2011 garden!

the 2011 garden :)

 how sweet is it to have fresh home grown
no pesticide added food growing in your own backyard?

pretty darn sweet.

 and our little city farmers make it even better :)

special thanks to my awesome husband who makes this garden possible!

(i pretty much just pick, prepare, serve, and eat what he grows ;)

"wholly cow! look how big already!!"

and here is what our gardens grow...

zucchini

strawberries

tomatoes (of a billion varietes)

snap peas

snow peas

green peppers

red peppers

jalepeno peppers

banana peppers

garlic

watermelon

honeydo

acorn squash

chives

basil

oregano

cilantro
(oh and forgot these ones too...)
raspberries
(and our fruit trees :)
apples
pears
peaches

and how does our garden grow?

good top soil, manure, lots of sun, water.

good plants from whole foods and cooley's greenhouse.

and a really good farmer.

summertime 2011

here it is!

our summer 2011 list :)

we've already marked a few boxes off...

and hope to cross off many more over the next few months :)

(click the pic for a close up ;)

happy summer!!

600 post winner!!

hey all :)
THANK YOU to all who took time to comment with a question :) (((HUGS)))
and thank goodness for my children... this video is halfway entertaining.
(winner: i will be in touch with you :)

and i will answer all of the questions in future blog posts.
sooner or later.
in all my free time :)

more fb loners

i could have put these up on my facebook page.
but i didn't ;)

-I will not. I repeat. Will not. Eat more than one everything bagel with cream cheese a day.

-Wow. That bag of dark chocolate peanut m&ms lasted 24 and one half hours.

-Who let the dogs out?

-My husband really appreciates my sarcasm.

-Oh Nutella. You do not know what you do to me. Oh wait. Yes you do. You grow me 10-pound babies.

congratulations kyle and megan!!

dave's (hockey) buddy kyle got married a few weekends ago.

and dave was honored to be part of the wedding party.

look how handsome :)

the hockey stick tunnel was dave's idea.

(why we didn't have this at our wedding... i am not sure.)

 the new mr. and mrs.

lilly felt soooo special that megan let her hold her bouquet!

and just to prove i was there :)

sweet day also made an appearance....

(this was our gift to the newlyweds :)

megan and kyle had the most amazing photographer!!

britt lakin.

check out her blog post with tons of gorgeous pics from the wedding.

(including a few more with my handsome hubby...)

this one though, i had to share here :)

they are both mid air.

 how i love my sweet littles :)

and can you spot lilly in this one??

congratulations kyle and megan!

600

this is my 600th post.
400 went by.
500 went by.
but this time i caught it.
600.

ive gotten some crap about this blog.
but ive gotten lots more love. and that's what counts.

so. to celebrate.
a drawing.
the winner will win cookies. or embroidery. or a meal. what the heck.
the winner will have some choice... depending on where you live :)

to enter.
ask me a question. 
(so that i may have some future blogging material.)

big hugs to all my faithful followers.
those who appreciate this little blog of mine.
i appreciate you. a lot.

summer!

it's official!

summer is here :)

 and here are a few 'self portraits' to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

someday we will get fancy pics... for now, these will do.

 happy weekend!!
(and thank you for all the congrats on my last post ;)



oh happy day :)

what are these 2 smiling about?

we will be a family of 5 this winter :)

and yes. we are all very very very excited!!

crohn's walk 2011

Dave was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in December of 2001.
last year we were lucky to participate for the first time in the Crohn's walk and we are happy to be able to participate again this year! 

IBD, which stands for inflammatory bowel diseases, is comprised of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis — two serious, chronic digestive diseases that affect five million people worldwide (1.4 million in the U.S. alone). Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis directly affect the digestive system and cause intestinal tissue to become inflamed, form sores, and bleed easily. There is no cure, no known cause, and little public understanding of the pain and chronic suffering with which IBD patients courageously cope every day of their lives.
doctor's say dave in remission, and for that we are extremely thankful... but he still struggles with stomach issues more often than is liked and takes medicine 3 times a day to help control his discomfort.

finding the cause and a cure for this disease would be amazing. 
to our family, and so many others.
we are supporting that mission. by taking steps for chron's and colitis.

would you consider supporting us?

thank you :)

10 years

10 years ago i married my best friend.

may 26th, 2001.

