Picture this:

I have the 'pick-up at school' end of carpooling, so I thought I would document it. This is the road we walk on from the school to the truck. And, yes, this is posed. :) Normally they are in 4 completely different places.

Sierra (and Aimee, too, for that matter) is taking off with reading. She's so cute when she's reading since she wants to be sure we all know that she's really reading it. I guess she means she isn't guessing or remembering what she heard before.

Larissa really loves Judah. Could you tell? :)

My yellow rose bush. What more can I say about that? I like it.

We missed the first bananas from our trees while we were in Canada. Now the second batch has been cut, and they are ripening in a box in the garage. I foresee a lot of banana bread when these all ripen at the same time. :) Actually, I'll probably give a lot away unless they ripen in stages.

Does anyone know what this is? Matthew took this photo on a trip the other week, and he had to tell me what it was. I would never have recognized it.

It's a hap-pea, hap-pea day

This morning I went out to look at my little veggie patch, and had a wonderful surprise. My long-awaited peas are here! Ok, so we only got about 10 pods today, but lots more are on the way. It's very exciting. :)

Determination

Around my garden (edited for mom)

these aren't tomatoes...so what are they?

my bougainvillea (not sure which i'm more pleased about: it's blooming, or that i spelled bougainvillea without using the dictionary :)

poinsettia (bush? tree?)

the next batch of bananas coming along

something pretty and shiny that i don't know the name of...

the flowers on my bottlebrush tree

a yellow flower that i don't know the name of (are you sensing a trend? because you should be)

this picture and the next are right beside each other

a vine that i was hoping someone might be able to identify. because? i don't know what it is. :)

Photos

These first pictures are from our excursion to the south as part of M's birthday celebrations.

The girls loved this colt (colt? foal?).

L's first-ever time on a horse.

My wonderful husband brought me 18 roses the other day. Just because. Now, before you nag your husband to do the same, remember that these cost him about $3. :)

I don't know what this tree is, but I love it.

My baby bananas. :)

Sunday lunch at the club a few weeks ago.

"One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong..." :)
(hee hee, now you have that song stuck in your head, don't you?)

Mystery flower

I don't know what this tree/shrub thing is, but I think it's amazing! It has these beautiful green leaves and these gorgeous, sweet-smelling white flowers. The buds were on the tree for about 2 months, then they bloomed but only lasted for a short time (2 days each, or less). The scent is so nice, almost perfume-like. I think they're all done for this year, so now I will look forward to the next time they bloom.

In my garden...

Does anyone know what this is? I love it since it reminds me of a sunset!

Here's S standing with my banana tree. I'm so excited about how tall it's getting! I wonder when the bananas will appear. Before we leave for Canada in August?

A (small) dream come true

I have 7 healthy broccoli plants growing in one of my flowerbeds!! I'm so excited and can't wait to see if they actually produce anything. This week there has been nice broccoli in the stores and I'm loving it. I crave broccoli when there isn't any and the idea that I can grow my own is probably way more exciting than it ought to be.

Because if I like it I blog about it

Does anyone know what this is?

It grows on a bush and that's all I know. :) Have you seen it before?

Thankful...

...for the beauty of roses. When I see them blooming like this, my heart feels full.

Roses

I cut this from one of my climbing rose bushes. It had 21 buds on it, and I wanted to see if they would open up inside the house, since I feel like I don't enjoy them where they are outside. The second picture is taken the next day, and that's really all that opened up. It smelled nice, though.

A close-up of my hydrangea. 

One of my rose bushes.