The Project Continues... Successfully!

Our privacy screen project continued this past weekend!

With much success!

 

Click Here

To see more 'before' pictures,

Project Step 1: Buy Materials, and

Project Step 2: Remove Remaining Tree Stumps

 

 

Our weekend was extremely busy, so I didn't get to take a picture of every step!

 

Project Step 3: Buy More Materials

Casey bought posts Friday and unloaded them Saturday.

He bought concrete on Saturday so the humidity wouldn't have time to mess it up!

 

 

Project Step 4: Dig Holes for Posts

 

Casey digging holes at lightning speed! 

Before the sun went down Friday!

 

 

Project Step 5: Build the Privacy Screen!

I can't believe I have no pictures of Casey and my wonderful Daddy

putting this perfectly staight fencing up! 

They did such a good job and in good spirits!

They worked hard and fast (despite the mosquitos)

and had this up within a few hours!

All while listening to Gamecock football on the radio :)

 

 

Project Step 6: Finishing Touches

Sunday after church the men put up a few

connecting boards between the fencing pieces

while I made lunch!

 

Project Step 7: Buy Plants for Landscaping

Casey and I went shopping Sunday evening for plants to put along the fence.

We planted a medium-sized Emerald Green Arborvitae

(evergreen like Leyland Cypress) at the front end of the fence

to hide the gap between the wood and metal fences. 

 

We decided to keep it simple the rest of the way....

1 Butterfly-like bush area,

3 Small Emerald Green Arborvitaes

and 3 Knockout Roses.

We will alternate the trees and roses and add tons of pinestraw.

  

Plants out in front of the fence.

 

Roses

 

 

To Be Continued.....

Project Step 8: Plant Plants and Put Out Pinestraw

 

Ready for planting!

 

 

Oh, and our realtor is e-mailing pictures to all of the agents who have shown our house before just in case they may still be interested.  I hope we can get some more good pictures while the roses are still in bloom!

 

Extra Special Thanks to my Mom and Dad for everything they did for us this weekend!

We couldn't have done it without them!

 

The nieghbor's yard has continually brought us negative feedback...

Please pray that this privacy screen makes a difference!

 

<>< Stacy

 

A Blessed Week

This week has been full of blessings!

Baby girl has somehow repositioned herself into a higher place! 

I am in much less pain, sleeping better, and am enjoying her a lot more :)

 

I am now 24 weeks pregnant!

Baby kicks around a lot more (and a lot higher!)

 

  We were blessed with some Pre-school homeschool supplies and some baby girl clothes this week!  Both are a tremendous blessing! Thank you so much to our church friends!

I got to catch-up with some close friends.

 

I got some GREAT coupon grocery deals this week!

 

Thanks to couponing, I have Ginger Ale again!

(Must be a pregnant thing)

It seriously made my week better.

 

Casey is coming home early today!

 

I have a wedding and rehearsal this weekend!
Yay for extra income!

 

My parents are coming tomorrow to help us build a privacy screen!

This gives me a *little bit* of renewed hope

that our house *might* sell within a few months.

 

Michael is still anxious to feel baby girl kick.

He is becoming very sweet hugging, rubbing, and loving on my tummy!

He even makes sweet comments on the baby girl clothes :)

(It makes up a little bit for missing Casey through this pregnancy)

 

I have felt so happy this week! 

I was even able to laugh through:

Christopher removing his diaper from under his shorts and peeing on the floor ?!?, Christopher knocking his other front tooth out of place, Michael throwing a huge [loud] bedtime fit, Christopher being a big grump (more than once), the boys' new favorite thing to do:  fake cry (more like WAILING for fun), and many other little mishaps that sometimes drive me crazy!

 

I just feel blessed this week.

 

<>< Stacy

 

* Will try to post some pictures soon! *

 

 

 

 

 

The project begins...

You've probably heard about our 2 showings lately. 

Here's the feedback:

 

Adorable house! But the neighbor beside them killed it with that metal shed in the back. That yard was terrible too. My client really liked it but wouldn't consider it because of the next door neighbors. Sorry... we talked about [a privacy screen], but even a 6 ft fence wouldn't shield that, plus the front yard was a mess too.
It's a shame the neighbors allow that.

 

Great house! However, my clients immediately ruled it out because of the neighbor's backyard. Privacy fence?

It is SO frustrating when something is

preventing your house from selling,

but you have NO control over it!

 

With that being said,

we have decided to build a privacy screen

between our yard and the neighbors' yard.

_____________________________________________

 

So here is a Before shot (what we need to hide):

 

 View from our backyard

* Future Privacy Screen *

 

 View from the front and our bedroom window

 

_____________________________________________

 

Aside from that view, our backyard is quite nice!

