Hi, ho, hi, ho a gardening I will go!

A few years ago we decided it was time to do something with the lawn that consistently died come summer weather. We didn't even have to dig up the lawn because honestly there wasn't any left. Making the garden was an easy decision, but a big job. Luckily I had help from my parents and they introduced me to the garden well. We would dig a large hole, throw a little compost in the bottom, fill it with water and then add the new plant. I have been using this method ever since and it works well! We orginally transplanted all the plants I had in the backyard and split the ginormous hostas into many, many smaller ones, same with all my sedum and iris's - this is what makes up most of my garden.

So, for 3 years these plants have been allowed to grow and blossom, along with my youngest child. Now that Devin is old enough for me to work in the yard I don't have to be constantly checking to see if he is on the road or running down the street and I can actually get some gardening done! The kids play on the swings, in the little playhouse or in the fairy garden they have been creating seen below!
I have added a few more interesting plants and ornaments to the garden and it is starting to take shape! I just put my rustic wheelbarrow in today to get a feel for what I should put in there and how I should do it - any ideas or suggestions? I need help on this one! Beside the wheelbarrow are a couple of stray gnomes... they aren't allowed near the fairy garden as fairies don't get along with gnomes! (Who knew?)

Below is a picture of the vegetable portion of our garden. We planted a few rows of carrots and green onions, as well as a tomato and some strawberries. It is our first year doing this, so we will see how that goes. (As I am looking at these pictures, I am realizing how dark it was outside - I'll post some more again in a few weeks to show you what I do with the wheelbarrow and make sure the light is better)

Below is my new cherry tree! It won't bloom this year, but it will get small whiteish, pink flowers in the spring and they are beautiful!

And most importantly, below you will see my gardening philosophy. It is staked right near the front of the garden, I only wish it was bigger!

Learning to Ride like Poppa!

For weeks now we have been practicing riding a 2 wheeler with Jasmine. She has come along way, but is having difficulty getting started and stopping on her own. Unfortunately this makes her non-street ready and so we practice down the block in a small parking lot.

Devin had been a little hesitant to get on his bike, especially since daddy had to focus on running behind Jasmine. Now that Jasmine can ride a little better on her own, I can help her get started and daddy can focus on Devin. Devin is a good little trooper, but going fast scares him. Jay told him to ride like Poppa and it basically became a mantra, "ride like poppa, ride like poppa!" I'm pretty sure riding a bicycle will never be as fast as riding a Harley, but Devin doesn't need to know that ;)

Salad of the Week

Okay, this salad sucked! Well, that is pretty harsh, it was fine, but not yummy or even that satisfying! I do however feel the need to prove to you all that I made and ate a salad this week! I simply bought way too many veggies last week and had many leftovers that just needed to be eaten. This must have been a 10 layer salad, lets see: spinach, alfalfa sprouts, feta cheese, mozza cheese, bbq chicken, cucumber, zucchini, mushrooms, celery, tomato, blackberries, cauliflower... oh, that makes 12 layers. The avocado and artichoke hearts from last week, just could not be used - we'll say a little overripe... rotten... fermenting... disgusting....

Jasmine not only set the table tonight, but also made her own supper and arranged it on her plate all fancylike (and then took her own picture)! Devin was in charge of putting croissants out and you can tell he likes croissants, as everyone was given 3!

I'm ready for some new salad recipes, so please send me some fresh ideas! Hope your salad was better than mine ;)

Scrapbooking - finally!

Last night Pam and I finally hooked up to do some scrapbooking! Who are we kidding, Pam and I chatted for about 2 hours and then when she left I started scrapbooking. Getting together with friends to scrapbook is great, but we don't always accompish what we would like. I know Pam didn't get as much done as she wanted, but that was mostly because all my markers are 5 years old and my gel pens kept crapping out on her - sorry, Pam :( Guess I know what to buy at my next scrapbookers club!

All of these layouts were ones I started at my scrapbook club with Linda at Stampin' Up! workshops. This one above, we learned how to make background paper using wheels. We also used the Big Shot to punch out all the snowflakes, applied glitter to add pizzazz to our title and she taught us how to make bottle cap embellishments - pretty cool! I scrapbooked Jasmine and Devin's first skating experiences. I figure by putting the 2 together I have saved myself having to do a second layout on skating!

