Unexpected Visit

Wendy and fam came to Columbus on Friday and spent the night with us. The kids had fun on the ATV. Den let Riley drive it by herself (she's 7!!!!) but after she almost ran over Allison, and then jumped off when she thought she was going to drive up on the sidewalk---she had to go back to riding with an adult.
I shot these pictures around the table when we were having a snack. Elayna's hair is always so crazy and she is anti-ponytail.
Here is Sam. He sure loves his grandpa! He is a happy boy and makes us all smile.
Riley and Allison picked squash from the garden on Friday night. I did not make it out there on Saturday. This afternoon, I went to take and look and this is what I found. Yikes!

How Does My Garden Grow?

Here are a couple of pictures of my garden. It has been a great week for heat and rain. When I went to check my plants after a storm, I noticed that one of my chili pepper plants had been broken off. On closer inspection...it had a 4 inch pepper on it already! These are some random perennial plants that are in bloom, including baby's breath, lilies, yarrow, pluminaria and the purple one is a cutting form a plant given to me by friend, Rita from Hinckley, Ohio. I think it is from the campanula family.
Isn't my lettuce gorgeous? Too bad it has all turned bitter in this hot weather. I wanted to take one more picture before I pulled it all out. My spinach is the next to go, as it is already starting to bolt. On the bright side, I will be able to pick my first zucchini by the end of the week!

Get a Clue @ the Library

I worked really hard to make and put up these decorations for our summer reading club.
The kids are supposed to guess what the shapes are.

See any that are familiar?


The trees are covering two columns that seperate the children's area. We have already signed up over 5,000 people, just at our branch. Talk about busy!!!

More Marietta Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our trip to Marietta. I just realized that I didn't have any of Den...because he was in the basement playing the Wii for the majority of time we were there.
Elayna, Allison, Me and Sydney.

Suzy, Sydney and Shauna, who is expecting boy #2 in August.

Wendy and her youngest, Sam.

Riley rides the donkey, while Dallin tries to stay on a goat!

Riley isn't afraid of the chickens and gathers the eggs with her sister, Allison.

Down to Marietta

We took a quick trip down to Wendy's in Marietta, Ohio. Shauna and James came with us and Suzy and Sydney met us there.
Here is their beautiful home.

We were absolutely overwhelmed with the red clay. It was on everything and everyone!

Austin and his brother, Jared, built a chicken mansion! Riley caught this chicken for James to hold.

This is Checkers, the donkey that Riley received for Christmas.

James takes a ride on Checkers...a very brief ride.

Week 4 garden!

Here is the latest with my garden as the summer rolls on. These are delphiniums. It is about the best blue flower you can find. I got this for $1.98 in a four inch pot from Lowe's two years ago.
I created this island from a spot where grass would never grow. I put down thick layers of newspaper under the mulch to stop weeds. This is a knock-out rose and coreposis. I got the wonderful grass for free from a co-worker.
We can't even believe that anything can grow here. There is hardly any dirt at all...just rocks. It took me forever to try to dig out the holes for the shrubs.
Things are really growing well...I've only had to water a couple of times. We have feasted on the lettuce and spinach, and even given some away.

SSS

I wonder if they knew that they would be SSS. Here are Spencer, Suzy and Sydney on their vacation at Lakeside on Memorial Day. This picture was so cute, I had to copy it from Suzy's blog. Sydney is wearing Suzy's sweatshirt, because it was really cold near the lake.

June is bustin' out all over!

Actually...that's really a song...from the musical "Carousel." I thought it would be fun to update my garden periodically, so that all could share my joy.
This is week 3 and I have already picked lettuce and spinach, yummmmm.

My peonies did really well this year.

My poppies are so bright and colorful. More to come in the future.