From Tootie's View: Splash Pad

I know, I know...Fall is in the air and Summer is on it's way out the door but I'm not ready to let it go that easily. As I long for just a few more warm days, I'll share the pics of a beautiful Summer day spent at the splash pad with the kiddos.

LOOK! It's a bird! It's a plane!
No...It's just my Mom with her camera in my face again.
Maybe, if I don't look at her, she'll go away!
Good, now she's found a new target. No, she's not going to use the head in the middle of that circle as a target, you silly! I mean she finally found someone else to take pictures of.
I guess I should give her some credit. She brought us shopping, then picked up McD's for us to eat at the park and now onto the splash pad that, until now, we had never been to, and all just because she is the best-est Mom evah.
It is also the splash pad I still haven't 'been' to yet because I am too busy swinging and ignoring my picture crazed mother. I know she really wants me to put on my cute little swim suit but I don't want to give her any more reasons to keep taking pictures of me. Maybe if I just sit here, like a lump on a log, she'll take pictures of Grant again.
My brother sure does look like he is having a splashing good time though!
Now look who's getting sick of my Mom's lens following him all over the entire pad. Oh great! Now she is turning around to take pictures of me again. Phooey!
Thanks for nothin', Brother!There, the ole' stick your tongue out at the camera tactic worked! She's taking more of water-logged-willie over yonder!
Ooop, looks like someone is all done splishin'-and-a-splashin' and it is time to blow this pop stand!
Later Dudes!

Sweet Ride

It has finally come the time to start moving some of the bigger things into the new shop. Last weekend, we got the Camaro out of storage at the neighbors. The kids and I washed and shined it up and then Daddy gave them their first ride in a '69 Camaro.
They were super excited to get to ride in the front seat! I am normally the car seat and seat belt Nazi but since there are no belts in the back seat, I opted for letting them both ride in the front with a lap belt (plus it is only about a mile to the shop). And by golly, they were EXCITED! Audrey kept saying they got to ride in the 'banana car'!
I was right there behind them {snapping pictures one handed} to document the big event. I know, I know! I was not the pillar of safety on this very day which is ironic because my title is 'Corproate Safety Analyst' at the utility company I work for!
I did capture some pretty cool shots though :)
As Daddy was snuggling the car safely into it's new home, the kids and I found a tree frog sunning himself on the concrete. The kids thought it was so cool that he could turn from green to gray and back to green again.
Grant is like me...loves to play with frogs and toads. Audrey, on the other hand, is not so sure about them. She was acting all tough and wanted to hold him but the minute Grant handed the frog to her she would drop it flat on the concrete. Poor thing probably had brain damage after that!
Maybe, just maybe her reaction to the frog had a little something to do with this...
I think it went something like this: "What Audrey? You want the frog? Okay, I'll give you the frog!"

She did end up finding her comfort zone in the end... arms length will do just fine for this little dumplin'!
Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day emptying out the kids' room, cleaning and then putting it back together. I did manage to bag up 3 garbage bags of toys and the kids didn't even notice. Their room looks so much bigger now that it is rearranged. Now it is all ready for Grant's new bed. Still can't decide if we are going to go with bunk beds, if I should get a twin for Grant for now. Bunk beds scare me a little but they are so convenient and space saving.
Today we spent the day cleaning more stuff out of the garage. Sheesh, do we have LOTS of JUNK! It feels so good to get things cleaned out and organized though!
The count down is on to Kindergarten too. Grant starts on Tues but it is more of an orientation day. I go with him from 10 to noon and that is it for the day. I took the whole day off so we can have lunch after and spend some special time together before the all day every day stuff starts on Wed. {sniff, sniff}
Hope everyone is enjoying their long holiday weekend! Happy Labor Day!!

