The Yard

The advent of warmer weather around the South has brought with it household repair season at Patterson Place.

There have been projects we've been wanting to do since we moved in but we felt it was good to live in our new home for awhile to decide what order we'd like to do our projects.

First on the list for safety reasons was the giant 30 foot maple in our front yard. It had to come down. It was such a gorgeous tree--especially in the fall. It bloomed the rosiest red. The tree trunk split into two about 5 feet up and then we found out from some tree experts that the split actually went all the way down. It was overhanging some power lines and had the potential to fall back onto our home. So,  inevitably we had to have it cut down. The silver lining is that before you couldn't even see our home because the tree was so large it totally blocked the view but now you can!

Emma playing last fall by the beautiful maple tree

Emma was enthralled and frightened by the men who came to remove the tree. (There was literally a guy climbing the tree with a chain saw hanging from his belt!) We found out when they were here that the tree was actually diseased and rotten in the middle, so it ended up being a blessing that we took it down before it did any serious damage to our home or the surrounding area.

We are sad to lose such a gorgeous gem but so grateful for the extra sunshine on our lawn to grow some grass! In fact, we are working on growing the grass with some seeds now! And I have removed a couple of bushes from the front that were dying. I was SORE for days but it was worth it because now they aren't overcrowding the growing ones. I planted some white azaleas and a peony bush (my favorites!), and some day lilies to grow by the mailbox. Since I took the picture below I have also trimmed the Japanese Maple (on the left side of the photo) back a bit so it's not quite so overpowering.

Sweet girl the day the tree came down. (The bush beside her is one of the ones I removed)

The first peony that bloomed in our garden!

Lots of new growth in our front yard--I'll post again to give more updates on what's going on inside the house! Lots of updates!

Toddler Time

At some point our tiny Emma turned into a toddler. I have no idea when this happened. Sometimes I feel like she's still a tiny baby (this is usually right after bath time when she's snuggly in her jammies). Lately she's started to seem so grown up. She's getting so tall and can communicate so much. Granted, as her mom I feel like I understand her communication better than others. (Cue...Emma whines and I say "she's trying to say she wants her milk". Ha!) I fall in love with her more at each new stage, but I just can't believe how big she's getting!

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Busy Days

This week has been extra busy for me and Emma. Usually we have a few obligations here and there but this week it has been crazy! And we feel so blessed! On Thursday we went to tour a local Mother's Day Out. And it was so so fun! Here's Emma right before we went in.

After our wonderful tour we went to the Brentwood Library for a play group with some families from our church. I was in total awe. Their children's library is absolutely beautiful! I only took some pictures of Emma running around in the story time room. The entire back wall is beautiful stained glass.

We had lunch with our wonderful friend Jennifer. I'm so sorry I didn't take any pictures, but Emma had a wonderful time with Aunt Jennifer and I did too! As always, I ate too much at Cracker Barrel, but it's just so delicious! 

We spent our afternoon at home Facetiming with our family afar and playing in Emma's room with her toys and books. We had a wonderful and very busy day! (I also made Emma a bow holder for her closet out of ribbons and a wood plaque with her name on it. I'll have to snap a photo soon.)

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