HSV Garden Challenge #2 ~ Not Much Progress

I don't know what it is with me this year, but I haven't attacked my garden with gusto like I usually do! I have done it in bits and pieces, but it's not all complete like I would like. I am planning on having everything in the ground by Mother's Day. Hope that's not too late.

Here's what's going on so far.

This is my lettuce that came up from last year. It's in an unattended part of my garden. And look what the worms have done to it. Yuck.

I have some potatoes in the ground, and my garlic is coming up!

I planted two tomato plants that I picked up at the organic nursery we visited a few weeks ago.

My strawberries are looking nice (I've already eaten a couple off the vine.)

I also have peas coming up!

Here are some flowers for you to enjoy.

Hollycocks (they take over my whole back garden if I don't keep them pruned!

Chives are yummy AND pretty!

My new rose bush I planted. Can't wait to see blooms!

My once-thought-dead Hydrangeas are coming to life!

My Easter Lily didn't get the memo that Easter was a couple of weeks ago. But I'll take it's bloom anytime!

My butterfly bush is starting to bloom.

Here is Brynne's rock garden. She made it to look like a flower, since that's what we have been learning about.

And the bees have been busy around our flowering bushes! I need to plant one of these in my backyard so that my gardens can get properly pollinated. I have been teaching the kids how important the bees are, and to leave them alone so they can do their job. I told them that I imagine that the bees are so focused on their work that they don't even know that the kids are there for them to sting!

I am linking up with The Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge 2012. Stop by there to see other gardens (that I guarantee are further along than mine). Also, if you are visiting from HSV, hop over to my homeschooling blog Journey to Excellence. Brynne and I have been doing a plant study, and a study on The Secret Garden, for the past couple of months. We've been doing some great things and I have lots of resources for you!

Close Enough to Perfect ~ Part 2

Yesterday you read about how perfect this past Friday night was.

Saturday started off perfect with us all sleeping in until around 9 a.m. I got up and had some coffee, while everybody else slowly woke up. Then we all got to work. I spent the morning cleaning house and Rick mowed the yard. Eli and Brynne even pitched in and cleaned their playroom. Dawson had cleaned his room and the nerd cave the day before.

After getting the house cleaned, the kids and I got ready and went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day ... not too hot nor too cool. It was perfect! Apparently the majority of Tulsa thought it was, too, because they were all at the zoo. The great part about having a family membership is that you can go and just do what you want for as long as you want and not feel like you have to do everything in one day and stay all day. We stayed for about three hours, leisurely walking around to see all of our favorite animals. I am always astounded how we see something new and exciting every time we go, no matter how many times we have been.

Some of our favorite spots are the penguin habitat, the prairie dogs, and the tigers. There is a new sea lion habitat that now has an underwater viewing area that is really incredible!

Since it was a cool day, many of the animals were out and about. And since it's spring, there were lots of new babies.

We had invited some of our good Co-op friends over for dinner, so we stopped on the way home and picked up some pizzas. We had so much fun! The little girls all played with Barbies and our doggies. The adults ate and talked and laughed. It was such a fun, easy night with great friends!

A clean house, nice day with the kids, and a great evening with friends. A perfect Saturday!

And tomorrow I'll tell you all about my perfect Sunday in my Part 3 post.

Close Enough to Perfect ~ Part 1

This past weekend I had a weekend that was close enough to perfect for me .... cue Alabama!

So I thought I would tell you about it in case you ever wanted to give me my perfect weekend for a gift. Also I haven't had much else to blog about lately, so at least this is something.

Last Friday afternoon, after Co-op, Dawson, Brynne and I went to the movies to see The Lorax. After we got home, we all retreated for some rest and relaxation. For me that involved climbing into bed and getting caught up on some blogging.

Rick called in the early afternoon to find out if I wanted to go out that night. He got home and we went for an early dinner at one of our favorite local Mexican restaurants. We did a little shopping and were back home by about 7:30 p.m.

 Dawson has been having a problem with his Xbox Live, unable to do multi-player because of a "NAT" issue (which, to me, means "blah, blah, blah, I am mad 'cause I can't play with all of my friends because blah, blah, blah.") Rick and I had discussed this while shopping, and talked about buying a new router and/or modem to try to solve the problem. He decided to spend some time looking further into it before investing anymore money. So after we got home, he went upstairs with Dawson and about an hour later came down to report to me that the problem had been solved. Apparently there was much fist-pumping going on upstairs. He was happy, Dawson was ecstatic, and I was relieved that I didn't have to hear about this problem anymore.


