Sisters!!

The girls play so well together, and turn everything into their own private game. I hope they stay this close! They have so much fun together.

Here are some other pictures of them up north just having fun being sisters!

Modern Gardening

We are trying something new this year. We haven't put in a garden for last few years, due to our rapidly expanding family and the ensuing care of young infants. This year, I wanted a garden, but I wanted to keep it as low maintenance as possible. So, we've decided to try landscape fabric. We rototilled the soil, and worked in all the goodies we've composted over the last few years. Then we laid a soaker hose, which uses 70% less water than sprinklers. On top of it all, we laid two rolls of landscape fabric. We paid $34 for it, but I figured that is much less than I would pay someone to weed in the heat of the summer!!!!! Ick. I hate weeding. There was something wrong, though, about planting through the fabric instead of getting in the dirt. Like my daughter, I love digging the the dirt when I work in my garden, so sitting on plastic and barely getting dirty just felt weird. It's worth the sacrifice, though, if we have a weed-free garden. As huge as it is, that would be quite a chore keeping up with the weeding. We planted 20 tomato plants, 4 yellow pepper, 2 jalapenos, 2 zucchini, 2 acorn squash, 4 cucumbers, 4 red onion, 4 red lettuce, 4 watermelon, and about 7 different herbs. We'll see how it works out!!

Sand Box!!!

HOORAY!!! We finally have a sandbox!! We have been scrimping and saving and pinching pennies...then Grandma V finds one at a yard sale and buys it for us! Can't beat that. The girls have played with it just about every day since. It is definitely a current favorite activity!! (And Daddy is happy they can play with something slightly less messy than mud.)

Science Center

Yes, this post is out of order - this was in early May. (I'm too lazy to back-date. One day I'll go back and fix them all.) Grandma took Elianna back to the Science Center for the Tiny Tots program, and this time she invited me and Selah. Some of the activitites were the same as last time, while some were new.

Selah headed straight for the sandbox, and we had to really convince her to try other things.

Elianna headed straight to the planting activity, since she gravitates to anything involving dirt.

Selah was fascinated with the critter house, and had to check out every little thing. Elianna stayed for a few minutes, but this was old news to her.

Elianna was leery of the iguana at first, but she did agree to a tentative touch.

Selah was yelling, "Tootles! Tootles!"

Selah examing a cocoon, but only because I handed it to her. When she realized she it wasn't something to eat, she wasn't interested.

Selah didn't know why the raccoon wasn't moving! She kept poking it and running away.

In this game, you threw stuffed flies into the frog's mouth. Selah watched the other kids, then picked up a handful of flies, carried them around to the other side, and dumped them on the ground. She didn't see the point of going through the hassle of throwing it through! She just got right ot the point. Eventually we convinced her to throw them through instead.

The hike was familiar to Elianna, but she was much more confident this time, running up ahead of us and examining all the things the guide pointed out. The guide was fantastic - great with kids and VERY enthusiastic and knowledgable. I even learned some new things!

The hike ended at these raised gardens.

One of the crafts was "Make a flower for your mother."

Selah has an obssession with owls, so imagine her delight to find they had FOUR different owls!!! After she saw them, she kept begging to go back. She would stick her face up to the cage and say, "Whoooo, whoooo." For the most part, the owls stayed pretty far away. Then, as we were leaving, Selah kept begging and pleading to "See owls, please!" So, I took her back for one more visit...without my camera. That figures - this time a large owl was perched right next to the cage wall! It was literally inches away from her, and Selah just stared in awe. She would giggle and point, "Owl! Whoo, whoo!" then lean as close as she could. I think that just made her day!

The day ended with a slightly fruity guy doing a music session.

Mud Pies!

By the time I came outside, Chad had cleaned up most of the mess, but they had mud EVERYWHERE. They had mixed up the mud, poured it into pans and covered their little kitchen while trying to bake, broast, fry, microwave, poach and boil their muddy delicacies. It's funny how all kids do this, without anyone teaching them.

Elianna's First Catch!!

I've never seen Daddy so proud. Elianna has been driving us CRAZY to go fishing with the Princess fishing pole she got for her birthday. Well, we went up north for Memorial Day weekend (lots of pics of that...if I ever get the time!!!) and Elianna got to go fishing for the first time. Chad was not very optimistic about catching anything, since the weather was very chilly and the water technically too cold for fishing. I just hoped she'd catch something after waiting all this time! We were all shocked when the first fish she snagged was nothing less than a 14-inch largemouth bass!! If it hadn't been so sluggish from the cold water and put up a bigger fight, it probably would have broken her little Princess pole. Unfortunately, having that as your first fish gave her a slanted view of fishing. When her next catch was a puny perch, she disgustedly said, "Dad, I don't want to fish little fish. I want to fish BIG fish."

Sad Baby Bird Update

Well, the baby birds are all gone. The story we're telling Elianna is they all flew away, but we fear foul play was involved (no pun intended), probably a feline assault. I was very sad and depressed, since we were really enjoying watching them grow and I had grown quite attached!! I guess I should have seen it coming, with the nest being in such an exposed place. I did my best to keep my yard closed, but cats can get over/around fences quite easily. I suspect that was the case, since we heard a cat one night, and the next day the nest was empty and moved several inches from the original spot. Elianna was sad the first couple days, but now she's just happy she can use her slide again. Ah, the resiliency of childhood.

Whose Yer Daddy?

I took the girls on a walk hitting yard sales around our block, and we were chatting with a nice lady down the street from us. She made the comment that we get ALL the time, "Wow, they're sisters? They don't look anything alike! One is so dark and one is so light." Now, Elianna is getting old enough that I respect her privacy and don't blab her personal history to every passer-by. So I just gave my usual, simple reply, which is, "Oh, the fair one is the spitting image of her Daddy. She looks just like her father." Before the woman could reply, Elianna blurted out, "And I look just like Uncle Johnny!"

I have no idea what she was talking about!!! She doesn't look anything like him, and I can only imagine what that woman was thinking! Hmmmm... that explains a lot. You could hear the crickets chirping. I just laughed it off, though, and said, "No, Selah looks like Daddy, and you look like me." I guess the neighborhood rumor mill will be churning now!

She did it!!

HOORAY!!! Elianna sang with the Wee Patch Kids again, and this time she stayed up there and sang the whole song!!! The first time she wouldn't even go up, and the second time she ran down and sat by me as soon as she saw me. Today, although it took some negotiating, her wonderful teachers managed to talk her into NOT running up to see Daddy. (One teacher later told me that she told Elianna if Daddy stopped waving his arms, the choir would stop singing! Elianna's eyes got wide, and she decided to wait.)

Happy Mother's Day

Being a mother is wonderful, especially with the wonderful two little munchkins God has blessed me with. Elianna (very proudly) picked out and paid for a hanging basket and a yellow rose bush (pictured below). Being the gardening addict that I am, I usually get plants and/or flowers of some kind for Mother's Day! Chad also got me a cool new bike seat, since that has been my most preferred mode of transportation with gasoline prices being so high.




Here is a sweet Mother's Day wish from the girlies!






We combined Mother's Day with both our families, and went to Chad's parents for dinner. The guys made us a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and although we helped with some prep the night before, on Sunday all we had to do was relax and eat!! It was great. Thanks for all your hard work, guys!!!

Fire Station in Alabama

Yes, here are some more out of order Alabama pictures!! (And I have lots yet to go...)





On our last day in Alabama, G-pa took Elianna to the fire station where he works as a volunteer. Elianna is crazy about fire trucks anyway, so seeing them up close just made her day!