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I love ivy plants. I am rooting some ivy now to put in flower pots outside...ivy is hard to kill. Which is a good thing.

And ivy grows fast.

I love the start of Spring....and of new ivy.

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...slowly but surely, my little Autumn Sedum plant is coming back to greet the Spring weather.

Hola! Soy Dora!

 

 

 

This is one of Emma's favorite spots....her Dora bed. I managed to buy this from a girlfriend whose daughter had outgrown it for only $10 and it has bought more in smiles than the $10! Dora the Explorer is still a favorite...as is The Fresh Beat Band. Really, don't ask me about The Fresh Beat Band...although quite the band, they sometimes make me want to poke my eyes out sing songs that i can't get out of my head that have those goofy words like "Loco Legs".

It's hard to believe that it is finally March. Spring, i hope, is here to stay with it's warm sunny weather. I'm afraid that i have a horrible case of cabin fever. We've spent way too much time in the house this past winter! I think that it's time for us to find a beach and play in the sand! I am also itching to get my camera outside. There are some amazing old barns and houses around here that i would LOVE to photograph.

Things that i need to remember from my notebook:

~Emma can sing the abc's in Spanish now.
~She weighs 28.5 pounds.
~Emma hates (HATES!)getting her hair washed.
~She loves, loves animals.
~Pachi is still her favorite stuffed toy, but Bunny is also a favorite.
~Emma loves to run. Be it outside or in the house, she loves to run. She'll tell me that she's 'fast lwike da wind' when she's running.
~She can totally dress herself...but prefers to undress herself.
~Emma HATES, HATES, HATES shoes. As soon as we get into the house, she takes her shoes and socks off, looks at her toes and says "Hi, cwute toes!".
~Loves Fruit Loops, milk, yogurt (she calls it 'cow yogurt'), cheese, crackers, strawberries, grapes, bananas, chicken nuggets with ketchup, and strawberry bagels.
~Doesn't care for meat too much unless it's honey ham in a sandwich.
~Loves to go to school.
~She still loves the Little People Animals and People.
~Emma loves her books and crayons.
~Does something kinda odd: she smells everything. And i mean EVERYTHING. From food, to Pachi, to clothes, to me, to crayons, to paper...she smells it.
~Loves to climb on her pink stool and on my mini-ladder.
~Loves flowers, especially if they are outside. Also loves bark. sigh....lol
~Loves to play with tape.
~Wakes up around 6am and will giggle and laugh with Pachi. And then, thankfully, she goes back to sleep and will sleep till 10am if you let her. Usually, she's up at 8am and in bed at 7:45pm.
~Loves to wear dresses.
~Hates me brushing her hair.
~Loves Cooper, my girlfriend's little two year old son.

Off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful, beautiful sunny day!

Cooking with Emma

My latest score find on Craig's list: a Little Tykes Kitchen (that talks!) with all the kitchen-y stuff that goes with it.

I love Craig's list...

"We" cooked bananas, eggplant, chicken nuggets and corn.

....all with ketchup, of course. Because you can't eat bananas, eggplant, chicken nuggets and corn without it, i was told.

While yesterday was a 'challenging' day, to say the very least, today, was a fun day. I guess that's how it goes when you're three refusing to potty on the potty and learning new things. These new things consist of many 'fun' things like throwing little plastic animals off the top of the stairs (to see how high the animals bounce), putting your yucky pull-ups in the toilet (because "dats whey day go, Mama!"), and pulling out every single one of the kitchen towels like this:



Cute, eh?

But cleaning up after a little girl who comes over to just kiss you for no reason is the best job in the world....

Coming back to life...

 

....very slowly, but surely, my outdoor plants and backyard are peeking through the dirt, waiting for Spring to arrive.

This is a Japanese Maple tree that i am trying to grow into a bigger Japanese Maple tree. Such a beautiful tree...

I wonder how much longer it will be before Spring 'officially' arrives in my backyard?

Soon, i hope.

Very soon.

"Whoooo Do You Love?"

I love this necklace by Lisa Leonard. In fact, i recently ordered a necklace from her and i'm not so patiently waiting on it. :)

But this necklace? I. LOVE. THIS. NECKLACE.

I love all of her stuff. Lisa is just that talented.

Lisa is having a give-a-way on this beauty of a necklace.

You should enter. I have!

Go HERE and check out her cool blog and website and register to win.

I hope you I win!

mmmm.....

 

 

I love beef stew.

I love fresh bread.

I love both of them together.

mmmmm......heavenly.

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I love trees. In fact, i almost bought a house because of a tree in the backyard that i thought would be amazing to hang a tire swing on. The house was a disaster, but that backyard with the amazing tree? I still think about...of course, i would probably still be trying to fix the disaster of a house; but then i would have that amazing tree with the big back yard...

We recently had some trees cut down in the backyard. I really didn't want to have them cut down, but they weren't healthy trees and it would be best for them to be cut down to give our other trees more room to grow. And so, some trees were cut...and the wood is so cool to look at. Lots of rings for Emma and i to count!

