Isn't it Lovely!

Look what I picked up!  It is sitting in the corner of my living room and I'm planning to use it as a desk upstairs where I can do simple projects.  I love working in my craft space downstairs, but it rarely happens.  I feel a bit disconnected from the kids.  This way I can work on something and still be in the middle of all the action!  Functional and pretty!

8 Years Old!

We celebrated this man's 8th birthday this last week!  I hope he felt how much so many love him on his special day!

I can't believe you are 8!  I'm so proud of the person that you are and are becoming.  Love you!

Kindergarden: Growing and Growing

This week we finally were able to get some water out to our garden.  Not a minute too late.  This girl is always on the go, especially with her new best friend.

 I put egg shells around my tomato plants.  I'm not sure if I crushed them enough or if I put them too far out, any advice?

 The beans are coming up!

 This little girl likes to look at everything!  We just have to keep her off the plants when she gets a little too curious.

Marie, Rem, and Keaton are visiting.  We have been enjoying spending time with them.

 So excited to pass the camera off to the kids this next week (with a lots of adult supervision!) and see what photos they take of our garden.  I love seeing what they see. 

Meet Lucy!

She is as sweet as she looks.  We have been busy but it has been oh so much fun! 

Kindergarden: What A Difference A Week Can Make!

What a difference a week makes!  There are little green plants shooting up all over our garden, the good kind, not the bad!  Everything is up! 

 The photos aren't so great.  I've been playing around with my camera and am still trying to figure it all out.  I have to admit we haven't been out in the garden much this week, lots of time spent celebrating a certain 8 year old's birthday (more to come on that).  The little time we spent in the garden we pulled weeds, drove trucks, ran around, and made some plans. 

 I have some egg shells in the fridge that I'm planning to add to my tomato bed this week.  I also have to figure out how we are going to water.  Steve promises me that he will repair the hose that I'm going to be running across our yard to water our garden, but as of today it is still not repaired.  Luckily we have had enough rain to keep everything looking good.

 Planning to spend more time this week in the garden.  It is so fun to watch it all grow, so rewarding.  I heard from someone, somewhere that less people are choosing to plant gardens because they don't receive that instant gratification that we are used to in our world today.  I was thinking on that.  Most things that are truly valuable take time, work, and patience.  These things yeild the greatest reward.  I love that my kids are able to see that first hand, everyday, out in our garden.

Oh, no deer problems this week.  The fence is up and we haven't seen any signs of deer disturbance.  Here is hoping it will stay that way!

Yarn Along

I read The Hiding Place  by Corrie Ten Bloom this last week.  I know that many of you have read it and I'm probably so late in the game, but I have to say, how inspiring.  The life lessons in this are, well, life changing.  One of the many inspirations I took with me from this read was how these two women looked at life, look at the trials or challenges that came their way.  What they experienced and how they viewed it will stay with me.  An inpirational read.

I'm knitting this cowl and probably will be for the next bit.  Since I'm a new knitter, I haven't found a great time of day or night to knit.  It always seems to pull me away of things I "should" be doing.  Any advice from more experienced knitters. 

Kindergardens: Unexpected Visitors

We had some visiters to our garden this last week.  Yes, this is one of the reasons we are building a fence and why we waited so long to get the garden in.  I finally decided we had to get it in even though the fence is not in yet. 

 I watched as our unwelcome visitor took a bite out of my tomato plant!   We tried our best to scare them away.  They weren't too impressed with our weak attempts, but they finally left. 

 Here is a close up of our garden.  Yes, we just finished planting this last week and not a lot is coming out of the ground.  Actually, I took these photos earlier this week and yesterday we actually had a lot of green showing, lots of plants starting to come up.

 But here we have some cucumbers coming up.  They were the first seeds that we planted to show themselves.  We were very excited to see them!

 Here are our tomatoes.  I planted marigolds around the borders. 

 I planted some herbs in one end and on the other end.  I want to plant another basil plant in that empty spot.

 Not a lot of photos with the kids.  I have to admit, when we go out to the garden it is hard for me to remember my camera.  But, here is a blurry photo that shows evidence of them.  Trucks and dirt are Karter's new friends.  I promise more kid photos next week.

On a side note, have you ever thought of what you are wearing when you garden.  These ladies certainly did.  I'm feeling very inspired to wear trousers and loafers out in the garden today.

Hairstyles

I'm doing a better job with Isabelle's hair!  With her pixie cut these last couple of years I haven't had to do much with it, and now it has grown long and snuck up on me.  We are actually curling it on Sundays and trying out new hairstyles throughout the week.

 I've found a few websites that we have enjoyed that give great video tutorials.  We are trying to grow her bangs out and so it is hard to do every hairstyle because of trying to keep those pesky bangs out of her face.  But we are having fun and Mama and daughter are liking the results.