Has Anyone Seen Juliana?

Juliana likes to sneak off and crawl into small, dark places. It's all cute and fun when I find her all nestled up, snug as a bug. But then there are the times when I have looked all over the house and can't find her and then begin to convince myself that maybe, just maybe she actually figured out how to unlock the front door and has run away...

Then I find her sleeping under the bed or in an old box...

Should I be worried?

Pure Excitement

We had a wonderful, but short, visit with my mom over the past two days, and how fun it always is to have her here! We took the kids strawberry picking this morning and now have enough strawberries to keep Juliana (who can never have enough strawberries on her plate) happy over the next week at least! It was fun to take a drive through the SC farmland and see an area on the outside of our town that I hadn't been to yet.

My mom also shared with us this short video clip from Juliana's birthday last month- Jules was in absolute awe over the gifts and sounds like she is hyperventilating over all the excitement! It's really funny!

Now, before you scroll down and look at the video, please keep in mind that my sharing the terrible still image on the post here is one of my "self-sacrificing for the good of my children" moments! After watching the video, please erase from your memory that you ever saw this awful, awful picture of me!

Enjoy!

New Look...maybe?

Once Again...I am fooling around with a NEW look for Kate's Musings, so excuse me while the look changes (a million and one times) today!

*Today's Memories*

Nate dressing up like a pirate and Juliana a ballerina with her tutu and all! The best part was Nate taking "captive" Juliana ballerina doll, hiding her under the laundry basket and then sitting on top of it. Poor Juliana didn't know what to do!

Morning Discovery

After my post yesterday about coming home from our trip to find all of my little seedlings withered and dried up, I just had to share this morning's discovery!

When I went to bring the kitchen scraps out to the compost this morning, there inside the container were little plants sprouting up! Now if only I could remember what it was that I threw out a few weeks ago that produced these great little plants! Cucumber? Melon? We'll just have to wait and see!

Earth Day... Every Day

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Earth Day represents so much to me, but one of the things I love most about celebrating the Earth is what it is capable of providing for us. I LOVE to garden. I love seeing things come to life and getting my hands in the dirt. For the past few years I have made great attempts at semi-sustainable gardens, trying to raise a good varieties of vegetables for my family during the summer months. I've had good luck with some things and not so good luck with others. This year started out right on track- seeds in sprouted right up and loved the South Carolina sunshine...all was moving along fantastic until we went away for a week, and in the craziness of packing and wrapping up all the little details, I forgot to leave my poor little seedlings in some water. You guessed it.

I left with these growing strong and healthy...

and came home to this...

Oh, how devastated I was. But not defeated. I was able to save some of them and simply replanted more seeds. And as much as I had hoped to grow my own vegetables from seed this year, I have decided that it will be just fine if I have to pick up a few seedlings from a local nursery. No problems. Stay tuned and hopefully, I'll be able to share with you all of the progress our garden is making!

In the meanwhile, anyone who is just getting started in gardening and wants to keep things simple, check out this site, courtesy of Joy The Baker (By the way, she has the yummiest recipes!) for a great and easy One Pot Garden!

Want To's & Need To's!

Today's need to do's and want to do's:

Need To's:

1. Put away mountains size piles of laundry
2. Clean all bathrooms (sweep floors/mop; clean counters; toilets; sinks; mirrors)
3. Sweep Laundry Room
4. Clear off top of bedroom dresser
5. Water plants
6. Prep for dinner
7. Inventory artwork for upcoming show
8. Compost remaining leaves/trimmings
9. Move compost to new location
10. Clear off kitchen counters
11. Make costume for Nate's parade tomorrow!
12. Begin organizing family room/play room/office/TV room....UGH....


Want To's:

1. Artwork with kids
2. Plan new honeybee garden
3. Read friend's blogs
4. Work on new blog design

I'll be back later to talk about one of my all time favorite things to do- gardening!

Today's Memories

*Today's Memories*

Nate asked me if his cousin Mackenzie could come over and play- Mackenzie lives near Buffalo, NY- 12 hours a way! After I told him I was sorry but she lived too far away to come over for the day, he then announced..."well Mackenzie could ride her scooter here!"