The Circle of Life

Fred is dead.
Fred was Marcus's pet frog who used to live in our backyard.  Unfortunately Fred met up with a much-larger-than-normal garter snake and the snake won.  I noticed the snake eating the frog as I was walking up the stairs from the patio so of course I screamed like a girl, yelled for help, and grabbed the camera.  Randy has no tolerance for snakes so he quickly whacked it's head off with a shovel and set the half-swallowed frog free to die in peace.  I tried not to throw up.  The puddle of snake blood was enough to make me run into the house making barfing noises, as I tried to erase the images from my mind.  Luckily Randy can stomach these things and quickly cleaned things up while the boys looked on in horror and disgust.  I felt like I was living an episode on the nature channel.  It was not a good day. 

I always jump over the last step just in case there's a snake that wants to bite my toes.

{Insert barfing noises here}

But don't you like our patio?  This was Randy's little project he started last fall, back when we thought home improvement projects were fun, easy, and stress-free.  Since then we've learned they are never fun, and they always take longer and cost more than anticipated.  Randy hired a guy to do the patio and front walk, then Randy put up the white columns.  I did my part by okaying the new patio furniture and pillows.  It was the least I could do.  And now that fall is here, our neighbors will be relieved our loud and chaotic mealtimes are now happening indoors instead of out.

The "Before" shot

The "During the process" shot (putting in a new lawn was NOT part of the plan)

The upstairs seating for the adults--we dine in comfort while the kids reek havoc below