Random August photos

Hannah watching her brothers at a windy soccer practice.

Garden produce - makes me happy!

Brownies with friends in the backyard? Yes, please!

Sweet and beautiful Brenna

Jonathan teaching Hannah to play UNO.

Max and Ruby weren't too thrilled about their photo being taken, but it turned out cute despite their lack of cooperation.

Grammy and Grandpa sent us these cute shirts to celebrate the Red Sox's great season. Adorable!

A cool front, finally...

It has been HOT. We've set records the past two days - 108 and 109. Miserably hot and last week wasn't much better - high 90s with higher humidity. The boys and I have been trapped inside going a little stir crazy, but not crazy enough to leave the air conditioning! But today it was only in the low 90s, so outside we went. And with the help of a little water, the low 90s is a nice cool day!

Jonathan "painting"

Andrew with the hose watering the slab instead of the brown spots in the lawn.

Putting him to work watering the garden.

This was the garden back in late April. The peas died a quick death and the tomatoes and cucumber finally took off. We had to put up a fence to keep out the rabbits, which were eating everything.

Gardening like mad

Tomatoes, Lettuce, basil, carrots (hopefully), cucumbers, a strawberry plant, and sugar snap peas

This doesn't really show all the work that I've been doing. I'll post more pictures in a month or so and hopefully it was be full of pretty flowers!

I planted these daisies last year and they are super happy this spring!

Basically every Saturday in April, we have spent working in the yard. Keith built me a garden box. This is our first attempt at this, so we'll see if it works. I didn't really know what to plant besides tomatoes, so it's sort of a science experiment. Depending on how this goes, we might plant all new veggies next year. I planted all starter plants, except for the carrots. They came in a cute little seed packet and a day or so after I planted them, we had torrential rain. I worried that the little seeds washed away, but yesterday I saw a few little green sprouts, so I'm hopeful that a couple will come up! Any ideas of what else to plant in a garden box? I'd love input!

I've also been working in our front flower bed. My dianthus and phlox are trying to take over, so I might have to do some transplanting soon. I went a little crazy at the flat sale and planted all new flowers this year. So, I'm anxious to see what takes off! And I'm sure around July I'll be sick of this flower garden and all the work of dead heading and weeding, but for now it has been fun to get back in the dirt!

Flowers from September

Somehow I missed posting these pictures back in September when I took them. Jonathan was trying to help me "dead-head." Sadly, he doesn't understand which flowers should be picked. And there is nothing wrong with your eyes. Someone (Andrew) was playing with the settings on my camera and so Jonathan's shirt looks a little funny. I don't know what he did, but I think I have it back to a normal setting.

This was my second summer of growing impatiens by the front door, and they seem to love this spot. Just the right amount of shade. I even had some volunteer ones pop up in shades I had never planted. Sadly, my impatiens no longer look like this. They don't like the cold nights!