First Foods

Abraham is 6 months old! Look out food, here we come! We started giving him baby food on Monday and he loved every bite of his rice cereal. I even had to make more! So now a new stage begins as the newborn phase slips into sweet memories.

aaaarrrrgggghhhh

Simeon shows us all of his mean faces.
Aaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!

Grrrrrrrrr!!!!

Roooaaaarrrr!!!

Abbi joins in on the fun.

And this is what Abraham thinks of it all...

It's not easy being green

For as long as I can remember, I have never been able to keep plants alive. The big joke in our house is that if you want a plant to live, don't give it to Jena. After all, I can kill even the ones that are impossible to kill. This year though, looks like I may have lost my "killing" streak.

These are called the "essence of rose" and I can't take credit for them. They were planted here before we even moved in. They bloom every two years and this is the first time I have seen them.

Here you see sunflowers growing -hopefully they will bloom- and a lilac bush and peonies that haven't bloomed either but are still alive! Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I can show you this picture again only with sunflower blooms and rock around the edge of the garden.

More sunflowers.

Here is an iris that I did plant. I was very excited about it. Most people would be frustrated that only one out of twenty-four (that's right 24) bloomed. I, on the other hand, am very excited!

Hopefully next year I will have better pictures to share! For that matter, this year isn't over and who knows what surprises I might find in my garden.

Pet Rocks

The kids have been begging to do crafts this week and thanks to Jessi and Josiah's birthday gift to Simeon, we have a new book full of great ideas. So we sat down together and picked one out. We decided on painting a pet rock. We went on a rock hunt around our house to find ones that would make "good pets". After finding our rocks, I gave the kids a bucket full of soapy water and some rags to clean them up a little. We put them in the sun to dry and took some time to play swords while we waited :).

As you can see, we have a cowboy-wanna-be knight on our hands. Or is it knight-wanna-be cowboy? Either way, he loves his swords, guns, and bow and arrows.

Back to the project!

The painting begins. Simeon decided to do a bug and Abbi chose a turtle. Opposite of what you would think. Me, being the good mom that I am, cut out stencils to help Abbi out a little. I insisted that she use them so it would look like a turtle. Abbi had other plans. I soon realized that I needed to put my OCD (I have no idea where Abbi gets it from:) aside and let her do it herself. After all, this is about creativity and fun, right?

Well, here you can see the first two pets. Cute, if I do say so myself.

Ingredients for a party for Mark

THE PREPARATIONS:

THE MEAL:

THE DESSERT:

THE GIFT:

THE ENTERTAINMENT:

Dust Bunnies

This at first was in response to Gina's cute post, however, I don't know if I would consider this cute or not. Actually, it is quite embarrassing. After seeing this dear little foot print, I was reminded that my spring cleaning was interrupted by a 3 week sickness. I cleaned all of the rooms on the main floor except for a few hidden away spots that never see the light of day. Namely, under my bed. I forgot about cleaning and moved on to other projects. It took a little boy playing hide and seek to remind me that my work is not over. I love the little feet and will miss them when they are all grown up. The dust will not be missed.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you very much!