Summer fun and games

We're nearly done with our second week of summer. "Real" summer starts next week....all the schools are finally out, and we'll have a few more choices of people to play with.

Today I bought Parker a stop watch. I figured she would enjoy timing herself and her friends and it would reinforce double digit numbers and greater than, less than, etc. Tonight we needed to burn off a little energy, so we timed her running laps around the house. She LOVED it, we had to make her stop for bathtime or she'd still be going.

For added resistance and silliness, she did most of the laps carrying a stuffed puppy and a pool noodle.

"Ready, Steady, Go!!"

Home stretch

Her best time was about 35 seconds...but if we added some obstacles, it could take her up to a minute.

(stand by...I think my sister/nephew have a similar story of doing laps around the house....but theirs involves being chased by a rooster. Or maybe I'm mixing up 2 stories)

Family pictures

Summer has started and I'm having trouble finding time to do computer stuff. I updated the headedr for 'spring' (a little late), and you have no idea the lengths Parker goes to in order to try to draw me offsides. Some days she is very intolerant of not being the center of attention. I know, it's hard to believe looking at her sweet picture that she could be anything other than an angel. It must be opposite day.

Anyway, we had some family pictures taken. I love this photographer. So here are some pictures to enjoy while I get back in the blog swing of things.

http://chera25.com/galleries/51909Carla/

More birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Paula!!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Emily!!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Jack!!

Continued Wildlife Encroachment

This is getting ridiculous. This is what i saw when I was about to walk out the front door. It's much scarier in real life. I think I'm going to put a big stew pot (or Fry Daddy?) on the porch and hope that he'll run the other way.

Finished garden boxes

Here are the completed garden boxes. One was from last year, and Bob made 2 new ones this year. He also filled them with dirt for me, which was awesome.

This picture was done April 12th and the next one was done May 5th. You'd think I'd have a little more growth on things by now, but it's been chilly and gloomy. Plus I've had to start a few things over after they were eaten by pill bugs.

In addition to battling pill bugs, I'm also battling CRAWFISH coming up in the garden. That should give you some indication just how swampy our back yard gets in the spring. Everytime Mr. Crawfish digs a new hole, I cover it with a heavy flowerpot. And then he digs a new one. It's a fun game we've got going....I'm hoping to eventually chase him out.

I've planted: shallots, blackberries, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zuchinni, zinnias, eggplant, thai basil, cucumber, dill, Indian corn (Parker brought home from school), marigolds (to keep aphids off the tomatoes) and I'm on my 3rd attemp at both sunflowers and beans (the supposed easiest thing in the world to grow).

You'll notice that Parker's wearing her swim suit. Every day after school, ran, shine, or chilly weather Parker puts on her swimsuit and runs around and plays in it. She can't wait until it's warm enough to go swimming.

Spring Break - Garden Box Update

One of our projects for spring break was to plant seeds for our garden plants. Parker has a lot of interest in plants and seeds and planting....but no interest in the actual consumption of vegetables.
We planted seeds for eggplant, cantelope, beans, zucchini, squash, and cucumber. Everything is up now except for the beans. I've tried them twice. I thought those would be the easiest.

Since i have 2 garden boxes to fill, and we need mulch, we ordered in bulk. Here's dirt arrival day:

I'm going to put pictures of the completed garden in another post. I've taken several, but none are very good. I keep thinking my plants are really going to take off, but they're just limping along, like they always do this time of year.

Chores

Every couple weeks I wash a pile of cleaning rags, and Parker has learned to fold them. I give her a choice of either money for her piggy bank or a little toy or gift I've stashed away. On this day she got something she's been asking for for a long time.....her very own clipboard. I guess she gets the love of office supply gene from my side of the family.

artwork

Have I posted this yet? They all start to look the same after a while. This is a self portrait Parker did. She's wearing a skirt and a shirt, and has several bows in her hair.

