roasting marshmallows

I have over 400 digital pictures to sort through from our trip to Wisconsin. We had a wonderful time (aside from missing Bo.) I was having a hard time deciding what pictures to post first, but my mom mentioned the marshmallow roasting pictures, so I thought I'd start there.

The boys had only seen this in cartoons before, so they were a little frightened by the fire, yet intrigued with the concept. They weren't keen on eating s'mores, or even the roasted marshmallows. They did have a blast roasting them, however - as long as they could stand far away!

birthday boy

Today was Nate's 4th birthday.

He woke up to a 8 foot teepee in the living room, and a brand new bicycle (hidden in the teepee!) He was thrilled!

This morning, we went and got free birthday donuts & filled travel mug from Krispy Kreme and we had lunch later at Jason's Deli. We also stopped at Dad's office and spent some time going over different options for the pool we might have installed soon.

Dinner later was exactly as he requested -- mashed potatoes, broccoli, corn on the stick and meat (you know, like beef - steak - on the grill like Dad makes.) Dessert was the earlier-pictured pool cake.

When asked what his favorite parts of the day were -- he replied "batman (gift from Colin), superman (gift from Aunt Bunny), damage bike (name on the bike), Aunt Bunny coming over and the pool cake. Oh, and the broccoli, too."

pool cake

This was Nate's 4th birthday cake. He requested a "pool cake."

I think he thought it was as cool as Colin thought his volcano cake was. I wasn't so sure it was going to happen, but I think I pulled it out pretty well at the end. I think you have to click on it to get the full effect.

I will post more pictures of him from his birthday tomorrow.

(If you never saw the volcano cake, click here for a picture.)

mother's day

I received 3 beautiful bouquets for Mother's Day this year! The lilies are from Nate, the tulips & irises are from my parents, and the roses are from Colin. I also received lots of yummy chocolate, a bottle of wine and a beautiful angel wind chime to put in my garden.

It was a lovely day.

Denise's shower

Just some shots from my friend Denise's (woman in blue above) shower that I hosted today. It was a success (if I do say so myself.) I made Greek chicken salad, pasta salad and cupcakes. Denise brought the veggies & fruit. My sister was an amazing help setting up and cleaning up later. I think everyone had a lot of fun.

garden update

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the tomato plants when they were new. They were smaller than my hand when they were planted, though -- and you can see how huge they've gotten! We have 5 plants and it'll be interesting to see how they fare. I probably shouldn't have mixed varieties, but we'll see what happens. There is a beefsteak plant, Wild Matt's cherry tomato, 2 roma plants and a Juliet tomato plant.

The sunflowers (next to the tomatoes) are also doing great - I started those from seed. There are 2 different sunflowers planted in that area - one is supposed to be "kid-size" and grow to a max of 2-3 feet while the other can grow to 5-6 feet. It'll be fun to watch what happens.

Also in that planter are cucumbers, broccoli and carrots which were all started from seed. So far, all are doing fine.

The container cactus are also thriving. The largest one in that pot (common name: angel wings) we've had for about a year. It started out the size of 5 small pads and gets bigger almost daily!

"tanker" outfits

I really don't know what this pose was supposed to be?

When Nate sees camoflauge, he refers to it as "tanker" clothes. I think the reference comes from our first trip to CA when we stopped at Patton's museum and they were able to play around the tanks on display there. This was also around the time my brother had enlisted, and while he was at BASIC, he sent Nate a child's size desert camo outfit - which Nate refers to as his "tanker man outfit." He also has a pair of camo sweatpants and matching sweatshirt that he often wears (and gets very indignant if one is clean while the other is dirty because then he can't be a COMPLETE tanker man!)

When Nate saw these pj's at Target this week, he had to have a pair of "tanker" pjs, so he could be like Unka Matt.

Can you see his shiner in these pics? Wednesday night he decided to take a flying leap off the swing at the highest point. I watched in horror as he flew through the air and landed face first on the railroad tie at the edge of the sand. As I was carrying him into the house he kept saying "But I just wanted to fly!" THANKFULLY, he just bruised/scraped above his eyebrow and his nose. No excessive bleeding and I think the arnica kept the swelling down.

last day DBG preschool

Today was the last day for the Desert Botanical Garden preschool classes the boys have been attending since October. The topic today was "Tortoises & Turtles." The boys have had a wonderful time at these classes all year and have learned many things about this desert that we live in (and love!) Amy was a wonderful teacher (the woman with red hair in the pictures.)

butterfly exhibit

Each fall and spring, the Desert Botanical Gardens has a butterfly exhibit. In the fall, the exhibit is full of mainly monarch butterflies, before they migrate to Mexico. In the spring, there are many more butterflies in the exhibit. These are just a few of the shots I took today.

Josiah

This is my friend Traci's new baby - Josiah. He's the sweetest thing! His big sister is the little blonde playing with a tortoise in the previous post.