Parterre Gardening

   Do you know what a parterre garden is? I didn't either, not until my mom and dad designed one. According to Wikipedia, "a parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all."

  As we've started having some warmer days my thoughts lead to gardening.  I was looking at pictures on my computer and came across my mom and dad's garden. Their beautiful, beautiful garden.  Thought I would share it with you today. 

Aren't they lovely?  Hope you have a happy, cheerful day today!

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Red Shoes Goes to School

I'm going back....way back to August when Red Shoes started school.  It was a little different than I had anticipated his first day being.  I had pictured this in my mind many times. A happy yet tearful momma sending him off.  In some ways it seemed hard to believe that it was time for him to go. Yet, in many more ways it seemed like finally it was time. I don't mean for that to sound as bad as it does.  It's just with the 5 1/2 years of therapies (physical, occupational, speech) it seemed like we had been working towards this for a long time.    Does that make sense? 

As I've mentioned before I started back to work in August.  Earlier than I had ever anticipated, yet everything just seemed to lead me to believe that I was being called to go back.  I still do believe that if you're wondering. 

As a school counselor I am the one who schedules every student in the entire school. Pretty important that I'm present on the first day of school and early at that.   So, my first day with students was also Red Shoes' first day of kindergarten.  That didn't allow for too much time to ponder the emotions that normally go with sending your first born off into the world. Or, maybe if I'm being really truthful I had so much stirring inside that I couldn't even "get" it all.  I think I cried a few times.  Yes, I'm sure of it...just look at my puffy eyes in this picture.  My husband took the morning off to see Red Shoes off and to drive our daughter to her first day of pre-school.  A lot of firsts for our family on this morning. 

We're not so sure we can do this

 

He looks a little nervous, doesn't he?

 

Not so sure about this...

 

Got my groove on now!

It's going to be a great year!  (It has been too)

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2011 Harvest Party

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Menu Plan January 2-6

If you're wondering why all of a sudden I'm blogging again it's because I can. About the time I stopped blogging in August I started back to work as a school counselor.  I hadn't even thought about returning to work yet, but it felt like a God driven thing so I went with it. I'll share that story another time. It's a neat one.

I started back to work and had to take a class, and somewhere in the midst of all of that needed to take care of my family too,  so something had to give. I'm hopeful that I will be able to get back to this.  I have lots to catch up on, and I will.  Thought I'd start with our menu plan for the week.  My husband and I want to get back to healthier eating.  I pulled out my Comfort Food Diet Cookbook that I referred to many times before. Here's what we will be eating this week.

Monday-Slow-Cooked Sirloin
               Mashed Potatoes
               Green Beans

Tuesday- Black Bean & Rice Enchiladas

Wednesday- Spaghetti Pie
                     Garden Salad

Thursday- Easy Arroz Con Pollo

Friday-  Chicken Marsala (one of our favorites)
              Steamed Vegetables
              Orzo Pin It

Christmas 2011

Here's what I will remember about this Christmas:

The many times that Swoosh jumped off the presents

Celebrating the birth of Jesus. We had waffles with sprinkles and candles.

Before we sang Red Shoes ran on got baby Jesus out of the nativity set and placed him on the table. 

The look on Happy Feets face when she opened up her present.

The look on Red Shoes' face when it was time for his dad to

open up the present he had selected for him.

The crazy, fearless boy that Swoosh has become...oh boy!

 I see stitches in his future.

The ornament that Happy Feet made for me at preschool.

The ornament that Red Shoes made for me in kindergarten using his hand print.

How much our family is growing...

How well all the cousins played together. The adults were actually able to play a game.



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Spring, A Lot Late

I was looking around on my computer this morning and found a video that I started this spring that I never posted, or at least I don't think I did.  There's such a contrast between it and  THIS one.

That's why I love the seasons...there's beauty in each one. I'm starting to see and smell signs of fall around here, which is good, because I'm pretty much over summer.
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Eaten by the Alligator

We just returned from vacation.  We had a wonderful time except for one big incident.  Happy Feet loved the elevator that was in our hotel...she called it the alligator. My husband and I were talking to some people that we met at the pool when it happened.  Happy Feet hopped on the "alligator" and she was gone.  I could hear her crying as she went down.  My husband and I just looked at each other in disbelief.  He ran down the stairwell yelling for her like a crazy dad. I stayed put with Red Shoes and Swoosh.  I called the front desk for help and they sent about 12 people.  She was gone for what we think was around ten minutes.  It was awful...I was really worried that she would get outside and get run over or that she would drown.  She was finally found by guy who worked for the resort and she was pretty pale and looked very scared.  He found her outside she was coming up the parking garage ramp.  When I saw her I just grabbed her and started sobbing.  She was very quiet the rest of the night...if you know Happy Feet you know that's unusual.  We talked about what happened, about staying with mom and dad, what to do when you get lost, etc.  It really made me think about some things.  When I questioned her again about what she should do if she got lost she said, "but I won't (get lost).  Oh boy.  This girl...so independent and so strong willed. I love her so deeply, but my oh my. She makes us up our game time and time again. Pin It