Wildlife Encroachment

Here's the view from my backyard today, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. This morning there was a possum poking around. He's the white dot on the middle right. I think he lives under our deck. If anyone has any tips on how to lure him to the highway, please respond.

(and doesn't our Oak Leaf Hydrangea look great? White blooms and leaves in the foreground)


And this afternoon we were visited by a pack of ducks. It's one mom and 3 males. Should I name her Holly, Allie or Courtenay?

Build your own burrito

Here's the latest in "I can do it myself!": Parker can build her own burrito. She listed off the ingredients she wanted on it (chicken - she got ground turkey, rice and beans) and had me heat it all up, then she assembled it herself. And the best part....she ate it! She's done it two nights in a row ...last night was fish tacos, tonight was turkey tacos. Very inventive, I know.

Weather related

There were tornadoes hopscotching around apparently, but they were south of us. We did get 1" of rain very quickly though and the storm sirens were going off for a while. Just thought I'd update.

Grocery List

Here's a little slice of my day, in the form of my grocery list after Parker is done with it. She rides along in the shopping cart with the clip board and crosses things off when I tell her. She also added "goldfish", and all the hearts and 'sparkles' (dots and astriks) The doodles are really her trying to write the number 3.

Yard updates part LAST

Here are the last of the pictures of the stonework.

Back patio before:



Back patio after:

And from another view:

I probably should have waited until we had everything back in place and all the stray weekend yard tools put away to take this picture, but we might still be waiting. We are VERY pleased with how the flagstone turned out - way better than the pebbles in concrete that was there before. Parker is a big fan too, since it's much nicer on bare feet.

Yard updates part3

Here are some pictures of the new walkway and the front beds. I don't have 'before' pictures of that because it was such a last minute decision.

New Walkway After:

Paula and Jack, I swear we aren't copying you. Our landscape plans really did call for a walkway like this!

Front view After:

We're really happy with all of it. And except for adding a few plants, getting the beds in shape for spring and summer, and giving the grass a little TLC, we are DONE with the yard improvements finally. That's the good news, the bad news is that we need to start on the interior next.

Yard updates part2

Here are the before/afters. It a much more dramatic difference up close, but these are the only pics I have right now.

Back of house Before:

Back of house After:

Green edging is gone, and the flowerbed on the right was extended to wrap around the corner of the house.

Back beds Before:

Back Beds After:

There is also flagstone in the center of the beds, replacing the brick. When it rains, the area in between the beds is a river.

Side Flowerbed Before:

Side flowerbed After:

(this is the view from the kitchen window) Green edging and crumbling brick are gone. We still need to get some seasonal color going out here.

Yard updates part1

I have so much to update, yardwise, it's going to take multiple posts. A couple weeks ago, our friends had some stone work done at their house, and were very happy with the contractor. We had planned to have some flowerbeds redone this season, so we had him come for an estimate. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were covered up with stone masons. Originally we were just going to replace the crumbling brick around the flower beds. But while they were already here (a phrase we repeated often before we were through) we decided to have flagstone put on the patio too. And a front walkway added. And stone around the front flowerbeds too (to match the back). I was a huge mess for a few days, but they did a great job, and it looks way better than we thought it could. Even the area where our trashcans live got a makeover, and is no longer an embarrassment. Here are some pictures in progress:

These guys showed up early and left late. This was the first morning, before I was fully awake, the patio was nearly complete.

We got huge thick flagstone pieces to connect the front walk to the driveway. It might seem like a strange place for it, but it's so handy. Plus it was on our landscape plans, and who are we to second-guess the professionals?

I'll do before/after pics in another post.

Attack of the killer moths

I got this picture tonight of a Hummingbird Moth . It looks like a tiny hummingbird, but with antenna. And very very creepy!

Ceramic Egg follow-up

Here are the ceramic eggs that we made during the little Easter lunch. They turned out great! I hope we can do this every year.

No comment on the gigantic bow Parker is wearing, I have buyers remorse.