DONE!!! Officially!

Holy crap I'm exhausted. Curtis and his guys just left after finishing our yard. 2 days to do it and YAY I am excited. I really wish I had the energy to plant my flowers in the front... LOL! But I helped seed the lawn and spread straw all day. So here are the results... for those of you in CA (my hubby) and not close by to see it!

Side Yard - from the middle of yard

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Side yard again from front corner of lot

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Back of house from other side:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The front and driveway:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Time for a strong drink and some time to relax... then back to life as usual... weddings to edit! :)

Changes

Well, the time has come to retitle the blog... the house is built, the old house sold, so this blog no longer has anything to do with the "house". BUT with in the walls of this new house, resides a family full of craziness to a level that most just can't relate. So, with that, I changed the name of the blog. Over and over again, I find myself explaining the chaos that is my life as "its a Brennan thing". I have never seen some of these idiosyncrasies anywhere else but within the Brennan Family. That is not to say that I don't love all of this... but the adjustment is proving to be entertaining! My 2 children may look like me... but I assure you that their behavior comes directly from their father's bloodline!

I am blessed to have the family that I have and even to have the stories that we share... but I guarantee you that most people don't have half of the stories we have! I always say I'm going to write a book... but this will have to do! And it all started 4 1/2 years ago when we had kids. I'll touch a bit on the past in the next few posts just to give you an idea of where all of this is going!

Sorry! Its been a while!

Well, this blog was started as a "home building blog" so I'll start there. Here is the one update I can show you... wahoo... we're official!!!!:

And the other is the laundry sink we added in the laundry room. Lenny did that a couple months ago... and wow, I never knew how much I'd appreciate one of these! I'll try to take a picture, but I promise you its not nearly as exciting in a picture as it is in real life!

So... this is what the kids do in their spare time:

And this is what Mommy does in hers:

My goofball peanut... love this face!
And the newest chapter in the Brennan lives... Benjamin starts Taekwando!

He got his uniform, so I'll repost pictures on Wednesday after his first "official" class! YAY BEN! He did great!

K... Mrs. Friend.... QUIT STALKING ME! I updated, are you smiling now!?!?! :)

Vacation - Massanutten Resort, McGeyesville, VA

We had a busy fun week... and celebrated our 5 year anniversary at Massanutten Resort in Virginia. Here are pictures. We would definitely recommend this place to anyone, with or without kids!

Caitlyn and Lenny mapping out the week for us.

Our little man, just chillinThe indoor waterpark... look closely, you'll see Lenny and Ben!
Me and my precious pea... bathin beauties! Pic from the outside of the waterparkSlip Slidin Away...Tubin'... the boys.
Splish Splash
Cheese... they love each other!
What a ham... she just loves the water now!
Shenandoah Caverns Lenny and Ben in the cave
Me an Caitlyn, cavin'
Rainbow Lake... or something like that... really pretty though!
My kiddos... love em!
Bacon anyone?The kiddos went home with Mima... and then there were 2!

Snow tubin' SOOO much fun!
Wheeeeeee!!
Mwah... back at the water park...
Hats we made the kids after they went home... crazy like them! YAY for vacation and YAY for 5 years!

Forgot to post... 2nd ring update!

Well, after the one wedding band... um... surfaced in a diaper full of poo, we were hopeful to find the e-ring the same. Well, not hoping to have it covered in poo, but we were sure it was in there. Sunday was the 2 week mark and when Lenny changed her stinky diaper and there was nothing in it, he asked "what did you do with mommy's bigger ring with the diamond?". She told him that it "went downstairs. So to humor him he said "show me".

She took him straight into our bedroom and pointed to the floor vent and said, its downstairs. It was in the vent! So she did, in fact, eat one, but not the other. Makes sense... her original story was "I ate it, the it went downstairs (which we took to be in her belly), and then they were all gone".
KIDS!

If Caitlyn does nothing else right...

She sure does tell the truth! We recovered 1 of the 2 rings that she swallowed today! Thank goodness for me she waited to poop till Lenny got home. Now, she still has to pass the bigger one. Thank God we at least know that she really did eat them and they are lost somewhere.

Lets hope the engagement ring comes out as easy as my wedding band!

(Ugh, who in the world actually has to deal with this stuff... just US!)

Today we lost a member of our family...

Rest in Peace Simba, you'll be missed!!!
1995-February 11, 2009

Today I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my adult life. We have had pets all the time growing up... and that meant that yes, eventually they all pass away. But that was always my parent's jobs to deal with it. Today we had to make the decision to take Simba to the vets.

In his prime, he weighted 21lbs! Today at the vets, he was 2.8lbs. He was too weak to walk more than a step or 2 before and was on a downward spiral health wise. The vet said he had a great heart (I knew that) and his lungs were okay too, but then gave me the news that Simba is just old and that there is a definite chance that even if they tested him, he would have something that in the end would be terminal.

So there I was in the cold room, with my best pet ever, Simba. We decided together that the suffering had gone on long enough. I could see it in his eyes that he was okay with it. It was his time and as I held him in my arms, Simba was lifted by Angels to be in Heaven. I have so many memories of Simba and they are all great ones! Even the past few weeks, as hard as it was on him, he would never burden us with any of it... he kept to himself. He will be missed by all of us. From sharing the name of the star in my favorite movie ever, to playing with my hair while I laid on the floor until it was so tangled I had to cut the knots out... he was special to me and he will forever remain in my heart. I love you big guy!!!

Yes, he was as big as Caitlyn... actually bigger! Buddies!
Not sure he enjoyed being a pillow, but her tolerated it!

We love you big guy!!!

Best friends forever! This was one of the more recent pictures of him... I took some today, but I can't bear to see them or post them