Yard Work

Although we've been living in our home for around 9 months now and the work on the interior has continued, we hadn't had the time to work on the yard. And it has been driving me crazy. The backyard had returned to its previous life as a hayfield and the front yard continued to look like a construction zone. I wanted a "real" yard.

This weekend, that real yard became, well, real. In fact, even more work than just the yard got done. On Thursday, my dad came down for the day and got hard to work painting inside. Thursday night, he and Ryan put down hardwood floor until way past my bedtime. (Believe it or not, Patrick STILL sleeps right through a hardwood floor being installed above his head.) On Friday, I headed off to work, Patrick to day care, and my dad, Ryan, and Ryan's dad got to work on the yard. Ryan's Uncle Don was kind enough to lend his bobcat and dump truck to our cause for a few days, and they got to work. By the time I got home on Friday, wow, there had been plenty of lawn mowing and dirt moving under way. My mom joined us on Friday evening to help keep an eye on Patrick while I was out in the yard and do some major cleaning and organizing on the inside of the house.

Saturday morning, Dad and Ryan got started early, and then headed south to pick up a tractor and tiller than a friend was kind enough to lend. While they did that, Mom and I ran errands. We met back at home after lunch for another hot day out in the sun. By the end of Saturday, the whole lawn had been cut,  front yard had been tilled, flattened, and seeded, and the garden had been dug out. We celebrated with a relaxing night watching the Blackhawks win game 1. WOOHOO!

Sunday morning we again started early, trying to beat the heat of the day. We got a lot of work done before Ryan and Dad took the long drive to return the tiller and Mom and I worked on cleaning the house. By the time Mom and Dad P left and Ryan's family arrived for an impromptu cookout, the backyard had been tilled where it needed it, the soil was built up near the deck, and the low spots in the yard had been filled. And we were tired!

All in all, it was an interesting process. Dad P spent 8+ hours on a riding lawnmower, and Dad P and I both 'rode' the crazy contraption that he and Ryan built to drag the front yard. We picked rocks and construction trash out of the yard by hand, and all ended up sunburned and sore. But when all was said and done, we had a beautiful start to a gorgeous non-construction lawn. It looks AMAZING!! Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

Farmer Ryan pulling Dad P on the scary drag contraption

Of course I had to join in and take a ride!

Men at work

Patrick wants to help with the lawn

So much fun!!!

We had some major rain today, so no more yard work was done. Weather permitting, maybe I'll get some before/after up here sometime. But, get ready for this folks, there will be another post tomorrow. Two posts in two days? Crazy, I know. But tomorrow is a very, very special day for one very special little boy - Patrick turns one! Of course, that deserves a post. Until then...

Landowners at last!

Well, we've done it. Ryan and I are officially the owners of 2 acres of land in Clinton, IL. Nothing much to tell, the closing went smoothly, lots of papers to sign, you know the deal. We got to meet Merle's wife Helen (Merle is our real estate agent & new neighbor) and she seems like a really great lady. While Ryan and Merle talked farming and well digging, Helen gave Meghan the scoop on all the neighbors. Here are some pictures of the land from yesterday and today.


Mom and Dad P came down to visit yesterday with Seamus. Here's dad and Seamus standing in what will be our front yard (poor little Seamus almost gets lost in the grass!):

This is the view from the back corner of the land (that small orange spot out there is the Mustang):

After the closing, Merle was kind enough to indulge Meghan's request for a "SOLD" sign. Here he is wrestling with the sign:

Ryan steps in to help Merle attach the "SOLD" sign:

And here we are, the proud landowners (YAY!):

May already?

Somehow I can hardly believe its May already. Time seems to be flying by, but at least spring is finally here.

The kittens are very happy that it is finally spring!!

Not a whole lot has happened since our last post. Aunt Pat is back in the hospital dealing with a bacterial thing. She's in fairly good spirits and keeping her sense of humor up. They hope to send her home in the next couple of days and we hope this will be the last of it. Your continued good thoughts and prayers, as always, are appreciated.

The babies Logan and Cooper are both doing wonderful, growing like weeds and keeping their mommies busy. Baby Gabriella will be joining the family any day now - she's due on May 11th, Mother's Day! Kevin and Elzbieta are very excited, and the rest of the family is anxiously awaiting her arrival.

It looks like Mom and Dad Pokryfke are finally going to get the "old" house sold here soon. As hard as it is to see my childhood home sold, I'm excited to see this finally happening with the housing market as it is. The closing is scheduled for mid-May, and even though there have been a few bumps in the road, everything appears to be on schedule. What a relief that will be to them.

As for us, things are going well. Ryan and I close on our land Monday afternoon. He's cool as a cucumber, but I'm a little nervous. Mama and Papa Morge came down last weekend and took a tour of the land with us. Mom and Big Poppa P are coming to visit tomorrow and get their tour of our lovely 2 acres.


Oh, and for your enjoyment...Mama Morge was kind enough to give us a preview of what Ryan and I are going to look like living on the "farm":


More soon!

April Showers...of blessings

So, yeah, I've missed updating about a month. With any luck I'll have some time yet this weekend to update and add some pics, but in the meantime, here's a quick update on some of the bigger things that have happened.

• My dear friend Rachel welcomed a baby boy (Logan Thomas) on March 21st. Both mommy and baby are doing wonderful.
• I ran/walked my first official 5K race on March 29th, and even got a very cool medal for finishing. Next race: Race for the Cure Decatur, June 28th. Gonna run that one!
• Yesterday (4/10) my bestest friend Sammi and her husband Brett welcomed their first child, a son, Cooper Dean. Mommy, daddy, and baby Cooper are all doing well, and "Aunt" Meghan can't wait to see them all!
• My Aunt Pat had her surgery this morning, and the results were as good as they could be. The doctors removed her gall bladder and found the largest gallstone they've ever seen. When it came time to remove the other growth, much to the surgeon's shock, it simply peeled off!! It had it irritated, but not invaded the other organs. He said the other organs look like they were skinned, like when you skin your knee, but they should heal on their own. And they did mutiple frozen section pathology tests and found nothing malignant. They will be doing a full work up, but at this point, the news is very, very good. The doctor did comment of the outcome: "All I can say is someone must have been praying for this lady." Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and support during this completely insane time.
• Ryan and I are nearly proud landowners. We put an offer on 2 acres of land today and it was accepted. (Thanks, Merle!) Pending financing, we will be living next to a cornfield and in front of a cow pasture before long. MOOOOOOOOOOOO!

More later....