Happy Birthday Ariana!!

Here she is showing off her new binoculars and bird guide. She is ready for bird watching!!

Card From Florida Grandma!

At Howe Caverns...

With a Bumblebee impersonator at Cruising on the ave yesterday!

Ariana is 9 today. She is a sweet and creative girl that loves to see new things. I love her artistic and creative side. In a few weeks she will begin to play the violin and thus will begin a new creative endeavor for her! Ariana you have brought a lot of joy into my life. I love you for who you are!

Have a wonderful day,

I love you,

Mommy!!

Back to my old ways.. Running off with the Band!!!

Imagine my surprise when I got home from grocery shopping and saw all the kids gathered 'round Axel Rose.(they didn't know he was real,they thought he was just from video games, surprise!) So I decided that after a really tough year, full of stress and such I am just running off with the band to be a roadie.(no groupie for Axel). Off I go. No more worrying about kids, school, gardens etc... Did you really think I was running off? Ha.. Actually this is one of my friends and she dressed like this to surprise her 5Th grade daughter at her luncheon (celebration for moving up to middle school). One of the Dad's dressed like Slash... The kids said they had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. I bet you believe that too huh?

Well I suppose that if you don't see me for a while and I don't answer my phone, you can only wonder if I am off with the band!

I am devistated!!!

Monday evening we were struck with a hail storm, about the size of a marble shooter it did caused some havoc in my yard.

Not only did it bring down limbs, and make it mess, it destroyed my garden that I have worked hours preparing and nurturing my little plants so we would have some yummy organic veggies and fruits to eat this summer.

You can see that a short little hail storm left nothing. I have been peaking outside hoping that my young plants would perk up. I haven't got the heart to photograph the damage. Now I know how Pa Ingalls felt when his crop was destroyed by at a terrible storm. Now to decide do I buy plants at Sunday's farmers market, or hope that some of these plants will recover?

Regardless of what happens out in the yard, the band plays on!!

Nikolas' Sunflower Patch

No... this isn't Nikolas' sunflower patch.. it's going to be my garden. The plants are still growing in pots. Yes I know I have to get them into the ground, I worked a few hours getting the rest of the weeds out and it's ready today. Just that it rained. Here's Nikolas planting his seeds. He has been asking to grow sunflowers for a few years. I told him that he had to get out there and do it. Finally he has, I will keep an update on the progress.

He was so sweet to let Ariana help. She wasn't allowed to dig thou. I am sure she wouldn't want to either! Here is Ariana showing off the seed package. We planted these in the backyard, they are supposed to get up to 12 ft tall! Holy cow! The ones we planted on the side are supposed to get to about 6 ft. I think that's tall. We will see.

Happy planting... and eat your veggies!

Where there is smoke...

There is my compost finally doing it's thing.... Can you believe that layer after layer my darn compost is finally heating up. There was even condensation on the lid when I opened it up today. Also, on the note of compost, before I got my bin, we had what we called the 'bunny pile' and it that place there is some very interesting plants growing from there. I am curious and excited to know if it is going to be something edible as most of what got put back there was food scraps. I will update when I know! I have the garden ready for planting. Just have to figure out how to keep the darn squirrels out of it. The sproutlings are ready to go into the ground. I will be doing it tomorrow. The cucumbers are in the ground, and I hope to get Nikolas outside today to plant his sunflower seeds.

Have you Seen the Bridge!?

The past few weeks have been filled with ceremonies, end of year trips etc. The most exciting thing for both my younger kids was getting to cross the bridge in scouts. Nikolas has earned his Tiger rank in scouts and is now a wolf. The ceremony was so much fun for my tiger cubs (and the rest of the scouts) This rite of passage is one that the boys love as they feel they are growing up. The excitement of working towards rank is a great esteem builder! Here I am putting on Nikolas' new scarf, he is checking out the year of service pin and the tiger badge he just earned!

Here's Ariana- she is no longer a brownie girl scout but a Junior. She got her new vest in Green and is so excited. She practically ran across the bridge to get her new vest and awards I couldn't get another photo, and I had to put her back on the bridge to stage it after the ceremony! See photo below. Where has the time gone? My kids are all growing up! We just signed Ariana up to play the violin as well. I am so proud of them for all their hard work in scouts this year! We have all grown so much.