Tiger & Caroline

It was love at first sight!Tiger climbed the cage, stuck out his paw, and let out a blood-curdling, never-ending cry! Even though we only planned to adopt 2 female kittens, Tiger (a male kitty) was meant to be ours.Here is the moment he was given to the littlest joy!Those two, Tiger and Wyatt, are very much alike! They both have a very mischievous twinkle in their beautiful, blue eyes.They both are cunning and creative!And they both are stubborn!I've been known to nickname each of them 'TROUBLE'!And Lord help me, they are! But I can't resist either of them! This is our precious Caroline. She belongs to the oldest joy! And I am amazed at how much alike Caroline and Cameron are as well! I'm beginning to believe that you don't choose your animals, they choose you!

She is timid, kind, and playful. I love to watch her dip her paw in her water bowl.Then she licks the water off her paw. It's so sweet!And she has the most beautiful blue-green eyes. They are the same color as Cameron's.

I stand amazed! Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't like animals at all! Yet I now find myself completely in love with these sweet kitties!

Cause & Effect (*warning: creepy snake photos*)

Several weeks ago, Superman came face to face with kryptonite. He walked into his shed, turned on the light, and from the corner of his eye, noticed a line of black where it shouldn't have been. He turned around to find a snake curled around the door knob to the shed- it's body stretched across the window of the door. The same door he had just walk through in the dark.Here's a photo of him headed back out to the shed with a pellet gun.Knowing he'd protect me, I grabbed the camera and followed him outside to get a picture.
(Risking life and limb for blog-worthy stories.)
Too bad I don't have a video, or you'd be able to hear me screaming bloody-murder when I looked thru the lens and saw the snake. Zooming in made the snake a little too close for comfort!

But the good news is, that because of this:My oldest joy now has this:And because of this:My littlest joy now has this:I've taken a million pictures that I'll be back to share with you this week.

But for now, here are a couple more cute ones of the wee, little natural-born snake deterrents!

My Garden is Calling

The last few weeks I've scoured the seed racks in search of 'just' what I wanted to plant. And my wonderful Superman set about planting the seeds. Then he surprised me one day when he pulled into the local plant nursery and asked me to pick out a flat of herbs.It has left me wondering who on Earth is this man? And what did he do with my Superman? Because, you see, Superman does not like to work out in the yard. He's outside all day with his job, so sweating in the sun is not his idea of relaxation.Yet he and the littlest joy have disappeared to the backyard more times than I can count, only for me to find them planting surprises like yummy, scented Lemon Balm.And Basil and Oregano for my summer canning recipes.They were also careful to plant the plethora of Dill away from the other herbs. At the nursery we learned that Dill can leach yucky stuff into your soil, and the other herbs will absorb it if they are planted in the same container.

Somewhere is my Rosemary they planted, but I can't seem to find a photo?!?!

And then there is George...George is the littlest joy's tomato plant. He has a thing for naming inanimate objects. He also likes to make said inanimate objects feel special, thus George's decorative whirly-gig!Because we all know that happy plants produce better crops, I'm inclined to believe that the whirly-gig-adorned George is going to produce lots and lots of tomatoes this summer! That is, if the littlest joy doesn't drown him first! The littlest joys has also been busy planting pumpkin seeds, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and chives for the garden, too. The oldest joy has spent his time playing Lego Star Wars and trying to break Superman's records on the Wii Fit. Little does he know that this too shall pass! His days in the air conditioning are numbered! In between planting every seed he can get his hands on, the littlest joy has taken a few breaks to practice shooting. (Paw Paw, these photos are just for you... your namesake seems to share your obsession with things that go 'bang'!) Tin cans BEWARE!!!In between planting, watering, and shooting, the littlest joy also found a way to involve power tools...It seems that there were a few pots that needed drainage holes. There were also a few areas of grass that needed holes drilled into them as well. Because it would help the rain water drain into the ground, too! Right?

(Two more pictures and I'm done! I promise!)

Here's the crop we're all anxiously awaiting in the fall. And if you're a family member, the littlest joy is already planning on bring you your very own, "Wyatt's Wonder" Pumpkin. When I stumbled upon the seed packet in Target, I just had to bring them home. Now if only I could find a variety of some seed with Cameron's name!Soon I'll post pictures of the miracle Superman has worked on the pond. But for now, here's a photo of some of the pond life. Wyatt's not home to verify for me which frog this is, but it's either Smally or Slim-Jim! And FYI, he's unfortunately NOT inanimate!

Blog Love

In my quest to find my inner homemaking diva, I've run across a few truly fabulous blogs. Down to Earth is quickly becoming my favorite! In fact, I need to add her to my blogroll! She is a wise, older women that shares so many great ideas and thoughts. Her post from today, 'The Secret Life of a Happy Homemaker' really hit home with me! Go check her out! You'll thank me later!

Happy Valentine's Day

I tell Superman all the time that I'm keeping him forever! And I seriously mean it!He and our oldest joy came home on Wednesday with these beautiful flowers for me! I love them!
Them- meaning the flowers, Superman, and the joys!

And I've loved having all week to enjoy them! I'm blessed!And, oh my heavens, they SMELL so so so GOOD! Superman has given me a million flowers, but these smell better than any he's ever given me!And if he'd only stop working on his autograph collection long enough, I could show him just how much I love them!

(to be continued...)

Finding ME

Y'all, I'm still here! I just haven't been myself! But I'm working on it! And I think I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

This threw me for a loop. But you know what? She would be so sad to know that I'm still sad! And since Christmas I've really tried to get back to the old me!

Because you know what? I kinda like the old me!

She's blessed with squeezable children:

She's goofy:

She loves the Tigers:

She likes to cook:

She likes to decorate:

She loves to take pictures:

Did I mention she's goofy:

She has a twisted sense of humor:

And she is head-over-heels, deeply, madly in love with this man:So, I say all of this to simply say: I'm finding me again! And it feels so good to be writing again on here! Let the creative juices flow! I've got a few things going that I can't wait to share with you, so I'll be back later this week! Promise!

But for now, I'm off to take care of my littlest joy

He's got a tummy bug! And he's not his typical goofy self!Bless his heart!

The apple didn't fall far from the tree!

No wonder I refer to him as the child that looks like his daddy, but acts like his mama!

This happy, blessed gal will see you soon! Thanks for sticking around! And thanks for the emails checking on me! I love you guys!

Farmer's Market

How much do you think I paid for all of this produce?Would you believe me if I told you I only paid $20?

Well, I did!
That's it!
That's all!Our homeschool group has a farmer's market co-op. Every month each member pays $20 for a basket of fresh produce from the local state farmer's market. We take turns shopping. This month, I was one of the 3 shoppers. We brought home lots of yummy goodness!

I love having bowls of fresh fruit out in the kitchen. The joys can just grab what they want as they pass thru. The standing snack rule at our house is 'if it's a fruit or veggie- you don't have to ask'. Works for us!

I challenge you to go to the grocery store with $20 and see how far it goes in the produce department!

Are you local? Want to join our co-op? E-mail me! I'll give you all the details!

Now, I'm off to wash, chop, and put up all of these goodies- though the bag of cherries has already been devoured by the littlest joy...