Another garden update

So, I'll try not to make this blog too garden-centric, but I'm excited that things are starting to grow already! I did some weeding this weekend, and cleaned of the dead vines from the wall (remember what that looked like Sunday morning, mom?) Also, Wendy brought me some coneflowers from her yard to fill in the empty window boxes. Notice the flying cow guarding the plants - I couldn't pass him up at the garden store!

No sign of bunnies in the garden yet. I completed bunny deterrent phase 1: chicken wire fence and phase 2: marigolds around the perimeter. Considering phase 3: onions, at the advice of my brother. Hopefully they don't hop in and get stuck because then the feasting will begin!
Sunflower sprouts
Pole bean sprouts
Squash sprouts
Lachlan also had his first run-in with a worm! He only tried to eat it a couple times :)

joy

joy
Originally uploaded by Kirsten W

Finished a layout with one of my new favorite photos by Shelley. The paper is from the May Studio Calico kit.

Garden Update

Thanks to everyone for your helpful advice! I wish we could get a dog
to handle the bunnies, but I think a toddler, a garden, and a husband
are enough for me to take care of this summer! I went with a chicken
wire fence and marigolds to plant along the fence. I even found a couple plants called "Bunnies Be Gone " at Menard's, so I thought I'd plant one on each end of the fence. Maybe that will discourage them from making the jump over the stone walls on the side? Who knows. All I do know is I have invested enough time and money now that I am committed to making it work this summer!

random stuff!

First, you must go watch a slideshow of more Lachlan pics on Shelley's blog. She's so amazing, and seriously, he IS the cutest baby EVER (duh).
He loves to go outside and wander around, and recently he has been walking into the garage and going straight for the recycle bins. He knows where to find the fun stuff!

Speaking of wandering around, check out these adorable new shoes! They're See Kai Run.
Here are a few frames I made as a Mother's Day gift! Now that I got the latest Studio Calico kit in the mail, and I have all these new great photos of Lachlan, I am really feeling the itch to scrapbook!
This was the first quilt I ever made, in high school, with my grandmother's help. It's been hanging on a railing in our loft for months. I only realized that it had faded so much (one side has a big window) when I took it down to wash it. I guess my plan is to hang it back up, but with the opposite side facing out?

I had a lovely Mother's Day today - I hope all the other mothers who are reading did, too. We went to church, then straight to lunch with Bill's brother and his family. On the way home we stopped to pick up some seeds and seedlings for our garden.

This will be the third summer we've owned our home. We have a wonderful garden spot at the end of the house, which I am determined to tend successfully this summer. The first year we were here, I did plant some things, but I was just overwhelmed in general with taking care of the yard and the house and didn't keep up with it. Last year I had a newborn, so gardening wasn't really a high priority.





I am definitely a gardening novice, so I'm going to read about it and have a go at it! I want my own kids to know how to grow things and enjoy doing it, so I need to get a head start on learning about it myself!

I planted sunflowers and zinnias, tomatoes, peppers, a couple kinds of squash, big orange pumpkins and little white pumpkins. I'd like to still put in some zucchinni, too. What I'm worried about are the sneaky rabbits who live in our yard. I have a feeling they're going to treat the garden like a buffet! Any tips, experienced gardeners?

Also, there are two little spots in front of our basement windows that I'd like to tackle next. They're looking pretty horrble right now. I'm thinking about putting perennials in there. Any suggestions for what to put in? I don't want it to be anything too tall so that light can still get through to the windows. Thanks for your help!

family photo shoot

Yesterday Shelley came over for a family photo shoot. As always, she did a great job and already has a few lovely photos edited to share. Our little model did a great job, too. More are on her blog. Here are some of the photos she took of Lachlan when he was only 6 days old!

Climbing the slide

For your viewing enjoyment

messy dinnertime

Lachlan is all about feeding himself now. For the most part, I try to make him finger foods that he can pick up, but sometimes we still have purees, like last night's peach & sweet potato puree. I started out spoon feeding him, but soon he was grabbing the spoon and the bowl from me. I decided to let him have at it, since I knew dinnertime was going to be immediately followed by bathtime! He managed to eat almost everything, although he made quite a mess in the process!

Chalk the Walk

Even though I was under the weather with a stomach bug all day Friday, I was determined to make it to Chalk the Walk on Saturday to participate with Wendy as co-artists. It is our 3rd year to be part of the festival (last year I had a newborn to snuggle with, so I stayed home) and I love it so much. Especially when the weather is perfect with a capital P. Luckily I was feeling much better on Saturday, my mom and grandma came over to help with L, and Wendy already had a plan sketched out on the street when we arrived in Mount Vernon.
We were sponsored by the Mount Vernon community theater group, and our design was to help advertise for their summer production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".
Wendy's cute niece stopped by to help for awhile and Lachlan even got in on the chalk action. Unfortunately he managed to tip over right into the darkest part of our design. Whoops!
I wish I had been able to get back up there yesterday to see all the finished pieces, but I'm sure they all turned out great. Check out Shelley's blog for some great photos of Dawn Morrison Wagner's work. She is amazing!

our one year old

It is so fun to watch Lachlan play and explore right now. If I had to use one word to describe him, it would be "busy". He is always walking now, checking things out, picking things up and carrying them around. Trying new sounds and words every day, like "book" & "kitty". Using hand signs for "more" and "milk". He loves to play chase, peekaboo, and yesterday we were having a grand time pushing things down the slide. He brings me his shoes or my car keys and says "bye bye", like "come on, mom, it's time for an adventure!". He's getting 4 teeth at once and handling it very well! He loves music - yesterday he found a tin in our house to use for a drum and at nana's house he was playing a xylophone while "singing" along. What a special guy, we are so lucky!