May, you were but a busy blink of an eye!

May. May is a crazy busy month. May tends to hurt my brain and my pockets both. (Anything that hurts our pockets is beyond exasperating!) But, May also brings lots of fun, smiles, and leaves us with oodles of new memories to treasure while we catch our breaths.

May brings us Mother's Day.  These are the roses that my kidlets picked for me from the backyard.  I'm soaking up the sweetness before we eventually hack them out to put in raised veggie beds.

May brought us wacky weather.  Actually, today is June 1st and apparently, wacky weather is still on the menu as it has been raining today....pouring just moments ago and now the sun is peeking in through a sucker hole as my fingers click clack across the board.

But, oh the rainbows!!  I'll take rain any day when there's a promise of a rainbow!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been running amuck around here.  I get that it's hilarious to a kidlet, but oh my, can that humor please stay in the books & on the pages?!  Please?!  (Oh yea and please do ignore the weeds.  When it finally stops raining and feeding them, I'll go out & pluck 'em!)

May has seen our graphed apple tree growing apples for the first time this year.  This little one is a Gala and there are five other varieties on the same tree.  Can't wait 'til fall to eat them!

May also brought us two birthdays.  No, not these gals'!  Hubs & wee girl each turned a year older, just a few days apart.  We celebrated Hubs and then had two parties, two weekends in a row with family and friends who are also family, just not blood related.

These two are two of the Four Musketeers and I love that while I wasn't raised with a sister, I've had three for over twenty years!

The Four Musketeers are Aunties to my kidlets and the one on the left above is the gal who got me started scrapbooking.  And since she's a scrapper herself, it rocks that she always takes pics of the silly bits and pieces of events that belong in a scrapbook at my kidlets' birthdays.

And no gathering with this crew is complete without a little Wii time!  Some maniacal Mario Kart driving was in order and after the kidlets went to bed, the 'grown ups' got busy playing Toy Story Mania.  We're wild, I know. {wink}

Tomorrow is the last day of this school year for us and while the weather doesn't seem to be on the same schedule, summer here we come!

What's happening this summer in your neck of the woods?

Got Artichoke?

We do!  Wee girl & I picked up a 2 1/2" artichoke starter plant from a local organic farm (well, the plant was started at a local organic farm, which we bought at Whole Foods) last year and planted it in our veggie garden.  And apparently, that little arti plant really liked its new home!

It started so small and now, it's almost up to the top of the fence with a half dozen artichokes growing on it.  The initial plant was $2.50 and with the price of artichokes today (saw some on sale at Safeway for $3 each the other day), if we even get one good one off of it (though it looks like we'll have many more than that), it will have paid for itself in full.

Pretty cool, huh?!  We think so.  We're also nurturing our boy's strawberry plant, in hopes it produces more yummy fruit for the third year in a row now.  And our graphed apple tree blossomed for the first time this year and already has little mini apples growing on it.  All of this and we haven't even planted any new vegetables yet.  Yup, pretty cool.

What's growing in your garden right now?  Anything new you plan to get into the ground or a pot this month?

Pink Pretties & Debate Delight ~ Wordful Wednesday

Last month (seriously?! February's already over?!) Hubby brought home a pot of pink tulips for our little Princess & I for Valentine's. I've loved waking up to them every morning in the kitchen window.

And silly me, didn't think to pull them down to take a quick, pic.  Rather, I climbed up and balanced o'er the top of them and clicked with my ol' trusty point & shoot camera that I've used for the last five years.

Remember that camera that I said I was looking to retire to back up status??

Well, now it officially is!  {{SQUEAL}}  The Next Great Camera Debate is over and this beautiful Nikon D3100 arrived on my doorstep just a few days ago!

While I've shot with film SLRs before, it has been a long time, so for now, I've got this baby set on Auto until I learn how to use it in Manual mode.  And I picked up a couple of books to help me out along the way, Nikon D3100 Digital Field Guide and Nikon D3100: From Snapshots to Great Shots.

