Weekly Random Photos

Last week, neighbor Brenda called.  She usually comes over except when she's in a hurry.  She called to tell me there was a groundhog in our little garden eating our vegetables.

I hurried outside.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

I grabbed an old board from our stack of firewood to shoo it away but I wish I would have grabbed the camera instead. 

He was definitely  a sight. 


Our little garden though, despite groundhogs and a regular lack of watering on my part, is plowing along fine.

 Poor James.  I'm like the kid who begged for a dog and promised to walk and feed him everyday and then forgot.  Except, I asked for a garden and I didn't really have to beg for it (because he really want one too).  But, I did say I would water it everyday and give it lots of love.

But we've harvested plenty of zucchini and squash as well as some bell peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  This is our latest picks from Saturday. 


In addition to Punxsutwaney Phil visiting our garden, a snake has taken up residence.  We saw him while watering the garden on Saturday morning.  It made my heart skip a beat when it reared it's head and slithered under the zucchini. 

Of course, the boys were excited.  Lucky for me they forgot about that critter catching rule back  here.

And lucky for me that neighbor Wayne and Carolyn were out in their yard cleaning their garage and mind their own business when I screamed (maybe a little too loud).  Wayne jumped over the fence to make sure it wasn't poisonous.

It wasn't.  As a matter of fact, Wayne said he eats the bugs in the garden and actually fights poisonous snakes.  So, I probably won't scream quite as loud next time I see him.  But I'm sure my heart will still skip a beat.

Still, I think that was enough watering for the day but since we already had the water hose on...

We might as well make good use of it.

And  since we were already wet, we might as well go swimming.  So we headed to the pool.  John is wearing Cardi and Bella's old floating swimsuit.  He loves it!  He paddles around the pool and doesn't mind one bit that he's wearing a purple and yellow girl swimsuit.  Makes my heart smile.

 And this makes my heart smile too.  Cardi taking time out to teach Jackson how to swim.  She's such a big help especially this summer.

 See all that white stuff on Bella's forehead and hair?  Yogurt.  She ate a hot pepper from the garden.  The internet recommended milk, yogurt, or dreamcicle.  When I handed  her the yogurt I thought she was going to eat it.  I didn't realize she was going to smear it all over her face.  (  =

 See that speck in the distance?  That's Meredith.  She wandered off while a large group of us were at the park.  (I should probably mention that we never lost sight of her so her Grandmas don't worry).

 And then she wandered back.

 And we were very glad she did.

And then we headed to the Oak Ridge Art Center to fulfill some Faith in God requirments (learn more here)  for the girls and just for fun only to find out they were in between exhibits.

 We spent the rest of the week hanging out at home and the park across the street climbing trees and swinging.

Summer is slipping by so fast. I wish it would slow down just a little or pause long enough so that I can savor the moments. The ones when the kids are not fighting or complaining about having to pick up after themselves. ( =