Da** Squirrels!!!

SO today Noah runs in from getting the mail and says "Mom you have a red strawberry!" So I hurriedly run out to check. Sure enough I see red peeking through the green leaves. My first strawberry I am so excited! I go to pick it and notice it looks odd. The DA** Squirrels ate most of my strawberry! You can even see their little teeth marks. I guess it isn't enough that they spin my bird feeder and throw all the seeds on the ground. Then proceed to gobble them up!!! Now I have been an avid advocate for the squirrels, but not anymore. They have crossed the line! This means war!!!!



P.S. I also included a photo of my tomatoes. They have been green for more than 2 weeks. I am wondering when and if ever they will turn red?

Hey

I had the window repair guy come out to estimate the cost of fixing the window. Oh yeah $228! Doesn't that feel great? Being put out $228 for some idiots funny joke? I so want to catch the little pain that did it.

Morgan is doing much better. She is sore but up and moving around. She has laid off the pain medicine since Sunday. She even crawled to the top bunk to sleep in her own bed tonight. Her check-up is on June 15th.

Noah passed his E.O.G. (End of Grade) tests!!! That means he can move on to 5th grade in July. I was so worried he might not pass with coming in at the end of the year and all. With the extra studying and the catch up work we did, he passed with flying colors. Jimmy is escorting Noah on his first field tomorrow. It will be his first trip in 3 years. Noah is so excited.

Mary has been a trooper this past week with Morgan being sick and all. She has been determined to help her all the time. Well this afternoon Mary had enough helping. She started getting a fever and now has progressed into throwing up.

My stomach hasn't been feeling that great today either....

Can this past couple of weeks get any better?

Updates

Wow it has been 10 days since I last posted a blog. So many updates........

My garden is growing like wildfire! I have almost a dozen tomatoes growing. I have one Chile pepper growing. I have 2 strawberries on there way to sweet goodness. The peas are growing out of control. The carrot tops are sprouting up. The watermelon plants are getting bigger. My flowers are starting to bloom. It is great to see hard work come to fruition.

I have lost 10 pounds total. I have lost 5 inches in my waist. I am not so sore after workouts. I am lifting more weight then I thought I could. Even dong more sit ups than I EVER expected to!

Noah started school on Monday. He was so excited I thought he would faint. I dropped them off at their appointed time (8am) and vowed to be back for lunch. That morning I tried to keep myself very, very busy as to not think of the phone call that he was low. Thankfully it didn't come. When 12:30pm came Mary and I met him for lunch. Noah was just beaming. He couldn't stop talking about how wonderful it was to be in school after 3 years. He loved being in his classroom, his teacher, his classmates, and their mini classroom library that he got to pick out his own book. I said when he got the hang of what to cab at lunch, he could sit with his friends and maybe once in awhile I wouldn't come. His eyes light up and he excitedly said "Really!?" Now in most ways this crushed me, but I didn't show it. I made a joke about he not needing me. Complete with fake whining and fake sobbing. In a strange way this also made me happy. I know it may sound weird. On the inside I realized that I can not keep anything from happening. He was growing up and becoming more independent in his management of diabetes. It is a big step for us both. He is starting to feel more confident in his management of it.

Anyway, I am so thankful for my life. I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful Noah is in school again. I am grateful that he loves it so much. I am thankful that he feels a step closer to being 'normal' again. I am thankful that God has taken such good care of him. I am thankful I have such a beautiful, smart and wonderful daughter in Morgan. I am thankful I have a funny and rambunctious kid in Mary. And yes, I am very thankful for my husband, who sees so much in me and I him.

Our New Friend

On Sunday I was yet again planting flowers in the back yard when I heard Morgan screaming about a lizard. Now this is normal with Morgan chasing Anoles around our yard almost daily. This lizard seemed to be more exciting then the normal ones. She was screaming for me to come look. I reluctantly went. Well I surprised to see this huge lizard climbing on our wall. Jimmy had heard Morgan screaming and came out to see what the deal was. Jimmy is an expert "lizard wrangler" from growing up in the deserts of CA. He grabbed a bucket and slicker than snot, scooped it right up. We have come to find out he is a five-lined skink. He is pretty neat. His tail is fading from the bright blue. This is from being an older lizard. He is good to have near my garden since he eats bugs and the like. So we let him stay in the Girl's wildflower bed near the garden. He is probably almost the length of my foot, most being his tail. The only problem is now when I am out there I am looking all over so I don't step on him. Or per chance he jumps out of the grass and bites my ear off. Do you think I have a fear of lizards?

These are 2 of the many Anoles Morgan has caught. This weekend she decided they needed to spend the day in the old Hermit Crab house. She named them and all. It is easy to see the green lizard ontop of the container. The brown lizard is below the handled container, just to the left of the blue handle. They are getting used to her constant handling. After she catches them, they didn't put up any further resistance. We have officially dubbed Morgan the "Lizard Whisperer".

New flower bed

I have been working my butt off planting flowers. I had a small flower bed last year. It consisted of Lemon Drops and Bee Balm. Which have grown twice their size from last year already.

This year I decided to make it a TON bigger. Why do I do these things? Actually I have had so much fun. I love working in the yard. In the past few days I planted Shooting Star Dianthus (pink ones), Bumble Bee Day lily, Theresa Hall Day lily, Daring Deception Day lily and East Friesland Sage (purple ones by the peach tree). They are all around my slate stones. I am not done yet. I still have about 20 border stones to finish. I also realized laying the mulch out today, that I didn't have enough. The dirt in the top of the photo, behind the black border, actually does have plants. I planted some seeds a week ago and they are barely sprouting now. I have planted Shasta Daisies, Panted Daises, Blanket flowers and Columbine. Then the yucky black border will come out. I just don't want to pull some weeds and them end up being flowers, so I had to mark it. (If you couldn't tell, my favorite flowers are lilies and daisies.)

I planted 2 flowers in the front yard by the porch as well. I added some rock to finish it off. Noah picked the flowers. I think they are so beautiful.

I am adding photos of the trees in our backyard. They are filling out so nicely. I love listening to the wind blow through the pines. It is so relaxing.