Glimmer of Sunshine

First bloom of the year was from my yellow iris that Naomi and I dug up last year from a couple's yard (after Naomi went and knocked on their door and asked for permission, of course). It was a beautiful glimmer of sunshine in my day.

Soon to be crawlin

It won't be long now until my little guy is crawling...or at least we think he's gonna crawl. The way he's been warming up for things, he may crab walk instead.

From Drab to FAB!

Wild hair strikes again! Of course, it hit so fast that I didn't think to take good "before" pix but was able to drag together some to at least give you a glimpse of where I started.

Decided to refinish a plant stand and garden bench that both were beyond even what would be considered "shabby chic". After much sanding, painting, staining and sealing I'm SO thrilled with the end results!

Garden Bench BEFORE









AFTER












Wood on the plant stand & the color/condition of the metal on the plant stand BEFORE














AFTER











Both "renewed" items are now at home in their new place in front of our veggie garden.

Pretzels & Brownies...Yummy

Craving a vehicle by which to eat mustard, I decided to try and make some pretzels today. They aren't as good as the ones I like buy but they were pretty darn yummy. Yes, I wrote "were". They didn't last that long. YUM-MY! That was our something salty treat. For our something sweet, I whipped up a from scratch batch of the 5 Star Brownies that the family loves so much. The kitchen now looks like a bomb went off. I'll be cleaning forever, but what yummy treats for the family to enjoy!

Rest While YOU Work

What a beautiful day Saturday turned out to be. Just to think that three days ago the kids were building a snowman! Love that Texas weather.

Early morning, after getting the baby fed, I headed outside to clean the pond filter (ALMOST took a fall into the pond...THAT would have been COLD!!), finish sifting the dirt for the garden (just need to add the amendments now), and dig post holes for the wooden fence that we are going to put around the garden (the one we took down from around the pond garden area). Holy cow that digging post holes kills the hands and arms. ug. Anyway, I digress...

Ryan wanted to "help" me in prepping the garden and, turning down the hard labor part of the prep, he decided that he'd measure the holes I dug to make sure we got them as deep as they needed to be. Apparently, even THAT proved to be hard work.
Next thing I know, Ryan is telling me, "Mommy, I'm just gonna rest and watch you work." Gee, thanks for that.


Soon his sister joined him. It was such a warm and sunny day, had I been able to magically get those post holes to dig themselves, I'd had laid down and joined the kiddos for a rest in the sun...and to think that three days ago they were building snowmen!

Tramatic Day at the Doc's

Hadley: I don't ever want to go to that place AGAIN!
Ryan: Me too!

Today was Hadley and Ryan's "well kid" check-ups at the doctor. Both are doing great, I'm very happy to report. Hadley continues to be off the charts on her height. Ryan is right at about 50-75% percentile on his growth.

Despite not being able to hear me when they are told to clean their rooms, both their hearing checked out just fine. The only potential problem of the day was in respect to Ryan's eyes. We had some trouble checking his right eye. Left eye is great but doc wants to set up us with an eye doc to make sure his right eye is good as well. Probably nothing to worry about as doc said that, especially boys at his age, sometimes kids get tired/frustrated with the test and therefore don't test well. Hoping that was the case with Ryan.

Trauma came when it was time for shots. OMG... Ryan went first and although he cried terribly, he survived without too much incident. Of course, if I had to have six (6) shots, I'd probably have cried as well. Our precious princess, however, went ballistic and had a meltdown even before she got on the table, and she was only getting two (2) shots! You'd have thought we were trying to kill her. It was NOT pretty and although ridiculous, it did break my heart. Once both kids were jabbed and band-aided up I sat with them and consoled them for a bit.

As a "you survived shots" treat, we went to have lunch at Chick-Fil-A. That seemed to make everything better. The GOOD news is that they now have all their shots so Hadley will be ready to start Kindergarten in the fall (which she is SO looking forward to doing). Still though, it was a traumatic day for the older kids at the doc's. My poor babies.

Snow Day in Austin

Sunday was 76 degrees. Tuesday found the children having to bundle up cause we had SNOW ...LOTS of snow, for Austin! In fact, it was the first time we'd had any measurable amount of snow since before our first child was born.

Bundle up, go outside and play until frozen, come inside and warm up. Bundle up, go outside and play until frozen, come inside and warm up. (Keep repeating.) The kids had a BALL! After making snow angels and throwing snowballs the older kids started rolling snowballs to build a snowman. I had to bundle up and head out to help finish him as the body parts were too big and heavy for the kids to lift. "Frosty" was born!

We had to rebuild his head and middle body once as they toppled off when Ryan was helping me put in Frosty's nose the first time. Ooops.

What a FUN snow day!!!