Some days we want to scream, some days we do scream, and some days...

...are just great. Or even a combination of the three. Since I haven't posted since July here is our life in lots of pictures... and some words.

Our tomatoes did awesome

We did lots of canning

Homemade fairy wings.  In case you are too cheap to buy them
you can make them with hangers and nylons...and of course
duct tape. Then in the event that your little fairies complain
about ugly brown wings you can paint them with super
watered down acrylic paint.  Just FYI

 

 

She likes to suck on her toes... or sometimes
just the big one.

 

This is how it really is every day...  (plus or minus wet spots on the floor)

Happy day to you!

On the road again...

I'm an impulsive person. I decided last Tuesday after about a week of 100+ degree temperatures that I really wanted to get out of town and go camping. Since it was fourth of July weekend there were, of course, basically no spots opened. I was pretty bummed but couldn't get the idea out of my head and so I decided to check one more time Wednesday morning before giving up.  I found one spot for one night in Van Damme State Park, which is about 4 hours north west of us on the coast, kind of far to go for just one night but we decided to go for it anyway. The 4th here was 110 degrees and so it was so nice to head up north to the coast where it was only 65.  It was beautiful and the girls had a blast. Ryan is so great to go along with my crazy ideas :)   Next time we'll definitely go for longer, and make a reservation earlier than two days before.

Helping dad set up the tent

Super awesome mom forgot to bring L. and R.'s jackets, (easy to do
when it is 110 degrees). Luckily the closest town had a thrift store
and I was able to get them sweatshirts for $1 a piece. Yay

Climbing trees

Exploring in the forest

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse

One of the girls' favorite things.  The caretaker
told us some fun stories and Lauren and Rachel
having been calling themselves "sea girls" all day.

Our Happy Campers:

Sleepy girls
(except Emily, you'll notice her in the back wide awake and smiling her head off.
 She was just happy she got to sleep in the same bed as her favorite milk machine.)

All in all this pricey little trip of impulsiveness was a success, just ask the girls.

Plant Where You're Planted

So the apartment we live in has a great little back yard, about 10 ft by 15 ft.  I've been wanting to get a garden going ever since we moved and I even sketched out my ideas at the end of last summer.  We finally got it going this spring.  Here is a little time lapse of our back yard:

The end of January:

The girls helped me dig up all the weeds and mutant mint plant.

We did this about a week before Emily's due date and the same
day they stripped my membranes.  It was supposed to send me into
labor but it didn't.

The girls were great supervisors.

Beginning of April:

Ryan building our grow box :)

Our baby tomato and pepper plants and bean seeds that you can't see.

A lady from church was moving and had to get rid of all her potted plants.  Someone told her that I like plants and so she gave us several:

A lemon tree!!

Hydrangea 

Geranium

Spanish Lavender 

Mid May:

I made us a little table for all our small potted plants :)

Our cilantro

Another friend gave us this Loganberry
(It is a cross between a blackberry and raspberry)

All our seeds are up!

Our hydrangea, geranium, and rosemary

How it looks now (Mid June):

The tomatoes are about 5 ft high.

Our loganberry and little fuchsias.

Our chives and thyme in back, the girls' flowers in the small pots in front and
 I haveno idea what the big thing in the middle is (it was given to us).

Flower bed by our front door

The lavender that I thought I killed before it even
 got in the ground.  It turned out okay.