Fall In Love With More Free Templates! Click Here To Get Your Own Smitten Blog Design... »

July 17, 2010

great sunflower project...

A few months back I stumbled upon this website (I must credit Sunset mag for the info) called the Great Sunflower Project. The project is a way of tracking bees, our natural wild pollinators, to find where they are thriving and where numbers are declining. The GSP states that every third bite of food is attributed to bees. Having trouble with my zucchini plants the last couple of years, I thought I'd join the project to see how I could help, and if it would help my garden. Now that my sunflowers are blooming, I get to start counting my bees. Yippee!!!

Our garden is already filled with many bee loving plants... salvia, a butterfly bush, and lots and lots of lavender, to name a few. They all have beautiful blooms and our yard is covered with bees in the summertime. The kids even know to help honey bees that might need a little hand. I'm just excited to get started counting...something the kids have been looking forward to since we planted our Lemon Queen Sunflower seeds a few months back!

more summer harvest...


Ahhhh, the goodies nature provides is absolutely amazing. This morning I harvested my beets and some more zucchini. These came from our box out in our front courtyard. I wasn't sure we were going to get anything to grow there, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everything's been doing really well out front. The tomatoes and peppers are coming along nicely as well, out back. Got out early to water the garden before the heat hit.

movies...


Summer is truly the time for kicking back, hanging out, and not worrying about bed times. there are so many things we love about summer, but hanging out in the backyard watching a movie under the stars is easily a favorite. This night, we watched the original Alice in Wonderland. With Emma's tea party behind us, I thought we could relive some of the details from the movie.

jump, part 2...


E taking the plunge in Omi's pool. There isn't a whole lot better than hanging out in Omi's pool on a hot, summer day! I'm so grateful to have family with pools that live nearby. I guess I can say this is this year's summer hang out. No crowds, easy to watch the kids under the shade on a cushioned chair with a cold drink in my hand. Yeah... this is what summer's all about.

jump...

One of our favorite summertime activities is hanging at the beach. I have to admit, it's a little nerve-racking being by myself with the kiddos who LOVE being in the water. I remember as a child jumping in the waves, so how can I NOT let me kids do it. This particular day we were celebrating a little friend's 5th birthday with some amazing food, great company, and of course...amazing scenery and weather. Other than dealing with sand, the beach is one of my favorite places to go with the kids. We're getting it all down, though. What an amazing day we had!

hello carrots...


Part of my summer project is my vegetable & herb garden. These are the carrots that we planted from seeds back in Spring. We were so proud of our goodies, but then became sad when we learned that they don't keep in the fridge. They lost their crunchy texture quite quickly. So, we just have to remember to eat the rest quickly after harvesting. At least the bunny made out...especially with those tops!

July 8, 2010

and i will name you...gus...

The kids and I went to the aquarium yesterday to get outta dodge for the day, and on exhibit were 6 of the cutest 7-month old sea turtles. This one just kept swimming up the glass and staring as if he wanted to hang out. Oh, how I wish I could take him home. The kids thoroughly enjoyed them. This was another great photo day, so I'm actually included a couple extra photos.

E doing a somersault on the beach.

Air bubbles from a diver during the kelp forest feeding.

A lonely sea star on the glass.

A resident sea otter playfully swimming upside down entertaining guests.

happy 4th...


I just fell in love with this photo from the 4th. E and her cousin (to some degree) planted themselves in this miniature kids bench to enjoy the fireworks. The longer the fireworks went on, the closer they huddled. I've always enjoyed taking pictures from behind...some don't like it because you can't see their faces, but I think this one still tells a little story...not to mention everything miniature is just that much cuter.

pop...

This is one of the few pictures you'll find of my kids. The idea wasn't to showcase my kids on this blog (as much as I would love to), but I just fell in love with this photo. I recently got the new version of Photoshop, now that I have a computer that works properly, and I wanted to play with mixing color and grayscale images. So, I threw E in her pink tutu and black top and had her dance around out back. I was able to get some amazing photos of her, that I easily popped into a scrapbook page. I just loved the natural playfulness of this one.

July 3, 2010

not just for lunch anymore...

This morning the kids were bugging me for breakfast, but I just couldn't get my head together. I peeked in the fridge, and saw the Lil' Smokies I just bought. So, pigs in a blanket it is. Seriously, who said these were only good for lunch anyway? Seeing as most meals are all mixed up anyway. Sheesh, the mister eats cereal 3 times a day. So, I made it official. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll make myself a burger for breakfast.

July 2, 2010

funny boy...

So, C thought he's be funny and set up these plastic spiders around the house to try to scare me. Every time I would come upon one, I would jump and gasp, and he would start laughing hysterically. Oh, boys....

carrots...

We picked out first ripe carrot of the season. We planted these miniature ones...not sure why we didn't go for the full-size ones. Nonetheless, the kiddos and I were quite excited. I think there are a few more ready out there, but I got so excited to get this one in. It's amazing how this wonderful thing is produced from the tiniest seed (which is how we started these). The best part is having the tops to give to our bunny. I'm sure she'd love the whole thing, but I put too much effort into giving up the fruits of my labor...literally!