Garden pics

We planted two river birch trees around the garden that WAS under the big tree. We love river birches and they do get pretty big and add a nice texture to the yard. GROW TREES GO!

The veggie garden contains - green onions, several varieties of lettuce, sage, basil, parsley, cilantro, jalapenos, egg plant, zucchini, cucumber, 4 types of tomatoes. Today I made a pasta salad using the zucchini, onions and basil. I'll use the lettuce to put on our burgers tonight.
This picture is from the other day but I wanted you to see how colorful the garden looks - you'll notice the purples, red and yellows from this angle.


This last picture is of our compost bin. It has cantaloupes growing out of it. I guess it's an added bonus to the stuff growing in our "real" vegetable garden.

It amazing what a difference a couple of years make for perennials.

Cathi

Backyard

I have always liked gardening but this year I have been studying up on it. I am learning what plants like what soil, sun/shade, height/spacing of plants, etc. It's been fun and I wish I had an acre or two to make some gardens on. But I don't so I'll just stick to my backyard. It was an open pallet when we arrived except for the BIG TREE in the backyard. Remember? So the first summer we put in a perennial garden around the tree.

Then we added our vegetable garden.
Then we added our Ryan tree.Then this summer I added a garden around the Ryan tree.
And then this WEEK I added another small perennial garden.

Stay tuned for some new pictures of all the gardens.

Hanging out

Griffin and I have been hanging out this week. Dallas is 1/2 way around the world in Brazil. It is our first week home (with nothing planned) since school got out at the beginning of the month. It's been nice not setting an alarm or having someplace to rush off to. We've been to the gym twice, grocery shopping, to a friend's house for a playdate, 2 playdates here, dinner out tonight. A fun week! Oh, except for the heat. It's been over 95 degrees all week! Very hot for Illinois.

On Tuesday, G's best little buddy Kade came over and they played all afternoon. They had a blast (as you can see!)

4 special people

Charlotte. 5.5 y.o. Outgoing. Kind. Beautiful. Helpful. My niece.
Rehm. 8 y.o. Smart. Wise. Absentminded. My nephew.
Eliza. 3 y.o. (almost). Quiet. Timid. Cuddly. Cute. My niece.
Ruby. 3 y.o. (almost). Adorable. Talkative. Outgoing. Friendly. My niece.

I love them all and am so glad I got to spend some time getting to know them all better. A great trip to Austin!

Caia Jewel - my friend's granddaughter. Isn't she adorable? We got to spend some time together while we were in Texas.
Playing at the park. She loved it there!
Ellen my amazing, sweet, kind, loving friend (who doesn't read my blog so she'll never know I said these things about her) and Caia.
This is Caia's sister, Bailynn. Isn't she beautiful?
Griffin and I hanging out in Ellen's pool. It was so nice. If I ever move back to Texas, I'm going to need a pool in my backyard.

Graduation

Dallas was about to get a ticket to Justin's graduation from Rockwall High School. Many of us were able to watch it from afar since it was available via streaming video. It would have been nice to have been there in person but the laptop screen had to do! Justin will be going to the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. in the fall for college. We are proud of him and want only the best for his future. Way to go!

Vacation

We are on day 5 of our vacation to Texas. We spent the past 4 days in Ft. Worth and drove to Austin today. I wish I could load some pictures but I won't be able to do that until I get home. On Friday Griffin and I drove to our old house. It was great to see it and it looked just the same. Griffin did not remember it. He did recall the pool and playground around the corner. We got to visit with a few of our old neighbors which was great! Then we spent the afternoon at my friend Melissa's place. She has two boys who are 5 and 9. The 3 boys went swimming for over 2 hours while Melissa and I talked and soaked up the sun's rays. We took the boys plus Melissa's 2 nieces out to dinner then to our old church for movie night under the stars. Saturday we were able to watch Justin's graduation on the computer via live streaming video which was pretty cool. Dallas was able to go and see the occasion in person. Wait until you see the pictures of Justin and Benjamin. They are all grown up! Then we spent the entire afternoon in Ellen's pool. It was so relaxing and fun. I've finally got a good start to my tan! Sunday was spent worshiping at our old church with great friends and having an awesome Mexican lunch at The Blue Goose. THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD EVER! Then it was back to Ft. Worth for more soaking in the sun.

This morning we drove down to Austin and got to finally spend the afternoon with Griffin's cousins! I have missed them SO much and it was just great to see them. Maybe I would have made a good "girl mommy" after all. These 3 little blondies have just pulled at my heartstrings. I can't get enough of them. (Pictures to follow!) Dinner tonight was at Chuy's - another great Mexican restaurant. Notice the theme? You CANNOT get good Mexican food in our area at home so we need to have our fix while we are down here.

Cathi