First Day of Preschool

:: First day of preschool on her own. Last week we had a parent/child class and today was her first class without me. Yipes! She's a big girl all of the sudden.....I admit I shed a few tears as she was walking to her class.
:: Check out her new smile.....apparently she lost her teeth smile.

Anna and the Pink Trek Trike

:: There is a story behind this Trek Trike.....Michael (Daddy) just couldn't wait to buy Anna her first trike. Well she was about 16 months old when he came home with this trike with the biggest smile. So excited that she would have her first trike. Too bad she is just now at 3 1/2 years old able to put her feet on the pedals....tee hee

It was an exciting day the other day when daddy sat her on the trike just to try one more time to see how much more she would need to grow and BINGO she could reach!
:: I don't know who's more excited over her riding this trike, Anna or Daddy.

And by the way.....I bet all of you thought I had forgotten how to take a picture with a human in it.....LOL! Notice there are flowers in the back ground though......I made sure of that! :0) (snicker!)

Anna and the Red Trike

:: There is no in between with her.....you either get a full set of teeth smile or a look away from the camera.
:: This is singing her lungs out while riding as fast as she can pedal around my car. zoinks!
:: Check out the tongue action! (it helps a person think ya know!)
:: And here, just picture me begging her to look at the camera and she's not having it! Little turkey!

Oh But Wait......MORE DAHLIAS! tee hee

:: This Morning Glory has taken ahold of the Dahlias.


:: This one is SO BIG! I'm officially hooked on Dahlias. I am going to look for even bigger ones to plant next year!

Because I just can't help it!....more flower pictures!

:: These are some of the asters my mom-in-law started in her greenhouse. They are so delicate!
:: Big Pink Zinnia....I LOVE Zinnias! They are so easy and last a long time.

:: Now if you were a reader of my blog last summer you will remember that Anna calls these Black Eyed Susans "Black Eyed Snow Whites". I about peed my pants when she pointed at them last year and said, "Look mommy, Black Eyed Snow Whites!" My twisted mind could just see poor old Snow White sitting there with her black eyes.
:: Notice the bee and the spider.....they must be friends ;0) Okay, and look closely at the petals....it looks like brush strokes of a deeper yellow on the light yellow. I guess I'm so intrigued by this sunflower, because I didn't actually plant it......a squirrel did!

Ready, Set, DAHLIAS!

:: Yes, they're beautiful and they know it!

It might be hard to tell from the pictures, but these are all BIG ones! They are even prettier in real life!

:: Sunflowers are sure to make you smile! I (actually "we"....Anna helped) planted these in Anna's little flower bed in her play yard.
:: This is just to show my pumpkin vines growing in the pots. These were a last ditch effort after I had planted pumpkin seeds three different times only to have the quail come by and eat them each time they broke ground. ARGH! I even put netting over the seeds and the quail still prevailed! Finally at the beginning of June (which is really cutting it close to have pumpkins by Oct. in these parts) I planted some seeds in the pots just to see if the quail might leave the seeds alone if they were up in a pot. Well....turns out they will!

More Dahlias

As promised.....more Dahlia pictures......oh, but wait!.....there WILL be more! :0)

Sullivan Lake

:: Hanging out at Sullivan Lake
:: I admit I have kind of fallen off the blog posting wagon this summer. I do not know where June and July went! Busy busy busy!

We've been taking the kids to Sullivan Lake a lot this summer and stopping by Gma and Gpa's for dinners. We've meant to go camping a few different times this summer and its either too blasted hot to want to go through the effort of packing everything, or we've had busy schedules, so instead we've been making use of the day use area up at Sullivan and it has been awesome! There are no houses around the lake, so you really feel like you're getting away for a little bit, but its close enough where we can still come home and shower and sleep in our own beds.

More Flowers

:: This pic is for those of you who have been keeping track of the Morning Glory growth. (I started with pictures of it back in early June.) Its blooming this year!!! It didn't last year for some unknown reason.

:: I guess I took this picture just to show off my weed free dirt. I'm pretty good at growing flowers, but it turns out I'm EXCELLENT at growing weeds......so to have weed free flowers beds is always picture worthy.
:: My dahliahs! (I planted something like 84 of them remember) They are just starting to bloom. You can bet your sweet blooms that I'll be posting more dahlia photos over the next few weeks.

The Most Recent Pictures of the kids

:: Danielle 16 :: Anna 3 1/2 :: Michael 14

:: These pictures are nothing short of a miracle! First of all to have all three kids together and Second with smiles ......well I just couldn't ask for more.

I had to work for these pictures though.....yipes! Sometime about a year ago Anna decided that she was not ever going to have her picture taken again. I kind of believed her after a year of no professional pictures to speak of. I took her by herself to Kiddie Kandids last year and that was an all out nightmare. Unbelievably there were a couple good pictures taken that day, but I decided that I wasn't going to put her or myself through that again until she got tired of her camera fear or whatever it is that she's going through. (plain stubbornness on her part if you ask me...LOL)

Any of you who know me personally know that I am a picture taking freak, so to have a daughter who insists she will not have her picture taken is a heart breaker. I practically have to bribe her any time I take a picture for this blog.

Anyways, I set up my little make-shift photo studio (a.k.a. the dining room with a sheet on the wall), and after two hours of convincing her that I will get my way and take her picture with her brother and sister I had success! Good Grief!

I can guarantee you will be seeing these pictures again on our Christmas card, since who knows if I'll have all three together long enough to get pictures before then, or if Anna will be over her picture taking phobia yet.

::And, in case anyone was wondering.....the camera did not steal Anna's soul and she managed to live through the ordeal. LOL!

Happy 4th of July!

:: Happy 4th of July Everyone! The above picture is from 4th of July 2008, but I couldn't resist showing it off again this year. (apparently dinosaurs are patriotic to a 2 year old....snicker!)
:: We're all decorated up for the 4th at our house.

:: And, this is Anna this year. (there's another stuffed animal in the picture....I even pleaded with her for just one picture without the stuffed animal and she wasn't having it.....we choose our battles right?)

Pretty Pretty Flowers

:: Foxglove
:: Delphinium
:: Rose
:: Delphinium with Purple Salvia
:: Just wanted to show off some of my yard pretties!

Yard Then and Now

:: Here are some comparison pictures around the yard. The above picture was taken 5/20 and the next 2 pictures of the same flower bed were taken today 6/30. A lot happens in the yard within a month's time.


:: Here is the morning glory progress.....the above picture was taken 6/5, and the picture below was taken today 6/30. The frames should be covered by next month.