Memorial Day

We had a church retreat in MI on Saturday and Sunday. It was good except for the fact the I realized being pregnant in the warm summer really does suck...I was definitely hotter than ever...ugg.... So today I bought my little pool! It was on sale for 40 bucks at Menards-cant beat that. Ill set it up later this week. Today Ben also installed a toilet in our downstairs closet type bathroom. It will be awesome to have a 2nd toilet to use downstairs when we need it. I will be sending Ben down there when he really needs to go...if you know what I mean. Nikki and I ran errands and than cooked a yyyuummmmyyy dinner. Hamburgers and shrimp skewers on the grill, potato salad, baked beans, and homemade vanilla ice cream in the ice cream maker. It was awesome. All we have is a mini travel grill-but considering we don't grill much it worked great! So it was a wonderful day off!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Read more...

Olivers Party

Tonight was the night of the big Oliver party and it was just delightful. It lasted all of hmmm....2 minutes? So here was the table spread:

Party hats, cards from his great grandma & grandma, cookies for us, and 2 doggie cookies from Nikki

And these are 3 of his new toys....we will see how long they last before falling prey to his teeth:

Oliver and Ben donning their party hats:

The only candles we had were candles that looked liked joints....Nikki had them...so that is what we used in his party ice cream. Here are Ben and Nikki with the birthday boy:

And Oliver attempting to blow out his candle and chowing down on his yummy birthday treat:

So that was the party....a rockin' good time and we had fun just doing something funny:)  After the party we planted some lilac bushes that Karen gave me...I LOVE lilacs and am SO excited to have these!! PLUS someday I hope they grow big enough to give us a little barrier from the neighbors;) (sorry its a bad pic..the flash went off and I was too lazy to take another one)

Read more...

lacking

Yes--It is true...I am lacking in talent in certain areas of my life. I know, I know-hard to believe but here is the proof:

dachshund cookies.  I am not a big cookie/desert eater but for Olivers birthday party I thought it would be funny to make doxie cookies for the 3 human attendees. I cute them out..put them in the oven and they came out looking like whales....like giant, lazy, laying on the beach whales. UGGG.... So Ben said-let just use the cookie cutters to cut them out since they are still soft. So we did-and you can see the before and after above. I also frosted them with chocolate frosting-not a perfect job but enough to get by. Ugg..I can never make cookies-seriously...not my strong area in life...but whatever-they still taste good and will be fun to eat.

And here is another area of my lacking but its not really my fault. My garden. I am getting sick and tired of holes showing up in leaves! All my plants are being ruined..even the ones that just spring up!! I bought SEVIN pesticide to try to stop it and it didn't seem to do much. I. AM.FRUSTRATED. Here are some examples:

#1-My pepper plants. I bought some new ones yesterday but the old ones I am still trying to baby. You can see how bad they look-btw..the orange stuff on all these plants is cayenne pepper...to keep the animals away....obviously its not keeping something away....ugggg..

#2-This is the great little cherry tomato plant I bought on Sunday. I love cherry tomatoes-I want them from my garden. But this plant will not be producing much. And neither will all the other littles ones I raised from seeds...see how it is ravaged!? I even had a milk carton over it to keep it safe....what is eating these plants!!?

#4-ok..I don't remember what this is now that I am inside...but it is barely coming up and I can guarantee you it will be eaten soon as well...

#5-Some squash plants...these are just starting to come up and so far look ok...I am keeping a close watch on them because the few that I bought from the store and planted--yep, they have holes in the leaves too.

#6-Okra...with holes. (and pepper). AHHH

 #7-Cilantro...so far so good:

 #8-a few more squash plants...actually also ok ...for now...

#9- Beans....are you kidding me!? holes and bites all over! They are barely out of the ground!

#10-I think this is either lettuce or cabbage....but is developing little holes as well:

#11-Little cucumber starting to arrive:

 #12-This does make me happy...a little tomato is already starting to grow!! This is the one plant I got on Sunday that has not been touched...yet i also doused it with cayenne pepper so maybe that helped?

So there you go folks...a garden report....from a very frustrated gardener....what.is.causing.this!? I have noticed a few ant holes in the garden but I just don't think they would be causing this destruction...or maybe so? HELP!!

Read more...

yowzers

it is HOT out. But I LOVE it! I am a big fan of warm weather. EXCEPT Ben is convinced that I will be warmer this summer because of this baby in my tummy and I will finally understand how he feels in the summer (he hates hot weather). And I won't deny it won't be all that comfortable with this huge belly...BUT I will also not admit to Ben that he might be right. In the meantime I think I am going to buy this for the backyard:



I love swimming but am not keen on paying for the pool or being there with my giant belly...and what better than to have a little pool in my own backyard...I'm trying to find the best deal and this may just end up in my yard next to the garden:)

Speaking of the garden I have pulled out all resources to keep the darn animals out. Rabbit Scram, Deer -Off (it is supposed to make squirrels stay away), cayenne pepper sprinkled all throughout, plastic bags attached to poles to scare off birds. All I can say is that it better work because I want good veggies. So far a majority of my tomato plants have had their leaves shredded and I will NOT put up with this.

