Archive for July, 2008

Well, we are getting closer to my vision for a kitchen garden behind our garage.  We now have all the garden boxes in (square foot gardening style) complete with pathways and space between to work the beds.  Now, we are just missing some large potted fruit trees and perhaps flowering shrubs, the arbor which will go between the yard and the entrance to the garden area (and will be covered with climbing roses and clematis), and some dirt and plants in the garden boxes.  No small order, but its looking good so far.  This weekend I am going to an Urban Harvest gardening class to learn what to plant for this area for a fall garden.  Can’t wait.  And, in true HGTV style, here’s some before and after…

BEFORE (overgrown, wasted space, yucky)

Preliminary After (more to come)…

Not that you noticed we were gone.  But, things have been a little busy lately.  Here, let me fill you in.  After a trip to DC last week and LOTS of work since, I have been swamped.  I must say that I learned SOOOO much leading the study section and writing all the documents that comes with the final review process.  If I ever end up back at the bench, I feel like I could write one helluva grant application… anyway, one more week(or two) of some major work, and then it will be time for a little break.  I have to say a big, huge THANK YOU to my sister Sara and my mother, who swooped in and managed some last minute child care given that my babysitter decided to quit the day before I left for DC.  These are the times when you are so grateful for family and friends who just step in and take over.  Thank you, thank you.

So, I cannot even begin to comprehend that July is almost OVER and the summer will be gone soon.  We have been having some fun here.  Olivia is cruising these days… full on walking with some cute little tumbles when she gets going to fast to keep her balance (toddler run) and falls over.  She LOVES her food (who can blame her).  I am telling you, this kid can put away as much food as I eat at one meal.  No joke.  And, her latest thing is pointing.  She has realized that while words are a challenge, if she points and leans in towards it and screams loud enough, eventually we will realize what she wants and get it for her.   I am not sure this a good move on our part, because now she is constantly pointing for things.  It all seems a little too demanding for me .   And Ava, little Miss Ava…is busy, busy, busy these days.  Riding her bike, eating olives and cherries, helping outside, playing, playing, playing.  Red Bull has nothing on whatever metabolic booster these preschoolers have going on.  Starting when she pops out of bed at 6:30 every morning (when does the concept of “sleeping in” hit?) until she collapses asleep somewhere before 8… the kid doesn’t stop.  Sometimes I just sit on the floor as she is bouncing and jumping and hopping and skipping (all while talking) and I wonder when she is going to unzip her face and reveal her alien self to me, because there really is no way a human being could contain all that energy.  Then, I usually go get another cup of coffee, just so I have some hope of staying in the game.

My friend Allie came over today so we could get some pictures of her tutus for her website.  I had to share these…

When I worked in the lab, I always had a steady stream of Sharpies in my pocket.  Nothing was better for writing on so many different surfaces.  My friend and lab manager, Amy shared my excitement when we got new colors and when the retractable ones came out… But, (luckily) these days my Sharpies have been replaced with washable markers.  I should have known that something was up when Ava answered, “…I’m not finished yet, I’m practicing my As.”

This was a big weekend for someone else in our little household. Livi started walking.  She has been taking 1-2 steps for about a week or two weeks.  But, this weekend…she kept taking 4-5 steps., which I am officially calling walking.  I have been trying to get it in video form, but no luck yet.  Stay tuned.  She had her 9 month check up today and everything looks good.  This is the fun little face that I see whenever I go in to get her up from nap or bedtime.

What a weekend we’ve had…First, 4th of July. What a fun holiday. I love the yearly celebration of our country and what is better than family, friends, good food, and fireworks? The weekend started off with a neighborhood parade that featured our local astronaut who just returned from the Space Station. There were lots of bikes, kids, flags, and candy! I think Ava got more candy than she collected on Halloween.

After that, it was off to our neighborhood celebration, complete with clowns and balloons and food!

In the evening, we watched the fireworks from down the street. Ava stayed up with us and LOVED every minute of it.

After she went to bed, we snuck in and planted a bunch of balloons in her bedroom so she would wake up to balloons on her birthday. I plan on making this a tradition because it is such a fun thing for them!

The birthday celebration included the big presents of a bike and fish tank, along with a “Bad Cat” cake. About 2 months ago, when I first mentioned to Ava that her birthday was coming up, she told me that she was going to have a “Bad Cat birthday cake” (a character from one of the bedtime stories that she loves). I thought she would change her mind, but she held her position on this one and never wavered. Luckily, my Mom can make great cakes. She stepped in and created the perfect Bad Cat Cake. So far, she has made every one of Ava’s birthday cakes (or at least corrected the mess that I have attempted, first birthday example).

So, now my little baby girl is 3 years old. No longer a toddler! She starts preschool this fall and somehow I realized this weekend as I watched her pedal around on her big girl bike that time will just go faster and faster. Soon, my shy sweet little girl will be doing her own thing and won’t be interested in me helping her catch bugs and lizards, or dancing in the middle of the living room, or practicing catch with our big red ball. She might not like cuddling up to have me read to her since she’ll be reading to herself. She’ll be able to push herself on the swing and color all the pages in her color books, and she won’t be asking me questions like “Why don’t we have fireworks every night?” since she will realize that I really don’t have all the answers. All that made me want to grab her off the bicycle and lock her in a complete mama bear grip…impossible to escape.

And, if you are still reading what is the longest post ever, you now know why everyone here at our house needs a good long afternoon nap to recover from our hot dogs, candy, cake, ice cream, fireworks, presents, and fun filled weekend.

Happy 4th of July!

Poor Bella, has taken quite a backseat in the photo department.  She is still a HUGE part of our family and I need to make more of an effort to photograph her.  She is getting pretty old and creaky these days.  I actually said to her the other night, “Come on Bella, let’s go for a run…” as I opened the door.   She looked at me for a second, sighed, and laid back down on her bed.  For those of you who have known this dog, I am not lying, that story really did happen.

And, for those of you who are interested, my new lens is a Nikkor 50 mm/f/1.8.  It was a great buy and I highly recommend it if you have a Nikon and want to shoot in low light situations.  I had to use a flash in the Space Center yesterday (yuk), but it is great in my house.  It is even better outside… like the pics with Olivia below.  I have only begun to play with it, but I think it will be money well spent.

The Houston Space Center is a fun place right down the street that we like to visit every month or so to check out what new exhibits they have.  Today the girls and I headed down there and the new exhibit was a summer adventure theme.  Ava wanted to do the bouncer/bungee/thing.  I agreed, since I KNEW that there was NOOOOO way she would last in the line for twenty minutes.  And even if she did last in line, I just knew she would be too shy to actually allow a strange grown person to strap her into a harness.  As you can see from the photos, I clearly KNOW NOTHING. She waited her turn and while she was very shy at first (first picture shows the absolute avoidance of any eye contact)…she warmed up with the bouncing began and LOVED every second of it! 

Olivia, on the other hand, was content just to try and shove balls into her mouth.