#13 - Visit the beach.

Well lookie there! I didn't even realize that our trip to Georgia last month resulted in checking something off my life list.

YAY!!

Now seriously....when can we go again?

Fun with Sparklers!

We went to a friends house Saturday night for a cookout and some fireworks fun!

We splurged on getting 12 BIG fireworks and it was so worth it!!! We also had the cops called on us because we were disturbing the neighbors. Apparently they didn't enjoy shooting fireworks after midnight as much as we did. The visit took us all by surprise, because I don't think any of us knew what time it was. Oh, well we didn't even have any more to shoot off after he left so it was just as good.

We also got some BIG sparklers and spelled things out with them. It turned us all into giddy 6 year olds.

Swimming!

We took our Whiz Kids to my parents neighborhood pool last Saturday. They didn't know how to swim, but they sure learned fast!

We ate lunch at McDonalds, then swam for 3 hours. Those kids were plum tuckered out!

From my garden

Man, I feel so proud of my amateur gardening skills when I go outside and pick veggies for dinner.

Right now, we have an abundance of lettuce. We're trying to eat a lot of salads because I don't want it to get all wilty and bad and then us not be able to eat it. Because that would totally defeat the purpose of growing it!

This is what we have had to eat so far with our lettuce...

Taco Salad with black bean corn salsa

Greek Salad. Just for me, Stephen doesn't like the feta or the dressing.

Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad

Yeah for Vacation!

Ok so we went to Savannah, Georgia a few weeks ago for a family reunion. It was delightful!

We rented a big beach house for our family just 200 yards from the beach. Glorious!

We chatted and ate breakfast out the enclosed porch!

We looked real cool taking the trolley tour!

We caught some major waves!

Will liked to scream at the waves!
We went the always fun baseball game and played Mound Ball!

We hung out and played in the sand!

We hung out with our big crazy family!

We had a super fabulous dinner and spent some time together!

Dom played in the waves and I tried to hold on to him so they wouldn't take him under!

Molly napped.
We played Sheephead!
We buried Will...but I don't think he liked it that much.

What an awesome vacation...when's the next one?

A Shmorgesborg of Stuff and My Birthday!

I used my skills of sounding out to spell that word up there. I hope I got close!

I know I haven't posted in close to two months, but we've had a lot going on, and I don't get the urge to blog very often. Hence the reason why this post could be lengthy instead of broken up into about 5 different posts.

So here goes.

First up...way back at the end of April, Brian had his Air Force awards ceremony. If I remember right, he got the War of the Worlds awards which means that he exemplifies, honor, leadership and patriotism. Afterward, we went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse and it was delicious.

Next was the Memorial Marathon that my mom ran in. It was cold, windy, rainy and miserable. But she did it and ran the half marathon in about a 2:35. We went down to watch her run by at about mile 6, then drove home to get dry socks and shoes for Mom and Dad then came back, picked dad up then high tailed it to the finish line just in time to see her cross it! Way to go Mom!

On May 14 we went to the Whiz Kids Spring Fling. It was also surprisingly cold and windy that day, but we still had fun with face painting, inflatables, fishing, and exploring.

Then on May 24 we had a battle with mother nature and her awesome tornados. I don't mean awesome like this was a cool thing to be part of, it was actually quite nerve racking. Work let us all go home at 3:15, I think I was home by 4, by 4:10 I made Stephen come home, by 4:30 we were heading to my parents house who have a shelter, by 4:32 the sirens were going off and the wind was really picking up, by 4:50 we had made it their house and I was finally at ease. The tornado path grazed us by 10 miles. It was all pretty scary, but we know how to make a little party of sorts out of any situation.

Remember, my bedding post. Well, I finally picked one. I decided not to get any of the ones I thought I liked that we all voted on. After I received the swatches in the mail I decided the fabric was a bit too fancy for my tastes. I just wanted plain cotton. A few days before Memorial Day weekend, Stephen and I were walking about Dillards and saw this bedding by Candice Olson. It was perfect. Perfect shade of green, perfect pattern, perfect touch of the perfect grayish blue. I was almost in love. The only thing that kinda held me back was the price and the fact that it was a comforter when I had my heart set on a duvet. But alas, there was too much perfect going on that I couldn't pass it up! I love it, and I'm making my bed everyday because I love it so much.

