The progress of our garden.

One of my biggest perks for moving to our new home last August was the prospect of having our very own, first garden. Mike and I really don't know anything about it other than what we wanted. Thankfully we had some help, especially from my mom as to some hot tips. Mike and I dug it all up and turned the soil, then Mike sectioned off these areas and created little walkways. We thought we were way behind in planting but now looking at my garden I can see we definitely weren't. We began planting somewhere around the 13th of May, this first photo was just after that.

This was the garden a few weeks later. Mind you, the tomato plants and the bigger lettuce were from plant, not seed, but they had still grown a lot. In this photo is tomato plants at the back with basil, 3 potato plants near the middle left. Then front left is lettuce. Front right is sunflowers, and a big rhubarb plant

In all, we have 11 potato plants, a couple of bean plants, broccoli, cucumber, onion, carrots, peas, tomatoes, basil, lettuce, rhubarb and sunflowers.

These fuzzy photos were taken tonight. The sunflowers are getting huge, Mike is gobbling up rhubarb, we've got a few cucumbers already (still not big enough to eat), tomatoes budding... so exciting. Also in our other flower gardens we have strawberries that are producing tons of sweet little berries everyday. Mmmm.... my mouth is watering just thinking about all the goodness.

A couple weeks ago we took Mckenzie out of school for the day and went to the Aquarium with my mom while she was here. It was great, the kids enjoyed it. We just missed the new baby beluga's birth by about 2 days, too bad, that would have been amazing to watch. On our drive home Mckenzie suddenly got sick in the back of the van. While he was sitting on the curb with me he was quick to point out that it was a good thing he didn't go to school that day. He ended up being sick for a good 5 days. Poor kid, being sick thru the weekend just isn't fun. The first photos are just outside the Aquarium in Stanley Park

The beluga whale show was not much of a show, they mostly just talked about her and didn't get her to do any "tricks", of course that was fine since she was VERY pregnant, over 12 months pregnant. this was the soon to be momma

they always seem to swim upside down. This is the momma again with her granddaughter swimming above her.this was the sickest thing. UGH, If I believed in reincarnation I think this would be the ultimate punishment.The seahorses were very cute, they swam around holding tails.

10 Sounds and Smells I Love About Summer

1. chickadees chirping

2. the clinking of ice cubes in a drink

3. the smell of tomato plants

4. dirt from a garden or when it finally rains after a big stretch without it

5. the sound of the springs from a trampoline being bounced on

6. the sound of the BBQ being prepared, the cleaning of it, the gush of propane

7. a sprinkler, slow, slow, slow, fast

8. the screen door opening and closing all day long from little ones in and out

9. laughter and chatter from the neighborhood.

Kalea has moved on up to a twin bed

She is very happy about this and I think it has to do with the fact that she got to pick out bed sheets to celebrate the step up in sleeping status. could she look any more pleased? Naturally she had to wear her princess PJ's to bed. She's all about princesses. Everything princess is a HUGE hit with her and I'm realizing just how many princess things there are out there. Wow, those girls work had and make a killing in profits.

I do have some other stuff I could update my blog with but I've already procrastinated long enough tonight and I told myself that I wanted to get a couple dresses cut out before bed, so the other tiny details will just have to wait.

Tonight Kalea jumped on Mckenzie while he was on the hallway floor and began squishing him. When Mckenzie asked her between his giggles why she was squishing him she replied "because you're so handsome. You're such a cutie". Awwww!

PARENTING AT IT'S BEST

Last night was a pretty typical night, the kids were running around and around the house chasing each other. They were having fun, stopping every once in a while to storm us on the couch before continuing their tour around the living room, kitchen, dining room and hallway. On one of Kalea's stops she climbed up behind the couch and freaked us out with one of her famous gagging spells. If you haven't read my previous posts about her gag reflex, well, lets just say it's strong. She's the one who will throw up from crying too hard. But she collected herself and carried on with the running. Mike and I joked about her gag reflex and how she'll probably throw up if she doesn't calm down soon. Suddenly as if on cue she stopped dead in her tracks in the dining room and her hand went up to her mouth and we heard that distinctive whimper and we knew. I gathered her up and whisked her to the bathroom to clean her up while Mike was left in charge of floor clean up. So far nothing is amis with the parenting but... leave Mike alone with puke clean up and the parenting will quickly plummet. I can hear gagging and commotion and soon I see him with his shirt up over his nose and mouth searching for our strongest household cleaners. Next thing I know I am overhearing an offer I can't believe. Mike is telling Mckenzie he'll give him $15 if he'll clean up the puke (which I might add was a very small amount). But Mckenzie didn't bite and Mike very quickly gave a second offer of $20, then $30. Can you believe he would try to buy off our son to clean up his sisters puke. This is the same kid who doesn't even like his sister to look at him when he wakes up. Get real. So I finish getting Kalea cleaned up and walk out to find Mckenzie on his hands and knees with his shirt over his nose and mouth cleaning the floor!!! I guess $30 was just too tempting for a 6 year old. And what was Mike doing during this you might ask? He was standing about 10 feet away with his shirt still covering his face supervising... and chuckling.

A couple of Do It Yourself projects

So recently I've been looking around my home and thinking, "blah". I love color and the house feels pretty devoid of it. The walls are all plaster so nails are a problem. Also, lets face it, decorating can be expensive. I tend to lean towards the slightly more kooky style and want something that is colorful and eclectic. I've been so busy with sewing for my dress business that I don't do much for myself. But I've decided that even if I'm busy I'll try to fit in small DIY projects that are simple and add a splash of spice. Here are a couple things I've done and they all involve fabric.

This pretty pink one is just a regular canvas I found at the dollar store for about $7. I took some 6 inch strips of fabric that I loved and sewed them together then I simply pulled it tight around the canvas and used thumb tacks to secure it. I previously had a different fabric on it. It's so easy to change and very cheap to do. It's directly outside my bedroom door so whenever I see it I'm reminded of Spring and all the beautiful cherry blossoms

These little shelves are in the bathroom and are blah blah blah...

So I took some old cereal boxes measured and cut them to fit, then I wrapped them in fabric. To affix them I just taped them on the back then I slid it into the shelf and voila! A splash of color!
My bathroom is a very pale minty tooth pasty green. Kind of stale and cold feeling. I thought this space next to the towel rack needed a splash of it's own.So here is what I came up with. I took two 8x10 canvases and painted them. I cut out a shape of a sparrow from scrap fabric. I stained white paper with tea bags, dried it then wrote a Bible verse, ripped and burnt the edges. Then I placed the bird and verse when I wanted them and painted over them with a clear, glossy varnish. After it dried I crazy glued on a twig that was lying around in the yard. Lots of steps, but easy and very very cheap.