Photo Shoot with MckMama

My CD of pictures arrived yesterday, from our photo shoot with Jennifer McKinney aka MckMama. There were exactly 100 pictures on the CD and I'm thrilled with the results.

It's hard to narrow down the choices to my favorites, but here are a few:

I always like a few shots in B&W:

Devin's favorite: Twirling!

There are so many to choose from...and I can print them, post them, send them as an email, whatever! It's so nice to have the files for my OWN:)

First Fishing

The good news? Dev's Papa and Grandma visited from Illinois this weekend. The bad news? NONE of my pictures turned out. Granted, I didn't take many. We were very busy and having a lot of fun...

Devin mentioned wanting to "sew" something about 492 times Saturday morning, so the girls went to Jo-Ann fabrics. She made a tooth fairy pillow and 2 potholders!!!

Devin's also been asking about going fishing for quite a while now. I found this small Barbie fishing pole for her Birthday.

Look who forgot her new sunglasses AND sunscreen. Luckily, it was almost 6:00 pm and we only stayed about an hour.

There are a few small ponds just behind our home, perfect for this beautiful Heron.

Our good friend, T.R is a fishing expert. So, it was fitting he caught the first fish. (He's also the one who took the fish off the hook and helped us get untangled)

It took about 10-15 minutes of casting and getting nibbles, when she finally caught her first fish!

The little fish loved our mealworms and Dev began to catch a fish with every cast. I'm not sure anything makes me as happy as watching her experience an activity for the first time. She gets giddy and says the funniest stuff. Of course, the main thing she was saying was, "Can we go fishing tomorrow? I LOVE fishing!"

Finally, I might be a little obsessed with our Robin's nest and the 3 baby birds. We've watched the nest closely this spring, explaining each step to Devin. Until last week, as we pulled out to go to preschool, we noticed the nest was gone:(

I got out of the car to discover the nest and the 3 birds under some plants in the garden. The birds looked awful, but I could see the Mom and Dad flying around, upset, still interested... I grabbed the nest, scooped up the babies and jammed them all back into their under-the-gutter- home.

Mom and Dad Robin, didn't miss a beat and began feeding and caring for babies right away. All three are still hanging in:

Garden/Art Fairs

Our town has some really nice art fairs throughout the year. Some are huge-Cherokee Art Fair and St. James. Some are smaller, like the Locust Grove Garden Fair we visited last weekend.

I was pleased to find this item:

They caught my eye at the fair and help bring a spark of color to the back of the garden.

A unique display for umbrellas.

Dev chose the red-felted headband you see in this picture. It's fun walking around the booths with her. She inspects each item...carefully making her selections. I also loved the wooden/accordion-like planters in the back of this picture. But, they looked top-heavy to me & I pictured a messy clean-up.

Last week was also the final preschool "event" of the year, Muffins For Moms. We walked in to see this sweet display of potted flowers. Dev was SO excited to show me her projects. (They're also growing a bean plant, which she was very proud of)

We will be forever grateful for Miss Karen. I'll never forget when Devin started repeating some Miss Karen"isms." The main one being, "...to be on the safe side." Everyone told me how lucky we were to be in Miss Karen's class & how ready for Kindergarten Devin would be...they were right.

My friend Jamie, has a new addition to their family and brought him by for a visit. He quickly became the mornings' best new play toy. Not Devin, though. She typically wants nothing to do with a baby...won't even look at it or show any interest.

Tiny feet:)

Garden Update-May 10, 2011

When I saw the raised garden beds at Costco, I couldn't resist. Matt and I spent an hour at Home Depot gathering the parts to make Dev a larger sandbox and quickly realized the Costco contraption would be much easier and fairly cost effective.

We used one as her new sandbox. Dev likes to sit in the sand, bury her feet and build sand castles. The other became my first raised bed on the side of the house. We planted some fun veggies and plants, for Dev to help take care of and watch grow.

My only concern is lack of full-sun. Tomatoes have done well on this West wall, strawberries and Clematis get HUGE, so I have high hopes for our little bed. I have 4 Kentucky Wonder Pole beans, green peppers, hot peppers, potatoes and 3 peanut plants.

The community garden is coming along nicely.

I'm proud of the lettuce on the right. (below) It's the one thing I started from seed in February and had some success.

I'm a bit concerned about the untended plot next to mine. See it below? 2 senior ladies have shared the plot for the past 3 years, but there's been no sign of them so far. I left a message at the state park office, which may take weeks for a response. Budget cuts have left us to fend for ourselves with this garden. Every day that goes by, makes it so much harder to clear out the bed. We're already at the point of having to rent a small tiller, if I take over the space.

It such an ideal plot...it's the closest to the gate and parking. Plus, it's a corner plot. You have a path to work from on 2 sides. (makes it easier to tend) My idea is to use it for some corn, rows of sunflowers, and others space taking veggies...pumpkins & watermelon.

I lost the seed packet for this lettuce and forgot what variety it is. Cut-and-come-again variety of some sort.

I planted the red and yellow onion sets with plenty of space to grow BIG. I hope to use them in some summer salsa.

It's a unique experience gardening at the community plots. There are so many different types of folks, doing their thing in the dirt. I can't help but draw the comparison to raising children. Raising crops is very similar. Everyone has their own way of doing things and their own opinions about what you're doing. There are several "old-timers" who are readily available for advice. (Whether I asked for it or not)

A Fun Day!

Can you guess what made Devin so happy?

Here's a hint...

Bowling!

We went to an older alley, which doesn't have ramps. So, Dev threw the 6 and 8 lb ball down the lane over and over again. We played two full games and had a blast!

A few breaks in the rain, meant several trips to the park this week.

Just for posterity...here's a rain total map from April.

Our area is off the charts at 20+ inches of rain. Established plants and trees in the garden actually look incredible. It seems the super saturation, deep in the roots, can be good for older plants. But, my new plants and seeds are ruined. I'll be re-planting the sugar snap peas and I had to cheat and buy plants for the cucumber and zucchini.

Colorful

I suppose the long, gray winter has me craving color. On a trip to Home Depot a few weeks back, some bright planters caught my eye. Instead of buying all new pots (and spending a small fortune) I found some spray paint that easily adheres to plastic and/or metal. Devin helped me select some fun colors and we went to town!

Apparently Fennel doesn't mind near constant rain.

We found these kitties at an art fair years ago. They were rusted and tough to see in all the brown and green. You guessed it...more spray paint!

Some very happy Strawberries:)

This might be my new favorite (non-Devin) picture. My Mom called right around Devin's bedtime a few nights ago and told us to look out the front window. I had just finished saying, "That's weird, it's pouring and sunny."

Double Rainbow!!!!

I didn't get quite as excited as this guy...listen at about 30 seconds in!

YouTube Video

But, we did run around like maniacs trying to get my camera ready and not let the cats out.

I snapped this at preschool last week. I always wondered what the scooters were like she talks about. She was zooming around the "big room," having a blast.