Yesterday I went to KMart to get a new coffee maker for Ben. When I took it out at home I noticed it was missing the coffee pot-which was really the main reason he needed a new one-bc of the coffee pot being broken. Anyways..I hate when that happens..I have having to go back but luckily Kmart is less than a minute from my house and I was able to get another one WITH a coffee pot the 2nd time around...

Tonight after work I am picking up some dog ice cream. Oliver turns 1 year old tomorrow and Ben, Nikki, and I are having a birthday party for him on Thursday. What better way for him to celebrate than to have his own doggie ice cream! Don't worry-I will take pictures. This is going to be his first and last birthday party. It is just too funny to pass up and not celebrate. I will be making dachshund shaped cookies with my dachshund cookie cutter for the non-dogs at the party...

Read more...

recovering

So last week I thought I had my fill of garage sales....but who am I kidding I never have my fill:)...we went to a few in Oak Park today and got a few more good baby things. I won't bore you with pictures but I will show you 3 of the awesome things we did find:

This great squirt dispensing baby food spoon and a little ball to hold snacks:



and this cute little pull toy:

 

After we got home I decided to recover this footstool I had. Its a great footstool-which is why it was bought-but the color/pattern was not one I was a fan of. A few weeks ago I found some upholstery fabric at the thrift store for a buck. Today I enjoyed the breeze on the front porch and went to work. It was super easy-after I figured out how best to staple it on to look the best....and here was my progress:

and the final product next to the chair-much better!:

Read more...

productive saturday

I.am.tired.  today was a highly productive and wonderful day. First of all we hit up Mount Prospect garage sales and they.were.awesome and here were my finds:

#1-Lots of great baby toys & board books:

#2- A bunch of other great books and some old patterns. I also got THE BEST book for Ben. You can see it on the right-The Two Piano Tuners. Who knew this book existed!! I could not believe it-thank you church rummage sale!

#3-Blocks, play spools, magnetic block letters, floor mat, and these so awesome little road signs-there are like 15 in the box and as a kid I would of LOVED having these!  Thanks again to the church rummage sale! Seriously-I always find the best stuff at those sales!

#4-The sale that had these items below was awesome. I guess these people owned a hallmark store? None the less all the boxes of cards were $1.00! Couldn't beat that. So I got a bunch of baby thank you notes and some other fun blank notes. In the middle is a baby thing that unfolds to a changing pad-awesome. So if you happen to give me a baby gift-not that you will-but don't be surprised if you get one of these super cute thank you cards;)

 #5-And....more baby clothes. I admit I am a baby girl clothing addict and just can't beat the deals at garage sales. I paid no more than 10.00 for all these clothes. Awesome stuff..a bunch of socks, onesies, sleepers, pants, and a sleep sack to name a few.

 #6-And last but not least...before I left Wheaton after dropping Nikki and Jocelyn off I stopped at a few more sales and found this hose holder. I was planning on buying one of these and was so happy to find it for.... $2.00!

so there you have it....the garage sale deals. I told Ben I was done buying baby clothes for awhile-but man, sometimes I just can't pass up the awesome sales. And this little girl is going to have so much wonderfully awesome clothing!

After I got home Ben went to the local hardware store to rent a rototiller for our garden! So here is where we decided to plant the garden:

And here is Ben getting the tiller ready and then working hard at tilling the garden:

After tiling we had this nice little plot of dirt with a million grass clumps-ha:

And here is the finished product after I raked, hoed, & planted. At 6 months pregnant it wasn't the easiest task but I conquered it!  Ben helped me put up the little fence to keep out Oliver & the other little critters in the backyard. As I got towards the end of my rows I was getting super tired and didn't get out quite as many grass & dirt clumps quite as well....but hopefully the little plants will still be able to poke their way through!

so it was a good time this afternoon. After tilling Ben installed the rest of the gutter on the other side of the garage while Oliver got in both of our ways taking tools, stealing pepper plants in their little peat pots and being a general annoyance at times.  But he is sacked out on the couch next to me right now-so it was worth it letting him get all his energy and play out....ha..

anyways...so there was my day and I am sufficiently worn out but happy with the fruits of my labor:) I think this little baby inside of me is happy I am done moving around & being busy too- because she is moving and kicking like crazy....

Read more...