Thank you for the Crocs....They've gone to great use.

I giggle at the title of this post because the person who gave me my Crocs is most likely going to read this. :) Anyways, I was roaming around one of my new favorite websites and happened across a picture of flowers planted in a pair of Crocs. I immediately knew that this was something I HAD to do. I thought it would be a great little project for K and I.
So when we got back from the flower store I rounded him up and we got busy. He let me know real quick like that he wasn't interested in really helping and that he would just watch but to get him engaged I gave him the most important job of all!!! Taking the pictures! He also let me know in a fit of laughter that flowers DON'T belong in shoes but rather behind girls ears so I obliged and did just that.

I was quite impressed at the picture documentation he did. He took a picture of each little step.

Finished Product....So cute!

Thank you K for the great time! Our little flower Crocs look so welcoming by the front door.

Are you my Mother?

"You are not my Mother. You are a scary Snort!" ~ P.D. Eastman (Are you my Mother?)

We found a baby bird yesterday. He sat there in the middle of our yard-to young to fly or run away. He just sat there. I felt like I was straight out of the book, "Are you my Mother?" The birdie seemed so confused and scared to say the least. Finally momma birdie must have gotten back from collecting food and noticed her little baby out of the safety of the nest. You could tell she was in a pure panic. K and I backed up and watched from afar...

Watching this momma bird running around our yard, flying from tree to tree, running up to the baby to make sure it was still okay was heartbreaking but neat all at the same time. We were watching the bond of a mother and a child right before our eyes. When I turned around to get Aaron's attention I saw that he too was watching the bond between a mother and a child. Little did I know he was snapping pictures of K and I the whole time.

**Just an update on the little birdie, he is still out front. When we went out to check on him Momma bird was up high in the tree above him keeping guard.**

Garden Journal-May 15

May has been an incredible month for the garden. My plans were to do a garden update once a month so I could see the growth by month but with all the changes I couldn't help myself. One of the first things we do before leaving for work in the morning is go out and check on the garden...and in the afternoon one of the last things we do before heading in for the night is check on the garden again. You would be amazed at how much can change just in the 12 hours that pass by.

One of my pride and joys is the Sunflower "field" that I'm growing for myself. It's not going to be a field by any means but it's going to be the closest I can seem to get to actually finding a true sunflower field. I'm pretty excited about how well the flowers are doing so far. We started them from seed straight into the ground and they have already grown to almost the height of K.

Another one of our biggest successes so far have been our sugar snap peas. We have been able to harvest enough to eat them fresh in salads and stirfry and also freeze some for the fall and winter. It amazes me how much the kiddos like them raw straight off the vine. Here is a picture of K stuffing his mouth full of the peas. Isn't that an awesome sight!? :)

...and of course I have to give credit where credit is due. So far we have been chemical free and I can of course give some thanks to the beautiful "good" bugs that have found our garden a home and help to patrol the area for all the not so welcomed guest.

"There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling"~Mirabel Osler

Rainy Days

It's been a very wet, cold, rainy weekend. I know the yard is loving the rain but I'm personally wondering what happened to the beautiful weather. I was starting to get a bit of cabin fever yesterday so I decided to go wonder the yard in the sprinkling rain. I absolutely despise having dandelions in our yard but when I came across this one it peaked my curiosity. I realized I've never seen the seeds to these flowers weeds. Even something as small as a weed has a purpose in it's little life. Pretty neat, I thought.

