Art

J loves to do art.  Especially when it involves stampers and glitter. 

The beauty of a child's face is art itself, isn't it?  

Whenever I have a random item that has outlived its purpose, I'm always thinking "Hmm....can we use this for art?"  The 'yarn' you see below is from a rug that unraveled.  And now it has a slot in our art supply hanger (shoe holder.)  

Around Here

Just a few pictures from around here:

We harvested our first watermelon for this season.  Unfortunately it must have been too soon, as it was most definitely not ripe.  Oh well, perhaps the rabbits/turtles/other critters enjoyed it, as Mr. GV disposed of it by throwing it over the fence in the backyard and into the woods.  There are several baby watermelons growing so hopefully we will figure it out soon!  The banana peppers are just fine though.

The garden has gone crazy.  There's greenery everywhere.  

I've been getting a fairly steady stream of cucumbers, some of which I am sending over for my nephew's lunch.  

I've been soaking some beans (chickpeas in this case) and used them in 3 different dishes:  chickpea salad, teriyaki chickpeas, and as an addition to vegetable soup. 

I shelled some purple hull peas we got from the local organic farm.  Love that place.  If only they had continued their CSA....Anyway, we ate half and half went into the freezer for later.  

I've been making Mr. GV's bottled tea.

I had honeybees visiting in my backyard!  I'm sure you've seen articles that state the honeybee population has been declining, so I was glad to see them. Here they are sucking a hummingbird feeder dry of its sugary solution.  

I've been trying to get clothes hung out on the line more often.  We had rain almost every day for weeks and it was just difficult to get them out there.  I'm still lazy sometimes and use the dryer--I'll admit it, but I really am trying when we have dry days now.  

I attended a Bingo fundraiser to benefit a local humane society.  My mom met me there and we had a blast.  We've been a couple times before and never won.  This time we each won twice, so that was a pleasant surprise.  

One rainy morning I stayed snuggled up in bed with Milo and read through some old magazines.  I've been meaning to get through for a while.  They are now in my car and I should be taking them to the library tomorrow!  

Graduation!

Somebody graduated!  And this time it WAS this one, at his preschool graduation...

No idea why he walked in like this, but he did it his own way.

With his teacher and his diploma.

His teacher asked if anyone wanted to say the prayer before we ate, and this boy JUMPED at the chance.  He is not shy, not one little bit. We all held our breath, because with this one you never know what is going to come out of his mouth.  But he did such a good job and we were all proud (and relieved!)  

My guys having a nosh after the ceremony.

Our little family with the graduate!

And now on to bigger things for our little guy!  

A birthday

A while back, somebody special in the family had a birthday!  

And no, it wasn't this one!  

It was my sister, S, who turned a nice round number!  

We all got together at my house for a celebration.  

And to catch some cardboard on fire.  Note:  only light the cupcake on the top tier if your cupcake tower is made from paper.  Ahem.

I don't remember why his eyes were covered, but I'm sure there was a very good reason!

My middle sister, S, brings such joy to our family!  She is fast with the witty remarks and is such a caring person, and we are lucky to have her as part of our small, tight-knit family.  Love you, S!  

Thrifting

Just a couple of thrifting photos from this summer, when we had an overnight trip due to one of Mr. GV's organized bike rides that was a wee bit far from home. 

Some shorts and shirts for J

Some goodies for my house:

Hamper with tag still on it, originally from Pier 1 Imports, $3.

Dymo tape $1.99

Glass canister (can always use these in my kitchen) $2

Whisk $1

Glass loaf pan $3

Gardening in May

J enjoys doing a little work out in the garden.  

That includes watering.  He learned how to use the water barrel to fill up his watering can.  

He was thrilled when the plants started producing.  A little broccoli, 

and a head of cauliflower.  

It's Been a While

Well, hello there.

It's been over a month since I've posted.  Some things have happened around here, mostly just busy times, but also one devastating thing.  

My sweet 11 year old boxer-mix, Macy, passed away July 8th very suddenly.  It has been really hard to even accept that she is gone.  If you have a nurturing personality and have never had children, you will understand the depth of my mourning.  Until my nephew came along, I poured all of my "mothering" type of love into my companion animals.  After J came, well, the circle widened, but my love for my four-legged babies did not change.  Macy was a baby when Mr. GV rescued her from the local animal shelter, and she and I were very attached to each other.  

The rest of the family loved her very much as well, and she loved us all back.  She especially loved my nephew, and kept guard over him from the time he was a newborn. I could write for many, many paragraphs about her unique personality and all the funny things she did, but frankly it just hurts too much to think about it right now.  And so this is all I can say about her right now.  Perhaps in the future I'll be ready to revisit this, but not now.  

But you know, life goes on!  And so in the next few days I hope to be putting out some posts and updating on the last couple of months.