I'm having a blast clicking away, playing around and checking her out.  Captured my boy's blue mohawk'd hair for Crazy Hair Day at school, Princess chasing the cat around & giving scratches until said cat was purring nonstop & a puddle of drool, and I can't wait til I have a moment to take this new sweet thing out on one of our country drives!

Okay, now who can recommend the perfect chic bag to carry it in???  Please do tell! :>


Linking up for Wordful Wednesday!

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Disclosure:  Camera image credit: Amazon. I'm loving my new camera & thankful for the help of the two books that are keeping my noggin' from turning to mush from information overload. One more piece of honest information for you, the camera & book links are affiliate links.

Celebrating {Life} & Independence Day

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Wishing all of my friends in the United States a very

Happy 4th of July!

Guess what greeted Hubby when he was checking on our veggie garden last night?!  This beautiful and scrumptious organic crooked neck squash literally popped off when he moved a large leaf to see what might be growing!  We were already roasting some organic zucchini (purchased, as our zucchini are still growing), so we added this beauty!  You can't get more Garden to Table than that!!

{Life} is my One Little Word for 2010 and this beautiful veggie is a product of part of what and why I chose {Life} as my word this year.  The whole family has been in on this veggie garden, from planting it, to tending & watering it, to now harvesting & eating from it.  We are growing life, living life, and personally, loving the life that this small garden is bringing into our lives as a family.

Hubby will be barbequeing later today and even later, we will pull the telescope out to stargaze and watch some of the high fireworks set off for the show at the high school from our backyard.  What fun have you been having this weekend?  And if this is your holiday too, what does it hold for you?

We interupt the regularly scheduled program.....for {Teacher Gifts}!

We made it!! YAAAAYYYY!!!! My boy's last day of school was yesterday and it was SO nice to not only complete the school year, but also to turn OFF my 5:40 AM alarm clock!!!! I cannot express how happy that makes me! :>

Yes, I know I promised to return with {Part Two}of the doll house with pictures of its completion and I'm sorry I haven't gotten that up yet. I was trapped in the kaleidoscope of the zany & zippy, Crazyland that is the last week of school! So, please pardon the interruption to the regularly scheduled program as I have some teachers, aides, and principal gifts to share! :>

We had two teachers, two aides, and one principal that we brought end of the year thanks and goodies too.  While these were the people who we wrote, created and packaged bits for, we do know that it takes many more people to make a successful school year for our children and we are grateful to all that contributed!!

Initially, we were thinking Gerber Daisies, as I had the tag's wording in mind.  But, when I went looking, I found these fabulous and fun plants!  They are Celosias and the flower is spiky, feathery, vibrant, and look like little colorful Christmas trees, up close.  They could not be more perfect!  You can read more about Celosias here and here.  I have uploaded two close-up shots of the flowers themselves on Flickr here and here.

I had fun playing around with my fonts when coming up with these simple, but very appropriate tags for each plant.  I made them in MS Word, matted them on brightly colored cardstock, used different colored eyelets, and layered on another bright color with a spiral paper clip.  (Click on the pics to enlarge them and make them easier to read!)

The Celosias were four inch plants in the standard green plastic pot....perfect for planting, not so great for gift giving.  So, wee girl and I made a quick trip to Jo-Ann's and bought some dark green burlap.  We cut it into squares and Princess helped hold the burlap folded up around the pot, while I tied on some twine from the hardware store that I had.  Tie on the tag and they are a sweet little gift!

Teachers definitely put in so much time and effort and these two teachers, in particular, we all appreciate so much.  We wanted to give them a little something extra to show that.  So, I wrapped up four cards (1, 2, 3, 4) and envelopes and tied them up in wide pink grosgrain ribbon for simple, yet sweet gift giving. 

As we were giving out our end of the year gifts, a teacher surprised me with an extremely thoughtful gift.  She took pictures of our son through his school day, with his friends, classmates, different aides & teachers, in the classroom, at lunch, and recess.  She said that she knew that I scrapbook and wanted to give me pictures to scrap.  How thoughtful is that?!?!?!!

