If I post super cute pictures will you please not stone me for being gone so long?

That would be my adorable niece on the left!  She is 14 months and makes me want another baby so bad!  PJ loves her cousin.

We have been busy as always at our place.  We are preparing for the big 2 year birthday and adjusting our house to fit this soon to be 2 year old.  After much discussion we have decided it is time to switch to a big girl bed.  Our dc provider told me yesterday that PJ is sleeping on mat like the rest of the big kids now!  So I think we are going this weekend to get a twin size mattress and box spring.  I want my baby back!!

We are also working on potty training.  We are averaging about 3 times a week using the potty which I think is great!  PJ is starting to tell us when she needs to go which is a huge step in the right direction.

As much as I miss my tiny baby, the little girl that J is growing up to be is pretty amazing.  She is so smart and funny!  We have our moments when I really want to pull my hair out but I have to realize that she is just testing us!

The hot weather has arrived to our state!  K-man and I are going to look at pools this weekend.  We have a great public pool but K-man doesn’t get home until late and would just like to be able to chill in his own yard.  I’ll hopefully post pictures of a shiny new pool soon!

Since hubby and I have moved to our current home I’ve always attempted to have a garden.  The first couple of years I bit off more then I could chew and that resulted in out of control cucumber plants and sagging tomatoes.  In 2007 we got the bright idea to redo the garden in containers near the house.  We decided to plant only tomatoes and some flowers.  The main reason we did this is because we hadn’t really had luck with the bigger garden.  The secondary reason was the thought of a very pregnant me working out in the garden kind of made K-Man panic.

Things were going great in 2007!  My flowers looked good and I was even remembering to water things and give them fertilizer.  Then the swelling set in and by the time I was able to go out in the evenings and water I could barely walk.  Then Princess came along and I was in that new parent sleep deprived fog.  If I had 10 extra minutes I was going to spend that in the shower or sleeping…not watering a garden!

In 2008 we decided to give it another try.  Once again my plants were looking wonderful.  We decided to move them to the back yard where they would get more sun because I had plenty of green tomatoes but they weren’t getting ripe.  Then it rained for like a month straight and we didn’t realize until it was too late that we set our beloved tomato plants right in the pond in our back yard.  I think I got a whopping 5 tomatoes last year from 4 plants.

You would think with my track record that I would just go to the farmer’s market to purchase home grown tomatoes.  Unfortunatly I’m a little on the stubborn side and refuse to give up.  Plus this year I have J-Bug…she is my seceret weapon.

So far we have done 2 pots of flowers that are thriving!  We have also planted 3 tomato plants, 3 green pepper plants and 1 hanging basket.  We have the flowers for a second hanging basket to balance out the Shepard’s Hook and will have them planted by the weekend.  I think part of the success so far is location.  Everything is in the front yard where they will get wonderful morning light and then be partially shaded from the intense noon and early afternoon sun.  But the bigger part of the success needs to be given to J-Bug.  She loves to garden and is always reminding me to go outside and water the flowers.

I hope all of your gardens fair as well as ours has this year!