A day spent in the garden.....

Yesterday was pretty blissful! I was so excited to spend the day in the garden and outside working in the yard. It was warm but not a scorcher and we enjoyed working together as a family! Here are some shots I took of my garden, so far I am so happy with the progress. This is my first year gardening and I am totally hooked.

I had my middle mister "help me" plant some seeds. I don't think we are too late, I hope not!

Any guesses on what we planted together?

I hope that we get some big ones by Halloween! I want a whole bed full of these next year! Actually that is true of pretty much everything I have grown so far. I want more next year. I also planted some okra, but that was after my little helper scampered off. I guess the gardening bug has bit me. In the next picture you can see where we tilled this year under the black plastic. We ran out of money for fencing material though so hopefully next year all that area will be garden.

Yeah! A tomatoe, I can't wait until this baby turns red! It is off of my Early Girl plant.

Ohhh, my eggplant seems to be doing good too, I LOVE eggplant and can't wait to watch them grow in my own garden!

This is my favorite picture of the day. My two little men walking up to the house from the garden. And no, I don't let him run around naked all the time, just on Saturday. ha ha.

This post is linked up to Frugal Gardening ~ A Blog Hop!

Woeful Wednesday's #1 - Little boy blue, I am done nursing you!

Woeful Wednesday is a new little concept that I thought of while wiping down the bedroom doors in our hallway today. Every week has a little blue, a little sad, a little frustration, a little, well, WOE! I don't believe in letting ourselves wallow around in gloominess or to complain too long, too often or about too many things. BUT. I do think a little venting now and then is a good thing. Especially if you have a glass of whine, errr... wine in one hand and a friend sitting close by. Sometimes though it helps to blog about frustrations, oh, it could be anything, kids, house, sewing projects that don't turn out quite right! I am hoping that by sharing our frustrations, we can gain some insight, some inspiration or just get something out of our head!  I am going to make this a linky party so if you want to add your own woe inspired blog post you sure can. And if it is just me, well that is okay, I like some alone time! ;0)

My woe for today is all because of my sweet cheeks. You can see his darling little grin below.  

This picture was taken back in January and not only has he gotten more adorable, (I know hard to believe that is possible right?) but he has gotten ALOT more demanding and bossy. Only when it comes to one subject though, nursing. Michael is 21 months old, and to be blunt and honest, MOMMY IS TIRED OF NURSING YOU KIDDO! You have had teeth since your 5th month. You started walking at 9 months, you ate solid food way before that, you swim, you ride a tricycle, you jump out of your crib, you wrestle with your brothers, for goodness sakes, you can HIT A BASEBALL! So whats the deal, schmeal?

My 8 year old weaned himself on his first birthday, for real, last nursey during the party and that was that. I expected the same thing with this one, but no here we are 9 months after this and we still NEED mommy milk at least 5 times a day.

When I went to scrapbook retreat in January and was gone for 3 days I thought, this is it! We will be done when I get back. WRONG! Then I went on a church convention and was gone for 4 days in April, and I knew we would be done when I got back, WRONG AGAIN. The first thing he did when I walked in the door was grab his boppy and pat the chair for me to sit down. Oh boy! That boppy got hidden away in a closet first thing.

Michael is adorable and when those big blue eyes are staring into mine and he is saying, pease mommy, while patting the "nursing chair" it is mighty hard to resist, especially when he says, tank ewe, that is "thank you" for those of you not fluent in 1 year old speech! lol But more often than not these days I am being used for a binky, and he tugs hard, and I am not only not enjoying this anymore but it is making me tense and crabby with the whole family. I feel like I have done my mommy duty + and enough is enough. He can cut his own meat for goodness sakes, not that we let him have a knife but he sneaks one from someone else now and then.  

So when he starts the nursey, whine, dance, and routine I first try to get him a drink, then I try to feed him, thinking he must be hungry. But if those don't do the trick and they often don't I try to spend some one on one time with him thinking he must be needing some Mommy time. Often thought these don't work and so I nurse him. And it is driving me crazy.

Today I woke up with resolve, one nursey before bed and that is that. I am the mommy and I am in control.....or so I keep telling myself. After all he can't open the closet door yet and I can always go hide in there with a diet coke and some m&m's.

What has been bugging your mind lately, anything good?

Sweet Treats for Dad! A last minute Father's Day gift!

If you haven't done it yet now is the time to create something special just for dad! I am putting together a couple different things for my husband and Dad this year. This first one is simple, easy, fun, and definitely heartfelt! Can't beat that combination!

Step 1: Gather different treats, (candies, nuts, etc....) that Dad likes. Don't forget some mini candy bars. I bought mine from the dollar store and I only spent $13.00 on the goodies for BOTH gifts.

Step 2: Find a container that you can fill up with the above goodies.

Step 3: Cut strips of paper to wrap around the candy bars. I used scrapbook paper, make sure it doesn't have a pattern on the back. This was a good way to use up some that I had in a stack and probably wouldn't have picked to actually use in my scrapbook. I cut mine 1.5" by 4".

