Garden Failures?

Well, I've always enjoyed gardening, but this year I've had some flops...

* The seeds I started failed to come up
* The seeds I put in the garden failed to come up
* Of the 2 rhubarb roots I started, one flourished right away while the other didn't come up for WEEKS, finally sprang to life, and then completely pooped out and died a few days later
* My two tomato plants were flourishing... until I transplanted them, they broke off, and now who knows what's going on with them
* My cilantro was growing wonderfully, then it stopped
* My 2 Shasta daisy plants looked beautiful until they shriveled up - hopefully they're still salvageable
* The spring bulbs I planted all failed to grow

So, wow... What a year... LAST YEAR I did better with my Walmart plants and a pregnant belly...

At least my beds in the front are beautifully weed free and mulched... Ready for next year I guess!

Our 3rd Anniversary

We took Bekah along with us for our Anniversary dinner at Sonic.
We planned to have Olive Garden (thanks to my brother giving us a gift certificate!), but we were too full from our Chinese lunch! So we had a fun family picnic instead :)

Our Trip to Pella

Bekah and I had a girls' day in Pella back in June - we went to Auntie Mindy's bridal shower (of course we didn't get a picture with her), hung out with Uncle Marcus at the coffee shop, and visited Great Grandma and Grandpa Westra at their house! The picture with Great Grandma Lanser is at Mindy's shower!

Bekah Welcome Shane Home from Iraq

It's July 1st Again

And that means it's our anniversary :)

3 years ago right now we were finishing up our tasty dessert reception and getting ready to head to Minneapolis.

3 years ago today we had just found out earlier in the week we would be moving to IA.

3 years ago today we planned to wait about 3 years before trying to have a baby.

3 years sounds so SHORT but feels so LONG - we were talking this morning that we feel like we've always been married (not in a bad sense!!), always been homeowners, always had a dog, always been parents... But 3 years is nothing! Now, when we get to 30 we can talk! :)

Praise the Lord for a godly husband who is continually growing and changing into an awesome man of God. Mike is the most selfless, loving person I know and I love him :)

My Silly Girl

I know Bekah has quite the personality.

I know she's always going to have a silly side.

I also know she's quite smart...

Yesterday afternoon she was sitting on her blanket playing with her toys while I was catching up on some emails. I had to run downstairs for something and when I got up to leave Bekah started crying - she doesn't like to be alone. Anyway, while I was downstairs she stopped crying. So, when I was done down there I snuck back up the stairs so I could see what she was doing. She was happily playing with her toys - until she saw me... Then there were immediate tears again.

Smarty pants.

Content

I've been thinking a lot about contentment - being pleased with what we have and enjoying the little things.

Here are some of the little things I've enjoyed this week:

*A free municipal band concert in the park - taking the whole family (dog included) out to enjoy beautiful weather and fun music

*Reading board books to Bekah at the library - not feeling rushed at all, just enjoying the stories and the pictures

*Picking up my beautifully cleaned and re-sized wedding ring from the jewelers - yes I did have to pay for that, however, I didn't buy anything new! I can now wear the beautiful ring my husband lovingly worked for (without my knowing) during an entire summer comfortably without blisters! Babies can sure change a lot of things... even fingers. I also had my watch battery changed and my earrings cleaned - how fun!

*Saturday Morning Cuddle Time - we enjoy this whenever we're home on a lazy Saturday morning. Bekah comes into our bed for her morning meal (at this morning she slept in until 8:30!!) and then we all play, giggle, tickle, cuddle, and read stories. So precious - what a way to start a rainy day

*Nightly Mommy/Daddy devotion time - we're reading "Night Light" by the Dobsons - this week has been on encouragement - what a great week!

*Spending an evening with a friend - Mike and Rob went to the movies last night while Jocey and I stayed at their house - we put her two kids to bed and then Bekah was super cuddly/sleepy while Joc and I visited and watched Return to Me

*Watching Mike play ball with his daughter - absolutely precious. Watching Bekah cry when daddy went downstairs (not even caring that mommy was still here) even better! She's really a mommy's girl and so it's fun to see her enjoy her daddy too!!

Some Pictures

Playing with the toy basket
Toys everywhere!
Oops - B made a mess upstairs!
Silly face - Memorial Day Picnic at Pastor Rich and Lynette's House

Because I can't get enough of my little lady :)

I Love Being "Green"

Wow... Today I was thinking about how green I'm becoming... and how much I enjoy being green. The best part of my new found greenness is that I never planned on "going green"! Instead I'm trying to be frugal - and as an added bonus I get to say I'm "green". Good old Kermit the Frog should be proud :) Although, I find it easy being green...

Some of my new found green loves:

Hanging diapers out to dry. This keeps them smelling fresh and naturally stain free. It also saves on loads and loads of dryer time which I'm sure will someday be reflected in our budget power billing.

Hanging sheets out to dry. This is my newest love. I found it today. Ahh - nothing quite like fresh creamy colored sheets to put back on our bed this evening!

Purex Free and Clear Detergent. Originally I bought this for washing diapers since it was supposed to do a decent job and was pretty cheap. I think that my 8 years of strict Tide only for my laundry has come to an abrupt and unplanned halt. Goodbye expensive Tide. Hello one detergent for every washing need in the house!

Vinegar/Water for the floor. After trying so many different floor cleaning products (and knowing I have a very nearly mobile child on my hands) I had to find something that wouldn't leave the floor sticky - if you ask me, CLEANING the floor should leave it CLEAN... Well, 1 part white vinegar (which, by the way, is dirt cheap at Sam's) mixed with about 3 parts water (I'm not so picky) is wonderful. Added to my spray bottle and my new "shmop" (thanks mom) with washables heads (that's better than throwing them away - green bonus!!) I have a super easy way to keep the floors clean!

My cilantro and rosemary plants. Can we say - way better deal than buying "fresh" at the store and so much tastier than any canned version!

I have more, and I've posted about more, but today these were the things I was thankful for :)

6.5 Months

Well, Bekah has officially weighed in at 17.5lbs. She's still in around the 75% for weight, but has dropped to the 25% for height - apparently she'll take after both her mommy and daddy... Oh well :)

She's been doing so many fun, new things. She loves to sit up and play with toys, scream many different syllables, TRY to crawl, roll around, take amazing naps, sit in the grass outside and watch the cars go by, go for rides in the stroller, pet Starbuck, eat squash and applesauce, feed herself frozen food out of the little mesh feeder, and talk to any and everything in this exciting world.

I've been trying to plan meals wisely for both our budget AND our health. We spent an afternoon at Sam's Club this week and then I spent time at home making our trip more worthwhile - usually I'll get a bag of, say, hamburger buns (16 for about $2.18) and we'll eat SOME of the buns while SOME of them get hard and nasty in the fridge. That's a waste. SO this week I purchased all of our hot dog buns, hamburger buns, sandwich buns, Sandwich Thins (for the more health conscious mommy), hot dogs, chicken breasts, pork chops, and pita bread and then proceeded to package/label/free in PORTIONS we will use! Not complicated, but really an easier way for us to save and be smart! I've learned that a good double bagging is all it takes to make our freezer very friendly!

Graduation Open House season is upon us. We have one for sure to attend on Memorial Day. We were going to grill tonight, but I'm thinking maybe as soon as Mike gets home we'll head to another grad party since it's rainy and not the best grilling weather...