friday field trip

we surprised the girls with a field trip today. where did we go you are asking? why six flags, of course. the girls were excited! six flags is one of those places i could take it or leave it, but when you're six and almost four it's a pretty exciting place to visit. this year lacey was actually able to ride quite a bit more than last year obviously. if you ask her what was her favorite ride was she will reply, "i loved the water slide!" (otherwise known as splash waterfalls.) lela loved the monster plantation, which they have redone and it's actually quite enjoyable. i loved the fact that it wasn't too crowded and the waiting in line wasn't more than probably 20 minutes at the longest. needless to say when you are gone all day exhaustion is not far behind.

summer fun

playing at the park, having a picnic, getting wet in the fountain that was just a few of the things we did today. one of my friends and i finally found sometime to get the kids together to have some fun while we played catchup on all our happenings in our lives. we went to park so the kids could play in the fountain there. that was definitely a treat for all. it occurred to me though that i think in the few years we have lived here the fountain had either been turned off due to the drought or it didn't work. oh well, i'm really not sure which of the two. needless to say despite the heat of the day (it's finally starting to hit the uppers 80s and low 90s) we had a couple hours of summertime fun.

paper roses, well actually flowers

i just had to share a picture of my tissue paper flowers that i'm in the process of finishing up. they are for my sister to put in her office at work. they are so pretty and the best thing is you never have to worry about watering them. i love that part! it's so martha stewart. in fact it's one of her kits that i bought at walmart. so how about them apples, well actually flowers?

swimming

i finally took the girls to the pool the other day after lacey ran in the house and returned in her bathing suit only to play in the hose while i was working in the yard. i decided to take that as a sign that i had better take the girls to the pool before things got too muddy. i was a little apprehensive because a week or so ago my neighbor's kids got ecoli from what appeared to be the neighborhood pool. her poor kids were extremely ill, running fevers of at least 103 and throwing up. i talked to her yesterday and everyone seems to be on the mends but that was after many a trip to the doctors and urgent care. so, going to the pool hasn't' been much of a priority.



well, as of this morning we have been two times and so far so good. as cami told me last night the pool is probably the cleanest it has ever been. i have to agree with her. the first day at the pool lela was a little nervous about taking her floaty off, but after a while she decided to throw it to the side and try sticking head underwater. last summer she took swimming lessons but by the end of the summer she was scared to death of getting in the water especially the deep end. you know what's a mom to do? so i finally feel as if we are making progress. lacey is even making progress in the fact she is starting to actually put her head in the water as well.

where does the time go?

gosh, i just looked at my calendar and figured out that we only have 8 weeks until lela heads back to school in august. that's so hard too believe. what's even harder to believe is that during those eight weeks, we only have like three weeks where we have nothing going on. not much time to do much of anything. in my mind i have all this stuff i want to do but i don't feel like i'm making much progress. why does that happen? i'm toying with the idea of taking both the girls' to the sundial restuarant for lunch one day this week. lela still talks about eating there ever since she went back in january with her friend katharine. i honestly think we would have a good time even though the thought of riding in that glass elevator on the outside of the building still freaks me out. oh well, the sacrifices we make for our children. i haven't said anything to them because if you say anything to those two they will definitely hold you to it, that's for sure. here is just a small list of things/places i want to fit in our "eight weeks" of summer vacation:

• sundial restaurant
• providence canyon
• babyland general hospital
• callaway gardens
• georgia state capitol
• fernbank science center
• fernbank museum of natural history

coming up squash

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens

every couple of days i make my way over to the garden to see how it is growing. since this is our very first garden i'm not sure what the rules are on taking care of it. i think it's just plant and water. but like i said i'm new to this whole expericence so i'm just kind of going with my gut. how can it steer me wrong?

yesterday i made my way down to the garden and much to my surprise we have quite a bit of squash coming up. i got really excited because like i said i'm going with my gut on this one. it was actually nice to see our hard work coming to fruition. i have big plans in my mind for our garden. so, i'm extremely hopeful these days. what i would really like to do is start an herb garden in pots on the deck. at the moment the only herb i'm growing is cilantro in the hopes that we'll maybe be able to make our own salsa. (gosh, i didn't realize how martha stewartish i sounded these days.) keep your fingers crossed.


the "little" area under our deck and beside our patio is just about completely planted out. yes, my little hands did all the digging. as of this moment i have dug and planted 3 gardenias, 3 hostas, 4 carex grasses, 4 no make that 5 autumn ferns and 54 pots of mini mondo grass for a grand total of.....69 plants! talk about a sense of accomplishment! and all i have left in this area is just a few more plants and two big rocks, if you can believe that? bring'em on....

talk about the unexpected

i will have to say that when it comes to our girls they are constantly teaching me a thing or two. lacey in particular is constantly keeping me on my toes and today was no different. i had planned on us going to register lela for 1st grade and then if time allowed taking in the free movie over at the theater. i should have known that lacey would have other plans. she always does...

we get to the movies only to sit there long enough to drink half of a coke and eat a few handfuls of popcorn, when lacey announces she ready to leave because she is tired. i honestly couldn't believe my ears. much to my dismay i couldn't convince her otherwise, so we ended up leaving literally 30 minutes into the movie. i guess to look on the positive side is: 1. we have the movie at home (kit kittridge) 2. we can watch it anytime we want to and 3. it only cost me a coke, bag of popcorn and a pack of sour patch watermelons. oh well...

i then decided to run down to the bookstore and see if they had a book i had been looking for. we then get into the store and lacey announces to lela and me that she wants to get her ears pierced. i quickly shoot the idea down, because we had gone through this before and she totally chickened out. the whole entire time we are in the bookstore she is pitching a fit because she wants her ears pierced. mind you she is only 3 1/2 years old and pitching a fit is par for the course with her personality. lela and i then try using reverse psychology, everything you could of think of. nothing was working. ok, off to claire's we go...

i'm totally convinced at this point it will not turn out well and lacey will yet again change her mind, which i'm fine with. wrong!!! the child hops up in the chair, picks out a pair of pink rhinestone studs (which i kind of guided her towards), grinss from ear to ear as the lady pierce one ear and then the other ear. not one tear shed. not one peep out of her. i couldn't believe it...

i'm still in shock. the lady said to me "i guess she really wanted her ears pierced?" you think? lesson learned. like i said lacey is always keeping us on our toes...