Step 4: Write silly, heartfelt, or loving messages on the back. Let the kids color pictures or sign their names.

Step 5: Glue the wrapper around the candy bars and assemble basket. I used a hot glue to add just a dab of glue and they stuck really well.

Here are some examples of my sayings:

(For my Husband)

*Good for 1 night off from Dad duties

*Good for 1 fre back rub! Love you!

*Heres to a great Dad who gives baths, makes mac n cheese and coaches little league.

*Happy Fathers Day to a winning coach!

*Thanks for being the greatest Dad to our 3 boys!

(For my Dad)

*Thanks for always making me laugh!

*I am so proud of you and The Red Shed! You Rock!

*Thanks for always watching our for me and bailing me out when needed!

*Thanks for loving my kids as much as I do!

*Thanks for giving great advice. And only when asked!

On the jar of peanuts I used some left over paper to make a label that says "Happy Father's Day from your nutty kids. (On my Dad's I wrote, from your nutty grandkids)

If you look closely in the picture you can see all of my candy bars aren't wrapped yet. That is because my kiddos have yet to write their little love notes and draw their cute little pictures. Only my notes are finished. See I told you it was a last minute gift. But one that I think will be cherished by the recipients.

 A picture of my hubby's treat basket!

Another photo of my dad's treat basket! I used a recycled doughnut box for his. Since we have to take it to him I like that it is all sealed up inside.  

Is there anything better than......

Is there anything better than a nap on a rainy afternoon?

Or hitting the snooze after your first nap and taking a second, even longer yet, nap.

Making a big breakfast and enjoying it with your family.

Cleaning house and seeing progress on some of the "worst" rooms.

Having everyone gone from the house long enough to be able to walk out of a room and then back into it and have it still be clean.

But not having them gone tooo long.

Watching your 8 year old's baseball team win the little league championship game.

Seeing the proud smile on your hubbies face, who coached that team.

Finally breaking the sewing machine back out to get a little creative on this rainy day.

These pretty much sum up my last 24 hours. Not in any particular order or timeframe, just random blessings as I remember them.

I am so blessed. God is so good.

Starting off with a BANG! (sort of)

At my house the 4th of July is a BIG deal. A BIG, BIG deal. This year will be our 10th year of hostessing a 4th of July BBQ and celebration for my friends and family. Each year the guest list and menu change, and as the children get older or we add different ones to the mix I come up with different activities. Everyone seems to have a good time and relaxes. Everyone except me. I truely love holding this BBQ but being the Queen of procrastination and all I usually am stressed doing last minute things. And EVERY year I think to myself, WHY didn't I start all this a month ago!

Well guess what? Yesterday was a month from the 4th of July! And I started my preparations. Well..........sort of......but I did get a few important details taken care of. For starters as I was thinking/daydreaming about the 4th I realized that it is on a Sunday this year. No biggie right, except I WORK on Sundays. oY! not good! So I thought I would see if I could switch shifts this year and work the morning shift. It took a lot of nerve to ask, but I did, and yes! I can so.... yeah! I also made my guest list and menu and starting jotting my to-do list, to - buy list, and great ideas list down. Whew! That took a lot of ink!

Today I am going to take some more action and hopefully make some napkin rings for banding the silverware and napkins together with. I think I am going with denim this year. I thought about adding red star buttons but on second thought I don't think I will. I will leave them pretty generic and that way I can reuse them for different events, and not just the 4th of July!

I will be posting pictures and blogging about my progress, if for no other reason than to hold me accountable. I am hoping for a relaxing stress free day! Even if I do have to work the morning of!

Have you started thinking about the 4th yet? It tends to sneak up on us!

A great cause - A red tent project....

I was blog hopping on Sunday and came across information about this cause that grabbed hold of my attention. Angie from Love is Spoken Here wrote about a project called the Red Tent Project.  Here is a run-down, she is asking woman, crafters to sew reusable sanitary supplies for girls in Ethiopia. A simple, affordable and very doable way to touch someone's life and make it a little better.

here are some facts:



*ordinary woman are unable to afford basic sanitary protection.


*one pack of sanitary pads costs more than 50% of the average monthly wage for women.


*millions of african women are forced to replace tampons/pads with newspapers and dirty rags.


*this can lead to vaginal infections for which there is no available medication.


* these vaginal infections are often mistaken to be sexually transmitted infections leading to social embarrassment and domestic violence.


*wives and mothers are unable to work when they have their periods, further hindering already impoverished families.


*girls are forced to take time off school, further jeopardizing their education.


*because of the economic and cultural crises in africa, its schools serve as more than academic centers. they provide community resources where young people receive basic care and services, such as food programs, clean water and counseling
 
So I am urging you to get in touch with Angie for the directions and patterns, gather a group of caring woman together and help out with this cause. I am gathering a group of ladies together in my church basement next Tuesday so we can make a small difference. Woman to woman......