The kids got all dressed up in pirate gear. mustaches, hat's patches and more.

The Cake & Pirate Pops

Thanks to all the grandparents who made this amazing cake possible!






I found the recipe for these cute rice crispy treats "Pirate Pops" on line and had to give it a go. They were really fun to make and eat! I think I might have found a new fun medium!

Here are a few of our wonderful guest who posed for a pirate picture! My apologies to those I missed.

Turning 3

I can't believe my little snuggle bunny is turning 3. Seems like just yesterday we were accident proofing everything! Now we have no gate on the stairs! He moved up to the 3's room at play school yesterday. Max has about 4 or more kids who all went together from the 2 room to the 3 room so he has lots of friends already. He will have a big boy cubby and the teacher wants us to fill with pictures of his family - cute! I like the teacher a lot. He is making good headway on the potty training. He has great table manners and has been sleeping thru the night a lot in his big boy bed! He makes up these crazy stories about working in a big building that has an elevator, going to his office where he makes news, riding a motercycle, helicopter, train... he rambels on and on and if you listen really close you might get every 3rd word. I've recorded some of it on my phone to listen to any old time.

I look forward to this year of 3 to 4 and all the new things. I do miss the baby though.

I don't think I posted anything about Kem's wedding yet.

Ben got some great shots! here are a few of my favorites. To see all the wonderful photos Ben took click Here.

The lawn care specialist / agriculturalist


Our yard looking so nice and cleaned up I had to take a photo
(where are all the toys?)


Ben's magnificent carrots!


More tomatoes than I can eat!



And only 2 cucumbers!

Kind of a boring post.... Ben and I decided instead of taking a romantic trip to the mountains while Max was in Atlanta with his grandmother we would stay home and do a little yard work instead. Mowing, weed eating, harvesting, adding pine straw so pretty!

'

Jack and Fran thru a great little 4th of July party for us kids and some neighbors on July 3rd. They had a cookout and the weather was so nice we had dinner outside!

The cookout was followed by fun little fireworks for the kids like race cars and snakes and sparklers. Once the sun wend down the real show began! We all sat in a big long line and watched as these amazing fireworks were set off in the field in front of us. They were so close that we ever felt a little paper and cardboard shrapnel!

Ben got some great photos as usual - enjoy!









I think this photo is my favorite! (click to enlarge)
All the firework photos can be found on our flickr site, see link to the right.

HARVEST!!!

I decided to take a photo of the lovely harvest we picked last night. I'm like a proud moma. I think we are going to have more cherry tomatoes than I can eat!!! Anyone have any good Salsa recipes?

We finally took out the volunteer pumpkin plant. The vine bore bugs have eaten it up. We got one tiny lil cute pumpkin out of it before that happened. I have no idea what to do with it.... It's weird to see it with all those sumer vegetables. The garden looks a little empty without the large green leaves and bright yellow flowers. I think Ben plans on trying pumpkins again when the season is right. Who ever heard of harvesting a pumpkin for the 4th of July!!!

I didn't even know I planted morning glories! I'm so glad I did! The white part of the flower in the morning is celestial and glowing and ever night they twist close and sleep till morning again.

A path emergies...


Well maybe not that easy but free! I have been wanting to do something about all the grass that has been growing up between out garden boxes. The are hard for Ben to mow between and slugs and spiders love the tall grass and my exposed tootsies! I had dreams of a very zen stone path type of thing but settled for something I could do sooner and free.

First I got the weed-eater and cut the grass down to the dirt. Then I took a bunch of scrap cardboard and laid it down over the path. Cardboard is great stuff in gardens & landscaping! it makes a great weed barrier because it's s thick and biodegradable, breaths and is mostly free and lying around anyway. Then I covered all that with pine-straw from the woods. Not the cobble stone path of my dreams but certainly an improvement!

YOU CAN'T FIND ME!

Isn't this a great photo! Ben got this one just at the right moment! Just when you think your child is a genious (see privious post) they go and do something like this.... Apparently Max really thought he was hiding and could not be found by me, little does he know. This photo is one for the archives!

Someone made a poopie in the potty and, as promised, received one space man with real buttons! (dern! i was going to give him that for his birthday!) OH...and hasn't poopied in the potty sence!

A few more images of our garden.

I"m so proud of or little garden although compared to most people around here it's not much to look at. I was talking to my dental higenist going on-and-on about this cool garden we have and how many of each veggie we have. The I find out she has a 1/2 acer garden with like 40 corn plants and no end to the cucumbers, squash, tomatoes etc. Makes our garden seem silly but being so small we sure do appreciate each little corner of it and each little baby veggie that pops up.


Strawberries have tiny drops of water on the tips of their leaves each morning.


Max's Garden consisting of leftover plants like squash and carrot and one spiderman watch.


Our baby Green Pepper (sorry for the sideways photo)


Cherry Tomotoes


Big Boy Toms

Our garden is looking very lush. Ben has done a great job of checking on it every day. He says that looking at the garden helps him think. I also feel very zen when working in the garden. The automatic water sprinkler was a super investment for this year, however the grass in our garden path is getting out of control. We have been thinking about what to do about that, maybe a gravel path?

here are a few more images from the garden.




Our cucumbers all have funny little home grown shapes.


Our voluntary Pumpkin plant has 2 baby pumpkins! Unfortunately Squash vine bores have gotten to the base and the entire plant will die soon. At least this will hopefully keep them off our real squash!


Hello Mr. Bee! Thanks for working hard in our garden!!!

All ready for Halloween!?!

Aunt Sandy found us these great halloween costumes! Have you ever seen such a thing? It has a small fan inside and the costume seals all up and inflates!! It's the funniest thing I have seen in a long long time! Max was excited to get suited up but lost entrist really fast. Hope you can see the video Ben and I were cracking up! Hope he will ware it come October.

Thanks Aunt Sandy for always thinking of us! You give us some of the neatest stuff! We love you!

BAM

To a wonderful Husband who is a wonderful Father.

Next up Wedding photos!!!!

And here is the Max OIB Series....


2008


2009


2010

And a few cousins...