This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you have ever been to our house then you know that the front steps leading up to our front door were a mess. They were very uneven and needed to be redone.  I didn't get before picture, but I took one soon after Rich started the work.

You can see where he started digging to build the new steps… the old steps have dirt piled on them that he dug out of the ground to build the new steps.  You can kind of see how crooked the old steps were.

Here are the new steps all beautifully built.  Rich put a wall where the old steps were and filled it in with dirt.  The flowers were waiting to be planted.

This is up at the top of the stairs, it goes along the front of our house.

Deciding where to put the flowers.

I don't have great luck with flowers, they never seem to do very well for me.  Instead of just using the dirt that Rich dug up from where our new steps are, I thought it would be best to use some Miracle-Gro.  Some good products to use are: Shake n’ Feed Moisture Control All Purpose Plant Food and Moisture Control Potting Mix or LiquaFeed All Purpose Plant Food Advance Starter Kit. We shall see how it goes   If you have your own little fun garden projects, you can check out The Gro Project to start your own story.

Here are the completed steps with the flowers planted.

I'm hoping the flowers will do well!  Don't forget to check out Miracle-Gro on Pinterest too, so you can get some gardening ideas!

It seems like I was just sending Hailey off to first grade, and now it’s already the last day.  I really wish I could slow down time!!

All ready for the last day of 1st grade

My pretty little miss

Officially a 2nd grader   We are so proud of how hard Hailey worked this year and how much she has learned!!

Hunter at 18 months old with Tigger.

After Hunter took his picture with Tigger, I asked him if wanted a picture with his “mow, mow” since that is his favorite toy. He went and got his lawn mower and put it in the chair and sat next to it. (Hailey thought Tigger should get to be in the picture too.)

18 months

When we say, “Where is Hunter?” he puts his hands over his ears and says, “There he is!”

Hunter loves to line up his cars!

His favorite shoes… Hunter usually asks to have them put on as soon as he wakes up. Sometimes he’ll agree to take them off if we sniff his feet and say, “Stinky feet!” but as soon as he remembers that they are off he asks to put them back on.  It’s funny that the shoes are not on in the earlier pictures, but Rich had just done the “stinky feet” game with Hunter.  Otherwise  those shoes are on from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed.  I even hear him say “shoosh” in his sleep, which is how he says shoes.

Whenever Rich mows the lawn (or one of our neighbors), Hunter gets his “mow, mow” and stands here watching Rich mow.

18 months, Hailey- 6 1/2

Changes since 15 months:

Lots of talking!  Hunter tries to say everything and is getting really good at communicating what he wants.  He has even started to put some words together.  The other day after Grandma left our house, he said,  “Ma Maw aaaa- gaaaa” (Which means Grandma all gone).  It’s impossible to keep track of all of his words.

Hunter now has 3 molars in.  He has been pretty grouchy with the molars coming in.  It has definitely made sleep harder too.  When he isn’t teething his sleep has been pretty good.  He usually naps from around 1-3pm each day.  He goes to bed around 8pm and usually wakes up about an hour later and comes and gets in bed with us.  He sometimes wakes up once or twice during the night and nurses back to sleep.  He sometimes nurses to sleep for his nap and at bedtime, but he usually doesn’t want to anymore.

Hunter is such a good eater!!  He will eat pretty much anything!  And he loves his fruits and veggies.  Tomatoes are one of his favorite foods

Hunter knows lots of his body parts, can point to them and can say most of them too.  He is also learning his colors, but he thinks that everything is blue, so we’re still working on that   He loves books, coloring, painting, Mickey Mouse, cars, trucks, and lawn mowers.  He is such a sponge and soaks up everything we say to him.  He can follow directions- and even understands things like, “Eat your sandwich first and then you can have a cookie.”

Hunter is 25.3 pounds, which is the 68th percentile and is 33.3 inches tall, which is the 80th percentile.  He mostly wears 18-24 month clothes.  He wears size 4 diapers during the day, but next time I buy diapers I am going up to 5.  He wears size 5 diapers to bed.

We took some family pictures while we were at the beach.  I’m convinced that when you see pictures of families on the beach that they can’t really be taken on the beach.  It was so windy, so all of us had hair blowing every which way.  And everyone was either squinting or wearing their sunglasses.  Anyway, I still think we got some good pictures!

Grandma and Pa with Hunter and Hailey

All of us

All of us again

Me, Rich, Hunter and Hailey… this represents Hunter perfectly

Ellie and Matt

My parents, with Rich photobombing

The girls

The guys

Uncle Mike and Hunter

Us