The gardening adventure continues! 2012

We added on to our backyard garden quite a bit this year!  We wanted more gardening room and also wanted to cut down on the amount of lawn to mow and trim so we pulled out the lawn in about a 12' radius all around the boxes, butting all the way up to the deck on the house side.  That side probably got at least 15' ripped out.  We then mulched in the whole area using the free city mulch.  It was quite the project that took several weekends to do-cutting and hauling sod takes a long time!  With the extra space we hope to build and add at least 2 more garden boxes, but that addition will be saved for next year.  This year with the empty space we added 3 big sunken in flower pots for decoration and also planted 3 vining plants that we hoped would spread all around the boxes and make good use of the space-one pumpkin, one watermelon and one squash.  None of the vine plants are really taking off though, so we'll see how they do!  

A view of the whole thing from the side of the house.  Notice our COMPLETELY brown, dead lawn.  We are having a horrible drought here and haven't had any rain since May. Some of our trees have already lost their leaves too and we've even been soaking the trees to try to save them.  Luckily while we were gone on vacation our friend was so kind as to water the garden for us.  I'm sure absolutely everything would be dead otherwise.  8 days with no water and 90+ temperatures would have done everything in for sure. 

A close up of one of the flower pots:)

This year also saw the addition of a rain barrel which is pretty laughable since it's only gotten filled and used ONCE with the drought we're having.  Not the year to spend the time and money on a rain barrel hoping to save money on the water bill;)  The little green plant in the mulch to the right of the barrel is the pumpkin plant. 

We wanted some type of border around the garden.  I'm hoping to eventually have a beautiful fence, cloaked in beautiful perennial butterfly garden flowers all the way around with an even more adorable arch covered gate entry.  This year we settled on a thick row of marigolds.  Baby steps:)  Never underestimate however, how long it takes to plant 2 full flats of marigolds!  That was several weeknights every night after work. 

The view from the deck, clockwise starting from the bottom left: box # 1 has 2 bell pepper plants and 2 tomato plants.  So far we have gotten 3 bell peppers and one tomato from this box.  box # 2 has 5 more tomato plants in it which are doing great!  Lots of blossoms and little green tomatoes on them so far.  box # 3 is half sugar snap peas and half green beans.  The peas are doing great, we lost about half of the bean plants to some type of bean plant eating critter though. box # 4 has 2 rows of carrots that are looking good so far and also had a row of radishes that we already picked.  The barrel in the middle has basil in it.  Just today I bought all of the necessary olive oil, parmesan cheese and walnuts to get my first batch of pesto in the freezer using some of the basil:)

Good Morning Sunshine!

Now that I'm on summer break with the kids, I have more time to do fun food with them again.  Here is a cute idea for a pancake sun:)

One big circle pancake surrounded by strawberry slice rays with a blueberry smiley face. 

You can see here how big I made them with Ena in the picture. It's as big as her head!  You can also see Altons little hand and chubby little cheek trying to squeeze in there to snitch a strawberry and Athena's lean & push technique to keep him away. 

Here's a bento lunch that I made for the kids today.  Jasmine rice with a little butter, salt and pepper (seriously one of Ena's favorite things in the world to eat!), blueberries for Alton, raspberries for Ena, a little handful of Pirate B00ty, and a thick chunk of swiss cheese cut into a bear.   NOT the most nutricious lunch I've made them, but I was happy to get out and dust off these cute bento containers that I haven't used in ages and it used up the last of a few things from the fridge:)

Disney World 2012

We had a wonderful time on our Disney vacation last week:)  We kept it a surprise for the kids until the day we left!  Athena and I had just made a summer activity bucket that we filled with ideas of fun things to do over summer break. The night before we left, after the kids went to bed, I replaced all of the slips with ones that said "Go to Disney World".  The next morning she was excited to reach in and pick out our activity for the day and she of course pulled out one of the Disney slips.   She was a little shocked at first and I don't think she thought it was for real, but after a few minutes the excitement sunk in and a couple hours later we were headed off to the airport! 
Since Athena is at the age where she is very into princesses we spent a good amount of time doing princess activities.  We met and got pictures of her with most of the princesses and went to a magical dinner at Cinderella's Castle.  Alton really enjoyed seeing Mickey Mouse all over the park and the highlight of the trip for him was getting to pick out a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal that hasn't left his side since he got it:)  Well actually, I think the highlight of the trip for Alton was riding the shuttle buses from the resort to the parks!  This boy loves busses:)

Alton spent a good amount of time parked on John's shoulders throughout the trip.  Here we are waiting for the nighttime show to start.  First an electric parade, then a lights show on the castle followed by fireworks. 

Family picture with Micky and Minnie.

Ena met Tinkerbelle in the fairy grotto.  This was really cool!  The grotto was adorable with everything being so cute and 'fairy sized' down to the smallest details.  Check out the thimble table behind Ena with all of the tinker tools set out on it. 

Ena meeting Ariel during our meal at Cinderella's Royal Table.  Ena was dressed as Jasmine when she met many of the princesses. 

Ena and Repunzel. Love this picture:) 

Ena meeting Cinderella.

Ena and Snow White. 

The chitlins strolling around Down Town Disney:)  They're both happy as clams clutching their treasures we bought them.

Monkey See, Monkey Do!!  Little cuties!

