Zebras and Tigers and Giraffes, Oh My!

This week we took a little zoo trip. Our zoo is soooo much better than it used to be. Although, it still is nowhere near as nice as many other zoos, like the Columbia Zoo in South Carolina that we visit when we see our family there (that zoo is amazing compared to ours), it has improved greatly and I am so happy that. So here is a picture recap of the day...

 We fed the giraffe this time. This is my favorite activity at the zoo. I highly recommend you do this at least once.

SO exctited about the choo choo train!

Haynes didn't like the dark tunnel. This is the tell tale sign he is nervous/scared.

The kids had a blast at the splash pad. It turned out to be a great week to go because schools are just starting and daycares were not all over the place. We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Brookelynn liked to pretend to "fall down" in the water.

Auntie Allison got to come with us.

Potty training is has been tough for Mommy and Haynes. Bless his heart. I think he needs to go...

My little Giraffes! They are so cute.

Pinterest, Painting and Me (Just Me)

I had a lovely afternoon planned for myself that involved some pinterest, paint, and me (just me). It all sounded great but it wasn't quite the quiet afternoon I had hoped for. Still, it turned out pretty nice.

You see, I plopped my kids in their little beds and practically ran out to the porch to get started. Just as I got focused and into the paints, a little boy came running from his room to the door. Not looking the least bit sleepy and begging me to let him paint too, I gave in. I sat him in the old high chair which has been demoted to the back porch for the time being, and we got started on our projects together.

I had some scraps from the deck cover leftover that I salvaged from the junk pile. They looked pretty "new" so they got a beating with a hammer. Hehe. That was fun.

 He looks focused and like he's having fun - and he is. But this focus lasted all of 15 minutes and he was done painting. So I sent him off to bed - again - and told him he'd better not get up. He slept 'til 5:30 this afternoon. Maybe the painting relaxed him...

With the porch all to myself, I got lost in my own little painting world. Why have I never done this?

I will certainly do this again.

rainy days are happy days to me

This morning I fully planned on having a hot, sunny day. I got myself going and as I have missed every single morning of our friends' open swim invite on Thursdays, I was determined to make it to this one today. So off we went as the clouds began to loom overhead. Just as I finished giving the babies a healthy dose of spray sunscreen (which they hate) it looked like there would be no sun for this day of swimming. *sigh* Oh well. We did get a few minutes of swimming and play in before it started thundering and lightning. Then just as we started lunch, everyone decided to head home. We headed to Maja's house for a little visit - which was nice. Thank you, Maja.

Now what to do with the rest of the afternoon? It was a perfect day to go to the library, pay my 40 cents worth of late fees (which I have been avoiding) and then check out some books. I get very bored with the same books over and over again at our house but I really love reading to Haynes and Brookelynn. They snuggle in close and though B really doesn't sit still for most books yet, I know she listens. I am not a reader myself. I have always avoided reading as much as possible and I don't want my kids to be that way. I hope my kids don't take after me. I hope they enjoy reading just for the sake of reading.

I stress when we go in the library. They don't understand the words "be quiet." They talk and scream and carry on. They touch every book on the shelves and as soon as I put one up that Brookelynn has brought me, Haynes has removed another from the shelves. It is an exhausting process and I end up putting Haynes in a chair with a puzzle and Brookelynn in a chair with a toy and rushing through the library, trying to find as many exciting books as I can before I completely lose control of my children. I found a big pile of books to read, paid my late fee and hurried out of the library. I know they are happy to see us leave. I am as excited if not more that we have some new books to read during quiet moments of the day. As soon as we got home, we read a few. Brookelynn went down for her nap and Haynes and I read a few more and sat and listened to the rain before his naptime. I cherish that time with my boy. It was a nice, rainy afternoon.

Our new shady spot

It has been in the "one day..." plans for several years to put a cover over our back deck. Friends, that day has finally arrived! It's been in the works for a couple of weeks now and Brandon is almost finished. Our back deck gets a tremendous amount of hot afternoon sun, which makes our kitchen extremely hot. Add cooking supper in the oven or on the stove top to that and you have a miserably hot conditions inspite of the air conditioning being set on 72 degrees. It just can't keep up with that kind of heat. So now, I am happy to say that we are at last shaded and what a difference it makes!
Thanks to my wonderful father-in-law, Ron, and a dear friend, Stephen. Their help was much needed since I am a terrible assistant to my husband when it comes to these types of projects.

 

I feel like we added a room on to our house. The kids can go out and play in the shade now.

The misting system was Brandon's little touch. He loves the novelty of it. I do have to say, when the breeze is blowing the mist inside the porch, it feels great. When the mist is flying out into space and not hitting anything you want it to, it's a sad disappointment.

That's it.

I can't help myself...

I have changed the look of this blog about 6 times since I started it. I just couldn't figure out what I liked. I'm a complete sucker for fun designing and playing around with editing. If you can't tell, look at my pictures. Almost every one is edited to look different than the original. I just can't help myself. It's so fun. But I'll try not to have a new looking blog every week, or every day for that matter. I think I have a look that will keep me satisfied for a while. Maybe...

Summer Garden

We've always attempted to grow a few plants and even attempted a small garden a couple of years ago but have never been successful in keeping any of our plants alive. It's been 90% due to laziness and the fact that I've been either pregnant or nursing the last few years and completely unmotivated and exhausted to keep up with a garden AND the fact that we had extreme drought every time we tried. The combination resulted in a complete FAIL. However, this summer I was motivated, determined to grow my own vegetables.

We invested a lot of time and money into making it work this year but it was so worth it. I had so much fun watching it grow. What a rewarding summer it was! Here it is after a few weeks of growth. It came a long way from a big box of dirt.

Haynes really got involved in helping me keep up with all the gardening. It was his job to water the flowers. And he took great pleasure in doing so. I just had to get used to the idea that he would be soaking wet by the end of the task and there may be a few less flowers in the pot. He picked them just for me...roots and all.

Brookelynn didn't quite get into it this year.

We planted 10 tomato plants. I know, I know! I got a little carried away. I didn't realize how many tomatoes that would yield. The first sign of success! Baby tomatoes!

Baby Squash. 

Never again will I attempt strawberries. This little guy was my one and only strawberry that didn't get eaten by bugs, or birds, or chipmunks. 

My bell peppers did great, too! I planted red and green but the red ones never turned red. Still haven't figured out that secret. 

I was coming out my ears with tomatoes at the peak of the season so I decided to freeze them. That process was quite tedious. I may blog separately about that later. In total, I got about 6 times this many tomatoes from start of season to end. Plenty to share as well. It was a great reminder of how God loves and cares for us and always provides for us. We are thankful to Him for our garden's success.

And now, my freezer is stocked with tomatoes, squash and green peppers for the season ahead.

After such a great season, we are encouraged and ready to start planning our fall garden which needs to be planted in the next few weeks. Time to dig up the garden and start all over...