1 year later...

2 years later...

3 years later....

4 years later...

 5 years later...

6 years later...

 7 years later...



 8 years later...

 9 years later...

year 10 picture coming sooner... or later.



the best is yet to come...

i love you sweetie boy :)

em and cohen dance ;)

Em: Now we're married! Wanna dance together?!?

Cohen: I gotta go poopie.

Em: ok! Then we dance?

May 24, 2011

learn to like

i find lots of great things on other blogs.
things that speak to me.

this is one of them.

$16.75

we found a few garage sales while out running errands this morning.

garage sale season has begun.

oh i love garage sales. for so many reasons.

here is $16.75 worth of reasons.

 brand new unopened rockem sockem robots.

chutes and ladders.

2 DVDs (disney's eight below, and dodge ball).

3 hardback kids books.

3 coloring books (2 brand new).

1 long sleeve shirt for lilly (children's place).

2 short sleeve shirts for lilly.

1 tank top for lilly.

2 pairs of girl boxers for lilly.

1 justice outfit for lilly. (shirt and capris)

3 long sleeve shirts for cohen.

1 set of PJs for cohen.

2 short sleeve shirts for cohen.

1 pair of sport shorts for cohen.

1 GAP windbreaker/jacket for cohen.

golf tie for cohen.

2 pairs of build-a-bear boxers.

1 pair of build-a-bear unders.

and here are my happy little helpers with all the loot :)

kids say the darndest things.

these are heavy on the cohen side...
except for the last charmer i found scribbled on a sheet of paper in a long forgotten pile.
enjoy.

Dave: What are you going to practice? I think you should practice your stopping.
Cohen: But, when I stop… I keep going.
Before heading out on the ice at open skate.
April 2, 2011

Cohen: can I get up?
Me: yeesss.
Cohen: but I don’t want to.
Cohen asking permission to get out of his bed in the morning.
Or not :)
April 3, 2011

Me: I love you more than cookies.
Cohen: I love the cookies.
When Cohen came in to cuddle with me in the early morning.
April 7, 2011

I feel like I’m gonna be in here forever.
Cohen sitting on the potty with diarrhea.
April 16, 2011

Lilly: Cohen, you gotta teach me not to chew my nails.
Cohen: I tried it before. It doesn’t taste good.
Lilly: What?
Cohen: I tried it when I was a little baby. It didn’t taste good.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
After trimming Cohen’s nails.

Lilly: I think I need a bigger ice cube. It didn’t work.
Me: How do you know?
Lilly: It didn’t work! Nothing happened.
Me: What happened?
Lilly: It just went down and them came up.
Me: It came back up?
Lilly: Yes.
Me: Where is it now?
Lilly: I took it out and put it in the trash can.
Me: Lilly! You don’t put your hands in the toilet!
Lilly: Mom! I used toilet paper.
Lilly trying a new aged school ritual of flushing ice cubes down the toilet to try and summons a snow day.
Not dated.

homemade frapuccino

so, i love a certain chain's frappuccino.

but caffeine and i are not friends.

nor is my wallet friendly with buying things i dont need.

especially from companies who already make billions of dollars.

they don't need my money, that's for sure.

so i hit the world wide web for some recipe inspiration.

man, i love the world wide web.

looky what i found.

jen's decaf frappuccino remix

http://itsmejen.blogspot.com/

3/4 cup cold water

2 spoons of instant decaf coffee granules

3 TBS sugar

1 cup skim milk

2 cups ice

Add 2 spoonfulls of instant decaf coffee to cold water and stir to dissolve. (Add more or less granules to taste.)  Add coffee, sugar (more or less to taste), milk, and 2 cups of ice to blender and blend on high until ice is nice and crushed.  Pour into 2 big glasses to share (or one glass and refill till you can't drink anymore.)  No need for whipped cream... check out this froth.  oh yum. 

A decaf treat, which is good on my skittery heart.

And easy on my spending :)

Any time I want.

yay.