We got to bed early with the promise of sleeping in late on Saturday.

A pretty darned good Friday! Part 2 about Saturday coming tomorrow.

Nicole's Daybook

Outside my window... the sun is shining and it's going to be 80 degrees today.

I am thinking... about how unhappy she is, but about how she just wants it to be easy. And that's not the way life works.

I am thankful ... for my hard-working husband.

I am wearing... black t-shirt, denim capris, and black flats.

I am planning...  our St. Louis family trip. Going to be fun!
 

I am creating... e-mails to Kyndal with pictures of her from her life thus far (for a project she is doing). Nostalgia.

I am going... to enjoy my time with my family this weekend.

I am reading...  Home Front by Kristin Hannah (my very favorite author .. it's her newest book), The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Dawson's daily read-a-loud), lots of books about plants with Brynne.

I am hoping... that Eli and Brynne continue to be best friends for their whole lives. It was so sweet seeing them sitting on the tree swing together last night.

From the learning rooms... More dissections, plants, and the Great Depression. Brynne is 9 books away from reading 100 books independently this year! Dawson is 3 lessons away from completing the book portion of Driver's Ed and can get ready for his permit test.

Noticing that ... my bushes in the front yard have bloomed and there are dozens of butterflies. So pretty when you walk toward them and they all take flight.

From the kitchen... spaghetti tonight!

Around the house... Star Wars toys seem to be everywhere you look. It's what the kids are really into.

One of my favorite things... realizing I was so right when for a time I was made to feel like I was so wrong.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Dawson has an ortho appointment today to tighten his appliance. Time to get that tooth pulled into place. And tonight Eli has Boys Club at a big playground in town to do some geocaching. Church children's musical practice is tomorrow night. Getting packed and ready on Thursday, and then heading to my parents' for a mini-vacay on Friday until Wednesday. My brother is visiting from Portland, Oregon, and my sister is having her baby shower. We'll be spending some time with Kyndal. Big weekend! And, I'll be getting my summer cut and color. Yay!

From my picture journal.

HUGE bull frogs at the zoo. They were about the size of bowling balls.

Lots of women Daybook. See what they have to say at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Kyndal's Prom ~ 2012

My heart was hurting a little on Saturday because I didn't get to see Kyndal in person looking this beautiful ...

She went to prom with her boyfriend, Collin. She started her day by having her hair done by my sister, who is a hairdresser. Beautiful!! The flowers were made by her Aunt Rhonda who has a flower shop in the town where they live. Isn't that arm corsage cool?

The little town where Collin goes to school, and where Kyndal's dad grew up, makes a big "town" deal about prom. The kids get ready early for the dance, and then cruise the town all afternoon. Lots of people are out and about watching the cruisers. Then all the kids get together at the town park for pictures. There are hundreds of people there.

After the dance they have a big town-sponsored after party. They do some really cool things for the kids.

I may be partial, but I think she was the most stunning girl at that prom. And her date wasn't half-bad looking either.

This next weekend I will be visiting my family in Missouri. Kyndal is going to bring her prom dress, get fixed up again, and we are going to do a photo shoot. I can't wait! These are times that I miss her so badly!

Where's Nicole?

You might be wondering where I have been?? I have been over at Journey to Excellence a lot. This time of year we are just so busy and consumed with schooling. We are pushing hard to get done, and there are so many activities that keep us busy! It seems that even everything we are doing as a family is somehow related to school. If you want to see what we are doing, stop by Journey to Excellence.

We do have some completely personal and fun things coming up in the next few weeks, so I'll be posting more here. Until then, though, I hope you will keep checking back and not give up on me.

Have a great weekend!

Nicole's Daybook

Outside my window... it is a beautiful night.

I am thinking... about how we have so much planned this summer. It makes my head spin, especially since we are planning to start back to school at the end of July.

I am thankful ... that I am FINALLY getting the feeling back to my chin and lip. It's slow, but I am getting feeling. The only downfall is that it itches so bad that I wake up in the morning and it's sore from being scratched all night.

I am wearing... my jammies again. I actually was dressed today, but it was a long day and I am wiped out and needed to get comfy!

I am planning...  an anniversary weekend trip with my honey to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a family trip to St. Louis, and a trip to Portland, Oregon, to visit my brother and help him paint his house (that doesn't sound fun, but I look forward to the visit anyway.)
 

