Happy Third Birthday, LittleBear!!

Guess who's three years old!  You got it... LittleBear!  Wow, time really does fly!  Yesterday was party day and we celebrated with family and a few friends by having a fire truck/station/firefighter themed party.  We figured this would be a safe bet considering LittleBear's fascination with all things fire-fighting lately and boy, did it go over well.  We may not have caught him smiling in every picture, but rest assured that he was beyond excited and loved it (as a side note, feel free to click on the individual pictures below to see them larger).

We started out the party with a trip to LittleBear's beloved Fire Station #8, which was a surprise to him.  We drive by it multiple times every day and there's not a day that goes by when he doesn't tell me what he sees there.  This time he actually got to spend time there, explore the truck, meet the firefighters and see the inside of the station...it was amazing.  Incidentally, I think the adults enjoyed it just as much as the kids did (I know I did) :)  The firefighters were so nice and I think they had a good time too.


We asked everyone to bring a thank you note or drawing for the firefighters and so LittleBear got to work on his with Grandma's help:


Then we started decorating and getting ready for the party.


After that it was time to head to the fire station for our tour!  When we first got there, the firefighters generously let the kids explore the truck:


Then they explained what each of their jobs were and showed us all the different parts of the truck and what they were for, including their equipment and gear:


They even rolled out the hose and turned on the water while the kids were holding it!!


After that it was time to go through the inside of the station. The kids got fire hats, coloring books, pencil toppers and stickers from the firefighters and then got to see where they eat, work out, check email, cook and sleep:

They even got a call while we were checking out their sleeping quarters that said, "This is for fire station #8...Happy Birthday, LittleBear!"  He loved it...the look on his face was priceless when he realized what it said.

We then gave the firefighters our thank you notes, plus some homemade snacks and thanked them profusely.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of guys down the street protecting us at all times!! I wish there was some way to adequately thank them for everything they do, but I know there is not, so I tried my best.

When the tour was over, we came back to the house for lunch and cupcakes, then for some playtime with family.  It was a busy day, but could not have been more perfect.


Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who helped make LittleBear's birthday special by driving/flying a long distance to be here, tweeting/facebooking a birthday wish, sending a card, coming to the party, giving a gift, etc.  We feel so blessed and loved and LittleBear could not have had a better birthday thanks to all of y'all!!

30 Days of Thanks: November 10, 2011

I am so, so very thankful for the wonderful house that we live in. When we moved to TX from PA, we had a weekend to find a house and we really wanted it to be the house we would live in for a really long time. After looking at 38 houses in one weekend (we LOVE our realtor, Nancy Evans Hutto...seriously, she's like family. If you are ever looking to move to Waco, you. have. to. use. her. She is phenomenal!), we narrowed it down to two very different houses at complete opposite ends of town. After much prayer, we decided on the one where we currently are and I have been so thankful ever since. It's the perfect size, layout and has an amazing backyard. I am so thankful for this house which has become our home!!!

Today, LittleBear and I had fun playing with these gel clings that I found at JoAnn Fabrics for 70% off. He enjoys playing with gel clings and I thought this would be a fun and different activity. He really did enjoy it!

Family Garden: Produce is Coming!

Garden This Week

The garden is still doing well. Actually, it's doing better than ever! The weather cooled off a bit and the plants are definitely happier for it.

I spent some time out there this morning and cleaned it up a bit. The two tomato plants (cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes) are now in cages and the basil plants have had all their flowers picked off. I also planted zucchini and peas in an urn that are beginning to sprout. I still haven't seen any broccoli, but I just don't have the heart to pull it out, so I'm going to leave it in and see what happens.

Box #1:
Box #2:
Box #3 (sadly falling apart- hey, it was the free one I built at a home depot workshop):
*NEW* Urn #1:
We have six honeydew melons, one cantaloupe, lots of green beans and a ton of sweet bell peppers growing. Here are some random shots from today:

Cantaloupe melon:
Green Beans:
Happy Basil:
Cherry Tomato Plant in 54" cage (this plant is taller than me when it stands up straight):
Soon-to-be orange bell peppers:
Soon-t0-be sweet red peppers:
Cherry tomatoes and blossoms:
Golden Honeydew:

Fun Things From Our Backyard: The Monarchs Are Here!

The Monarch butterflies arrived this morning!!! LittleBear & Mommy were so excited. We walked all around the backyard and driveway pointing out butterflies. LittleBear really enjoyed seeing them swoop and fly about, then settle to sip nectar from the flowers on our bushes. I don't know what kind of bushes these are, but I know that lots of butterflies really love them. I'd just about given up on the Monarchs coming this year, but I'm so glad that they did! Click on the picture below for a small photo gallery :)

Monarchs

We took a brief break from our Before Five In A Row study to further investigate these butterflies together. This site had a lot of good suggestions and LittleBear liked the pictures and slideshows. As it happens, one of LittleBear's favorite books right now is My Oh My a Butterfly from the Cat in the Hat's Learning Library (we love all the books we have read from that series by the way), which has a section devoted to the annual migration of the Monarchs to Mexico. These books are often found at Marshall's or Ross for half the price of Amazon and have been great! Ok, infomercial over.

Family Garden: Tough Summer

Garden This Week

This has been one tough summer for gardens everywhere, but big time here in Central Texas. I can count on one hand the number of times it has rained and the longest of those was a light rain for about 15 minutes. So, I haven't posted lately because there really wasn't much to say other than I've just been trying to keep my plants alive in the hopes they will start producing more in the fall. I doubt the broccoli plants will and I really should rip them out, but they are still growing and I just can't bring myself to do it.

We did get a harvest this week!!! How fun! We got two handfuls of basil, two more honeydew melons, a handful of tiny onions and 1 cherry tomato. There are quite a few more cherry tomatoes on the plant, which I am very excited about. The weather looks like it might be cooling off a bit (as in under 100 degrees), so hopefully we'll get a lot more cherry tomatoes and maybe some peppers too!

The honeydew and cantaloupe vines both have lots of flowers on them, so we're also hoping for more melons. So, it's been a good week garden-wise! LittleBear has enjoyed looking for ladybugs each morning when we go out to water the garden. It seems they are always clustered in a rolled up pepper plant leaf (looking like they are asleep). He asks me to put one on his hand and let it crawl around for a few minutes. Then he is done. It's very cute...

Anyway, here is what the garden looks like right now:

Box #1:
Box #2:
Box #3:
I have learned some valuable lessons for next spring. For one, I'd like to do a bit more landscaping around the garden boxes to ensure grass and weeds don't grow up into the boxes (something like gravel paths in between). I probably won't grow as many carrots or onions again because I only get one veggie per plant (best case scenario). Still, it's been really fun and I'm looking forward to my new and improved spring garden. It's definitely been a fun learning experience!!!!!!!!

Cherry Tomato Blossoms!
Cherry Tomatoes!
Honeydew flowers:
Cantaloupe flowers:
Purple Sprouting Broccoli plant next to LittleBear: