Organic Garden

A neighborhood friend asked us about 3 months ago if we would like to share an "organic garden-plot" at the local church. We totally jumped on that opportunity!! 10% of what we grow is donated to the local food organization. I do not have a "green thumb" so we are hoping to have something to donate. Also, we have had a rabbit that has enjoyed our green beans, but he also likes the cabbage on the adjacent plot. Late one evening Zachery and I went up to plant our garden. We first mixed corn meal into our compost and soil (apparently that helps the little organisms that stimulate plant growth - but I truly have no idea if I am saying that right, it was some advice from one of my friend who loves organic gardening and is certified). Then we started planting our carrots, green beans, green and red peppers, tomatoes and broccoli.

Our plants are growing!! We will keep you updated with the progress of our garden and when we harvest for the first time!! (Zachery is also standing next to our red worm box, which we help maintain and their is a park adjacent to the garden plot, so we normally play for a while before going home)

More Fun in March 2011

I know it is the middle of April and I am just now posting Febuary and March, it has been crazy around the Wieland household! Anyways, I was able to capture a quick photograph of Zayne holding the dust buster, he doesn't enjoy it as much as Zach did (I think it is to loud). Zayne was helping pick up nails with this handy-dandy magnet tool (he thought he was pretty hot stuff!). The boys and I frequent the large sand area at our local park and I push them in our new stroller. They were laughing and having a GREAT time and it was a perfect photo opportunity!!

So Zayne has been walking and trying to run this past month with alot of success. One of the funniest things that he does is dance!! Like Zachery, he abosultely loves the outdoors and he loves the sandbox, which is where he will end up all by himself if we are all outside. He is learning sign language with some hesitation, but he is starting to realize that he is able to communicate with us that way. Don't get me wrong he is a little chatter box, but he is the only one that knows what he is saying. He is trying to say all kinds of words, but here are a few that we are understanding: juice, yes, that, mom, dad, please. He really hasn't said Zachery or Zach yet, but he loves his brother. Apparently the other day Zayne went up to Zachery and put out his arms so Zachery would hold him. Zayne is very expressive and he LOVES to snuggle!! I can't wait for people to meet this little boy, he is a character and tons of fun!! Enjoy the video.

Zoo Adventures

As many of you know we frequent the Dallas Zoo. It was about 80 degrees the last time we went and we couldn't help but take pictures of our boys playing in the water. As you can see Zayne had a BLAST!! He tries so hard to grab that water but can never quite hold on to it! And of course we can't miss the penguins.

T-Ball 2011

Zachery is playing T-ball again this year! I don't think I had the opportunity last year to attend any practices or games, but this year I have been able too. Can I just say how much fun it is to watch our little boy hit a ball, throw a ball, and attempt to catch a ball. He has practice once a week and they have a game once a week. We really like this particular organization that we are playing through and it looks like he will be able to play soccer, basketball and attend AWANA's through them too.

So how do you like their uniforms? They are the Twins and Zachery is number 1. The first time he put his uniform on he was so excited. He even wore the knee high socks the rest of that day, despite the heat! When he was up to bat the first time he started running towards third, it was hilarious! When he is fielding and there isn't a coach or parent helper out there with him he will just space out. It looks like he is paying attention but the ball goes right past him and he doesn't even notice. Hahahahahaha!! Hope to get a cute picture of him and his close friend Ava together. Yep you guessed it she is on the team with him.

Homeschool Fair

On March 26, 2011 Zachery and I attend our first Homeschool Fair. It is sort-of like a science fair where kids are able to display their work from that year. There was a history, writing, photography, art, hobbies, science, and recycling categories. Zachery entered the hobby category and of course participated in the athletic events. Zachery entered two spaceships and one robot. The one that you see in the front has claws that are used to pick up moon rocks. The robot had lasers to shoot the rocks. He thoroughly enjoyed walking around to see the other entries and I urged him to ask questions. The kids were great with him, after explaining their project they asked to see his and asked him questions. It was so fun to watch him participate in the athletic events, he did really well! I hope that we will be able to participate in more of these in the future.

