Veggies

There are a lot of things growing in my veggie garden, as well. There are quite a few little peppers. I don't know how long it will be until they are fire engine red.





Then there are the cucumbers. This one here has had a few bites taken out already, it appears. I have already picked one and sliced it up and soaked it in vinegar. I had the whole thing eaten by the next morning. Yum-O.
















And then there is my sole surviving pumpkin. It looks to about be ready for picking. The plant is yellowing and dying back. It turned into a good sized sucker. I look forward to seeing how it tastes!

Flower garden

Here are some pictures of my flowers in full bloom. I have my sunflowers from Libby's spring birthday party. I had set the sunflower seeds in a bowl and each participant got to plant some to take home. When the party was over, Scott was helping me clean up outside and he just tossed the rest of the seeds in the flower bed beside the picnic table. He picked up the bowl of leftover dirt and asked me what to do with it, and I said, "I guess you should put it over top of the sunflowers that you just planted." For whatever reason, he didn't realize that those were real sunflowers.





Then we have the yellow Mum that grew back by itself from last Fall. I had set the three dead Mums behind the house last winter and never got around to doing anything with them. Then I noticed this spring that the one started to get green again. So here it is, July, and I have a fully blooming Mum. (I actually have a big pot of Pansies that did the very same thing. I guess I benefit from being too lazy to clean out pots of old dead flowers.)









Next we have the Galartia that is just ginormous. I transplanted a small bit of it last summer from my mom's house, and it got huge. Beautiful fallish oranges and yellows.









And finally is my cone flower (Echinacea). I love the color of these, as they throw their arms back and reach their nose to Heaven.










What do you have blooming in your yard?

Check these out

I was messing around with the settings on my camera after a great friend and fellow photography junky told me a few tips. Most of the pictures came out normal, like the first picture here.

But then I got a few of these. Pretty cool, huh?

Attachment parent in training

Hmm, I wonder where she got the idea to do this.

snotty slimy baby

Here are some pictures of my slimy snotty teething boy. When he doesn't have a shirt on (in case you haven't noticed by now, my children spend most of the time with very little clothes on) he just gets so slimy. He needs to get a tooth, and soon!!

Check out the snot.

Here he's looking at the big tree outside.


This is actually Libby's blanky that he getting all snotty and wet. That's what happens when she brings hers over to him.

Playing music

Here are some pictures of my babes playing music in the sunshine coming through the window. I saw them playing and just couldn't not take some photos. Unfortunately, Libby was in her usual attire of nothing but panties, so I can't post any of her. I loved the sun shining on their skin! They had a blast, and I had a blast watching them.

Let's ID some bugs, shall we?

Here are some of the bugs that I got during my last pest pick-up. I just bit the bullet, donned a glove, and knocked these guys to their death. Now I need a little help figuring out what they are. I know the "pretty bug" in the middle is a Japanese Beetle, and boy are they fast. Fortunately the ones that ran.. er.. flew.. away have not come back yet. The smaller guys with the spots on them are the one that like the squashes, right? They were on my pumpkin plant (which, by the way, only has that one big pumpkin on it, because any smaller ones that start to grow get eaten by something...bummer). The one I need help with is the one that looks like a ladybug but is bigger and orange. You may have to click on the picture to see them better. They are orange, with orange legs and head, and have black spots on them, not red with black spots, legs, and head like ladybugs. Are they some sort of lady bug that I haven't seen before? They looked like they were eating the leaves and flowers that they were on. I only got the two that I saw right away in case I actually want them there. I know the squash type bugs have the same coloring, but they are more long and narrow, as opposed to these being short and round. Alright, any thoughts?

Water table

Scott made Libby a new water table, and here she is playing with it for the first time. I love that it was made with love. She had a great time playing and seeing what all she could get wet. Next I will dry it out and see how she likes playing with various dried beans and noodles in it. She came back in soaked. That usually means she had a good time=)

Sunshine Through the Windows

This was my inspiration for naming my blog. Only about half of the windows in my house have curtains on them that I leave closed. Several windows don't even have curtains on them at all, and several of the ones that do, my mom talked me into. I love open windows, and I love to see the sun shining through the windows to light up my home and mood. Natural light is so healing, don't you think?

