Greenhouse attempt #1. A Flop.

Its official. My 1st attempt at growing was a failure. Instead of growing plants I grew green and hairy mold. The only plants that sprouted were a ton of marigolds, one sprout of thyme, some catnip, one beefsteak tomato and a red onion. At this rate I will be able to make a tomato and onion salad and feed the neighborhood cat, Max, by the end of the summer but I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Tomorrow I am going to get more pods and start the process over again. I think this time I will put them in a sunny window with the greenhouse lid off.

Weekly pics of the girls.

I have decided to have a weekly photo of the girls for all my family to see. Hope you enjoy!

Isabela and her new do.


Olivia. Her best pics are of her side profile. She's still a baby you know.


Eliana. My sweet little baby girl.

Ellie's summer knits.

I have been working hard this week making Ellie some cute skirties and shorties for the summer. I started with the skirtie. I was unsure about how it was going to look the entire time I was knitting it but with the reassurance of a friend I kept up with it and I am glad I did! It is beautiful! The yarn used was a single ply merino in the "enchanted" colorway dyed by Sugarbubbie on Hyena Cart.


Shorties I can knit with my eyes closed. They are the reason why I started knitting in the 1st place. I got the "Asia" colorway on 3 ply purewool dyed by Little Trunks(also on Hyena Cart) and was in LOVE with it! I love red and I thought it was going to look so cool knit up. I was right about it looking cool knit up but the second Ryan saw them he said "There is no way Ellie is going to wear those." I was so sad but he was right. They are totally boyish and without a big pink bow in her hair she looked like a boy wearing them. So I am sad to say I am going to have to sell them on Diaperswappers.com.


And one more of Ellie wearing them. Afterall she does have the pink bow in her hair :)


I have one more skein of Little Trunks wool to knit up. I was going to do another skirtie but since my shorties were a no go for Ellie I may end up making another pair of shorties with it. Who knows.........stay tuned.

Craft Weekly.- painted bird houses

This week I let the girls paint the bird houses they got for Christmas. They have been asking me every weekend since then if they could paint them and I have said no every time. You could only imagine the looks of disbelief when I actually said yes. This is a pretty straight forward craft so there are not that many steps. Here's the craft:

What you will need:
A bird house or bird feeder
craft paints
assorted paint brushes
a waterproof finishing spray

1st, paint the houses and let them dry



Once they are dry spray them with a waterproof finishing spray and let dry


Hang(which we have not done yet because it is pouring down rain right now)


***Note how I never line my table with newspaper when the girls are painting? I don't believe in it. 1st of all I hate newspaper. I think it is a waste that fills up our landfills WAY to fast and 2nd, what is a craft without a mess? It is not fun that's what it is. A soapy sponge always takes up the paint.

Life, Caught Up.

I cant believe I have not made a post since Monday! I have a ton of material sitting on my computer waiting to be posted and, well, what can I say? Life caught up with me and now I am behind. Constant demands of small children, piles of laundry, a disorganized home and a new exercise regimen got the best of me this past week but I am going to make up for it over the next several days.

What time is it?

Tonight we were sitting at the dinner table and Olivia asked, "Mommy? Do I have any watches?" I told her "Yes. You have two?" She then asked me if I could get them for her "triple please!?" So I got the watches for her and sat back down. I watched her fumble around trying to get them on. When she finally got them snapped she looked down at them and, with a shocked look on her face, she said "OH NO! I better eat fast! It's almost time for my fairy Godmother to come and make all my wishes come true!"

knit rings.

The other day I was reading The Toby Show and saw a felted chain baby toy from Babus, a shop on ETSY, and though "Wow! What a cool idea!" I was going to buy one for Ellie but thought it would be fun to make one myself. It was really simple to make and Ellie LOVES it. Here is a simple tutorial on how to make a knit chain baby toy.
****Please note that I in no way came up with this idea on my own. The idea was from the owner of Babus.