Zayne's First Birthday

Zayne turned one years old on March 09, 2011. How times have flown! At his one year checkup, he weighed 23 pounds and 1 ounce and was 32 inches long. He is still off the charts for his height, but he is slowing down in that department a bit. He does not like the doctor one bit and on one occasion when Zachery was going in for a checkup I had both boys screaming their heads off. Trying to smile and stay calm through that will definitely strengthen you!

As you could probably guess Zayne really could have cared less about his presents. Well I should say he really could have cared less about his presents until his brother started playing with them, then they were interesting! Like we did with Zachery, Zayne had the opportunity to have a cake all to himself. I have to say he really didn't enjoy it that much. He was more interested in the feel of the cake and the different designs he could make with his fingers. It really was a fun day!

Around the House in Feburary

Some of these photos will look familiar, Zachery at this age was flushing the toilette and playing with toilette paper. I have no idea why it is a fun game, but it is! Zayne frequently unravels a roll of toilette paper and because we are preoccupied with building a new spaceship or making a new batman cave or castle with Zach, when we look up and realize that Zayne is gone he is normally into something.

We moved our little slide under the tree so Zach could climb in the tree if he wanted. Where you see him sitting is as far as he will climb at the moment. We still enjoy our sandbox as you can see. And for some reason Zayne was carrying around that silly stick all afternoon. He had to taste it, use it as a stirring rod in the planter, and whatever else he was doing with it. Both boys are pretty comical!

New Garage

As many of you know our garage was suffering from some serious weathering, which was contributed to the age of the garage and the lack of "attention" from the current and previous owners. In 2003 we decided to install piers on one side of the garage because it was leaning and the pier contractor consulted agreed. Needless to say not more than a year later it started leaning to the other side, which makes sense since it is a floating slab. We had a structural engineer out to examine our garage for 1) the foundation; and 2) to answer the question was the structure (meaning the frame work) sound. Praise the Lord! The engineer said that all was good and suggested putting piers around the remaining portion of the garage. We submitted the report to the City along with our permit and an outline of our improvements/repairs. We had to be careful not to call it a demolition, due to the fact that if we completely demolished the garage we would have had to comply with the new codes associated with the City (and let me say that would have been probably close to approximately half our homes value, which was just not worth it!). We waited patiently yet anxiously as the City reviewed our permit application, it was a very long 5 days, but they approved it!!! YEAH!!! Here are some photos of what the garage looked like before (please imagine two natural skylights in the roof, I think you can see one of them). We had the piers installed immediately.






The reason I took a picture of the deck is because in order to drive a vehicle back into the garage we had to cut the deck and remove some of the deck on the driveway side. We additionally will have to cut the concrete steps (but I will talk about that later). We also made a decision to remove the fence along that side of our property, which has really opened up our backyard. On March 12, 2011 we hired a couple of helpers and we started removing the roof and siding. We placed the roofing material in these green 3 cubic yard bags that you can purchase at Loews or Home Depot. The boys thoroughly enjoyed watching Waste Management pick up the green bags for disposal.






In addition to removing portions of the deck we also had to cut the concrete steps. So we attempted to use a hand concrete saw, but that didn't work as well as we thought. We hired a concrete cutting company to come and cut the steps. Don't worry Charlie is making some wood ones to walk down in the opposite direction of the deck (they are not built yet, but I will post picture once complete). Our nephew-in-law came down the weekend of March 19th, 2011 to help us "straighten" the structure, reinforce those beams that needed some "help" or strengthening, put the decking and plywood up in preparation for the roof and siding. They worked very hard and long hours to get everything ready for the next weekend. A special thanks to Jake!





The following week the garage door was framed and installed. The new roof was put on March 26, 2011 and the siding was installed on the week of March 28, 2011. Zachery helped Charlie put the weather paper on before the siding went on, I thought it was a very sweet picture! We still have some electrical to do, some finishing touches on the deck, and of course organizers have to be installed in the garage and shed. But the project is approximately 95% complete!! I am super excited about having a garage because we didn't have a garage growing up but a carport. Charlie was very sweet and let me open the garage door for the very first time. It was so quiet and smooth.