Before & After - Plants

Thought I would share a couple of Before & After pictures of my plants from this summer. I have what some would call a minor addiction to flowers and have now got the itch to start to garden but since it is a good possibility that we will build a new house at our land within the next year or so, I haven't been inclined to till up a portion of our yard here. So instead, I did a little container gardening this summer. Only some tomatoes, peppers and cilantro. You know...the good stuff that goes into Texas Caviar. YUM!
These are my pepper plants back at the end of May.
And here they were in July! Lisa, if you are reading, those were the beauties I gave to you :)
And here were the tomatoes at the start of summer (and Grant's Maple Trees)
And here they are in July as well. They still didn't even have tomatoes on them yet, just flowers. I did 4 roma plants (good for fresh salsa) and 4 cherry tomato plants. My dog LOVES to eat the cherry ones so they are for our snacking pleasure. Nothing better than a sun-warmed cherry tomato right off the plant!
I didn't get a picture of the cilantro though. Sorry to disappoint!
But here was how my Morning Glory vine, Vinca's and Dianthus started out. (Roma tomato plants in the green planters)
Now would you look at them!
Onto what was my most fun plating project of the summer. Last year I had some annual grass and Gerber Daisies planted around the back patio. This year I went with sweet potato vines along with the fountain grass and just check out how it grew and transformed throughout the summer...

This last picture of the patio was taken about 2 weeks ago so everything is even BIGGER now. Crazy, huh!
These are the hanging baskets I get every year. They are called Tahitian Bridals Veils and I love them dearly! I have even wintered them over before but since they take up so much room, I had to just suck it up and buy new each year. And it is hard to see but the backs of the little leaves are a purplish color and during the day they are covered with hundreds of tiny white flowers. Believe it or not, but these bad boys are now almost down to the white railing.
These are a couple of the planters I have in front of the garage and shed.Ohhhh, here is my Gerber Daisy trough. This is when they were still alive. Something happened and 1/2 of the plants died so they look pretty pathetic now.
On to my new favorite plant...
This is a perennial Hibiscus that I planted last fall so this summer is the first I have seen it bloom.
The blooms are the size of a dinner plate and are absolutely stunning! They are so big you can see them all of the way across the yard. And I couldn't resist getting these pictures of them on a foggy Sunday morning before I set out to do some rollerblading.
Speaking of rollerblading, I only have a little over a week before the marathon. I have been getting some good training (my longest was 22 miles last Sat) but I am getting a bit nervous for the race. I don't do good with races. Luckily the long holiday weekend coming up and Grant starting school next Tues are good distractions. Plus, I have a photo shoot to do of two little girls tomorrow evening. Should be fun. Just hope the weather is nice! Oh, and for anyone wondering how Grant's sleeping in his own room is going...he hasn't set foot in our bed all week which means he's almost got a whole week down already. So proud of him!

Big 'G', Little 'G', what begins with G?

Dr. Seuss is one of my FAVORITE authors. And if you have ever read 'Dr. Suess's: ABC An Amazing Alphabet Book' you may know that the page dedicated to 'G' reads; 'Big G, little g, what begins with G? Goat and goo-goo goggles, G...g...G'
Well, a couple of weeks ago my friend Lisa mentioned that she calls her two boys (that are just 369 days apart in age!) Big 'G' and Little 'G' so as to not call them each other's names. As soon as she said it, I immediately thought of the Dr. Suess book!
In Lisa's story, this would be 'Big G' aka Gage.
And this is 'Little G' aka Garrett.
Oh, and right behind Big G is another adorable little 'G'....Gabbie!
A day at the river, hanging out on the beach was the perfect time to squeeze in a little newborn photo shoot for Little G. He was such a trooper. I think he slept 95% of the time we were there!
Even though he slept like a champ and let his Mommy relax for a little (well, as much as you can relax with a just-turned-1 year old on the run) I did manage to catch Little G with his eyes open for a couple of shots.
I also captured some pretty cute pictures of the full moon that was out in the middle of the afternoon!Doesn't Gage' adorably chubby little self remind you of the Michelin Man? And we can just pretend that those are my tan, toned legs off to the left. Oh wait...that won't work cause I was taking the picture!
If you are curious how Big G gets such beautiful milky-white skin and plump buns, the answer is MILK...and LOTS of it!
Back to the newborn...
Would you look at this adorable little doll!?!
Makes me wish I had just one more little one to snuggle. Probably not going to happen but seeing little babies always gives me the fever!
I bet the one big question weighing on your mind is: "How on Earth did you manage to catch Little G smiling so much?"
Simple. You would smile too if you had just emptied your tummy all over the pesky photographers prop! (see the proof in the bottom right of the pic below!) ISH!Once the damage was done, we figured we may as well make the best of it and capture these adorable little smiles :)
Oh and after the shoot was over, Little Mister whizzed all over the sling too. Good thing it is white and could take a good bleaching :) I just love photographing little sleepy newborns. I recently picked up two new baby props that I can not wait to try out. Now I just have to get my hands on this little bubba again!