Our Garden 2009

I'll plant a little seed in the dark , dark ground

Out comes the yellow sun, big and round

Down comes the cool rain, soft and slow

Up comes the little seed, grow, grow, grow

~ Author Unknown

Sing to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"

This past weekend we planted our family garden. We all had a great time doing it too!

First, Ryan and Little Man went out to fix the two fence pickets that needed replacing. Then Ryan prepared the garden by digging up all of the old plantings and weeding it. The kids had a blast finding bugs (mainly rolly-pollies) and then we were finally able to plant.

This year we planted carrots, tomatoes, okra, eggplant, lima beans, lettuce, cantelope, spinach, watermelon, onions, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, strawberries, and garlic. Little Miss and I made garden signs to go with each vegetable that we planted. She even wrote out 3 of the signs herself.

I love planting this garden each year. The kids really like to see where their vegetables come from and get a kick out of picking them, washing them, and then eating them. I also notice that they are more likely to at least try it if we've grown it in the garden.

Little Man Turns 3!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday my Little Man

Happy Birthday to you!

It's official! My Little Man has turned 3. Unbelievable.

It's been three amazing and adventurous years with Little Man :) From the adorable baby boy that he was (here at 2 days old) to the awesome little boy that he has become. Anyone who knows him will understand what I'm talking about. Little Man is so much fun and so different than I expected a boy to be. I'm so glad that I get to experience the joy of being the mother of this awesome little boy. He's inquisitive and thoughtful and downright hilarious. I find it difficult to discipline him sometimes because he is so stinking funny. Seriously!

Little Man has taught me patience (an art for me that is still very much a work-in-progress), the joy of discovering dirt and grime (I know, I'm still not quite there either), and to not take myself too seriously because he surely doesn't. Little Man is all boy - or as my Dad says... He's all speed and no direction. I can't wait to see what the years bring for him!

Two weekends ago we had his 3rd birthday party. It was, of course, a Cars themed party. We invited all of our best friends along with his entire 2 year old class. My Dad made wooden race cars on the lathe along with the coolest race track. I spray painted all of the cars different colours. As each child came in they chose their car and wrote their name on them and decorated them with different coloured Sharpies. They then took their cars out onto the deck and raced them down the track. They had so much fun! Once they were done racing they went out into the yard to play in the sandbox or on the swingset.

Once playing time was over, we had lunch which was Little Man's favourite food.... peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! The kiddos had the sandwiches and the adults had pizza. It was such a great simple party and Little Man had a blast.

Crazy Month :)

What a crazy month! I definitely need to be updating this blog more often with our fabulous family adventures.

Weekend in Tennessee (Jan 9 - Jan 11): Ryan and I had a super fun getaway at the beginning of January! Ryan's brother and sister in law live out in Tennessee. His brother has a "Polar Bear Campout" every January and Ryan and I have gone out there for the campout the last two years. Ryan and his brother go out and camp in FREEZING temperatures and my sister in law and I go shopping and sit by the nice warm fire :) We even got manicures and pedicures this year!

Weekend with Husky the Bear (Feb 5 - Feb 9): Little Miss's class has a class bear and once in a while she gets to bring him home. We spend the weekend showing Husky what our family likes to do and then she and I write about what we did in the journal and send it back to school. It's a great way for her to remember things and she also helps me write the journal entry. Husky came home the weekend of Feb. 5th. He helped us open the big box that was waiting at our front door. It was a present that Meme and Grandpa got for the kids. They each got a new Tag Reading System and Books. The kids think these are really cool and they are great educational toys. Little Man especially love the T-Rex book! Husky was also around when we built amazing structures with our tinker toys. He played outside with the kids on the deck over the weekend and even went to the awesome birthday party that we went to on Saturday!

Valentine's Day (Feb 14): Valentine's day this year was fun! For the kids Valentine's Day at school we decided to make our Valentine's cards again this year. We decided that we would make heart shaped crayons. It was so much fun! We rounded up all of the kids old and broken crayons and took all of the paper off of them. We then bought a silicon "cookie" sheet with small heart shaped molds. We broke up their old crayons and put a bunch of different coloured crayons in each mold and baked them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes on a low temperature. Then we let them cool for a bit. Once we took them out they were so neat! We then made our own cards that said "Happy Valentine's Day for "crayon" out loud". Finally I had each kid write their names on them and we stuck the crayon in the middle of the card.

Museum of Nature and Science Trip (March 11): We took another wonderful trip to the Museum of Nature and Science at Fair Park. Our wonderful friends took us along on another great day! We played in the water, banged on the instruments, played in the anthill, gathered items from the Farmers Market, and milked the cow. We then sat down for lunch and decided to trek on to the Texas Animals Exhibit which included Texas Dinosaurs, Ocean Dallas, Ice Age Dallas, and Wildlife Dioramas of Texas wildlife and wetland animals. They had displays of many of the different Texas animals along with a rocks and minerals section. They even had a real Paleontology Lab in the basement where we were able to watch real scientists working on fossils!

Kitchen Renovation: There is an end in site in the kitchen renovation!! My kitchen renovation started on May 24, 2008. My dad is a fabulous woodworker and offered to redo my kitchen cabinets for me :) Little did we know that it would turn into a year long renovation! We took off all of the cabinet doors, threw out the old cabinet drawers, and sanded down the existing cabinet frames. Then my dad rebuilt all of the doors and drawers. Finally we stained and polyed everything. Ryan and I ended up buying a new stainless steel dishwasher, microwave, cooktop, and double oven. Once we did that we realized that we'd have to rebuild an entire section of the kitchen. So my dad just finished and installed the double oven area. We decided to keep the double oven area but do away with a cabinet that was there and now we added a small "mud room" type area next to the garage door. I'm so excited!! Hopefully the entire renovation will be done by May so that we won't cross the year anniversary... I'll keep you updated :)

Here's the first week of cabinet demo and sanding.

May 2008

June 2008: Granite countertops go in, Dad putting on new drawer slides and backsplash has been demoed

November 2008: We've got doors (sort of) and a backsplash!

That's what's been going on the past month and an update on the ongoing kitchen project. I will definitely keep this blog updated in the future :)