Lightning Bugs

Today we saw the first lightning bugs of the season...in our backyard. We were all so excited. Dan was able to catch one in a jar for the kids and we sat outside mesmorized by them. The only time I have ever seen them before is when we have been on vacation in WI in the past. it is pretty cool to have them in our own yard. It was library day again today. The Discovery Center was putting on the program today. They are the local children's museum. The kids had a lot of fun trying pirate inspired science experiments.

Finally a New Update

Well it has been a while since my last post because Madison decided to get sick on Wed. She had a really bad case of strep throat and an ear infection. She ran a fever for a few days. Luckily she is getting back to normal. We did get to meet our new pediatrician. She is really great. I like her gentle disposition. I really liked the office we went to. It is nothing like Kaiser in CA (and that is a good thing). Madison attended Vacation Bible School for the first time today. She really liked it. I think it is going to be a very fun week for her. I spent the weekend painting the kids bathroom. I was so proud of myself. It is a beautiful color, it looks like chocolate to me. It's called warm nutmeg. The only problem is that I painted water based paint over oil based paint. So basically I made even more work for myself. It looked so pretty until we peeled the painters tape away and the paint started peeling right up with it. I was near tears. Lesson learned!!!

Ahoy there Mateys

Today was the start of the summer reading program at the library. They kicked things off with a pirate party today. The kids made pirate hats, colored pirate photos, listened to pirate stories and played pirate games. It was a lot of fun.

Peonies

I have to say I am loving these!! They are so pretty. They started popping up through the grass at the beginning of spring and luckily I noticed them. I made Dan promise not to mow over them. I had no idea what they were but figured they would be something nice. I didn't have any idea what a peony even was before. Now I have 14 peonies plants 7 in front an7 in back in 3 different colors. I am learning how to drive the ride on lawn mover. It is not that it is hard but it is stick shift of course. It takes about 2 hours to mow our lawn on a ride on mower. Thank goodness we have a ride on mower (there is no way it would get done otherwise).

Our Visitor

Anyone?

Anyone know what this bug is? He is visiting my home today and he seems fairly tolerant to people. I have never seen anything like him before.

I fought it really hard...but it happened anyway

I am officially a gardener. Mind you I still know very little about gardening and still can't tell you what half the things in my yard are. It happened without me even realizing it. I started spending more and more time out there as the yard kept offering me more gifts and now I am outside more than I am inside. I am always outside working on one of my 19 different flower beds , the yard, the trees and shrubs and now my newly planted pumpkin patch and vegetable garden. The former owner, I have come to find out through neighbors, was a gardener and he was retired. He spent most of his days outside planting and working. The fruits of his labors have paid off big time for me. All the presents I am receiving are coming from the hard work he started. I am amazed everytime I look at the flowers that this is actually my yard. I would have never gotten to this point on my own, now my option is to run with it or destroy it. I have run with it!!

Fish Tales

Dan took Madison fishing on Sat for her Daisy Scouts. She caught her first fish. It was a bull head catfish and it was just a little guy. She was reeling him in and he landed on shore, broke free from the hook and bounced himself back into the river. They would have had to throw him back anyway because he wasn't big enough. She was beaming from ear to ear when they returned. She earned her fishing badge, she was the only Daisy in her troop brave enough to even try for the badge. She made her dad proud. I asked him if he took a picture but he said it all happened too fast. Dan did catch a big, ugly catfish. We used him to fertilize the new garden.

Swap

Swaps

These are my latest creations. They are for a swap using non CM paper (oh my). It is my first shot at a non CM paper swap, but I think they turned out pretty well.