We have worked with this teacher closely for the last two years and I do not have words to express how wonderful she has been.  I am sure that when any of us look back, twenty years from now, we will remember her very well and still be grateful for her.

This small set (1, 2, 3, 4) of cards were wrapped up in a beautiful bright green wide sheer ribbon and tied off in a bow.  These were going to his classroom teacher who is full of smiles, enthusiasm, and a passion for teaching!  Our boy says that she was funny, great at teaching math, super nice, and that he enjoyed listening to her read stories to the class.  We so enjoyed her being our son's teacher this year and she will be missed!

One aide in particular, had a special connection with our son.  He enjoyed her so much, thought she was funny, and absolutely idolized her thirteen year old son....so much so, that her son was kind enough to come spend time after and before school a couple times a week with my boy this spring to talk about Star Wars, guitars, and Lego's.  How cool is that?! 

Princess and this aide shared something in common......they both enjoy their accessories!  In the last weeks of school, Princess often noticed my boy's very stylish aide wearing statement rings.  So, when we were thinking about end of the year gifts, Princess was the one to come up with the idea of giving this aide a statement ring.......and so we did!  I don't think the picture does it justice.  Its really fun and funky!

They have worked together for the last two years and in that time they talked, laughed, learned and taught, ran together (she runs half marathons....good thing 'cause my kidlet is fast and doesn't stop moving!! :>), played, and shared stories every day at school.  We will miss her next year!

Sending a BIG shout out to ALL the teachers out there (including the ones in my family!).......THANK YOU!

Thanks for visiting, I love it when you do! Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!!

One Little Word Update

When I chose my One Little Word for 2010, I chose {Life}, and while there were many reasons to choose that word, one particular reason swayed me. Before our daughter arrived a few years ago, we had our veggie garden and loved it! We loved planting it as a family, watering it, checking on it, picking from it, and cooking with what we grew.....all as a family. Once we had our wee girl, we didn't replant. And I have missed it....a lot.

So, to remedy that, my wee girl (who loves her fruits and veggies so much that we often have to bribe her with a veggie to get her to eat the main course on her plate) and I have been bringing home 2 1/2" organic starter plants the last couple weeks.

And now, tomatoes, chives, and parsley are in the ground, in planters on the deck, and in an old antique wash basin. Sharing those homes are a few other herbs & veggies, including:

Sage

Yellow Bell Pepper
(that was a wee bit chewed up by the time it got into the ground
...not sure that it happened before or after it arrived home)

Red Bell Pepper



And our boy's sweet strawberry plant! Can you believe it was only a couple of leaves big when he brought it home in his backpack from a local Ag Fair??!!

And since I took these pics, zucchini, rosemary, Japanese eggplant, peppermint, crooked neck yellow squash, and artichoke organic 2 1/2" starter plants have followed my wee girl and I home and are waiting to stretch their roots out in some deeper soil!

We are all having a lot of fun and enjoying having a veggie garden again.....or in the case of our wee girl, for the first time. It feels good to plant {life}, help it grow, eventually harvest it, and bring it into our kitchen to better our lives!

What's growing in your garden this season?

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Oh yes....one last thing, my wee girl, our Princess, came running up to me the other day with excited words spilling out of her wee mouth, "Look Mom!! I spelled 'Disney'!!!"


When I told her what it really spelled, she was tickled and proceeded to write 'Princess' on every single thing she could get her hands on! That was one great big little thing that made me Smile!!

Strawberry Charm

Last month, my son and his class went on a fieldtrip to the local Ag Fair. He had SO much fun and is still talking about his experiences today. In addition to that lasting excitement, he has a little something growing rapidly that he brought home from that Ag Fair. They sent each kidlet home with a little strawberry plant. His Dad helped him plant it in the backyard and other than that, we, hubby & I, have done nothing. We watch our son drag the hose across the yard to go water it pretty regularly. While I was out back taking pictures with the kids yesterday (they had control of the camera, so most of them are of the cats and a few Really unflattering ones of me!), I was so delighted to see just how big his strawberry plant is getting! I snapped a quick pic and thought I would share it.