News from the Garden

The garden is doing great! Almost everything produced fruit. I got a dozen or so cucumbers, green beans, we made mint tea & guacamole with cilantro. We had rainbow carrots & broccoli with dinner just the other night. The tomato that wasn't eaten by critters was excellent, & there are three more tomatoes on the plant.
I tore almost everything out and am ready to plant a new crop of things - when I have some free time & motivation!)

July

Let's start at the end of June with Nathan's stitches. He put scissors through his hand. Three stitches in the fleshy part between hs thumb and index finger. He was a champ in the e.r. though!

July the 4th was a blast. We saw Waxhaw's parade with several families from our Sunday school class.

Just a few nights ago we had a failed pool party. We were thundered out, so we just had pizza and ice pops at home. 15 or so kids came. Everyone had a great time.

Tonight Dan went out to dinner with a friend, so we chilled out at home. The kids splashed in the kiddie pool & took turns being the life guard.

Blackberries

We picked blackberries today. Our new neighborhood has walking trails that are lined with blackberry bushes in several places. I didn't know what they were until my mother pointed out the white blooms & said we were sure to have tons of blackberries in June. I noticed the first ripe berries earlier this week & thought today it would be worth our while to pick some. We got about 50!

Picking berries

Ava playing with Nolan

Rinsed clean...What to do with them?

Something is Growing in the Garden!

We have a few sprouting plants & one flower!

Zoo!

Dan took the day off Friday, so we took the kids to the Zoo.
We saw lots of animals, paid a fortune for lunch and had a great time.

Ava looking at the dinosaur exhibit - she wasn't sure about this.

Sweet Sisters

Digging for Dino bones

Daddy's shoulders

Rhinos - my favorite

Taking pictures of taking pictures of the babies.

Giraffe - Dan's favorite

Miscellaneous

Several things have me thinking since Easter.
Caroline & Nathan are both riding bikes without training wheels. They seemed to take to it like fish to water. They learned several weeks ago with no injuries. I've been waiting & waiting for screams from the driveway. Yesterday they finally came. Nathan ran into Caroline & she has the scrapes to prove it. One on her ankle, calf and rear end. Thankfully her face landed in the grass. The poor girl has been limping around the house for the last two days, lying on her side and sitting on pillows.
I'm a bird watcher. I put out my new (thanks Dan) hummingbird feeder this week. I was rewarded with a hummer this morning! I think it was a female ruby throated, but it could have been a female calliope. I also spotted a blue bird in our back yard, perched in the maple tree. A good day for birds!
I thought I'd end with some cute bath-time pics of the babies.

Easter 2012

After a wonderful worship service at Calvary, we enjoyed lunch and an Easter egg hunt at my mom's house, and then Easter dinner at Dan's mom's house. I had a horrible allergy attack at Mom's, and am only just now recovering, 24 hours later. But it was a good day, in spite of the sneezes!

Gardening

Last year the kids & I planted seeds to start a vegetable garden. Then we decided to move & had to scrap the garden idea. This year we are not moving! And so we have planted our garden again. We started with some seeds indoors, but only a few of them lived to make it to the outdoor garden. I hope that isn't an omen. This weekend we built our raised bed, filled it with soil & planted seeds & the few plants that survived from inside. Caroline had a blast. Hopefully in a few months I will be able to post about the wonderful vegetables we are all eating!

Resurrection Rolls & Easter Eggs

Aunt Sissy & Uncle Grant came over for the afternoon today & we had a blast. After dinner at Pizza Hut, we visited a carnival in Monroe Mall's parking lot. We didn't know it was going to be there, so the only pictures of that are on Dan's phone. Ava had a BLAST riding the merry-go-round for the first time. After all that fun we went home to make resurrection rolls & dye Easter eggs. The recipe I used was very easy, but having made them I have some first-hand advice. Spray the pan before you put the rolls on it! Also, the crescent rolls need to be completely sealed or it won't really work. We had one turn out exactly right, and a few that had hollow places, but half of them flattened out because the marshmallow drained out of openings in the crescent rolls. That said, it was still really fun to do. These would be great for dessert or breakfast Easter weekend. RESURRECTION ROLLS Crescent roll dough, Melted butter, Large marshmallows, Cinnamon, Sugar. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in. Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus. Have him/her dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming. Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar, which represents the spices used to anoint the body. Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up . . . but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside). This represents the wrapping of Jesus’ body after death. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. (The oven represents the tomb—pretend like it was three days!) When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN! (The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

Two!

I don't understand how this happened. Ava has had her 2nd birthday. She's no longer a baby. My, how time flies!