Pretty Green Bird

Since Rumbles and Punch got some blog-time recently, I thought that Monty should make an appearance too...here he is on his backyard swing. He loves to be outside, but he has to be careful...the robins like to swoop down and steal his pretty green feathers.

Super Hot Gardener

...every girl should have one...

Backyard Revamp

"Before"... charming, isn't it?


Removing grass and digging
(dancing while you push the wheelbarrow
makes it extra-fun)!


The patio hole.


Recycled bricks in the
planned layout.


Some of the bricks have stars!
What a happy surprise that was!

More progress tomorrow....

Diggity Dogs

Rumbles and Punch make rare appearances on the family blog. Here they are...quite dirty and a little confused about all of the backyard changes.

Eighth Grade Girl

Look at how cute Siobhan's outfit was the other day!

Spring! Yeah! Spring!

Last week when Mom sent Henry's birthday gifts, she also included some cuttings of her houseplants. I popped them into water right away and so far, so good. All are starting to root and hopefully will make it. I read that palms and spider plants are the best houseplants for detoxifying and re-oxygenating indoor air. If they 'make it', Mom's baby spiders will help clear the funky air in the Hawkins house. And the viney ones will make nice filler in the window box.



The other plant project I have going is for the outside flowerbed. Like last year, I started flowers from seeds in my makeshift kitchen 'greenhouse' (a table over the radiator by the window). So far, most of them are doing okay. I lost a few...some just grow like crazy and then wilt away suddenly (you can see one pot of morning glories in the photo with some straggly skinny dead-ish things in it. I don't know why that happens.
But overall I think this year's success rate will be pretty good. I'm going to wait a few more weeks before moving them outside. I also have some seeds to sow directly in the ground. Maybe the morning glories will work better that way. I think I'll have them climb up the light post and the mailbox pole. Sounds cute, doesn't it?

Six Flags Birthday Celebration

Henry's Eleven

Happy Birthday to Henry!

Six Quirks for Shannon

Link the person who tagged you in your title.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag fellow bloggers by linking them.
Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

my quirks...which, by the way, were very difficult to limit to six...

1. I do not like overhead lights. They make me cranky.

2. I like to have the shower curtain closed at all times. This is ironic because Henry is afraid to be in the bathroom when the curtain is closed, so we have a constant open/closed 'situation' going on.

3. I can't stand to have wrinkles or 'loose toes' in my socks. If this happens I can't concentrate on anything until my socks are straightened out.

4. I can't relax if I'm in a room with misplaced furniture. This includes furniture that's pushed up against the walls, imbalanced positions, crooked pictures, etc. Maybe I was a Feng Shui master in a past life?

5. Like Shannon, I can't stand to drive or ride in a dirty car. I, too, feel 'trapped in filth' (great description!).

6. Another sock thing: I do not like to match socks when folding the laundry. There are many, many un-paired clean socks in the bottom of all of our laundry baskets. When my mom visits, she always matches all of the stray socks (yeah, mom)!

Tagging...
Shannon
Shea

Run Fast

Fourth meet today. The kids are doing better and better.

Siobhan had a first place finish in her 100m dash heat today! And she came in 2nd in the 400m. Those long legs of hers sure can move.

Henry finished 3rd in his 400m heat and 4th in the 100m. His age group is 11-12. Since he's still 10 (for another week at least), he's younger than most of the boys in his races. He came in 17th out of 38 in the 100m, so considering alot of those kids are 12, I think he's doing pretty well.