What you will need: a few balls of scrap yarn, 2 double point needles, a tapestry needle, and scissors



Next, knit an icord with the 1st color. I made mine 9" long but I think next time I will make them shorter. When you are done with the 1st ring sew the ends together with the tail yarn to make a ring.


After you knit the 2nd icord loop it around the 1st ring before sewing the ends together.



And there you have it! I did not even felt mine yet. After Ellie goos it up some them I will send it through the washer where it will felt. Here is the happy baby playing with her chain.

Craft Weekly- painted flower pots

Every Saturday I do a craft with the girls. Sometimes it's a simple craft like chalk drawing and sometimes it's a more elaborate craft like it was this week.

In amidst of all of the adult gardening the girls were feeling left out so I decided to include them by letting them paint their own pots and plant some seeds in them. We chose Marigolds because they are supposed to help control mosquitoes. I don't know if they really do or not but with the amount of mosquitoes we have around here I am willing to try anything.

I bought these little kits at Target.


I let the girls paint them.




I had to makeshift some "pots" because the crappy plastic cups the kits came with were doomed from the get go. I did this with some water bottles that were in our recycle bin.







Next, I took 4 soil pod thingies and tore the mesh off of 'em and placed 2 in each makeshift pot. Then I filled them with warm water and waited 10 minutes for the pods to soak up the water.



And lastly we planted the seeds and popped those suckers up on the window sill. Can you tell which one was painted by the 3 year old and which was painted by the 6 year old? Probably not.


So there you have it. This craft took about an hour and we got it done before I had to meet my mom, my 2 aunts, and my cousin for breakfast at 9:30 a.m.

Update 3/28/09: We have mairgolds!!!

early corruption.

Spring is here.

Ahh...spring. My favorite season. I love everything about it. The warm sun and cool breeze, trees and plants awakening from their dormant state displaying beautiful shades of greens, pinks, purples, and blues. The season seems to open my senses and overwhelms me with a surreal feeling of calm and newness. It is the time of year when I want to start anew. My hat's off to you spring. Welcome!

Recession.

I was driving around the other day and I noticed for the 1st time how the recession was effecting my town.

Circuit City stores close their doors for good


The $1 jewelry store has a 50% off sale


The MetroBus that so many people rely on has to shut down


And the price of V-Power gasoline is so high that the workers at Shell had to LOL

Isabela, Olivia, and Eliana

Isabela(A.K.A Bela) is my oldest daughter. She is almost 7 years old. She loves reading, camping, fishing, and being outdoors. She would spend her whole life watching Animal Planet if we let her. Her favorite animal is a cheetah. She is a silly one and I can rarely snap a good picture of her. This is a good one.


Olivia(A.K.A Livi) Oh Olivia.... Where do I start with this one? She is 3 years old. She loves stuffed animals but only if they are puppies. She has about 20 that she sleeps with and she has names for all of them ranging from normal(scout) to just plain weird(he-new). She is always saying funny stuff and several people have told us we need to write down the things she says. I think this is the place where I will write down the things she says.


Eliana(A.K.A Ellie) is my sweet little baby girl. She is the type of baby that people would pay money for. She is perfect in every way. She is still little so her likes are sleep and boob. pretty basic. I will blog her developmental milestones.

Vegetarian cooking

My family and I are mostly vegetarian. I do alot of cooking. Sometimes I enjoy it sometimes it feels like a chore. Following The Pioneer Woman's format I will frequently post recipes. Stay tuned........

Gardening

My husband decided last week that he wanted to start a garden. My husband, like most husbands Im sure, is like a kid. He gets an idea in his head with every intention of following through but he soon get bored with it and it is left up to me to maintain and keep up with what he started. That's what's happening with the garden. He has not even started the garden yet. I have. So today the girls and I planted 70 plants in a tiny greenhouse.





We will watch everyday until they sprout. Then with any luck my husband will dig up a garden to plant them in. So to make this fun for me I will have weekly or sometimes daily updates on the garden.
Cast of characters


and the set up