There’s my #14, at bat.  Ross enjoyed playing t-ball this year and what a difference a year makes.  He has quite the arm this year, and is getting the “swing” of swinging the bat!  Next year he will play “coach pitch” and not t-ball.

Here he is on base.  Francesca is Ross’ biggest cheerleader and she can not wait to turn 5 until she can play.  She is going to be so disappointed that it won’t be this next summer.

Really blurry, I know - it was hard to get a shot of him running.  The team went to Lisa’s Homemade Italian Ice after the last game for some yummy Italian ice.  At that my friends, is the end of the season.  Now we are trying to decide if Ross should sign up for Soccer again in the fall or football.  He wants to try football - he was too young last year and it’s only flag football.  Why is my little guy drawn to football and hockey? Boys are so different from girls.

Nothing like a water balloon fight to cool down a hot summer day!

We love summertime!

We went to the zoo today and I took this picture outside the zoo as we were walking to the car.  They are at such wonderful ages.  It was a real pleasure today enjoying the zoo animals together!

It looks like July is the month when my garden is in it’s glory!  Most things are blooming now, although a few things are not.  I’ve yet to have my blueish and pink hydrangeas blooming but the plants themselves are getting big.

The Annabelle Hydrangeas have bloomed!

The veggie garden is growing day by day!

The herbs are coming along nicely (garlic chives, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, chives, Italian parsley).

The side garden has hostas in bloom.

This is a new section I added - in place of some of the hostas.  It has grasses, Lily’s, sedum, Canna and a Holly bush.  Looking forward to the holly bush in the winter as it is evergreen.

The butterfly bush has purple flowers (hard to see) and the Autumn Joy Sedum is huge!

The Daisys and the yellow Yarrow.  You can barely see the Ivory Halo Dogwood’s beautiful leaves - I need to do a little thinning here.

Pretty pink Phlox.

Beautiful Coneflowers!  To think, I yanked the one in front out of the garden because I though it was a weed! I’m guessing that’s what I did the previous 2 years and why I couldn’t get my Coneflowers to grow back!  Ha!  Good thing when I yanked it out - the soil that came with it came out looking like the shape from a pot of some sort so I stuck it back in the ground.

The long view to the left.

Long view to the right.

View as a lunch guest!

I need to figure out how to add some curve to this garden space!

While I did this…..

Ross did that……

I finally put down tile on the floor by the basement and back door.  Ross had other home improvements in mind.  As I was working, he asked me if he could have a peephole in his door so he could look out.  I told him to ask his dad.  A short time later I heard a scratching noise.  When I looked in his room he had a toy screwdriver and was scraping around the marker line on his door.  He had drawn a large rectangle on his door and was trying to break through.  I explained to him that this wasn’t a peephole and that considering how large he was trying to make it, he could surely see out but we could also see in very well. See the blue above it?  A piece of construction paper so he could cover the hole and you couldn’t see in.  Least he’s got a plan.

The certificate makes it official!  Ross has officially graduated from kindergarten.  He is now a big 1st grader.  All that’s left is to pick up report cards on Friday.

My kindergarten graduate and me!

Ross and Miss Bultinck - what a lovely, wonderful teacher.  Thank you, Miss Bultinck, for taking such good care of Ross this year!  We love you!

Then.

Now.  In the corner by the fence (closest view) there is a Pieris bush that flowers, can’t see it in this picture.

Then.

Now.  The tall plants in the background are Annabelle Hydrangeas.

Then.

Now.

Closeup.  The ball type plants are Autumn Joy Sedum.  The smaller balls are from last year, the larger ones are 3 years old.  A butterfly bush is behind one of the large Sedums.

More closeup.  The yellow yarrow was added last year it is much larger in this photo - about 3x the size!  Behind the yarrow is an Ivory Halo Dogwood.  To the left of the dogwood is Spirea Little Princess - the picture is from 2 weeks ago, it has little pink flowers all over it now.  All the greenery behind, in front and to the side of the Yarrow are daisys - they’re starting to bloom as well.

Another closeup.  Dianthus in the forefront and Coneflower foilage beind in several locations.  No blooms yet, but soon.

I am loving the garden at this point in the Spring and there is still much to bloom.  I will need to thin out and remove some of the hostas as they are huge this year too.  I’ll update some more when more is in bloom!

Memorial Day 2010

We remember all who have given their lives so that we may have our freedom.

My dad was in World War II, and my brother Ray (above) was in Vietnam.   Two of the bravest men I know (miss you dad).

With the warm weather here this weekend I have the itch to go shopping.  I can’t wait to head over to Lurvey’s for some annuals for my pots and for the garden.  The colors always make the yard look so pretty.  Next stop, Home Depot for plants for the veggie garden.  I will plant a variety of tomatoes again this year as well as peppers.  All did well last year.  I am thinking about adding eggplant and zucchini this year.

The garden is pepped and ready to go, I just need to add the plants.  I love this time of year and am excited to think that when I am done with grad school perhaps I will land a job teaching right away (positive thoughts!) and will be home for the summers from now on.

This summer will be crazy busy with school and all but I’ll make time to care for the garden.  I will post pictures soon to show how far it’s come.  I was just looking at the photos from years past and what a difference!  Pics soon, I promise.  What are you doing this weekend?

I am constantly looking for ideas to incorporate in Ross and Francesca’s rooms and I love the look of Pottery Barn and Land of Nod. Mainstream, I know, but cute none-the-less.  I was looking at the Land of Nod website and just now realized they offer wallpaper. Could have been that way for a while - I just never realized it before.  I like the idea of Land of Nod offering wallpaper, as I like their asthetic. These two are kind of cute and can be found here http://www.landofnod.com/wallpaper/kids/1.

I’d like the alphabet better if it wasn’t the Greek alphabet and if it was offered in more color choices.  The frame one is cute but a little to busy for my purposes.  What I especially like is this one below.  At first glance it’s nothing special, but as you read what it is - PRESTO.  It’s textured to look as if it’s bead board, and it’s paintable.  Super cool.

I’d love to see Land of Nod offer more prints, maybe some cute florals.  I would also love to see what Pottery Barn would do with a wallpaper line - for kids and adults.  I think that would be awesome!  I know the design purists would probably cringe at the thought but for those of us who like the look of these stores, it would be an easy solution to a design dilemma.