Our Garden

So I thought it was about time for a garden update!  This is the first garden we've ever done, so honestly if any plants grew we were going to be happy.  I would say probably half of our plants are doing well.  The cilantro and basil have started growing flowers which I think is a result from the heat and us not trimming the plants properly. 

Our tomato plants are doing great, growing quickly and hopefully soon we'll be able to eat some.

Since I made the mistake of growing all of our vegetables (starting from seedlings) too close together I think most died during the spreading out process.  We do have lots of lettuce growing but most of it's brown.  You can see in this picture the left side of our garden (all the seed packets) are mostly dead, but our plants on the right are doing well.  Hopefully we can keep the right side up, we'll see!

DIY Sunburst Mirror -- FLOP!

I knew a project flop was going to happen soon -- my projects have been going a little too smoothly lately ;)  I actually started making this sunburst mirror months ago, but it has dragged on and on and on!  I found this tutorial on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to try to make a sunburst mirror myself-- boy was I wrong!

So here are the reasons why this project is a flop:

1) I decided to try this one when Kyle was out of town so I had to HAND CUT each dowel rod to my desired length 

2) The lengths I chose were too long-- if I had cut them shorter I could have saved some $

3) Hot glue never holds perfectly and this project was so hard to hold that anytime I moved the mirror-- dowel rods fell off!  

4) I tried to sand the hot glue well before I spray painted but you can still the globs covered in paint

5) My spray paint didn't even come close to covering it all-- which means I need to paint it again (a lighter white color)

6) It LOOKS DIY, which is exactly the kind of stuff that I didn't want hanging in our house!

So with all that said, I don't think that's happening as this project will not stay on our walls much longer.  As soon as I get around to making a gallery wall to help use up all the mix matched frames we still have in boxes (and get some personalized pictures in the guest bedroom) this mirror will be coming down.  Oh well, I feel like I gave it a good effort!

Semi Wordless Wednesday: Normal routines with Em

Dress up... we do this 10 times a day:

Story time with Mr. George (& Nora):

Trying to keep ourselves cool this summer: 

Scrabble pro already:

Golfing with Daddy:

Excited smile:

 

Walking Tyson & swimming near the lake:

Our little escape artist!

You read the title right... our little non-rule-breaker, never-pushes-the-limits girl started escaping from her crib two weekends ago!  Lately, Emery has not loved going down for nap time or bedtime.  She cries hard for a couple minutes then eventually calms herself down and goes to sleep.  Well, she finally figured out she could put her leg over the top of her crib and gently lower herself down, as we watched her do it (with our jaws dropped) on the video monitor!  She went straight to the door to knock on it and say "hello out there!!" hahaha.

Here she is reenacting it for us for the camera:

So after this happens, there is NO going back.  I immediately started researching convertible bed railings, and ordered this one from Target.  It's called the Dex Convertible Crib Bed Rail and I chose it not only because of it's top reviews but also it screws around the crib frame (a must since crib mattresses aren't sturdy enough to just have the bed rail sit underneath it).  

So for the next two days (yes it was online only) I had to sit outside Emery's room and yell "NO MA'AM" every time I saw that leg start going over an edge of her crib!

As soon as it came in, Kyle and Emery got to installing it:

Can you tell how excited she was about changing to a big girl bed?

She has done GREAT with her new bed which just helped reenforce to us that this was the right decision.  She slept through the night immediately, and after escaping from her bed once at nap time she is now staying in her bed and taking naps no problem (they are shorter than normal but we're hoping that will change soon!).  WHERE HAS OUR BABY GONE?!?

Oh and ps Em's room was already pink before we moved in-- she absolutely loves it!  We haven't done a thing to it but will redecorate & repaint when she makes the switch to a REAL big girl bed (twin bed) in a couple months!

Father's Day 2013!

We had a wonderful Father's Day around here, spent soaking in family time and showing Kyle how much we love and appreciate him--- starting with letting him sleep in!  Someone was a little excited when he decided to show his face...

Emery and I had made a Monkey Bread that morning, Kyle's favorite, and we all ate a ton.  We gave him some candy and a little survey that Emery answered about him (well minus two questions).

Here is the Monkey Bread recipe if you haven't tried it yet! 

We quickly got dressed for early church and snapped some pictures afterwards once we got home!

Then headed to the pool to relax a couple hours before nap time:

Oh, did I mention we drove behind Kyle on the way to & home from the pool, letting him long board down all the good hills haha:

 After Em's nap we headed to Jetton Park, and had a great time enjoying the weather and watching all the boats out on Lake Norman.

 Kyle and I are both so grateful for our fathers and how they have both shaped Kyle into the dad he is to Emery! A wonderful Father's day for sure! 

Brew Dash 6K at the White Water Center

Last Saturday, Kyle and Marshal competed in the White Water Center's Brew Dash 6k.  Emery and I came to cheer them on and enjoy the beautiful weather!  She kept saying "go daddy go" all morning while we were getting ready!

Ky and Marsh before their wave started:

Starting out strong...

Literally 1 minute in and then had to run up this huge hill into the trees and started running on all the trails:

So while they were running, Em and I went on a little hike of our own to the river!

Splashing away, watching all the kayaks and paddle boats go by:

We ended up missing Kyle and Marsh come in because they finished 8 minutes earlier than they thought they would (distance might not have been an exact 6K)!  Glad they both had so much fun running together! 

Em and I stayed for a little while then headed back so I could get her down for her nap.  Well, that was the thought anyways...

Fun morning out for sure!

Emery phone pictures

These are in no particular order, just wanted to share some of the pictures I've taken of Em with my phone lately.  She has started smiling on command now-- the cutest scrunchy nose smile ever.

Bought her a sand and water table... she loves it! (Although she likes to dump the water into the sand so it's either a water OR sand table most of the time now).

Octopus and Bernie had to come on our walk with us the other day... crazy how with no paci she falls asleep so easily in the stroller & car now!

We've been talking about camping a lot and will probably go in the fall once it cools down some.  Kyle found a great deal on a Kelty sleeping bag for Em, she loves it.

Such a little mommy... helping feed "baby" Katherine her snack!

Cute moments at Discovery Place Kids-- our little waitress:

She talks about "having parties" constantly... this day she set up all her animals (notice how all the small ones are paired with their matches) and sang them songs:

Sweet cuddles with Tyso:

Such a big girl with no paci in her crib!

She's been walking more when we go places but still LOVES to ride in the Boba-- check out this smile:

After story time at the library, so happy to have gotten TWO stamps on her hands:

Death grip on the Tinkerbell fruit snacks-- we've never gotten that kind before but there was no stopping her once she spotted them in the grocery store.  Our girl LOVES some fairies.

She loves to help open mail and "read" it to us.  This time the letter said: "I love you forever and forever and always" (we had just read that book the night before!).

Check out all those teeth!!

Such a sweetie!!