I can't tell you how much i've enjoyed seeing other's photos on this 100 Photo project! Most seem to have themes for their photos...and i seem to be all over the place, but i've still enjoyed it. There are amazing photographers out there in blog-land...

Kenya

No, i'm not in Kenya. But MckMama is and i've been following her blog on her travels there with Compassion International. I have to admit, i became one of her followers in the beginning because of her photography, which i love. Her photos are amazing and manage to capture 'the' moment. But today, when i went to her site and read THIS post, the moments that she captured were almost too much to look at for me. I had to stop half-way through because her photos were too much for me to look at, too much for me to grasp. The fact that children, little children, live in these horrible, stunning conditions, make my heart weep.

About three years ago, my husband and i traveled to Guatemala, for the "Trip of a Lifetime", as i called it. We were on a trip to pick up our little daughter. We went a few days early because i wanted to 'see' Guatemala. I wanted to 'soak up culture' and take photos. Like some kind of tourist, i suppose. I had heard all about the poverty in Guatemala, but i don't think that i truly understood what "poverty" meant at that time. I had what i call "My American View" of poverty. You know, not being able to have a home that is yours, not having new clothes for school, not being able to pay the most basic of bills. I guess due to a some-what sheltered life, i had not seen any other kind of poverty. I didn't know that folks in the world didn't have clean water to drink. I had no idea that children didn't go to school. I didn't understand that there was NO food for families to eat. That there was a trash dump actually IN Guatemala where children and families lived. And of course, our 'tour' guide didn't want us to see this part of Guatemala on our tours. He didn't want us to see "that" kind of poverty in his beautiful country. He was proud of his beautiful country, it's history, it's food, it's people, and he shared that beauty that with us. And truth be told, i didn't know or understand 'that' kind of poverty, anyway.

I have a full understanding now.

I hurt sometimes when i hear folks say that "We should take care of our 'own' first." I see God looking down upon us, waiting for us to take care of HIS "own" first. Because to Him, we are ALL his "own".

No preaching from me in this post. No soap-box speech. In fact, i've never written a post like this before. I ususally do the "look how cute my daughter is" kinda posts or show photos of something that i've cooked and not manage to burn. But this has been nagging on my heart all day. I only talk about Compassion International and World Vision because those are who i know use their funds as they should. Please don't think that i want you to buy cows or chickens from World Vision's catalog to give to families (although that's a really GREAT idea!). Please don't think that i'm going to ask you to sponsor 5 children from World Vision or Compassion International.

But i hope that you'll consider maybe sponsoring just one....involve your children in this sponsoring so they understand how we should help others and how important it is to do so. Share with them how the monies help other children. Let them write (or color!) letters to the child that you sponsor. I promise that it will change your child's life, your life...and the life of a child who truly needs it.

Playin' hooky....

 

 

 

 

...was totally unplanned. It was MOPS Monday and Emma and i were on our way. It was such a pretty morning, and as i drove by the zoo, Emma screams out:

"Lwets go to da ZOOOO, Mama!"

For a brief second, i considered all of the reasons that i should say 'no'. It was MOPS Monday, my girls would wonder where in the world i was, i would miss chatting with my table, i had made pretzel flowers for my girls, i would miss the craft day for the Pregnancy Crisis Center, and i would miss an amazing lunch.

"LWETS GO TO DA ZOOOOOO TO SEE DA ELEPENTS!!!" my little girl's voice screams from the back seat.

And so, we did.

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This is one of my favorite bird feeders. I have way too many bird feeders. My grandmother loved to watch the birds and feed them (she also had a fondness for squirrels, which i have, too), my mother loved to watched the birds and feed them, so i guess it's only natural that i do, too.

Black seed is my favorite to fill a bird feeder up with...but some birds like other seeds so, of course, this is why you need many bird feeders. Any many different kinds of bird seed. :)

I am actually enjoying this 100 photos project....i'm not anywhere near the speed or amazing quality of the other photographers, but it has been fun to try my hand at it. I've fallen in love with Nancy's 100 Photos Blog and have become a regular stalker follower of hers. She has AMAZING photos! I would love to follow her around for a day as she takes photos....but then i really would be a stalker. But it may be worth it if i could get a copy of her fence photo to put in a frame.....

You can visit Nancy's blog HERE

I promise that you'll become a stalker follower of hers too, if you love photography!

You are my Sunshine.....

It's a beautiful day outside today. It's still a little cool, but the sun is out and that's a good thing. Perhaps Spring really is on it's way....our neighbors and many of their children were out today, too, and it seems that the neighborhood is thawing out from the cold spell that we've had lately.

Emma loves the trees in the backyard and loves, loves, LOVES to help me collect sticks for an Easter project that i'm working on. She thinks that she is going to catch the squirrel that comes and sits on our porch...but i think that the squirrel has other ideas. It's amazing to watch the changes in Emma: she is able to speak in sentences clearly, she can jump, hop, run, kick and catch a ball, and is able to sing a night time song in Spanish. I am so amazed watching her learn and grow.

Now if she would just stop singing loudly at 6am, we could all sleep in a little. :)