Miss Dress-Up

It rained today. Since we were hanging out indoors, the girls played dress-up. There's hardly a day that goes by that they don't play princess or ballerina or supergirl. A rainy day was a good a reason as any. Today A was a cowgirl and C was a princess. Usually A is all decked out with the frilly princess dresses, so I had to snap a pic with her in cowgirl mode. My mother-in-law (the kids call her Nana) kept these play clothes from Matt's childhood. The vest and chaps are the same ones that her daddy wore when he was a little guy! I dug out a pic from his memory book. What a cutie!

Here's one of C riding off into the sunset this afternoon on her trusty sidekick, Steady. In the movie, Beauty and the Beast, there is a scene where Belle is trying to calm her horse, Philippe. She says, over and over, "Woah! Steady boy." Since that day, A has named all horses Steady. This horse swing is no exception. My mom bought the kids this fun swing and we hung it in the basement. Summers here are short and we figured it would get a lot more use if it was indoors. The kids love it.



This weekend was really busy. Matt tilled the garden with a rototiller we borrowed from some friends. Thanks Halls! I spent most of Saturday preparing my planting beds. The last couple of years I have made a Mittleider garden. If you want to learn more, you can check it out here. Matt was out helping build a garage and then helping some friends move, so I had the "help" of all 3 kids in the yard. I was in the garden with a level & a rake trying to get the planting beds level until 11:44pm. It was pitch black outside, but I felt like I accomplished a lot. Now, as soon as it stops raining I'll be able to get it planted.

Here's a pic of my handsome little helper.
After church on Sunday, my mom called to say that she, my dad and my brother were on the way to come visit. What a fantastic surprise! It is always great to spend time with mom and dad (Grandma and Papa.) I often wish we lived closer so that we could spend more time together. It was a fantastic weekend! I am still wiped out.

The Castle

Time to clean out the garage. We had 7 big recycle bags full of empty milk jugs and pop cans filling up the front of the garage, so I decided that it was time to take them in to the bottle depot. I loaded up the kids and loaded up the bags and headed off. We were almost there when A yells, "Stop, Mom!!"  She's pointing out the window at the weirdest thing ever.

It's a big steel castle down the street from the bottle depot. Is it possible that it's been there all along and I've never noticed it before? Of course, the kids all wanted to go into Cinderella's castle. I told them we couldn't because the dragons might get us and it was too dangerous. They seemed ok with that.
Oh, I almost forgot. On the same trip A asked me how a baby gets out of its mommy's tummy. I gave her a pretty brief explanation, but she seemed to understand. She wondered where all the blood comes from. Did somebody show my daughter a birthing video or something without my knowledge? Four years old and already asking the big questions.

It's FINALLY spring!!

When Matt and I were married, I had the prettiest tulip bouquet. It was yellow and red combo tulips. We moved into this home in the middle of the summer, so I had no idea which spring flowers the flower beds held. It was so exciting to me when the tulips popped up the next spring and they were these stunning yellow and red tulips, just like my wedding bouquet.

Aren't they stunning!
I love the flower shape of the black centers.
The girls & I had a fun morning watering the flower beds. The little guy was having a nap, so we headed out into the front yard to give the flowers a drink. They took turns watering the flowers while the other girl climbed the Mountain Ash tree out front. I hope they will gain a love for growing things.

Spring comes late in this area, so all my perennials are just starting to pop up. These are how they look as of yesterday, May 18, 2011. Notice I have a tiny little strawberry!!

Jump Right In

My name is Elaine. I'm married to a stud muffin named Matt. We have three beautiful kids who I love 100% of the time, and who drive me bonkers about 30% of the time. Just keeping it real here, folks. I'm working on reducing that second percentage.
I like to try new things. Often in the form of food. My kids are the bottomless pits that I try out my crazy ideas on. Hence the title of my blog.

Yesterday, we made some cookies. The girls had fun helping me cut out the sugar cookies and shoving the gummy worms into the holes. I didn't have an apple cutter, so I used a Halloween pumpkin cutter for some and just gave up and used a circle and freehanded the rest. I got the idea from a Pinterest board. Here's a link to it and a few of the other things I've made.
I am a landscape architectural technologist by trade, but haven't been back to the office since my second daughter was born. I still do the odd residential design from home, but for the most part, I am kept pretty busy here at home by our little family. I love my garden and it keeps me busy in the summer. I'm hoping to get it rototilled and planted this week. There is something so wonderfully rewarding about being able to walk outside and pick some produce for supper, without having to buy anything at the store. Maybe one day we'll have an acreage with tons of space for me to fill. Tomatoes. Potatoes. Peas. Carrots. Lettuce. Squash. Kohlrabi. Yum!
When I sit down to write something, I use the backspace key on my keyboard a lot. Not usually for spelling errors, but because it takes me a while to express my self in a way that I am happy with. I'd like to overcome that with this blog. Maybe one day I'll be able to just sit and write.
Until next time, I'd love to hear from you. Comments are appreciated!