I am creating... the CUTEST baby shower gift for my sister. It turned out so much cuter than I thought it would. I can't wait for her to see it!

I am going... to keep up with my good morning routine schedule, even though I am REALLY wanting to sleep in instead. I do feel so much more energized all day when I wake up a little early, get some exercise done, and shower and get ready to tackle the day. Energy breeds energy.

I am reading...  Home Front by Kristin Hannah (my very favorite author .. it's her newest book), The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Dawson's daily read-a-loud), lots of books about plants with Brynne.

I am hoping... that Kyndal is able to spend some time in Owasso this summer with her friends. I think she needs a little Okie love.

From the learning rooms... After being pretty much off all last week due to Dawson's surgery, we are back at it hard this week! Dawson is doing dissections and Brynne is doing a big plant study. We are doing lots of reading and trying to keep our heads down and work hard. The end is so near!

Noticing that ... the nest on the back porch has been rebuilt and a mama is in it with her eggs. Can't wait to see new babies!

From the kitchen... all our favorites this week: spaghetti, meatball subs, stuffed peppers, burgers and fries, tacos.

Around the house... June Bugs are dying by the hundreds every night. Rick has to use the leaf blower every day to clean off our driveway and front patio. Gross!

One of my favorite things... rainy, lazy, Sunday afternoons, like this past one. I was cleaning while it was dark and rainy. It was perfect.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Tomorrow Dawson has a recheck with the surgeon. He has some yucky stuff coming out of his surgical site, so he is worried it is infected. After his appointment, we are stopping by Game Stop so he can pre-order the much-anticipated Halo 4. Tomorrow night Eli and Brynne have church musical practice. The rest of the week is pretty quiet, except for Saturday. We are planning to go to the zoo for their Earth Day celebration.

From my picture journal.

Flowers for no reason from my honey. It's made my day several times since I got them.

Lots of women Daybook. See what they have to say at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Menu Plan Monday

I need to go to the store tonight or tomorrow night. Tonight we are having baked talapia, fresh green beans, and rice.

I don't have anything planned for the rest of the week yet. So, let's play a game ...  I will cook the FIRST FIVE SUGGESTED MEALS left in a comment on this post.

Rules: It has to be healthy-ish, it has to be kid friendly-ish, it has to be easy-ish, and you have to leave a recipe, of sorts.

Now, give it to me!

A Girl's Day

Yesterday, Brynne and I spent the afternoon with our good friends having a Girl's Day. Both families have been doing a unit study in our homeschools on the book The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We have learned about England, tea parties, plants, friendship, and the magic of a garden.

Megan and I took the girls to The Pink House in Claremore, Oklahoma, for lunch and tea. We chose a few different pots of tea: plum black tea, strawberry green tea, and bubble gum tea. We sipped our tea while the girls colored, then we had a delicious lunch of sandwiches, soup, and fruit. We couldn't end our time without some chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dream cake, and a strawberry dessert. Yummy!

Brynne has worked so hard on this unit! She has learned alot, done lots of gardening with me, listened to the book on cd, and watched the movie (she cried at the end .. it was so sweet!). As a reward, I bought her a tea cup and saucer, a new tea pot, and let her pick out some loose leaf tea to take home for our own tea parties.

After our lunch and tea, we attended a local musical production of "The Secret Garden". The girls really enjoyed seeing a musical version of the story they have been so immersed in over the past couple of months.

It was such a special day and I hope it is a memory Brynne has forever. I know I will never forget it.

The Good Thing About Storms

Eli soaks in facts and information like a sponge. And he has a real science interest, like his daddy. At school they have been talking about weather, with an apparent emphasis on natural disasters. He knows so much information about tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, lightening, and floods.

Living in tornado alley, and with the threat of violent storms this weekend, Eli has been a little nervous. Last night he couldn't take his eyes off the news, wanting to know where every "spinny thing" was in proximity to us.

Rick tried to ease his mind by telling him that there were good things about storms, which made me giggle because when Eli said, "Like what?", Rick had to come up with something. But, low and behold, about an hour later, Brynne came screaming down the stairs for us to come outside! There was the most beautiful rainbow! Not only A rainbow, but a DOUBLE rainbow. The kids were fascinated, and so were we. Rick told the kids that God made rainbows to remind us that He would never flood the earth again. Without a storm, there wouldn't be a rainbow.

Eli said, "This was the best day ever!"