Introducing Avery

Wow has life changed! Our kids are half grown, Ally is 10 and Dylan is 8 now and we decide, what the hell, lets start over and have a baby! It is much easier this time around. I don't think the baby is any different than her older siblings, but I think I am 10 years older and used to not sleeping, and more mellow in my old age.

I also have one perk I didn't have a decade ago, a live in nanny! Ally has decided that Avery is her baby too. She loves to change her diapers, hold her, change her clothes, bring diapers and coo at her. Dylan, well, he is a wild boy, so he provides for more entertainment for the baby than anything. But Ally, she should be on the payroll. If only I weren't breastfeeding, i am pretty sure Ally would raise her herself. I hope these two sisters have a lifelong bond. If only Avery knew how much Ally adores her. In time I am sure she will.

NEW FALL BABIES

It is that time of year, the new babies are arriving. They are so shiny, new and cute. They bawl, chase the truck, are pretty clueless to us humans the first few times the see us. They are such curious creatures.

Ideas needed!

I am in desperate need of ideas for the babies room. I think I have the bones done, its the decorating and placement that I am drawing a blank on. I am obviously doing it with a western theme, but don't want the room to be too themey or done, if that makes any sense.

I redid this dresser. I cant find the before photo, but it was brown wood with brown wood nobs. I will have Brandon hang the mirror on the wall, for now it is just propped. I plan to put a changing pad on top of the dresser.

I think the painting above the bookcase will go elsewhere, although it is pretty cute, me and my niece Miranda when we were about 5 painted by my stepdad.

The only ideas I have for art are framing some old b&w cowgirl photos of my grandma in black frames with white matting. I also bought the letters for her name, but not sure how to use them. I know the ol' paint them and tie ribbons to them, but and trying to think more outside the box.

I will also be getting a black and tan glider rocker. I am thinking I need a medium sized area rug. I have a cute crystal/brushed nickel lamp for the bookshelf.

Help!

2nd trimester

random stuff

For the 4th of July I made this awesome strawberry pizza! I was so proud of my finished product... which is usually sloppy and looks like a kid made it.

make one huge sugar cookie.
let it cool.
mix 12 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 c. sugar and spread on cookie.
top cream cheese with store bought strawberry glaze.
Mix strawberries with a few tbs sugar.
top glaze with strawberries and blueberries.
Pipe on leftover cream cheese to finish!

Rattlesnake!

Yesterday at the ranch, wee were busy loading debris in the trailer. There were nails, tin, a barrel, etc and we were loading it to haul to the dump. We'd been sifting around in the pile for 20 minutes when Dylan screamed, "SNAKE, TWO OF THEM!"

I am so lucky no one got bit. Brandon grabbed the post hole diggers and gave me a shovel. Funny, my shovel was much shorter than his post hole diggers! I killed one and he killed the other. Its creepy how they still move and rattle without a head.

We dug a hole and buried the heads. The kids learned a lot about where snakes hide and why I am always telling them not to play in this post pile or rock pile. They each took one decapitated snake to school today. I'll bet their teachers love me!

How does your garden grow?

Now that we are moved in and somewhat (LOL) settled, we decided to start the garden. I always had a garden at our old house, but we didn't have one last year as we were in the throws of a remodel and move. So this year we went for it and even decided to make it a communal garden with our cousins who live next door. My husband built raised beds because I hate weeding, pretty much. I had a raised bed a few years ago in an old fiberglass Loomis trough and it worked great. Of course this year we went 4x as big in the raised beds. We started the garden about a month ago, some with seeds some from plants we bought.

You can see the little strawberries already!

We decided to put all the zucchini, squash and melons on the ground though, so we dug rounds for them, this way they can spread out. It is the only part I am questioning, but I think once their roots take hold we can water in these little ditch circles around them.

Finally, the heat has arrived. Many of the plants have been stagnate hunkering down through the wind and cold.... until... it officially got hot this weekend. It was 90+ all weekend and boy how the plants are starting to grow. So far we have only lost one tomato plant and a couple zucchinis. Those things will grow like weeds though now that it is hot.

Let me know if you want some tomatoes, we went a little crazy... Brandywine, Roma, Cherry, Beefsteak, Earlygirl, pink stripe and a few more. If they do well, we will have more tomatoes than we know what to do with!

Oh and here is a shot of my front yard, just because. Apparently purples do well here. I am not even a big fan of purple, but somehow 90% of the front of my house is purple. Better than dead! Everyone should have a cow skull in their flower beds, I have two. If you need one, let me know, I have plenty.

My porch... an eclectic mix of things. The bench was a gift from my good friend on my birthday last year.