Its Summertime!

The covers on outdoor garden lights are very versatile! They make great hats and bowls for transporting weeds, rocks or anything else Peyton finds! The garden. Its hard to see everything but the close up pictures dont seem to do it justice, either!

This one pretty much speaks for itself!

Peyton thought the bucket on the head was about the funniest thing ever!

His Hawaiian shirt from Grammy and Pa

Picking 'yellow flowers' (dandelions) in the yard.

All Grown Up!

Every once in a while I'll have a day with Peyton when I know he has made a giant leap into growing up! Well yesterday was one of those days! And today confirmed it.

Yesterday morning Brandon and I were in our bedroom and Peyton was in his. We heard him playing in his room like he usually does before I go and let him out. But then we heard what sounded like the door closing. So I opened my door to see if he was in the hallway and he wasn't. But I could hear him trying to open his door. So I thought I'd wait and see if he could. About 30 seconds later, he was in the hallway! He had learned to open a door with a doorknob! So we went on with our day and I did at least think about putting a childproof protector on his door- one of those white covers. But I eventually forgot about doing it.

So THIS morning I thought I heard him open or close the door so I put on my glasses and robe and went out to greet him in the hallway. Well... I was late to the party! He was CLOSING the door to his room. He had already been up and gotten his breakfast! When I opened his door I saw that his face was covered in chocolate but I didn't know where he could have gotten chocolate. He was also trying to open a bag of graham crackers that I knew were in his diaper bag behind a baby gate.

So we went for a walk! Somehow he had pulled the baby gate down and gotten the mini oreos out of his diaper bag and finished those off. Then he got the graham crackers out and was trying to get into those. But I think that was the second stop. In the living room I found ALL of the dog food out on the floor and ALL of the water from the bowl on the kitchen floor! I think he had gotten up and gone through his regular routine. We put up the dog food and water and then get his milk and breakfast. He tried to put the dog food away but dropped it and did the same with the water. Then he couldn't get into the refrigerator so he went looking for food. All he could find was his diaper bag and somehow he pulled the gate down. So when he finished he went back to his room to play.

What a grown up little guy he has become! And, yes, he will have a protector on his door tonight!

Peyton and his horse... I mean dog...

Peyton was petting him and I was going to take a picture of how big they are in relation to each other but Peyton quit by the time I got there and Atlas found the table. Peyton's head is the same height as Atlas' back.

Memorial Day

We went to Sulphur, OK today and had a picnic and played in the creek there. (Along with most of southern OK!) We went with Grandma Kathy, Uncle Joe and Aunt Kristine. The weather was perfect and we had a really great time! Peyton was too busy to ever look at the camera, though!

Pictures

This is the front porch now. That big monster bush-tree is now a little bush.

This is one of the trees I trimmed. It used to hang out over the sidewalk.

That is the front door without the giant green monster tree-bush.

Peyton's tan line. He hasn't burned so far!

Most of the ivy is down now.

Another tree I trimmed back a lot. It used to have a bunch of scraggly limbs hanging out on the sides. I just trimmed it up.

The giant tree pile. It grows everyday! But it also shrinks a little bit everyday b/c it keeps getting heavier. It'll take a while to get it to the curb next weekend!

Admission of Discrimination

I'm afraid I've been discriminating against my flowers that were formerly a part of the miniature farm when I update. They are actually doing better than the vegetables! I have two flowers on the impatiens and the sweet pea is just taking off! Something made a meal of several of my seedlings when I moved them outside so I dont' have a ton of plants left but the ones that survived are doing great! It occured to me tonight that I never mention them. And the herbs are just wonderful! I've already cooked with parsley and cilantro a couple of times. And I have been known to 'test' the flavor of each from time to time. I have three pepper plants and two tomato plants inside too. There wasn't room outside for them so i thought I'd see how they did in the kitchen. The pepper plants are a bit of a game for us now. I don't know what kind of peppers they will be! When they were left over they weren't in their original spot by the marker. I am guessing that they are some kind of hot pepper b/c of the leaves but I can't be sure. We'll just have to wait and see!

The Garden

In my last post I forgot to mention the garden. It's coming along. Peyton and I have spent the last two afternoons working outside pulling weeds and such. I have trimmed three more trees. This time all in the backyard and the lawn guy came today so the backyard is almost liveable. Well... it would be if it weren't for the giant pile of limbs that have to stay there until big trash day. I forgot to take a picture of that but it's probably 10 ft long and piled high enough to block 1/2 of Peytons' bedroom window. Big trash day is a little over a week so it won't be too bad.

Here are the pictures of the garden from today. I dont know why I didnt get a full picture but these are parts of it. I dont think any of the peppers (of any variety) died. All of the watermelon died- I think they got eaten by something. I know the onions and lettuce got eaten. There is 1 onion thriving and 2 lettuce plants. I have 3 or 4 big tomato plants and one lonely corn stalk. I dont think it knows its not supposed to grow by itself! I think thats it. I might be forgetting something though.

Peppers



Lettuce


Peyton watering (since the watermelon and corn didn't make it he has his own area where he can water and pull weeds without getting into trouble for trampling or pulling up good plants) Its worked out pretty well actually.



Peyton watering again
(usually I use the sprayer or tractor but Peyton wanted to help today)

My rose bush. I'm so proud of it! I got it out of the 'almost dead' pile at walmart for like a dollar or two last year and I didn't know if it would survive but it just needed a little attention! yesterday it had three big roses!

Our jungle. It was really a jungle earlier today before they mowed it. The weeds were up to my waist. I have to reach into the ivy to turn on the water. I HATE that!!! Later today I think I'll get brave and pull it all down. i'm so afraid of what might fall out of it!! I dont know what got into it this year but we've had a cool wet spring so far and I guess it just took off. I already pulled a bunch down from this side of the house.

This is my bathroom window. It used to be covered on both sides. It was like green curtains on the outside! The rest needs to come down now.