6 months!

My little guy was 6 months old yesterday! It doesn't seem that long ago that my friend and I were both newly pregnant and wondering what little persons were growing inside of us. Now, her little guy is 7 months old and mine is 6 months old. Where does the time go?









On another note, I cannot believe how different Hudson is than Libby. She would never have just laid on the floor like this, playing with any random thing.

Sweet summertime

After a big rain shower cooled things off a bit the other day, we went outside to play in the wet grass. We have been enjoying everything (except for the mosquitos, who send out a memo and have a feast as soon as I walk out the door) about summertime. There's wet bottoms after playing on the dew covered swingset early in the morning, and running through the cool damp sheets that are freshly hung on the line, and gathering fresh food from the garden for dinner, and playing endlessly with the boys next door, and taking walks with wonderful friends who live right around the corner, and enjoying all of the goodies at the local farmer's market (which even Libby loves going to), and having a refreshing lunch with more friends who live down the street. Summertime is about playing until you are breathless and sweaty. It's about the stingy itch of bug bites. And it's about filling your cup so full of love from friends and family that it will last you all through the cold winter months.





And, as it inevitably does, it's about taking a much needed break to lighten moods and reenergize bodies.

Yay, pumpkins!

I am just completely amazed at how the one pumpkin seed that I left in the garden is growing. This picture was taken two days ago. I think it might be just about done growing, or at least it hasn't been growing as prolifically as it was before. I don't know if you can tell, but it goes down the little hill and then comes back up. There are several little pumpkins growing on it, but there's one that is growing as quickly as the plant itself grew. This picture was taken 7 days ago.

And this picture was taken 2 days ago. In a matter of 5 days (5 days!!) is grew from that little thing to this! Since the seed planted itself earlier than it is recommended to plant pumpkins, I am assuming that these guys will be done well before Halloween time.

Once I gave my cucumber plant a little space to breathe (you can see it dwarfed just in front of the pumpkins in the picture at the top, right along the side of the garden) it started producing itty bitty cucumbers, although the few that are there are growing quite quickly as well. I can already taste them soaked in vinegar, just like my grandma did them!

Garden bugs

Well, I am finally posting about the garden bugs that I came across last week. It's time for audience participation time(assuming that there is an audience, of course), because I have only a slight idea of what these bugs are. If anyone out there knows, I would love the insight=) Here is the first big ol' bug. I'm thinking maybe potato beetle?







And here are the other ones. I've heard of June bugs, but have never really seen what they are. Is that what these are? They sure are pretty, but as you can see on the flower leaves, they do some damage. We will assume that the two on the right are fighting to get to the same spot on the leaf.

I also came across several pretty ladybugs, which I learned are good. I have seen quite a few honey bees, too, which is encouraging compared to the last few years. They make me nervous, though, with Libby and me running around barefoot. This has been a big step for me, because I am very squeemish around any type of bug.

Independence Day!!

Happy 4th of July! A day to be so thankful for what men and women have done and still do for our freedom. We spent it fairly lazily. The babies and I are still getting over our yucky colds, so we didn't feel like doing all that much. Plus, it was a rainy day, so we didn't even get out to watch the parade. We spent the afternoon at Mamaw and Papaw's (my mom and step-dad) and that's about it. Here are some pictures.


These are two of the most beloved blankies that ever got drooled and chewed on.

So, how did you celebrate your independence?

More garden thoughts

Here are a few things that I discovered in my garden today. The picture on the top is of my poor cucumbers. This is after I dug up the potatos that were hogging their space, so hopefully with a little room to breathe they will survive. The second picture is of my biggest suprise. I still have carrots! I thought that all but the two that are hiding in my marigolds (right and down)got eaten, but there they were, trying their best to do what they were put in the ground to do. The carrots that somehow got in between the marigolds are doing great. I just hope they don't taste like marigold. Between the marigold carrots and the mysterious potato plant that is growing right in the middle of my garden, I swear I'm not going to plant at sunset again.


More to come, including garden bugs and...wait for it...

I have pumpkins!!