Sunflower Competition

We have had the sunflower seeds planted for about 3 weeks now and we have had some results already.


Green shoots at the back are my seeds through, lots of them!

My seeds won the first step of the competition, which was to have the first shoot through, although Steve says that mine came through first because I didn't plant them very deep!
He thinks his will be the tallest because he says he planted them deeper and so they will be stronger?
We will see.

Garden Wedding

Our back garden seems to have been turned into a something out of a wedding!

The neighbours have this awesome tree in their garden and it is full of blossom.

And with the wind we have swirling around today, there is confetti petals floating all over the place.

In the vegetable patch

All in the lawn

All we need know is the bride and groom!

Library Books

I like to read, although I am quite fussy about what type of book I read, it usually has to be a romance novel or family saga, unfortunately the 'Classics' have still not got into me just yet.

We use the local library all the time, well at least I do, seeing as I always take out at least 4 books when ever we go there. Steve usually takes 1 or 2 because he only reads at night just before going to sleep.
Plus we have also made sure that the boys are into reading, well we hope we have instilled into them the joy of books, they love having a story read each night and are happy to look at books before going to sleep, so hopefully when it comes to being able to totally read for themselves they will discover the full joy of totally immersing oneself in a book and the wonders that they can hold.

If I find an author I enjoy reading then I will try to read all books that are written. So to help me with this I have a notebook by my bed. I have alphabetised the book and as I read a book by an author then I write down under the correct letter who the author was and what the book was.
The idea being that I should really take this notebook with me when ever we go to the library and then if I find a book I am interested in I can look to see if I have read the book.

I also write down in there under the author any other book they have written, so if I am looking for a book to read I can search for a particular book as well. When I have read a book, then I will tick it off in my notebook. Sometimes I have even marked next to it if it was a really bad book so I know never to read that one again!
I have had this system going for nearly 13 years now and it is really quite useful.
My main author's I seem to read all of are:

• Danielle Steel
• Debbie Macomber
• LaVryle Spencer (although she is not writing anymore)
• Barbara Delinsky

As you can see, nothing really heavy, just your typical family saga romance.

There are several libraries around Hamilton, all branches of the main one downtown. However there are 4 that are no more than 15 mins away from us.
They have an awesome internet system as well so I am able to search for a book online at home and reserve if I want for $1.50. I can then nominate which branch I wish to collect from. I have also been known to see a book I want to borrow online and actually drive to that branch to collect it, usually lumping it in with an errand I have to run on that side of town.
So I would say we are really utilising our local library well at the moment and they in turn are being very good for our family.

Logical Mind with an Unlogical Heart

Alex has been toilet trained since just after he turned 3. He just decided one day that he was no longer wearing nappies during the day!
After 2 weeks we were trained (took 9 months with Ben!)

Unfortunately we have had a small problem with Alex in that he is unable to get a through a whole day without being wet. Now we are not talking about wetting himself instead of going to the toilet, we are talking about dribbling, so that he is wet at some stage in the day and sadly it is not enough for him to notice and so therefore he wanders around in damp undies (which yes, do smell by the end of the day!)

We have taken him to a Urologist back in March of this year to get checked out, just in case he needed anything doing. Nothing apart from learning so new little tricks when peeing.
On and off we have been toddling along since then. We have had some good monents and some not so good moments.
Unfortunately it all comes down to the fact that we now have another appointment with the Urologist in November.

I have a feeling he might suggest that we give Alex a circumcision.
My mind knows that this is the most logical thing to do, with being a nurse I have seen this procedure done many times, so know all about it.
Unfortunately my heart is telling me different things and the thought of having to take him into a theatre and watch him go to sleep and then leave him makes the muscles around my heart ache at the thought of it.

Now the whole stupid thing about this is that I am a theatre nurse, have been for 15 years. I have watched countless operations over the years, taken many parents away from their children once they are asleep, comforting them as we walk down the corridor, reassuring them that all will be well and that they will be back with them soon.
I now how it all works, what happens, where he will be, who will be with him, the whole works but it does not seem to make any difference!

Not long after I started working in theatres, I remember talking to my mum and telling her how I wondered why some of these parents who had knowledge about the whole procedure got so upset when their child had an anaesthetic?
She said until I was a parent I would never understand the heart ache involved even when you know it is totally for the better.

Well I am now beginning to get a better idea of exactly what those parents were going through when I was a young innocent nurse many years ago.

New Family Pictures

We had some family pictures taken a few weeks ago.
well the boys had some pictures taken for part of a photo competition, but I realised that we didn't have any of just me and my boys, so I jumped in a few of the shots.

These are the proofs of the ones I have choosen, sadly they are not the greatest pictures as I scanned them from the printouts I was given, but you get the idea.

Growing in Odd Places

We have a little bit down the side of our garage that is really useless.

