Hi all,

Time for an update. Lots of stuff happening. Noel is putting up wooden supports for our porch out back. That way we can mount our patio screen and not have to take it down in advance of a wind. We'll leave it up all summer and just take it down in the winter. We've been outside a lot watching and helping and also working in the garden.

McKenna was helping me spread dry grass clippings around some of the garden plants that I want to mulch, like the peas. My system is to mow the grass, dump and rake the grass clippings into the paths of the garden. Let dry, and then move around plants in the beds as mulch. Now my paths are bare again and as I'll mow today I'll start over. The grass looks pretty in the paths and as long as I rake it so that it all dries evenly it doesn't start stinking.
So, as of today I have strawberry plants blossoming, raspberry plants coming up nice and strong, about 6 inches high. My potato plants have just come up out of the soil as have my zucchini "pool ball" plants. I have onions that are going strong that I planted at least a month ago and spinach and radishes. Peas are about 8-9 inches high and going strong and I'm waiting on my pole beans to come up. We had tons of rain and cold weather after I planted and when I dug in I found nothing where I planted one seed and a sprouted one in another that I re-buried. I'll give them another few days and maybe re-plant. I've planted watermelon and acorn squash that I'm also waiting to come up. I have tomato plants I'm hardening off and pepper plants that will need to be potted up and hardened up in another couple of weeks.

So, lets see - McKenna can swing all by herself now. She doesn't need us to push her anymore. She's going to have a BALL next time we take her to the park and the big swings! She was in the backyard swinging for over half and hour one afternoon. She's also funny about brushing her hair. I still do it but now instead of crying about how it hurts (I really try to be gentle!) now it "tickles!". She's quite the kid, I tell ya! Her speech has improved while she's been in her class and her itch seems to be decreasing. We took her to the doc and since he didn't know what the problem was, he just gave her some pills for worms (even though he didn't see any sign of them), but at the same time we took her out of pull-ups at night and I think that has also helped.

Maddy is more like me as a kid than McKenna is. She has her favorite blankie at night and sucks her thumb. I took her to Patty's for babysitting and luckily I grabbed her fuzzy pink blanket from her crib and it saved Patty's sanity. Instead of crying the whole time, she grabbed at her blanket and evidently ate her dinner with it and held onto it as much as possible! She's crawling now and is pulling herself up onto her feet. Loves the cat and will grab hanks of fur and squeeze with all of her might. She's not very popular with Diablo, as you might guess! LOL

I've discovered some extraordinary tea. My friend Patty told me about Adagio Tea and I ordered some green and chai tea. One of the chai was called rooiboos and it's pronounced "Roy-Boss" tea. It's a south African red bush tea and when I looked it up online it's supposed to be really good for you. All I know is that when I had some it instantly became my favorite tea of all time. Since it's a chai, this one was flavored with vanilla, so I'm going to order some straight rooiboos and see what it's like. If anyone's interested, I can send you a $5.00 off coupon, just email me for the link.

Well, I think that's all for now. I've got to decide whether to pot up peppers or mow lawn - and the littlest one needs her nap. New pics coming soon!