FINALLY!!!!

Since we bought our house a few years ago, there has been an endless list of projects that we've worked on to make it our own...but one that has been bugging me for too long is our front yard. When we bought the house the entire yard was covered in concrete. Benson jackhammered it out over two years ago and this is what our house has looked like since...Yuck. Can you say curb "un"appeal!! So I've whined and prodded and finally got my way. We put in some landscaping, Benson is building a wood porch up to the front door, and today we laid down fresh sod. I think the before and after pics say it all. I'm SO happy with the way things are looking and I can finally stop apologizing to the neighbors for the eye-sore that its been for the past 2 years!

Crack Me Up!

Okay...I know that I've already done a post with Riley's funny camera faces...but these pictures just had to be seen!

Cool Website for Readers

So I found this cool website where you can enter some of your favorite books and it will generate a list of books you might like to read next. This was a list it made for me, but if you like reading you should get on and check it out.

The What Should I Read Next? website suggests items you might like reading based on real readers' recommendations.
These were the results:

Blue Bloods - Melissa de la Cruz

The Worthing Saga - Orson Scott Card

Pastwatch - Card Orson Scott

Peeps - Scott Westerfeld

Marked: A House of Night Novel - PC Cast, Kristin Cast

Masquerade - Melissa De La Cruz

The Integral Trees: And the Smoke Ring - Larry Niven

A Canticle for Liebowitz - Walter M. Jr. Miller

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon

First Words

Who knew it would be hard to pick out your babies first words? Its just that they make so many sounds that COULD be words, but they don't really seem to fit any particular pattern. Among all his nonsense sounds, we've had ma ma ma's and da da da's but not directed at either Benson or I, so its remained a mystery. But, I think we've finally come to a concensus on Riley's first offical word. Its DOG! When he is staying at Aunt Krischelle's he is fascinated by Ranger and Molly. He hears them scratching at the screen door and sure enough, he speed crawls to the door practically yelling "Daw! Daw! Daw!" Hannah keeps trying to convince me that I'm going to have to get one when he gets older but I'm not ready to be a pet owner yet. For now, the cousin's dogs will have to do.

Funny Faces

Riley loves to do silly things to make us laugh. Even though his expressions seem to be pained, these pictures are actually his attempt at smiling for the camera. He scrunches up his whole face and puckers his lips. We laugh so hard that it just makes him do it more. The pictures don't do it justice, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get any more of the those cute smiling pictures we used to get.