I think Alton had a little crush on Belle:)

A piece of advice I would give to anyone going to Disney is to get up and going early in the morning and get to the parks when they open.  We got to ride so many of the rides, including this magic carpet ride, without waiting at all.  We actually went on this one twice in a row back to back since there was no wait.  Later in the day when we came around this way again the line was huge.  Same with most of the others also. 

We had a wonderful time and hope to go back again in a few years when Alton is a bit older and can enjoy it as much as Athena did this time.  We spent 3days at Magic Kingdom, then one day each at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.  The time at Magic Kingdom was well spent with the ages our kids are:)  We loved most everything we did at that park.  Lots of little kid rides and attractions.  Can't wait to check out more stuff and spend more time at Animal Kingdom and Epcot next time we go back.  From the time that we spent at Hollywood Studios, I could take or leave that one next time.
On the last day of our trip I asked Athena if her Disney trip was everything she hoped it would be.  I was surpised when she said "no" since she had had such a great time and we did all of the princess stuff she wanted to do.  I think she saw the surprise on my face because she then explained that it wasn't everything she dreamed because she wished we could "stay for another 30 days and not have to go home" :)

A hot day at the zoo!

We headed out a couple of weekends ago for a family trip to the zoo with some friends.  It was a pretty hot day even when we got there early in the morning!  We got there right away when the zoo opened and I think that's totally the way to go from now on.  It wasn't crowded and the animals were all pretty active and fun to watch.  Afterwards we went to our friends place and the kids played in the kiddi pool and blow-up water slide all afternoon.  Athena and Alton were so tuckered out from the day that they both slept in until 9:30 the next day!  Nice!

The play area is always a big hit with the kids when we're there!  Can you believe how big Alton is getting?:)

Goat feeding always tops the must-do list.

Alton enjoyed feeding the goats more when he was able to do it from the comfort of daddy's lap:)

Chasing them and petting them he was happy to do all on his own.  Pretty much the same thing he does with Amber at home!

After a long hot morning at the zoo, hopping into a nice air conditioned car and snuggling with his blankie had him zonked out cold before we were even out of the parking lot. 

Same for big sissy.  See her cute ladybug tattoo she got at the zoo?   I think John probably would have been zonked out too had we not made a quick stop for some iced lattes on the way home!  Yum!

Recital Weekend:)

We had a great, very busy weekend here at the zuge zoo.  Friday night we went to a little league baseball game for a few innings.  Ena is starting t-ball in a few weeks and she really isn't much into sports yet, so we wanted to expose her to a little bit of the game to give her a little background knowledge on the sport before she begins. 

Saturday was dance recital day!  There was an afternoon and an evening performance and she did great for both of them!  We were so proud of her:)  She seemed to really be comfortable and have a fun time being on stage and of course loved getting her princess bouquet afterwards:) 

Sunday morning we were up and at 'em early working in the garden getting a little bit of planting done.  Later in the morning we headed out to a local horse stable that was having an open house.  We got to watch a horse riding drill team performance and Ena got a pony ride!  Alton loved watching the horses and each one that would come and go he would say "Hi Neigh!  Bye bye Neigh!"

Athena after her second performance of the day.  Still smiling at 9:00pm at night after a long, long busy day!

Someone figured out how to open the spicket on the rain barrel...

Giddy up cow girl!

We ended the weekend with a trip to meet friends for some frozen custard.  A great ending to a super fun weekend:)

A Walk in The Woods

Athena got a cool nature scavenger hunt sent home from school for a family activity to do for Earth Day.  We had time this weekend and the weather was nice so we headed out for a hike this morning and had a great time doing the scavenger hunt with Athena.  The hunt included things like: draw something that you heard in the woods, draw something you smelled in the woods, draw an animal that you think might live in this area, find and draw one non-living thing, etc...  She loved it and I'm guessing we hiked about two miles when all was said and done. 

Here she is posing with her clipboard that we had the sheets clipped to for her for easy drawing. 

Only the finest hiking gear!  A pink plaid skirt, sparkling princess tennis shoes and a pink leopard print cap.  You can't really tell in any of the pictures, but those straps over her shoulders are her dollie carrier.  She has her baby doll strapped to her back just like the way daddy carries Alton. 

Check out this ham!  He was all smiles the whole time looking around at trees and hanging out content in the carrier.  He even dozed off for a while at the end. 

My two studs posing by one of the trail blazes.  Reminds me of the hiking trip John and I did in Maine the summer before we adopted Athena.  Couple more years yet and then we can get back into it again with the kids:) 

We were walking along and I looked over and noticed this funny tree.  I pointed it out to John and Ena.  She glanced at it and immediately said "It's a number 4"

The 3 girls taking a little rest on a bench that was along the trail. 

Happy Family Day Athena!

Happy Family Day to our sweet angel baby Athena!  Here is a little trip down memory lane back to April 11, 2007.  The day this precious, perfect, gorgeous 3 month old baby girl was placed in our arms for the first time and so began our new life together.   Athena wants to celebrate her special day with a fish fry, so family festivities are waiting until Friday.  We may just have to talk daddy into going for ice cream tonight to tide us over until then though;)

After we arrived back at the hotel from the orphanage we took some family pictures in the court yard.

While we were working on paperwork in the front office, our program coordinator took our camera into the back and took some pictures of Athena waiting for us. 

She already had a crazy amount of hair at 3 months old.  They said they had even trimmed it that day because it kept going in her eyes!

A piece of my own heart placed in my arms forever xoxoxo

Happy Family Day Athena.  We love, love, love you!!!