The space down there is not big, it needs a new fence put up to seperate us from the driveway of the units next door.

The hedge only goes along so far before you come to nothing. There was a peach tree tucked back there but Steve had to attack it last year as it was rotten.

We would be able to walk along there if we fixed eveything up but of course the usual thing comes into play....money, plus also the fact that if we started on that side of the garage then we would have to extend the fence all the way round the back as well and probably sort out the fence down the side of the driveway so it was all done in one go not several attempts!

So you can guess that it is not getting done anytime soon!

However, we do have weeds etc growing along there and that is fine.

Apart from the weeds are now trying to find somewhere else to grow and have decided to come through the gaps at the bottom of the garage wall.

No worries about that because then you manage to get cute picture like this....

The ivy looked so cute growing up the rake handle

Vegetable Time

Along with doing the sunflowers the other day, we also put in a whole heap of vegetables.
Steve likes to grow tomatoes, he is the only one in the house who eats them raw but he enjoys growing them.



Tomato plants



We have always thought about growing some corn as well, so we put in a very small amount to see what it will do.



Althought we have noticed already in the first week that it is growing very quickly!



Last year we grew courgette for the first time and it was fun, so have put in 2 different types this time. 1 green and 1 yellow.

Yellow sunshine Corgette

Green courgette

  Although we were not quick enough at getting the snail bait out the first evening and we lost one of the courgette plants overnight! We replaced it this weekend and added heaps of bait!!
Which meant that yesterday morning when I checked we had 17 dead snails around the veggies!

 Steve has decided that this year he is going to grow eggplant and peppers. Never grown them before so we will see how they turn out.



The pepper growing strongly



The start of the eggplants



Will keep you up to date occassionally as to how our plants are growing.

History in The Making

Finally after however many days and weeks the rescue mission has finally come to that end point for the Chilien Miners.
By the hour another miner is slowly being rescued.
I myself hate small spaces, so just can not imagine what it must be like for them.

I wish them all the best

Competition

When Steve and I got married 2 years ago, we gave people a packet of sunflower seeds as a wedding favour.

They went down really well, especially as it was the right time of year to plant them as well. We gained several pictures over the following months from people who had attended the wedding and then actually planted the seeds. Several family members had sunflower growing competitions to see who could grow the tallest!

We, would you believe, never actually got round to planting any of the seeds, although we had several packets left over.

So this year we decided to have a little family competition. We are using seeds that we had left over (yes I know they are 2 yrs old but they have remained sealed and at a good temperature, so we will see!) and we have brought 1 packet just in case nothing happens.

We have laid out some rules for our little competition:

1. Everyone will do the same thing, so we all planted together in the same way
2. There will be a small prize (mini chocolate bar) for the person who has the 1st shoot through in the next few weeks
3. We will measure the growing plants every 2 weeks
4. The winner of the tallest sunflower will get to choose whether we play Mini Golf or go Bowling
5. The winner of the largest sunflower head will get to choose where we go for lunch
6. The person with the shortest sunflower will win a chocolate bar

Everyone is in agreeance and the seeds have been planted.

1st we all helped prepare the soil

Well almost everyone was helpful!

Then we each chose which section of the flower bed we wanted.
We then each took it in turn to plant our seeds. Because the sunflowers are going to grow tall, we have also planted so summer colour in the front part of the bed to make it all look pretty.

So our competition has begun, just wish the uploading and adding pictures to this post had been as easy!!

New Perks

Blogger have added some new perks to blogging.
I have read the information about most of them but that still doesn't explain why I am having so much trouble uploading pictures to my blog.

We have had an awesome day in the garden and I had lots to tell you, but now I have to sort out how to use the picture up load first!!

Catch you soon

Like School

Blogging is a little like going to school!
You start the year all enthusiastic and excited with lots of projects in mind. You want to write everything down and learn as much as possible.
But then after several weeks you have a few ups and downs and then thankfully it is holiday time.
So you take a little break, relax and suddenly gain some more inspiration and all too soon it is term time again and you are ready to get cracking again.

Sometimes you have a very full on term, with lots happening, loads of inspiration, finding your muse around every corner you turn, but again all to soon it is break time and you are happy for a little rest.

Well that is how I see blogging, I go through a big inspiration time where I have loads of muses and have lots to write down and then suddenly I have to take a break. Doesn't mean I am not thinking about it whilst on the break, man no, in fact I have collected many pictures and things to write about, just don't have the enthusiasm to write it all down.

So then I find that I want to write them down, I start to think about how the post will write out, sometimes I even write it all down in a little notepad I have by my bed as the words form in my head at 11pm, then I don't forget all the wonderful words I thought of at such a late hour of the day.

So I think my vacation is coming to an end, my fingers are itching and my mind is processing. May be time for more posts to start flowing....!