How does your garden grow...

Tis the season for picking weeds, moving dirt, planting veggies and waiting for the birds to enjoy all the literal fruits of our labor. 

Well...

Not.

this.

year!

Ryan and I decided that we are all in for our little garden area this year and recruited some of the cutest muscle around to help. 

While the girls were busy rescuing doodle bugs...

Rad had serious enough work to do for the hair to come back.

He wouldn't let me man bun it... but it's bound to happen sooner or later, right??

#agirlcandream

She must have had at least a dozen in there and named them all and really wanted to bring them inside to live. I think I distracted her with some gum.

I got a wild hair and decided to post their clubhouse on a local Facebook group so Radley volunteered to power wash it. One hour and $60 later and that was an excellent decision!

The next day, we started mapping out the garden...

and cutting timbers for our raised beds.

Landry was eagerly moving some dirt (while looking for bugs)... 

and Emersyn was putting together a menu for her new restaurant. 

(And that's when I got to actual work and quit taking pictures).

This weekend we were back at it and everyone was all in... hauling...

sawing...

and taking the occasional break.

(Also - why does she look so grown up?!?!)

When it was all said and done... we were one step closer to a summer of fresh veggies straight from our back yard. 

Stay tuned... 

Grow old with me...

I have a confession to make. 

I am not really that great at art projects. 

At all. 

I may pass as "crafty" but that's different from being artistic. The only "B" I ever made from Kindergarten through HS graduation was in the 5th grade. In Art. I got an 89. And, no, I'm not bitter at all. (And, I also only received one "B" in college... we won't discuss what the rest of those grades were - ha!)

Ok, back on track. 

I am not artistic, so when I fell in love with all the growth charts that were popping up on Pinterest, I almost gave up before trying. But, Ryan had the perfect piece of plywood for the project and thought that we could make it happen. 

And we DID!! :) 

All you need is plywood or a 1x4 depending on how much space you have, paint, and your own creative design! Ryan measured and cut the plywood to fit perfectly onto one part of our wall and then painted the board solid black. This doesn't require much paint so just buy the sample size at your local hardware store. 

 Instead of drawing/tracing numbers onto our board, I found these great iron ones at HobLob and just used paint I had on hand to brighten them up. 

I measured and marked each foot - taking into account the baseboard molding on our walls (that's kind of an important part). 

Then I just attached the numbers and hung it on the wall. I transferred all the measurements we had recorded onto the board, painted over the screws and touched up the marks and that's it!

Love it!

And I love that we will have this to keep for a long time...

through growth spurts...

and milestones and everything in between!

I'd give us an A for sure!

Kings of the wild...

This weekend was Parents' Weekend for A&M - which meant that the likelihood of going anywhere or doing anything quickly was slim. Cindy had the wonderful idea of taking a quick trip to one of their friend's property for a little cookout adventure. And we were so glad she did!

The property is just beautiful - perfect actually. The owner runs a track camp in the summer and has built treehouses for the campers to sleep in - the kids LOVED it. We set up shop next to one of the ponds so the kids could fish and Radley was in heaven.

Cindy let us know what we should bring/wear - long sleeves, jeans, etc... to avoid any bug bites. Well this is how Emmy ended up - we are clearly not that prepared for "roughing it".

(Side note - whoever purchased these boots for one of the Munson girls - THANK YOU. Emmy is obsessed with them. I feel like I owe you money).

The boys made their way around the pond for a good fishing spot - and maybe also to get Zeus, the world's largest dog away from us. (this is where I should confess that I'm not a dog person, but I am afraid of the judgment I will receive...instead I'll just blame it all on Emmy).

It wasn't too long before Josh caught a fish and the kids were PUMPED. They say right next to him as he filleted the poor thing. All you could hear was "oh, gwoss...look at that bwood!"

While Ryan and Josh got the grill started for dinner, Cindy and I took the kids on an expedition. 

The littles had the best time... 

and we did, too,  since this was the view ahead of us.

These two have become such little adventurers. Radley always finds a stick. Always. And Emmy always keeps up with him. Always!

About half way through the walk, the kids hit the jackpot...

DINOSAUR BONES!!!

We let them think that long enough for them to pick them up for the picture. 

(then we both realized that we may be slightly WT for letting our kids play with cow bones...oh well!)

After we made it around the pond it was time for dinner. Everyone worked up quite the appetite!

At some point we started thinking about our extended joint family vacations.... 5 girls and 1 boy. I don't know if I can take it - each of the girls are too sweet for their own good, but each one of them likes to mother a different one (if you follow). Lord help us.

(we have a feeling that Ryan and Josh will be claiming that they need "guy" time with Radley).

After dinner we headed down the trail for the campfire...

Radley and Caroline were all about the campfire stories... 

 and of course the smores. 

What a great way to spend a Saturday night surrounded by the simplicities of life and the blessing of friends! 

Maybe next time they will talk me into actual camping.

#probablynot

3 days...

We've really enjoyed our 3 day weekend so far....

Ryan and I have been working in the yard while these two had a little water fun...

Oh. My. Gosh. I  could just eat them up!

It's weekends like these that I live for. 

Slow pace. 

Late naps (for the ENTIRE family).

Smiles and sun. 

I just can't bear to cut this hair.

Hope y'all are having fun, too!

A Texas Tradition...

Texas is great for about a million different reasons:

1. It's Texas

2. We drive "friendly"

3. Dairy Queen

4. People are polite

5. Small town gossip

6. Small town heroes

7. Friday night lights

8. Trucks

9. Warm weather (except for those 5 days)

10. Bluebonnets... 

Yes, every year we get to witness Moms and Dads dragging  driving their kids all across the open road to get the perfect picture. They stop on freeways, highways, 2 lane roads, and sometimes the interstate just to place their children among the ocean of that precious state flower. 

Mom and Dad took pictures of us every year...

 

And the tradition continues with the Kings. You may notice a slight difference in our picture, though... as in the lack of bluebonnets! If you look closely to the left of Emmy you will see a few popping up. I like to imagine the whole field behind them covered...nothing a little photoshop can't cure! ;)

You may also notice that my kids are in a chair. Well, precious Emmy is like a little magnolia (which is the Louisiana state flower) and when her skin touches grass she breaks out something fierce. She is just now recouping from her last play date in the grass, so I didn't want to cause her more grief.

Rad's pink shirt matched this little patch of buttercups nicely. 

He was so inquisitive this year, wanting to know what everything was and examining the bugs that were flying all around. This is him watching a bee "makin' honey, Mommy". 

   

 He loved that bee... 

Emmy just liked all the funny noises we were
making trying to get her attention!

Which weren't near as interesting as all the

cars that were zooming by... 

They both had so much fun and just sat and let me take roughly 200 pictures in all of 10 minutes. Ridiculous, I know. But how can I not take pictures with kids as cute as them?!?

While the bluebonnets were scarce, we did get to enjoy lots of other Texas Wildflowers like...

Indian Paintbrushes...

Buttercups...

Wild Orchids...

Giant thistles...

And a few others that I didn't snap pics of. GiGi and I were having flashbacks to my 7th grade wildflower collection... I think she learned more than me!

Yesterday I re-learned that a Texas tradition just can't be beat (yes, that is the jingle of Dairy Queen)!