Fences Make Better Neighbors or Why I Should let Luke Answer the Door

(Nothing to do with the following. I just loved the way the flowers for the 40th Anniv. Party

turned out I had to include another picture.)

When we bought this house the yard was meticulous. Painfully so in my opinion. Hedges and bushes perfectly cropped, shaped, contained and thwarted. Not me, not us. Wildness is beautiful, refreshing, more interesting, and MUCH easier to care for. Just let things grow--I'm all for it. But sadly, that attitude puts me at odds with the majority of the near-by yard maintenance community.

Enter our neighbors, a very nice family who beat us to the Welcome-to-the-Neighborhood goodies. And they moved in after we did. We were gone for a month this summer--that's my excuse. A few days after devouring their delicious brownies they dropped by again. They wanted to know to whom the hedge between our houses belonged.

Ours (it runs along either side of our front yard).
Would we mind if they trimmed their side?
Of course not.
Great. So they'll take care of their side, and we'll trim our side?

Sigh. I had trimmed the extreme offshoots, but in general I was letting the hedge grow out. It was just getting to the point of making me smile when I looked out the window. But the neighbors seem like a very nice family with very nice kids, so I stayed up late to make cookies for our We-Really-Aren't-Negligent-Neighbors/ Welcome-to-the-Neighborhood gift. I resigned myself to making my hedge a little more "presentable" than I prefer, but worth it for good neighborly relationships right?

Fast forward a couple days to the motorized whirl of yard equipment and there is my hedge not just being trimmed, but loped off, forced into an uncomfortable boxy shape. I guess we all have different definitions of "trim." Luke was as un-thrilled as I, luckily for me, so I could be as upset as I wanted to. You can roll your eyes at me all you want, it is just a hedge after all. At least my husband humors me.
So what is the moral to all this? Next time someone comes to my door at odds with my vision for my yard I will just call for Luke. One of the many perks of marrying him is that he fights my battles, even if they are absurd. So why didn't I? He was in the shower. And I really don't want to be those kind of neighbors.

Maddux's First (on March 12th)!

My sweet baby Maddux has been one for quite a while now. He is coming up on 18 months! Back in March we did celebrate his birthday and now here are the pictures to prove it.

We had our family party a day early. It was a balmy Sunday afternoon, not much was going on, and on Monday Luke wasn't going to be done with work until 9 p.m. Plus I was pretty excited to bust out the present: ABC blocks from Uncle Goose. I love the colors and fonts, the beautiful pictures of animals, and I like that they are made in Michigan. The boys are crazy about them, and that's what I love the most. Maddux got them good and cakey. Dean built a tower right on the table. And promptly knocked it down--the fun part!

The best smiles.

A petite chocolate cake, violets from our front stoop, a warm, homey party. With lots of mess, running around, and drippy ice cream tracked around.

On Monday we spent time at our favorite park. Dean could barely contain himself from escaping from my photo shoot to jump onto the slides. Luke met us for lunch so that he would actually get to see Maddux on his big day.

Maddux is the sweetest baby ever. Happy, and smiley, and a soul satisfying cuddler. But when he is mad, is he ever! No one can smile like him, and no one can wail like him either. Loving to figure things out, there isn't a cap or lid safe in the house. Counters, the refrigerator, sinks, cupboards, bags, nothing is safe. If he can find the key he can open it. Luke calls him his "bread baby" because he always smells like fresh, warm bread. We love our sweet, sweet baby Maddux Ray!

40th Anniversary Party!

 It is so hard to throw a surprise party when the people of honor are ever present! But we managed it, even if it finally took me to pointedly tell my parents to "just go upstairs for a while!" so that we could hurriedly set up. Grandpa Camp is a fantastic time to throw an anniversary party because everyone is there.  It is also an awful time for that anniversary party to be a surprise because my parents are always there. And my Mom can't see anyone in the kitchen without sliding in to help.

Guess what? We managed it! Somehow they had no idea we were planning a celebration of 40 wonderful years. They came down the stairs and out onto the back deck with beaming smiles, and that was worth the planning and work while sick, plus sick kids, and pregnant--oh yeah, I'm pregnant again! Due in January.

 Menu: ham, cheese, and spinach sandwich rolls, fruit, chips, and cupcakes all packaged and ready for picnic boxes.

Activities: eat and socialize (my favorite party activity), and questions from the grand kids to my parents about their courtship and marriage. Video taped of course, which is handy since I missed out on most of that. Some little boys needed chasing.

I only got pictures of the set-up seconds before the troops came storming in, and then my hands were full. But I know the actual professional photographer, my cousin Trina, took great photos with people actually in them. So I'll have to get my hands on those too.

The "40" sign I cut out, painted, and assembled while Dean drove trucks on it, pretty sure there are tire marks when you closely in person.

The table runner and dipped paint bottle vases I made late one night to avoid my Mom seeing. She wandered downstairs at midnight anyway to check on something--impossible to get away with anything!

Lissy squeezed all the packaging accessories along with all her clothes into a carry-on. She also made the labels and cupcake toppers happen. Jen made the adorable ruffle cake and cupcakes. Lee sliced and dished fruit. Jill picked wildflowers for me, and Dave scanned and printed the pictures of Mom and Dad. I think everyone enjoyed Dad's shapely legs in his shorty-shorts back in the day. So many others pitched in to make this happen, it was a wonderful party!