P5

You may be wondering 'what the heck does P5 mean'? Is that a typo or something. Well no, this post has nothing to do with Cooper or baby Gwen. It has to do with Joe and his yard. Ha! For those who don't know, at our old house Joe called our backyard "Paradise". So each time he landscapes something, like our old front yard was P2, he did his mom's front yard, etc. Its kinda an inside joke. So hence the "P5". Not even sure if its really 5. But oh well..

As most of you know Joe has a wonderful 'green thumb' and our yard at our last house was pretty awesome! He completly gutted and re-did it all. I knew it wouldn't take him long to do the same thing at our new house. This yard just like our last one was in need of some major TLC. Last summer he didn't have much time to get started since we didn't move in until the end of the summer. His project then was just the grass. There was literally no grass, but mostly weeds.

So its Summer and the new grass is taking shape. And so is Joe's 'master plan'. I wish I had more before and after pictures. But this will have to do. So far Joe complete riped out what was on the side of the house. Then he planted a new tree to the side of the drive. Added new shurbs and flowers and stuff in the front. Lots of digging out big old nasty bushes and putting in new stuff. Its really looking great!!!

BEFORE (this fall) - notice the huge Pine Tree next to Joe's car. Well its gone....

 

NOW

 And in its place this cute NEW little tree. Sorry I didn't get the picture from the same angle. FYI... that is our neighbors new house they build (after the other one burnt down). 

One of our really nice neighbors helping grow add staks to the tree before a big storm.

Right side of the house. I don't have a before on this. But it was pretty gross. Very over grown. Half dead bushes etc. This is an in progress photo. Joe planted all new bushes and then

NOW :   River rock in place. It really looks nice!

BEFORE:  Sorta notice the big christmas tree looking bushes on either side of the mailbox. Well what you can't tell is they are half dead. Lots of brown spots all over. In this picture, that tree with the ball looking things is waiting to be planted.

 NOW:  Joe ripped out both of the dying bushes. Planted that new ball looking tree thing (I know that is very technical of me). And some little plants. A smaller bush. And added a few of our planters. The ball bush really makes it more airy so you can see our hosue behind it.

 

BEFORE:   Rock garden looking area to the the left of the mailbox (which I just showed you). It was pretty overgrown. Even in the distance behind it, closer to the house, those bushes didn't look so great. I'll show you that next.

 

A closer look. (before). 

NOW:  May be hard to tell. But Joe planted many new little plants (the purple ones). Added all new mulch. Trimmed some of the bushes, etc. 

BEFORE: These bushes were sorta cute. But also half dead and overgrown.

AFTER: Two new bushes, new mulch and some of our yard art. 

 BEFORE:  Last fall, when there was a tree right next to the house.

Then Joe cut the tree down. Just the stump left.. 

NOW: Our fountain is assembled. Our pots are in the background on the front porch with new plants and flowers in them. And new mulch, plus our ducks.

I don't have a before of this. But its to the left side of the house. A place for our bird bath, from our old house.

 And Cooper playing in the fountain. Even though he isn't suppose to.. HA!

I think the front yard is done for now. But with Joe, who knows.

Mother's Day and the Zoo

 Mother's Day weekend we didn't have any set plans. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and on a impulse we decided to head to the zoo. It was the first time we have been there this year. The weather couldn't have been anymore perfect.

 Cooper loved it all. The penguins are always fun!

 I'm not sure what he thought of the Gorilla...ha!

 This was the first time I had seen the new Sea Lion exhibit with the walk through tunnel.

 

 Time for a little Dippin Dots snacks. 

 He really loved the Hippos!

And to finish it off we rode the train around the zoo! Later that evening Cooper and Joe took me out for my Mother's Day dinner at Hacienda. One of my favorite mexican places. It was a great Mother's Day! 

And the name is....

We have liked this name for a really long time. We thought about some other options. But when it came down to it.. Gwyneth was the winnner! We just kept coming back to it. We did have a little harder time agreeing on the middle name. I wanted Charlotte after my Grandma and Joe wanted Rose because its a family name in his family. His mom, sister, and niece all have the middle name Rose. His great Aunt's name was Rose. And it may even go back farther than that. We decided we liked both so much that she would just have two middle names. And they sound pretty good together, right?

So hopefully "Gwen" doesn't hate us one day for having two middle names. But we really like them.
And they are family names. Which we think is really special.

By the way, the name Gwyneth means "blessed" or "happy". So that is kinda cool.

I'm almost 30 weeks. And still feeling great! We are getting more and more excited about meeting our little girl very soon!