Planting Tomatoes

A couple of weeks ago, my awesome sister gave me some tomato plants that she had started from seed. When I received them from her, it was a bit cold to put them in the ground, so I waited.....a bit too long.  By the time I was ready to put them in the ground, they were looking pretty shabby.  I hadn't taken very good care of them.  I went ahead and planted them anyway, though I had written off all but one of them.  After two weeks of care, here's the break down of my 4 tomato plants:

I yanked out number 4, sans post mortem. Enter the replacement tomato plant:

My mom had found some very reasonably priced plants at Costco and gave me one. Hooray! I worry that the other three plants are jealous of the newcomer. Look at all of that gorgeous foliage.

The kids, per the usual, were very good helpers. They generously offered their services and helped me put the new plant in the ground.  Their services included: digging in the dirt, dirt transportation, flinging dirt long distances and watering.

 And a few more photos:

Have A Happy Day!

~MJ

Ladybird, Ladybird Fly Away Home

Ladybird, Ladybird fly away home

the fairy bells tinkle afar 

make haste or they'll catch you and harness you fast 

with a cobweb to Oberon's star

Happy WW! Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

5 Minute Craft: Color Your Own Wrapping Paper

We were invited to celebrate my beautiful niece's first birthday last Saturday.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a scrap of child appropriate wrapping paper in the house.  We did, however, have a bolt of plain butcher paper and lots of crayons.  Both very useful items to have around. Am I right?

First thing in the morning (which ought to explain what they are wearing), I taped a large piece of paper to the floor and let Jellybean and Buddy go nuts.  If you don't have any wrapping paper, just make some.

Buddy was certain she'd like the ABCs as well as an "Icy Monster." Apparently, that is a monster that is mean to people.

The "Icy Monster" looks pretty mean.

Buddy writes out the ABCs every chance he gets.

Jellybean, just let's the creativity flow. She's a big fan of orange, but I tried to convinced her to branch out a bit.

No, Mama. I don't want to use another color.

A fun time was had, wrapping paper was created and it turned out kind of cute to boot.  I think I'll have them color all of our wrapping paper from here on out.

 Have a Happy Day!

~MJ


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My Favorite

When D and I had been dating a while we started saying the phrase, "you're my favorite," to each other. We said it a lot, even sending messages to each other that stated: To My Favorite. When we became a family, I started having to qualify that statement.  Buddy is my favorite little Big boy. Jellybean is my favorite little girl. I guess you can't play favorites anymore when you're the Mom.
So, now I have my three very favorite people.  I feel so overwhelmed and amazingly blessed by these three people in my life.

Notice Jellybean starting to smile with her mouth full of chocolate milk.

I'm almost at a loss to describe that feeling I get when I look at that picture. I'm just so full of joy knowing that they are mine. If I had to describe what my "Happy Song" is, that would be it.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Just Hanging Around

Some of my fondest memories of childhood are those of backyard camp outs. I was a lucky girl in that I did most of my camping in a jungle hammock.  The hammock I'm talking about is probably a lot different than what just came to your mind. You see, my dad is the creator of the Clark Jungle Hammock.

Clark North American Jungle Hammock

From experience, I'll tell you that there is nothing better than a night's sleep in a Clark hammock.  The night breeze slowly rocking you to sleep, the comfort of being off of the ground...seriously, there's nothing better. They absolutely rock on backpacking trips. If you want to experience what true jealously is, bring one of these on a camp out with friends who are sleeping in tents on the ground. The next morning, they will complain loudly about sleeping on a rock all night and will secretly hate you for being well rested.

Last week, I had a fun time taking my kids to visit the Clark Jungle Hammock show room.  We got to hang out in the newest model (because we're cool like that) and visit with Grandpa.  I love being able to share one of my favorite things with my kids.

There's a little person sleeping in this one...

I'm pretty proud that this is my dad.

It's a perfect time to be thinking about a camping trip right now.  I suggest ditching the tent and getting a Clark Jungle Hammock.  If this seems like a shameless plug...it is. :)

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Signs there's a toddler hiding somewhere in the house...

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Simple Air Plant Terrarium and Mantel

I've been working on putting some decorative touches into our new home.  For a while now, we've had a blank glass coffee table that I just couldn't decide what to do with.  I saw an air plant terrarium for sale recently that really inspired me.  The terrarium for sale was too rich for my blood, but I thought I could pull something together that had a similar feel.  So, this is what I came up with.

Any lantern would do, but I really liked the look of this lantern that I purchased from a local boutique. I threw in some decorative rocks and spent some time picking out a cute little air plant to put inside.

I learned from the garden store that the grayer the air plant is, the more light it requires.  The one I chose is darker green and should need bright, indirect light. The fun thing about the air plant is that it doesn't require soil. This little one will need to be dunked in water a couple of times a week and that's it.

I've also been working on the mantel in this room.  I added a few things to it in the last week as well.

If you are wondering what was going on in the corner of the room I didn't include in the above pictures...

Yeah, that's what was happening there.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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Mother's Day 2012- Hand Print Pots

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I got to sleep in an entire extra hour.  Imagine my surprise when at 6:40AM my daughter began calling for me and D sat up in bed and asked if he should go get her.  Awesome.  D and my sweet children picked me out some beautiful roses and some delicious chocolate truffles as well.  It was a very enjoyable day indeed.  I felt appreciated and I was also reminded about how much I enjoy being a mom to my two amazing children.

We wanted to give a small gift to my mother, D's mother and D's grandmother so that they'd know we were thinking about them on this special day.  I love to remember my children's little hand prints and you can't go wrong with something for the garden or front porch in our family.  I came up with some hand print flower pots.

They aren't anything spectacular, but I think they turned out cute.
I started with some terra cotta pots and spray painted them white.  Two coats, inside and out.

The next day, we had some fun with finger paint. This was a group effort. The kids were mostly cooperative.

After the hand prints dried, I sprayed them with two coats of clear, protective sealer.  I was especially careful to coat the inside.  The idea is to keep the moisture from seeping through the inside of the pot and peeling the paint on the outside.  I'm no expert, so hopefully, these will last a while.  

I used a sharpie to write the kids' names and the date on the inside of the pot.  I was really surprised when the letters ran a little when I was spraying them with the sealant.  I'm not sure what else I could have used though. It still turned out okay.

D and I giggled over one of the Mother's Day advertisements that we saw while we were out on errands over the weekend.

We started conjecturing over what "Love Chocolate" could be and if they sanitize their counters after they make it. I'm not sure I really want to know. heh.  Now I hope there's no one out there making fun of all the grammatical errors on this blog...

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ


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