keeping my fingers crossed!

so we made a garden... and i just want to say, for the record, i worked my arse off! for real! i'm not exactly a very "labor intensive" kind of gal... to say the least. i shoveled so much topsoil, i am surprised i could even move in the morning!

gerry and clay built the garden box...

and then we had 2 yards of topsoil delivered...

and we definitely only needed 1 yard. hence all of the shoveling... at least clay has a nice fresh pile of dirt to add to his dirt bike jump... yeah, he really needed that jump to be bigger YIKES!

here is the finished product! 2 different kinds of green beans, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, and some cucumbers. i'm not sure who is more excited about this garden...

on a different note, we took the kids to the zoo today and became members again... grace and carter were too damn cute!

clay LOVES taking care of baby dave... he thinks he is so old and so cool!

then gracie pushed her brother in the stroller for a bit...

here's to many zoo trips this summer!

proud mama!

so we got a note home that on clayton's last day of school, he would be receiving an award during their award ceremony. now, i'm not going to lie... i kind of thought it was going to be some kind of "participation award" that every kid got. but it wasn't. my baby won an award (along with 5 or 6 other kids) for "most improved"! i was such a proud mom... i cried like a baby!

so here we are, the end of yet another school year... clay will be a big 2nd grader next year! now if only we could give him a "most improved" award at home... :)

a quickie for father's day (you and your dirty mind!)

so i hope everyone had a fantastic father's day... clay, gerry, his dad, and his grandfather (spike) all went on their annual father's day camping trip at highbanks... chippy is a titch too high maintenance still to join them, but gerry says next year. chip and i hung out all weekend... too bad it rained most of it! we were trapped in the house all weekend, which is no good... especially if you know my son! (***remember the fish tank incident?***)


here was chippy on sunday once it finally cleared up... why is mud and dirt so much fun? i just don't get it...

good ole spike won the fishing tournament that they had... such a great man! and proud as a peacock to be with his boys this weekend!

and here is clay (in the orange) and nick on the boat... it's so funny, gerry's best friend growing up, greg, and his son nick were camping too. seeing clay and nick is like seeing gerry and greg all over again! kind of scary! :)

a few random happenings (plus a video!)

so here is my sister in law christiane and me. not sure why i posted the picture, but i did.

here is clay (at the in law's property) riding his dirt bike down the gas line...

carter and grace chillin at the camp fire... complete with their blankets and juice

eating a little birthday cake

clay's school play "this land is our land". SO cute! i cried... so did gerry... and his dad... and his mom...

he was a wolf, and a train conductor. we had a video camera, but it died just as they started. :(

he was so excited about this play that he was counting down all week...

he really looks enthused doesn't he? ha!

icky boys

so perhaps i'm too "girly"... but boys are gross. plain and simple. how is it that they can spend hours and hours searching for, and playing with, such gross things like frogs, toads, worms, snakes and salamanders? eew!

they're so lucky that they are so damn cute though...

chip was SO PROUD that he was holding the frog...

side note: there are only 4 more days of classes until exams. i can NOT wait for this year to be over! I NEED SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dirty hands...

so this weekend was an outdoor weekend at home... yard work, yard work, and more yard work! i helped weed and edge. then we took a little trip to canfield's landscaping and garden center for some flowers and mulch.
i planted some allysum (i LOVE the way it smells) in a few spots and hope they spread.
our tree (which has been a mystery for years now as to what kind it is) is a cherry tree of some sort! this year we finally have little berries starting to grow!
cute pink flowers...

these stargazer lillies will be SWEET!

gerry's favorite, the impatiens

more friggin impatiens... every year i want to get something new. and every year we end up with more impatiens... too much shade in our yard :(

and i planted a couple of hostas to go under my hydrangea tree... clay got rocks out of our back yard and made a circle and mulched. he was SO proud!

and then chippy and i took his idea and spruced up our mailbox with some rocks and mulch.

at this point, my hands are almost clean... this girl isn't exactly used to getting her hands dirty! :)