some garden in's and out's and a big announcement

last weekend was definitely the kind of weekend that it would have been appropriate for me to cart my camera around.  or even to have snapped photos on my phone. 

did i? 

exactly.  so i will just sprinkle garden photos throughout.  :)

last friday night i corralled the two grasshoppers at one of my husband's colleague's homes to reveal what gender their baby would be {girl!  yay denise!}

and then we came home, put the kids to bed, and my husband began prep work on his jumbo gumbo.  a huge batch.  it was for another colleague's annual craw-fish boil.  we made a day out of it and this is where i am kicking myself for not having my camera.  ethan ran around with another boy and girl his age and they terrorized the living craw-fish before they met their fate in the giant pots.  :)

savannah found the bucket of treats for the kids and managed to convince any and everyone to open snack sized oreos, rice krispie treats, and peanut butter crackers.  she also became quite smitten with a four month old baby {who's mom was so relaxed about savannah loving on her baby!}  and ethan pointed at the chubby baby folds and told the mom that the baby had two armpits on one arm.  :)

it was really fun and relaxing... and of course, my husband's gumbo was a hit.  :)

this week i have been working on our garden.  finishing mulching, planting new herbs, flowers, watering, etc.  i haven't really taken the time to post about faustino's garden of wonders this year...   i started the cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and beans from seed.  and the sunflowers.

and i started eggplant from seed, but faustino bought a transplant and told me he didn't have room for my eggplant seedlings along with the transplant (i am sure it was because we had three eggplant plants and eggplants coming out of our ears last year).  and some zinnias.  i planted the eggplant and zinnias in the empty spot against the house where the rose bushes are.  but me, being a genius, didn't realize that our lack of rain gutters would cause a flooding issue in that spot.  whoops.

and i planted marigolds from seeds, but they are still really small.  with no blooms.  they are under the green been trellis. 

the beans i had to direct sow, because i tried to do them in jiffy pots and somehow i managed to screw them up.  mushy, non-sprouting beans.  :(

i really thought i snapped a iphone photo of my seed trays... i have scoured iphoto though.  no luck.  the seedlings are one of my favorite parts of the garden.  i feel like a little kid doing a science experiment... planting the seeds... watching them sprout.  remembering them as tiny seeds once they are great big plants.  kind of like motherhood, right?

and then, the weeds.  you know who likes to help his mama weed the garden?  mr. pickles.  and he would always ask me for clarification first:  "mom, is this a weed?"  soo cute.

another one of my favorite parts of the garden is when plants start to send runners out and climb the trellis.  cucumbers are really my favorite, but i like the green beans, too.

and i have wanted to plant succulents in this very pot since 2004.  yes, the first summer here.  and why on earth i waited until 2012 to do it baffles me.  but, here are my little guys.

and now my brain is totally fried.

but i must leave you with two important pieces of information:

1.  savannah no longer sleeps with a paci and will be TWO tomorrow.  we turned the car seat this morning as an incentive for paci free sleep.  nap time proved to be a beating and i let her have her paci back with the tip cut off... it didn't work and she cried for me to fix it.  so sad.

2.  we found out today that faustino's fellowship will be in la jolla!  we are moving to the san diego area for a year in the summer of july 2013 {we have over a year left here.}  any tips??

big news, eh?  :)

have a lovely weekend!

xoxo, s