winter garden

Our summer garden this year was a huge success, so we decided to try a winter garden.
So far it is doing real well. . .hopefully it will continue.
Last night Trip and I went out to "tend" to the garden. . .two little helpers came along.

Kate did lots of checking for bugs, a very important part of organic gardening!

Ben did lots of checking for. . .dirt, also a very important part of organic gardening.
Please notice the boots and no clothes!
I promise he does wear clothes, sometimes.

We have a few tomato plants with big green tomatoes already. . .we might get a few to ripen.
We also have lots of beans and broccoli and cauliflower. . .those are all behind Ben.

Ben and our dog Bailey pulling weeds.

We have already picked and eaten a pot full of yummy beans.
Kate is a great bean picker.

Life with three kids is fast and furious. 
I am so glad that we can slow down and enjoy some gardening with them.

And as you can see, Ben takes all of this gardening very seriously!
Silly boy!

bowl.

Talking is one thing that Ben dose not have time for.
Running, jumping, and climbing. . . he has plenty of time for these.
He is my active baby. . .has been from the start.

Well Mr. Active Baby decided yesterday that he was going to talk.
Not sure if this will be a one time thing, but it is so fun to hear his little voice!
I was in the kitchen getting him a snack and I told him to go get a bowl.
Then he repeated me plane as day, "bowl".
We went crazy. . .which he loved!
Mind you, he has said nothing up to this point except for "daddy".
So you understand our excitement.
I managed to get a quick video this morning to share, hope you like it.

 

MMO

At the church Kindergarten that Kate goes to they offer a Mother's Morning Out class.
Mac went, Kate went, and I knew Ben would go sometime this year. . .
but I didn't think we would send him until after Christmas.

Well, can you guess what happened today?
Ben started MMO.
The sweet, sweet lady in charge of the Kindergarten offered for Ben to come and "try it out".

Mr. Big Boy Ben l-o-v-e-d it!
They have snacks of fruit loops and kool-aid.
They played outside and got dirty.
And they spoiled the "babies" rotten!
Needless to say, Ben was in heaven.

I am just smitten with these pictures of him with his backpack, too cute.

Now I know what you are thinking.
What on earth did I do for three hours with absolutely no children?
I managed to find a few things to do, don't worry.
I'll be showing you real soon what I am up to here at home.

As for now. . .I am not going to blink because I know in just a minute Ben will be going to Kindergarten!

5K

Well, its official.
Kate is in Kindergarten!

She is so excited.
School could not start fast enough for her.
In fact she is not happy when the weekend rolls around.
She told me she was going to do lots of learning the year.
(Could she please keep that attitude forever??)

Thought we would get some first day of school pictures with Ben.
(Mac was already at school!)
I had a time getting Mac to hold his back to school sign, remember?
Kate, however, was all over that sign!

Ben makes my pictures taking more interesting don't you think?! 
They were both so excited.

I made a point this year to get the picture below.
Four years ago I took a picture in this exact spot of baby Kate and Kindergarten Mac!
Life goes by too fast. . .hard for this mama to believe baby Kate is in Kindergarten now.

Here is her new seat at school.
All her new school supplies ready for her.
Don't you just love back to school and all the new school supplies.
(Always my favorite part of school.)

Alright Sweet Girl. . .this is your last year at St. Andrews.
Next year you will be at big school with Mac.
Enjoy every minute and don't grow up too much this year!
We love you.

mailbox.

What does it mean when you ask for a new mailbox for your birthday?
Hopefully it just means you are becoming wiser!

When we moved into the chocolate house the mailbox was less than pretty.
Lets just say it was down right u-g-l-y.
Just imagine plastic black faded by who knows how many years in the sun.
It was quite a sight to behold. . .not the reason we bought the house!

Now our mailbox is the best looking one on the street.
My sweet children and my sweet husband got me just what I wanted for my birthday.
Trip added the little extra pieces to the post to make it look so nice.
And I ordered the vinyl lettering from Etsy.
I am absolutely thrilled with how it turned out!

 

Little Bit loves running out to the street to check the mail with me.
(Please notice I said run, we have gone from not walking to running in one month!)
How quickly they learn that the mailbox holds good things. . .most of the time!  

fourth grade.

Fourth Grade has officially started.
How is it that we have a fourth grader?
I still feel like we are just out of college.
Mac was none too excited about going back to school. . .can you tell.
Probably he was less excited about me taking pictures if the truth be told!
(He really loves school but would not admit that to anyone.)

This year Mac will be changing classes.
Three times!
He was a little nervous. . .but we all know that Mr. Mac will do fine.
He is so smart and so good in school.
When I ask him who he has played with or sat next to at lunch it is someone different everyday.
That is the best part about a private school I think.
His whole fourth grade class is such good friends. (or is it. . .are such good friends???)

Thought I would make a fourth grade sign for him to hold. . .looked cute online.
He was not into it!
Maybe I can get Kate a little more excited about it next week when she starts 5K.

Now if you were wondering what the other two are up to. . .just take a look.

They were outside running around like crazies while I was taking these pictures.

Just a disclaimer. . .I promise, Ben does wear clothes sometimes!

Mowing.

Not too much going on around here these days.
School starts soon for the big kids so we are trying our hardest to enjoy our last few free days.

This past Saturday Trip was mowing the grass.
Ben wanted to be out there with him. . .real bad!
He actually stood at the side door for a long time watching his daddy.
Thought I would share these sweet pictures.

Be back soon with back to school pictures!

the new southern living.

Let me start off by saying I had plans.
I had big plans.
I wanted to share a new recipe that I had made from my new Southern Living magazine.
However, my plans took a little bit of a turn.

You see I wanted to take a picture of the front of the magazine to show with my recipe.
And like any good (well, not so good) photographer I took lots of pictures of the cover
so I could pick the best one.

However, when I was going through my many magazine cover shots I noticed something.
That little (sweet) something changed my plans.
And I had to share.

Here you see my plan changer playing nicely with his truck.

Here he is again.
Notice his apparel, summer 2011 fashion chic.

 

Wait.
Is that my kitchen towel he is messing with?

Oh bless him. 
Do you see what wonderful help he is?

If you know anything about Trip, you know that he is my kitchen towel thief.
He never leaves the towel where it is supposed to be.
Drives me crazy!
Seems he is teaching Ben a thing or two.

So much for recipe sharing.
Sweet towel thief stole the show.
Maybe next month!

balloon wreath.

Do you remember this picture? 
Do your remember this wreath?
Don't you just love it?

 

I first saw this wreath on HowDoesShe.
And then one of my dear friends made one.
And after seeing how easy and cute this wreath is I just had to make one.

I will let you know that my wreath ended up with waaaay more balloons then suggested.
Somehow I seem to go overboard on things sometimes.
My friends still talk to me. . .so I reckon its ok!

All you need to make this wreath is
a straw wreath form (plastic left on)
florist pins
lots and lots of balloons

Once you have all your supplies gathered, start pinning.
I found that if I folded the balloon in half and pinned in the middle it looked the best.

At one time I ran out of floral pins and thought I would try just plain straight pins.
Not such a good idea. 
The balloons did not stay put with straight pins.

Did I mention lots and lots of balloons?

After the whole wreath form in filled with balloons then I tied a ribbon around it for easy hanging.

The finished wreath is so stunning. . .I am actually glad I went a little crazy with the balloons.
Now whenever we have a birthday I can pull this out for instant decoration.

Happy Birthday!