Wordless Wednesday

Summer Nights

We enjoyed an ordinary summer night around the house.  We watered & took care of the flowers.  It's crazy how much I'm enjoying growing things this summer.  Now that the weather has finally warmed up, my flowers are looking better.

My lettuce is growing.  I thought it was weeds at first b/c it looked like clover.  I've never grown lettuce before so I didn't know what to expect.  I finally figured it out.  The left side is baby romaine.  It doesn't seem to be doing as well as the regular romaine yet.  We had to do a little more work to keep the rabbit out.  We'll see if this does the trick... 

I cut some fresh cilantro...

...and made some salsa....

I also baked an apple pie to take to some friends tomorrow night along with dinner.  Apple pie, homemade salsa, being outside...it feels like a very southern kind of night.  While I was cooking & baking, the boys were cutting the grass...

Well, Darrin was mowing and Miles was following Darrin around.  Miles got tired of the dust in his eyes.  He went in the garage and came out like this...

This picture....

...reminds me of this picture from a couple years ago.  He used to call this his lawnmower...

Now it's time for bath, snacks, TV, and bed.  Hope your night was good too!

Family Day at Pa's Work

Saturday we were able to go to Darrin's dad's work for a family day.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  His company went all out to make sure that there was something for everyone.  The kids loved the jumpies...

There was tons of food...hamburgers, chips, cotton candy, popcorn, and drinks...

Games too...

My favorite part of the day was when we got to ride a train through the plant & see where Pa works.  He works at Progress Rail & helps rebuild train engines.  Since our Goodyear days, Darrin & I both have an interest in factories & production.  Just too much pressure & long hours in that type of work for this girl.

I think everyone enjoyed the train ride, except maybe Ava???

Learning about Pa's job...

It was a very fun day with Granny & Pa!

Babysitter Love

Happy Graduation to our favorite babysitter, Reagan!

Miles brought her a special present.  A paper turtle that he got at daycare.  It's near & dear to his heart.  Clearly she's very special.

Our New Pets

Miles asks for a pet all the time.  He really wants a dog, but if he can't have a dog, he'll take anything from cats to fish.  It's.Not.Happening.  Darrin & I had two dogs, Bobo & Mack, for the first 11 years of our marriage.  They were sweet dogs & we loved them, but I just don't have time to care for anything other than Darrin, Miles, our house, my job, our family....you get the point.  I understand that you should 'never say never', but y'all, it's never happening again. 

Miles made a birdhouse at Lowes several weeks ago and we finally hung it in the backyard.

You can see it perfectly from our breakfast table.  Miles loves to watch the birds.

One day last week, Miles & I were eating dinner, while Darrin was out of town, and a cardinal landed on his birdhouse.  The same cardinal had been coming back regularly....so I seized the opportunity.  I told Miles that since he wants a pet so badly, he should name the bird & he could be his pet.  After a little convincing, he was on board.  Meet Mack (b/c every pet is Mack)... 

...and Cruz (which is also his friend's name)...

We also have a bird named Charlie, but he wasn't around for pictures.  Miles loves to fill up their bird house & "take care of them".  He even puts birdseed on the ground for them...

I don't think this contentment with his pets will last long, but he's good for now.  Best pets we've ever had.

Less Words Wednesday

Awards night at AWANA...

Spring

We have been loving spring around here.  After such a cold winter, it has been great to be outside.  We moved into our house last April, so we really didn't have time to work outside last year.  We did a little, but mainly had to focus on get unpacked and settled inside.

Almost all of our guests enter through the back door, so the front door doesn't get as much attention.  I planted some yellow Lantanas in the containers by the door & weeded the beds....that's all for the front.  I don't know much about flowers & shrubs, but I had good luck with Lantanas last year, at my mom's recommendation, so I planted them again. 

I planted a combination of flowers in some pots on the back deck...petunias, vincas, sweet potato vines, and a few others.  I kept all the plastic name things so I could remember at the end of the summer exactly what I had bought.  I figure trial & error is the best way to learn. 

We decided to redo the flower bed by the back door since that's the one that most people see & it looked TERRIBLE.  Eventually I want to put rocks in all the flower beds.  Since we have so many leaves, it will make it much easier to blow the leaves off the rocks.  Mulch makes it difficult.  This little corner was the perfect test area.  We dug everything up and pressure washed the house...

I love how it turned out.  So much nicer by our entrance... 

The shrubs are pink carnations.  They have started to bloom & they look so pretty.  Miles loves to help outside.  He says his favorite thing to do with me is plant things, and his favorite thing to do with Darrin is ride the mower.

We've already had several cookouts.  We have to beat the heat before it's too hot to sit outside.

I got Pin-spired last weekend by this pin and decided to plant some lettuce & herbs.  We eat a lot of salads & oddly enough, Miles likes to eat plain lettuce.  It takes 45-60 days to grow.  If it does okay, I will plant it earlier next year.  In the bottom container, I planted baby Romaine on the left side and another kind of Romaine on the right side. 

In the top container, I planted chives, parsley, and cilantro.  We use chives a lot and I don't like to buy them b/c we never use the entire package.  We use cilantro in homemade salsa.  I wanted to plant a third herb and parsley was the only other one that seemed like we might use it.  We'll see.

Today at work, my friend, Melanie, reminded me that I need to keep the animals away from it.  She lives near me, so she knows how many animals we have around.  Ironically, when I pulled in the driveway after work, this is what I found....along with possible tracks in my lettuce container...

Hopefully we've outsmarted him now...

It's been fun experimenting in the yard.  I wish we had unlimited funds to do everything we wanted to, but that's just not the case.  Little by little, it's beginning to take shape.