In this layout we focused on using the new circle cutting tool and using designer paper. The first page of the layout always looks better, because that is the one I do at Linda's house and then I come home to create the second page on my own. It can be tricky, because often I have to use my own supplies and sometimes I don't have the paper too match, so I get to be extra creative! I love the title - Love Devin in the circle, it is awesome and of course I just love all the pictures of him with his Gramma and Grampa Shadbolts.

I started this one at Linda's, but I think I just did it on my own. She had shown us how to use chipboard in the Big Shot, so the "F" and "C" are made out of that. I also double mounted a lot of my photos and I love the look of that! I added the 2 pages seperately below, so you can really see the precious look on Devin's face when he is fighting for the pail. Who knew a pail, could cause such an uproar. We've got smart in our old age and now we have more than 1!

I love it when I get my butt downstairs and scrapbook. I hope this will give me the incentive to get down there more often! I have 4 more layouts to complete the second side of from my scrapbook dates with Linda. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Slumdog Millionaire

Around here I don't have the best record for choosing good movies, so Jay hadn't even planned on watching Slumdog when I brought it home! I started it up and Jay planned to clean the kitchen from supper, uh, huh, women you heard me right - my man, does the dishes! He's the best! Anyhow, right from the beginning of the move he came over closer to the TV to see what was happening and eventually sat down. He said, "I'll just watch until a slow part comes along". Two hours later the movie was over and our kitchen was still a mess!

I rented this movie because it had won a lot of awards and people who had watched it actually said it was good. Often the award winning movies, people haven't even heard, let alone seen and the ones who have seen it don't understand why it won. Sometimes you watch those movies just to see them and know what people are talking about, but you are left feeling like you wasted your time. Well, you won't be with this one!

Some of the child stars were impoverished children from the streets of Mumbai and the director was supposedly trying to help them by purchasing homes and ensuring they could get to school. If their real life is anything like the scenes they showed of the characters growing up, you sure hope that he has met with success!

If you have not seen this movie, Jay and I recommend that you do!

Capital City Race

Next year I will bring my camera! I never want to have anything to worry about or deal with when I am doing the run, but when you get down there you sure wish you had the camera. 8000 runners in the 5km event alone! Another 8000 running the 10 km just following us! It is crazy!

My good friend, Sandi and I ran the race together... well... one of my colleagues, Stephane tells me that you say "did" the 5 km, if you ran and walked part of it, so we DID the 5 km. Sandi and I ran (slow jogged) for 17 minutes and then walked for a few minutes to cool down and drink some water. From that point on we ran for 5 or so minutes and then walked and then ran, until we were done! It took us 49 minutes all told.

It sure felt great to finish and I did see Stephane about 100 meters before the finish line, so that was pretty cool! Everyone in the race receives a medal when they cross the finish line and the kids thought it was pretty cool that I "won" the race!

Young's Pond Adventure

Devin's nursery school went on a field trip to a local pond 2 weeks ago, yes, I know I am behind! They start the adventure off with a picture scavenger hunt. Devin got his piece of paper and a crayon and we hiked through the bushes. As we identified items from the sheet we circled them on the paper, which in itself was a good exercise for Devin. We found stumps, roots, spider webs, maple leaves, ants and more. When we finished the hike we had arrived at the little pond. We brought Devin's butterfly catching net and insectarium to help us look for treasures. One of Devin's teachers, Connie used Devin's net to get a nice scoop of sludge from the pond and inside we found a baby salamander (or at least that is what we thought, didn't quite look like a tadpole).

Here is Devin posing with his circle teacher, Judy. I can't say enough about the teachers at this school. They have worked very hard with Devin this year (and us). Devin has come a long way in the conflict resolution department and his communication has developed in leaps and bounds. He isn't a perfect little boy, but I don't think we would appreciate or enjoy him near as much if he was. Next year, our not so little boy is off to junior kindergarten - woah! Now, if I could only get him to hold a pencil!