Thursday 13: thirteen things Mr. D. did this week

1) played golf

2) worked... a lot

3) made me laugh at least a million times

4) put gas in my car

5) took my car to the car wash

6) cleaned and vacuumed the interior of my car.

7) went to Home Depot

8) played Playstation 3

9) played with Brady

10) built a raised vegetable garden bed (blog entry to come)

11) made arrangements for our weekend away

12) helped to clean house

13) downloaded a virus on my computer... thank goodness for mobile blogging.

He's working on fixing the laptop.   He's a pretty awesome guy! I'm so lucky.

the most fun I had today....

.... was making s'mores with my Girl Scout Troop (Brownie's and Juniors).

Have I told you??

Have I told you how BEA---- UTIFUL Kate's engagement ring is????? Here is a collage of pics from the pancake congratulatory breakfast our class had for Kate. Enjoy!! (click to enlarge the pics)

Ribbit ribbit

Scene from the froggy transport device.

too precious

I got this picture this morning from Maggie. It's Charlie bear being SO cute!!!

lazy weekend

This was our last lazy weekend until the summer. We have plans for the next 7 weekends. I wish I could make you a great blog entry on all that was completed- but really, nothing got done. I napped. I watched movies. I hung out with Mr. D. I cooked a meal or two.
We did go to a birthday dinner for a friend. Mr. D. went to 'Dega for the race today. He was letting his inner redneck out to play. I went to the grocery store. I cleaned out the trunk of my car. We played with Brad-o Potato. It was a blissfully relaxing weekend. I can't wait until we have another.

On a side note, my back yard has been named the #1 place in America for swinging single frogs to hang out. Last night I had to relocate SIX!!!!

Did you hear screams in the night??

If so, don't be alarmed! It was just Kategetting ENGAGED!!!!

More details to come!! She's enjoying the beach right now with her honey!!

imagine if you will....

It's class picture day. Usually this outdoor group picture is on the coldest day of the year, but today we lucked out with 70 degrees and sunny. We have the sweetest photographer and the kids love her. She skillfully arranged the group and got all 27 kids and three teachers settled. She starts snapping pictures.

Now imagine a wren- you know of the small bird variety flying directly into the hair of one of the teachers. Yep- that would be me. I didn't scream and remained calm but I could hear her wings flapping in my ear and it was CREEPY!! After the pictures we went back inside and one of the kids pointed out that I had a little inch worm crawling on my shoulder. I am sure that is what she was after!

I am not sure if the photographer captured it, and I may never know, but I can tell you one thing... I would L-O-V-E to see the pictures!

happiness is....

.... going out to the garden and picking fresh chives to use in tonight's mashed potatoes.

what a weekend

We have had quite the action packed weekend around here. This weekend we actually tiled our bathroom. We bought the tile several weeks ago and have not had time to get to the project. This weekend was declared T-H-E weekend- no questions asked. Here is the before pic....
Here is the after....
This tile in this picture is wet because I had just mopped it. We still have to let the grout cure, replace the baseboards and toilet. I will post more pics once the entire project is finished.

Of course, tiling wasn't the only project in the works this weekend. We also works multiple hours on helping to get the back yard ready for the spring/summer grilling season. While we were working in the the yard, I began thinking about an area of the yard that would make a neat little garden area. I watched it at different times of the day to see how the light hit at different times. I tucked my thoughts away until this morning when I noticed in the paper that Home Depot was having a buy one get one sale on vegetables and herbs plants and seeds. I considered this to be a sign. I shared my idea with Mr. D. and he was on board. Here is the area. It's a little cubby hole around the side of my house. It's great!! We didn't tackle this project this weekend, but I took advantage of the sale and get a few things to put in when it's ready. For $35 dollars, I purchased all of this....and these...
In the collection of plants, you probably noticed a fern. I wanted a fern to go in our patio beverage stand for when we aren't having beverages in there. Here is how it looks. I love it.
While I grouted the tile, Mr. D. washed off the patio.
I am currently in the process of washing all of the pillows. He said he wished he could get rich by bottling the pollen because we had gallons of it on our porch.

I had to take advantage of the sale at home depot and purchase strawberry plants. I have been watering the root plants for over an month and nothing. So, here is the new look to the awesome strawberry pot.
I also planted a little pot of peppers.
While I was playing in the plants, Mr. D. was grilling the first grill of the season.
DELICIOUS!!! We ate dinner on our patio and enjoyed the spring evening.

meanwhile... right next door

I met Austin last night. He is a real sweetie. He is tiny and LONG. He thought I was a pretty cozy spot to rest on. As for the other boys.... they could have cared less about sharing me with Austin. They were too busy playing a new air traffic control game and a pinball game that I had downloaded on my phone.
It's going to be SO much fun with three cute boys living right next door!!

highlight of my week

On Wednesday.... I rearranged the nursery.

