Cole Says...

"Mom! While Ms. Rowell was in San Diego, she saw Justin Bieber!!!"

(a few seconds pass)

"Mom, who's Justin Bieber?"

Cole Blogs: Magnolia Tree

As you see,I have picked a Magnolia flower.Now if you actually had one you wouldn't believe the size!Its about a foot long!

First Pea

THE SEARCH BEGINS...

FOUND IT!

IT'S MINE!

Last year, we put in our raised garden beds, which cost a couple hundred bucks plus a lot of back-breaking labor.

This year, I bought some PVC pipes to go over each bed to make a little cage that I can use for adding plastic (to keep the plants warm in cooler weather), shade cloth (to keep the plants cool in hot weather), and netting (to keep out the evil squirrel). Plus, I got some hanging baskets to put an herb garden on my front porch, and I splurged on a timer for the hose so our garden will be watered while we're on vacation. Including potting soil, plants, and seeds, I've spent at least $100 dollars so far.

Last year, we drowned in tomatoes. This year so far, we've gotten a good harvest of spinach, kale, swiss chard, and beets, and hopefully later this summer, we'll get some tomatoes, peppers, melons, and beans. But by no stretch of the imagination have we saved money from our garden investment.

But oh my goodness, I do love gardening. Besides my kids, there's not much in this world that makes me happier. So, worth the investment? Definitely.

(Next year, I plan to put in a strawberry bed and turn part of our backyard into a faux patio - similar to this. If I had my druthers, I would also plant a butterfly bush, a wildflower garden, some blueberry bushes, two cherry trees, rosemary, sage, thyme (and lots of other perennial herbs), and tons and tons of tulips. If my landlord up and decides to kick us out of this house one of these days, I will cry and cry.)

Oh yeah, Eli turned six

I was telling a friend tonight about Eli's ridiculous birthday cake and remembered that I never posted pictures of his birthday.

We did another very simple celebration - my favorite! He invited one friend to go with us to Chuck E Cheese, and then we went home for cake, ice cream, and presents before driving the friend home.

The only downside of the party was this super embarrassing cake that I made. Eli asked for strawberry frosting, so I looked up a recipe that was basically just a buttercream frosting with fresh strawberries mixed in. It turned out super runny, but I'd already used every bag of powdered sugar that we had in the house, so I went ahead and frosted the cake. Almost immediately, it started oozing down the side of the cake, and by the time Eli blew out the candles, it was dripping off the plate. Luckily it still tasted good!

Traffic Jam

I have three boys and only one of them has ever been into "boy toys."

Cole and Eli have always been more interested in art and music than in the stereotypical boy interests. My favorite example - I bought Cole a t-ball stand for his fourth birthday. It was never once used as a t-ball stand but was perfect as a microphone. We also have a basketball hoop that occasionally gets dragged out, laid on its side, and sat on (a canoe? a car? a cannon? definitely not a basketball hoop.)

Then along came Rylan...




He also loves princesses...

Rylan Says...

Rylan: My tummy hurts. I need medicine.

Me: I don't have any tummy medicine.

Rylan: The kind you gave me before.

Me: When your ear was hurting?

Rylan: Yes.

Me: That medicine won't work on your tummy.

Rylan: Oh, wait. I think...It's not my tummy that hurts. It's my leg.