Disfunctional Valentine's Day

It's never like the movies....at least not in my house. I don't wake up to a nice clean home, breakfast in bed, and happy healthy children running into the bedroom to kiss me good morning. Rather this morning on our 6th Valentine's Day together I wake up before anyone else as normal. I walk into the kitchen after going to bed early with sick kids last night to find a complete mess! Dinner was still left out on the stove, the door to the outside was unlocked, and the clothes wet in the washing machine were, well still sitting wet in the washing machine.
My dear husband wakes up and comes strolling out into the living room and asks, "Did you see anything in the kitchen?" My response, "Yeah, a big mess and a half eaten box of chocolates that I threw away." End of story, end of conversation...I go about my business checking on the boys and seeing how high their temperature was this morning. A couple of minutes later I walk back into the kitchen to refill my coffee cup and there sat a beautiful bouquet of tulips. Tulips are my ultimate favorite and the pale pink and yellow just made my heart melt. Also sitting by the flowers was an issue to my favorite magazine, "Mother Earth News." He did remember! He did know my favorites!! Now I'm off to tend to the sick kids. Looks like I'm going to have a day full of Motrin, coughing, and irritability but in between those moments I'll be sitting back while I can to catch a good read about gardening in my new magazine.
Thanks sweetie for a great Valentine's Day!

A Taste of Spring

One of the joys to me for living in the south is our normal mild winters. Here we are still in January and yesterday was absolutely beautiful! My son was so excited to be able to pull out the shorts and flip-flops!
Of course we've all had a little cabin fever after being stuck in the house for what seems like weeks with winter weather so the first thing on the agenda was to head out into the neighborhood and take a little Big Wheel ride!
We were in no hurry to get back to the house so we did a little exploring while we were out. We came across this dead butterfly. I'm not sure where he's been seeking shelter to avoid being destroy during all of our weather but regardless he was really beautiful! They are normally something you look at from afar so it was quite fun to get an up close and personal view.

Next we decided to head down to the pond in our neighborhood. We literally would be able to spend hours there if we could. Unfortunately this is someones yard. The house is unoccupied for now but I'm sure it won't be for long.
Aaron and I sat back there dreaming about if this were our house. Maybe we could just tear this house down and move ours across the street....Wishful thinking, right!?

"I wish...I wish...I could play basketball and baseball..."
Such sweet innocent wishes! This was K's wish as he picked up this dandelion to blow off into the wind.

I was also able to snap a couple of pictures of E in his birthday shirt....A little late but better than never. Some of the pictures turned out okay...I think we'll need to have another "photo shoot" again soon though...

Now back to reality...The hi today is only in the mid 40's....Windy and Rainy. There is even talks of a bit of snow come Friday. We did enjoy it while we could though. It was a perfect taste of spring!

Diaper Cake Sneak Peak & Good Morning to the World.....

My boss who had no intention of every having a baby...Career driven....has since popped up pregnant! Yay, right!? We are all excited! So she is due at the end of February and the baby shower is this Friday. I kept thinking to myself that I had to do something...something special. She's been my boss for almost 4 years. She's helped me buy a home-seen me through having my second child...and well I spend about as much time with her as I do my own husband...
So what can I do!? I knew she had all the big furniture, she wasn't finding out the sex of the baby so clothes can be kind of hard-soooo I came to the conclusion of a diaper cake. Not only would this make for a great center piece during her shower but it would be a great gift to take home and enjoy all the little trinkets too.
Okay, problem solved-I'm making her a diaper cake...Next problem, how the heck do I do that!?!?!

I did eventually figure it out after watching a youtube video or two....and here is a macro sneak peak of the final product. I do hope she likes... ;)

Also while I'm at it-it's round two for Ashely & Jill's shoot and edit challenge....Here is my shot SOOC:

The theme was "Good Morning...." As soon as we woke up this morning and my son opened his blinds I couldn't help but think of this theme. Good morning World...and I think this photo has so much potential after being touched up a little.

Macro of our snow storm

The south is in a very unusual snow storm. Our area that gets excited over 2-3 inches once or twice a year is expecting 9-12 by the end of the day. Needless to say we are all very excited in this household. I plan on taking pictures through out the day but while waiting for the baby to go down for a much needed nap I wanted to post a Macro shot of our current snow situation.

I just wish I could have gotten the picture a little more clear...
Happy Monday & for everyone in the south...Enjoy the snow!