Waves take 2

Figured it out!!!! 

Something I've wanted to try...

I didn't do it quite right, but this is a start! HMMM... it only works if you click on the picture... give it a shot and let me know what you think. I need to hold the camera in one place better but I do like it!

Emelia's little photo shoot

Last weekend it was the perfect day to be outside- not super sunny but nice and warm- Emi had a little photoshoot with her friend Sophie the Giraffe.

She has many looks...

 Pouty...

 Curious...

Happy... 

and perhaps a future in wrestling?

Grow little garden grow!

It has been such a cold spring this year that I have been super behind in my gardening. I think this is the first year that mother's day came and went that I didn't have some thing in the ground but until last week there were still frost warnings most nights. I think that we are in the clear now though - I sure hope so because as of 9PM I have everything in the ground!! We borrowed a friend's tiller today which saved me 3 days of digging and the ground is way nicer that it would have been if I had dug it up. thanks a million times!

 The kids and I went to HyVee to get the rest of the plants that I didn't get at Pork and Plants this year. I wanted to keep it simple this year- lots of tomatoes, no vine plants and more flowers this year.

I have 16 tomato plants- some early, some late, a few cherry and pineapple tomatoes which I think are a new hybrid but look to be beautifully colored and hopefully delicious!!!

Then, 2 rows of broccoli, 2 rows of peppers (1 hot, 1 not), 3 rows of spinach, 2 1/2 rows of beans, romaine lettuce, basil, cilantro, sunflowers and zinnias. I think that's it? Oh, and of course the raspberry and strawberry plants. And my 8 stalks of aspargus that are popping up- No peas this year- the chickens took their spot and no cucumbers- I made 1/2 of the garden be tomatoes instead of a long row on the outside- I'm not sure how I'm going to like it but I can always switch back next year. Peter helped me dig and plant most of the plants which he liked doing and Emelia laid out in the laundry shade and watched us and chewed on Sophie the Giraffe. Today was a great day- 8 more days of school and we are set to do this every day!!

A night out at the "Pizzy Farm"

We went to the CSA that serves pizza on Thursday night- there was a band playing, the weather was great and there were lots of baby animals to look at. 

 Pete drove a tractor around- He was asking me to put Emelia in the back.... Umm... NO!

Checking out the chickens that aren't quite as scary as the baby goats.

Finishing up our pizza and getting ready to pack it in since the "cows came home"

Week of Pictures

Sunday: An afternoon at the park - Pete goes does the big big BIG slides there.

Monday: Reading books together. 

Tuesday: Summer Romper that I sewed for Emi

Thursday: A date night out to the Pizzy Farm

Friday: Happy Birthday to Garrick- to the park in LaCrosse and out for burgers and ice cream (and chocolate milk!) 

Saturday: Got the rest of the garden tilled and planted. Emelia helped me pick out the last few plants we needed. 

It's not a fire...

It's flowers! We used to read lots of books when I was a kid that were made of 20 words or less when I was learning to read and one of the books was about the forest animals being all worried about a fire coming but when they got to it it was a beautiful field of flowers...

The week of picture taking with flowers started at our house- some pictures turned out pretty well- I love the one of Emi playing with the grass- she loves to roll around in it and feel its texture. I wish I had tried one more time, but now the tulips are past their prime so tomorrow might be the last shot for some so-so pictures.

Some pictures didn't turn out quite as well.

Pete helped me do some yard work and get new grass planted (not a flower but the same idea- in the last week it has started to grow which makes me almost as happy as my flowers do).

We went to the park by the lake and also took advantage of the flowering trees and stuck Emelia up in one for a little picture shoot.

Pete of course informed me that it was "pete's toorn" so up into the tree he went and this is what I got before he tried to jump from his 4 foot perch.

And then we even got one of dad and his two kids that was okay except for the shadows. We sure do love our little family!

Garrick's Big Job

Garrick headed down to Topeka Kansas for a little more than 2 weeks for work to pull some Tiffany windows out of a big church in downtown. He likes to go and do these jobs since it means he is going to have an amazing  job for the next few (10+) months but it was hard on all of us to have him gone- we are sure glad that he is back though! Here are some pictures of what he was working on:

Window (13 x 20 FEET)

Outside of church

Capitol across the street

Week of Pictures

This is an interesting week because you can see that the weather finally changed! 

Monday- Relaxing on the couch in diapers and a blanket

Tuesday- UPS came to our house 2 of our neighbor's houses. 

Wednesday: Farmer's Park with Julia

Thursday: 

Friday: Tulips outside of ECFE- this is the best one I got

Saturday: Catching some rays

Sunday: Playing in the new "sandbox"

Goats, Owls and Swings

While Garrick has been gone in Kansas for a few weeks we went to ga-ga and cpt-dns house for a little RnR.

 Mom loves to read Owl Moon with Pete. He likes it too. Every year they have owls that nest across the street. We were playing upstairs and happened to look out the window just as the owl flew by- Pete thought it was very cool-

 They then bundled up to go across the street to see if they could find the owl. No such luck but they did give it a good shot! I think that he is able to put the idea from the book into real life- that there is an owl living across the street and they can go and look for it- not many kids are able to have that experience- pretty nice if you ask me!

 We also went to the park and zoo in Baraboo one day and fed the goats, said hi and hee-haw to the llama- Petey thought it looked like a donkey, and ran up and down the big hills that are there.

 We also played at the park- not surprising to anyone digging was one of the best parts of the day!

Emelia also liked the swings and sitting in the warm green grass. (I like that too!)