Lots of green, grassy area.

 

Our backyard

 

Another corner...

 

The other neighbors' yard  :)

 

____________________________________________

 

Operation 'build a privacy screen' 

 

 

Project Step 1: Buy materials

 

Fencing

 

Project Step 2:  Remove remaining tree stumps

(the neighbors had some trees cut down and never completed this project)

 

Casey and the neighbor cutting down tree stumps

 

The boys watching from inside :)

 

Lovey Giraffe, Lovery Girl, Donatello, and Spiderman joined us.

 

Success!

 

Stay tuned for Steps 3+ this weekend!

 

Oh, and in case you were wondering,

the metal shed existed when we bought the house. 

The pool and excessive gardens did not. 

*sigh*

 

Please pray for us!

 

<>< Stacy



Taking Care of Business!

I don't really know if we have 'officially' started potty training,

but we have definitely jumped in!

 

Christopher loves to sit on the potty.

For weeks, his Sunday School teachers have been

telling us that he asks to sit on the potty (with no success).

 

Even though he is willing, we have little to no success at home, too.

He just sits and sits and sits.

 

I'm probably going to have to try something more drastic

like putting him in underwear until he realizes when he has to go

(and just cleaning up the messes).

 

I must admit though, he IS rather cute!

 

 

Michael sweetly keeps him company (in hopes he can earn a treat too).

Reading together

 

He did have a few drops of success on Sunday.

We celebrated with rocket balloons!

 

About to release the balloons!

 

Sooooooooooooo excited!

Sweet brothers :)

 

 Spiderman keeps him company too....

 

Wish us luck! 

 

Potty Training is a lot of work!

 

<>< Stacy

Boys being Boys

We've had some great weather lately!

You'll find us outside on those days.......

 

This picture is an example of why Christopher

is always covered in bruises, scratches, busted lips, and other injuries.

 

I think he just wants to be like big brother!

 

Boys playing rough.

 

Always on the move!

 

After they got some energy out, we had pre-school time outside.

Michael was confused at first -

according to him, you CAN'T have school outside!

Oh please!  That's the fun of schooling at home!

 

We drew pictures of things that started with the letter "Ff"

and practiced writing uppercase and lowercase.



Michael practicing his letters under our 'Family'

 

In case you were wondering, the family picture includes:

Celia (cat), Casey, Me, Christopher,

Michael with a gerbil in each hand (Coffee and Toffee),

Petey, Bear, and Baby.

 

Proud of himself!

 

Working together

 

Putting gas in the lawn mower...

 

On the move again!

 

Riding bikes together (although Christopher cannot keep up)!

 

Exploring an empty box ?

 

And I got to relax and read the Bible.

'Lovey Girl' must have liked the reading - she kicked up a storm!

 

Mommy reading.

 

Of course this post would not be complete

without mentioning a yummy dinner:

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

Yum!

 

 

<>< Stacy

 

Fun!

A few snapshots of the week...

 

Michael and Christopher call this pink lovey "lovey girl"

in addition to calling the baby "lovey girl". 

This is what we will let them bring to the hospital when she is born!

They are very excited about that!

 

I found Michael cuddled up to "lovey girl"

Michael built these 3 'robots' -

A Mommy, a Daddy, and a Baby :)

 

Monster stickers = M W for Michael Wiley

My niece, Violet, came over and played!

 

Well, they almost cooperated!

 

Violet as a Gamecock!

(She and Michael picked this - I had nothing to do with it!)

 

 

Happy Weekend!

We have fun plans as a family :)

 

<>< Stacy

Can I pray for you?

Prayer

 

Prayer is our daily communication with God.

We greet Him with thanksgiving.

We share our requests, BIG and small.

We beg for answers (even if we aren't really listening).

 

Sometimes we do it just to say we did,

or tell people we will and barely give it a second thought.

We set aside 'prayer time' instead of LIVING in prayer,

or we say the right words without the heart behind it.

 

Sometimes we're just too busy to remember,

or we feel too far from God.

But God is always there,

and He is always listening.

____________________________________________

 

In my new role as a Stay-at-home-Mom,

I have had a lot more time to reflect on the most important areas in my life,

and I am committed to strengthening my prayer life.

 

This is a picture of my new prayer request journal.

 

 

 Prayer Journal

 

 

The inside cover ~ encouraging Bible verses on prayer.

 

 

My prayer requests are listed on the pages that follow.

I review them often.

No request is too big or too small.

In fact, I might already be praying for you!

 

I am determined to live in prayer.

 

 

Can I pray for you?

 

<>< Stacy