My flowerpots on my back patio. 
Our garden is doing so awesome! Especially considering that neither M nor I have ever gardened before. Things are actually growing...fancy that! We planted onions, corn, 5 kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, cilantro, broccoli, and, of course, some pumpkins. If all goes as planned, I am hoping to bottle lots of salsa this year!
Our first official veggie- a solo green pepper!
This is right outside the window in front of our kitchen table- we love to sit at dinner and watch the hummingbirds whiz around.
This is cute but I wish I would have moved that watering can so it doesn't look like it's attached to her. (Not much of a photog, am I?)
Mosquitoes! I sprayed her legs and arms really well with repellant, and we went outside for just a few minutes. Apparently it was a few minutes too long, because they nailed her right between the eyes and in the middle of her forehead. So sad! I absolutely HATE mosquitoes. Guess I better spray the front yard, too. Poor little thing.
Drew now has a new sidekick, whether he likes it or not. Actually, he is really sweet and patient with her, and is very kind and loving to her. They have fun playing together. She is still trying to learn that train tracks are not for ripping apart and throwing across the table. Drew is having to learn patience on that one.
At any given moment at our house, this is what you will likely find Drew doing.
If Bubba ever tells me “hates me,” or that I am the meanest mom ever, or anything like that- I am going to show him this picture! (My mom swears I once said that to her- what a brat I was!) Eating cake batter out of the bowl with a spoon? I’m pretty sure I am the COOLEST mom ever!! (At least I was for a day. Here's proof.)
Shameless self-portrait!
It really was a great day. I started off a little bummed because this was going to be my first birthday ever without any of my siblings/parents- but it ended up being such a great day! It started out with Krispy Kreme donuts and a soda in bed (what a fatty, I know, but who cares- I hardly ever eat them and they taste even better while you are dropping big old glazy crumbs in your sheets (a snack for later, I suppose?) Then went to the gym (ha! like 45 minutes on the elliptical is even going to take a dent out of the donut calories- good thing I do it cause it feels good to sweat, otherwise I might have been wasting my time!) Can I also just say that I think my b-day present from God was the most perfect weather EVER? And that is saying a lot considering the terrible spring/summer we have had so far. I swear we have had only a handful of sunny days this year, the rest have been cold and windy. Monday, June 9th was an exception. Crystal blue sky, no clouds, and barely a breeze. Perfect. Then it was lunch- a big old greasy cheeseburger from the knockoff In-N-Out (called EZ Take-Out Burger.) Add to that a big old heap of fries and a chocolate shake, a huge DDP and a picnic blanket in the park and me and my babies (all 3!) were in hog heaven. (Pun intended.) (Can you tell I am way into food? Don't worry, it gets even better (or worse, depending on your point-of-view.) I then spent the afternoon (while the kids napped) out in my backyard in the shade reading my book for two hours and trying to remember the last time I had taken the time to sit down and put me feet up and pamper myself mid-day with a book and a drink. Heaven. I even painted my toenails!Then, before lunch was even digested, we were off to the Brick Oven for some yummy deep-dish cheese pizza! I hadn't been there in years; it is so yum. M and I were laughing as our kids made a tornado of the entire table/floor/booth, remembering why we hardly ever go out to eat as a family anymore. But it was great. We let it slip that it was my b-day, so of course they embarrassed me with a corny song, but then left us with some yummy chocolate mousse pie that we all devoured in 5 seconds. On the way home, M stopped off at the Cold Stone to pick me up a yummy chocolate ice cream cake that he had ordered, (ha! like anyone had any room left after our day of gorging...but as soon as we did, you know we had a piece!) then we went home and got the kids ready for bed. I figured I wasn't going to get a present since we had spent nearly the entire day together having fun, and I was totally happy with that. But then Marshall and Drew pulled a big box (wrapped in Christmas paper- guys are so funny) out of the crawl space, and I opened up and...TA-DA! My TiVo I had been begging for for like 4 years. I was so thrilled. Thanks, babe, for a wonderful birthday- even though I think I gained about 10 pounds -it was awesome! Getting older does kinda suck, but now that I am a year shy of 30 I think I will just stay this age from now on. I think this is a good stopping place- Don't you?
