been a biter. Thank goodness, as one of the pet stores we went to had one hamster that they wouldn't even sell us cuz it was such a nasty biter, so I got really nervous! So wish us luck. Who knows, if this goes well, we might work up to a puppy...give us a few years! The boys are seriously all joy and giggles this week with the hamster, I can't even imagine how much fun they'd have with a dog! Aww.

Side yard

We have been working on our yard since we moved in! We started by taking out some rotten decks four years ago. I don't know how many square feet the side deck was, but it was HUGE! It had layers of rotten plywood as a surface, and though the boys loved to skateboard and bike on it, it was a safety hazard (and an eyesore) and needed to go. As you can see in the last picture, it left us with a very large hole. It was maybe 4ft deep in some places. We started filling that hole with a concrete sidewalk (from another project), with clippings, etc. Last summer we found a contact who owns a dump truck and has lots of dirt. He dropped a whole load in our front yard which Greg and I wheel-barrowed to the back. It wasn't quite enough. We really wanted to level the yard back there and raise it a bit between the back deck and the pond so there wasn't so much of a drop. On Tuesday we got our second dump truck load of dirt. Greg and I have been working away at it. He mostly shovels and I'm mostly spreading and rolling and picking out rocks. I think this second dump load might just do it. Then we still will need top soil and grass...possibly some landscape ties and rocks, but I can almost see the end in sight! Don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to do landscaping! We did a tiny little job in Calgary on our postcard stamp yard, but it was worth every hour of sweat as we had a beautiful green lawn in the end. I will make sure to take some pictures of the middle stage we're in here, with the hole filled. Pre-grass. Then you all will be able to ooooh and awwww with me when I reveal the final pics. Time to warm up my rice bag! Greg and I are sore!