So along came Memorial Day weekend and we bought the bedding and we took the pillow to Home Depot and found the perfect shade of gray/green/blue that I LOVE! It's called 'Contemplation' by Behr. We actually had it down to a blue and green and wouldn't you know the green was called 'Spring Hill'. (the neighborhood my parents live in!) Now our room is starting to take on a more sophisticated look which is awesome.

We've also made some major progress on our gardens. The wildflower garden is starting to fill out...

Our front garden had a mulch transformation. See, in March when all the trees were seeding and blooming and wind was seriously gusting my front garden became covered in little seeds things about the size of my fingernail. Come mid May every...single...one...of the those darn seeds had sprouted and were about 3 inches tall. Now I could finally sit down and spend some time to pull every...single....one... of them out. That required me to rake all the old much off and literally sit in my garden for 2 days and pull tiny...singular...weeds. I then generously sprinkled preen everywhere and covered the garden with a new soil conditioner mulch called Fine Pine. It's awesome and gives such a nice clean look to the garden.

Finally...we are beginning to see some major progress with our vegetable garden. Our corn is about halfway to being 'knee high by the 4th of July'. The roma tomatoes are doing great, as well as the green and red peppers. The basil is delicious as we've already used it to make homemade pesto. The lettuce is super abundant and needs to be thinned out. The snow peas are doing just ok...as well as the green beans. Onions...not so much. Oh well, you live and learn and that is what makes this so much.

Oh and also, we finally installed our pathway around the garden. It took about 5 days, but we had a deadline before it rained for a good 3 days to get it done so the dirt could settle in.

Oh...you thought I was done because I said finally already. Well too bad, i do just have one more project. I finally finished by white frame collage for the office. I used frames I got for Christmas (thanks everyone), spray painted a few I already had and bought a few more to fill it out. The arrangement took some time and then I had newspaper taped to the wall for a few weeks, then I finally decided what pictures were worthy of the college and I finally got it hung about two weeks ago. I'm really enjoying the outcome. So if you come over, you have to come back to the office and check it out.

My birthday was yesterday and it was just a perfect day. We went to Jimmy's Egg for breakfast, then went to a soccer game (Stephen is a coach), then we decided to hang out by the pool and veg in the afternoon. I also got this cool rain gauge! I actually asked for that because I'm always asking my parents how much rain is in their gauge every time it rains. I also got two lighthouse decor pieces, one for my yard and one for my house. They are pretty neat and now I might have to start collecting.

The only cruddy thing that happened on my birthday was that I neglected to put on sunscreen for the soccer game and came home looking like this. Hooray for aloe vera with lidocaine and uneven tan lines!

'Til next time when I'll blog about our vacation in Georgia!!!!!

Our Garden

Well... like I said. I'm so done with gardening right now until May when I can plant my impatiens. For the past, I think three weekends, we have spent the ENTIRE weekend working outside in the yard to prepare the dirt for this: Yes. Those are TWO 3.5' x 9' raised garden beds. My wonderful husband made them for me...er us...back in January.

Of course, we had to remove all the bermuda grass first so we'd hopefully stop it from encroaching into the garden. Thanks to Carol and my Dad for being the extra helping hands and getting all 25+ feet done in ONE..day! Stephen and Ialready had about 3 feet done, but the rest of it took from 9-3 on a Saturday. Not too shabby.!We still are going to put some 12" pavers all around the beds. But that's for another weekend...

Our other project involved our back flower garden. It only had a crepe mrytle back there and I had envisioned something of a wildflower look.

Really...I think the pictures don't do it justice. It's really full and most of it is perennials, so once things start growing and blooming it's going to look AWESOME!!!

Now, we still have a bit of work to do in the front yard. We bought a little holly tree and two small boxwoods (I think) that we still need to get planted. Another day and another update. Check out the pictures here!