On Thursday.... I had a very special over night guest.Yes!! It was Charlie!! We had SO much fun together.

Miss Rylee at the beach

meet Austin

The newest of the cute boys next door!!

home beautification

I have finally found a cute planter to put the orchid in. Here it is. I need to get a little of that Spanish moss stuff to cover up the yellow container more.

When Mr. D. came home from work today, he brought me flowers (insert "awww" here). Here is how I arranged them. I just love how it looks!!

weekend recap

Here is a few picture of my cute little nephew-- HENRY!! One of the perks of the shower weekend was spending lots of time with this little guy. He is SO fun!!

I really like this picture of me with Henry.

I can't tell you enough how much fun I had loving on this little love bug. He is an absolute angel!

This weekend was the wedding shower for Scott and Erica. I thought it was a great party. We could not have asked for better weather. It was a great afternoon. Here is a photo collage. If you click on it, you can see the pictures larger on the screen.
It is going to be a fun wedding and the family is all a buzz about it.

April Showers

Tomorrow, My fellow Sisters-in-law Meredith, Laurie and I will be welcoming the newest Sister-in-law Erica in to the family with a bridal shower. It's gonna be a great event. We have been planning it for a few months now and it is all coming to fruition this weekend. I promise full coverage of the event to come later. One item I am responsible is dessert. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this because as you know- CAKE is my favorite thing in the world. I decided to make a cake - but put it in a trifle type bowl to make it more convenient for traveling. I know that the groom to be is a fan of the German chocolate type cake- so I made one. It is probably only the second cake I have ever made from scratch- and I would say it was much more difficult than the first. It probably took me around 2 hours to make the cake with an hour and a half involved in constantly stirring the frosting. Because I am cutting the cake into cubes for the trifle I was able to bring a little sample to school. Kate devoured it. I must admit that I do not even like chocolate cake- but it's really delicious. The frosting is very good and well worth the time it took to make it. It you would like the recipe, I found it here. I am sure that it will be loved at the Shower.

Tonight, I will be attempting to create this. Hopefully I will not lead to a blog entry on what a bad idea it was! I am also making gluten free brownies, Caesar Salad Pizza, Mini veggie pizza bites, and a fresh fruit tray.

Stay tuned!

frog blog

As many of my long time readers know, we are always plagued by frogs in the spring and summer. I can't stand it. We didn't have frogs for the first three years we lived in our home and now we have plenty to spare. This weekend was our first frog occurrence. Mr. D. made a deal with me that if I would put the frog in a box, he would walk it down to the near by creek and release it. He did and that was all for Saturday night. Then last night the croaking began around 9pm. I had crushed the box used the night before for recycling so I had to find something else. I chose a jar that had some rice in it. I vacuum sealed the rice to empty the jar. I caught the frog and put the lid on the jar. I spent some time thinking about how to mark the frog or put a armband on it or something so I could see if the frog came back. Then I decided that was stupid and we drove the frog to a local church and released him (in the spirit of Easter and all). About 15 minutes later the croaking started again. I captured that frog too and we drove that from in the other direction down to a little creek and released. About an hour later I was snugly in my bed when the croaking started again. I got up and captured that frog. I will tell you, I am convinced that it was the first frog. Mr. D. says that I am C-R-A-Z-Y. I put this one in the jar and poked holes for air. I put him out on the front porch since I had to get some sleep. This morning I put him in the car and drove him across town to my work.
I put him in our school atrium. He seemed happy and if he croaks all night, he will not bother a soul. Sounds like a win-win.
I hope that the word gets out in the frog community that we have a zero tolerance policy this year. Just in case it doesn't, I am going after art class today to get mothballs. They worked last year, but I HATE them. I guess I have to choose a peaceful nights rest over backyard enjoyment.

warning: so cute it may hurt your eyes

I simply HAD to share this super cute picture of Alice and Eden.

Thursday 13: Thirteen things I want but do not really need

1) new bath mats for our bathroom
2) new bath sheets for our bathroom
3) eye makeup from Bare Escentuals
4) a housekeeper
5) a vacation
6) about a million things from the Pampered Chef new Spring catalog
7) new shade and window treatment for the master bath window
8) new window treatment for the living room
9) Amazon Kindle
10) a trip to the spa
11) My Passport Elite
12) a new camera
13) a hammock