WPP #5

The first picture is not my WPP, but Mike's. He took this picture during the week and I liked the motion of the Cardinal. I think is a wonderful picture.

This one is mine. We have about 4 squirrels that are in our yard quite often (if not always). We have more than that, but they come and go. We had some leftover apples and I figure they may liked them. After a few minutes, they spotted the apples, came from their house (the tree is next to our fence), and started eating some of it... then they took off with the entire apple, but I forgot to snatch a picture of that. It is amazing what they can carry!

In the summer, I have a hate-love relationship when they keep trying to eat my tomatoes and flowers, but I always try to plant extra for them and try to buy food they like so they leave my tomatoes alone (for the most part). After seeing a Chicken Hawk almost getting one, I was so scared for the little one. I know is the circle of life and such... so I figure I can re-plant. No biggie. I may still complaint a bit if they take a super nice flower :( but I love the little critters. Plus, I remember how my grandma used to feed them peanuts. She loved animals. I wish she could see my garden. She would have liked it. I try to imagine what she would have done: plant? pick flowers? veggies? birdwatching? squirrel feeding? Now, I just need to do that so she can watch us wherever she is. :)

Miscellaneous

About two weeks ago, I saw a very dear friend of mine from middle school - her name is Daniela. We had not seen each other since 1998 so it was very nice to finally get together. I did not take a picture of her with her family. I have to do that next time. We went to a Thai restaurant that is located in downtown. The food was really good. Yums! Hopefully, we will see each other again soon.


Here is the thief. Well, they did give me some really nice sunflowers. I guess they think that makes it fair for them to get my tomatoes. Next year I have to do a better job with my tomatoes. So, I don't mind them eating them this time :)


Daniela gave me a Lego's train for Arianna. Her grandparents were helping her with it.


She loved it. Thanks, Dany. Ah, the umbrella that comes with the train was her favorite part.


Oh, here is the umbrella that I was just telling you about.


The next day we went to Brookfield Zoo. I took advantage of the free pass from the library. It is amazing how much they are charging now days. It is 24 dollars per adult with all the extras, or 19 dollars with 3 extras tickets to things like the carousel, butterflies, or the bus/train tour. And for kids, I think the cheapest I saw was 14 dollars. I guess the best way to go is to get the membership, if you go 2 or 3 times will be a better deal.
Arianna's favorite part was the primates. Mmmm, I wonder where she gets that from! Although she called them monkeys. Mike was trying to tell her the difference between monkeys and apes!


We stopped for a mini snack. We took our own lunch, just some peanut butter sandwiches and crackers. That way, we can have a nice dinner somewhere else.


I love the giraffes.

It was a very sunny day. We stayed for about 2-3 hours. Then, decided to go. Arianna was getting tired and the place was getting super crowded. By the time we left, they had closed the entrance since there was no parking spaces anymore.

Love to take pictures of trees. What do you think of the light coming through?

I almost did not notice the peacock. It had 2 babies following her.

A pound and the quest for a nice bench...

Here is my prep work for Cincinnati Chilli, it is very easy to do and has a lot of favor, but it is not spicy. If you are interested, I can send you the recipe :)

Mike and I did this pound cake yesterday. It needs quite a bit of mixing, and the problem with my hand, I need someone to help me. So, it was nice to work together. I did the frosting today, it is a Brown Sugar Frosting. Very yummy. (The picture does not show how good it is, food photography is an art in itself, that is for sure).

We'd been having a new visitor to our house. It is a brown tabby cat (male). We are not sure if it is a stray or someone's cat, but it is outside quite often and seems hungry all the time. Can you see Betsy in the other side of the door?

Over the weekend, we went to IKEA and had a nice time. Arianna likes to see in a chair (no high chairs anymore). They want to grow so quickly. And the sad part is that they do.

We bought her a new rug at IKEA. She loves it, and I love that when she has a rug, all her mess (or mostly) gets confined in one area. Betsy approves of the rug too.

This was a lazy Sunday picture. We were doing breakfast and she was dancing and singing in the kitchen with us. I took a video of that. I'll try to see if I can post it later.

When we went to Petco last time, Arianna would not let go of "Blue". She thinks it is blue from the child series "Blue's Clues". So, what is a parent to do. Ok, so I could say no, and leave, but she seldom likes something this much (at least for now). So, in the basket went and into the car.

Do you know this bird? I'd been trying to find out. It hangs out with another greckel, but they look so different.

I had not seen the Cardinal for a while, but here it is. Love his singing and color.

When I bought this hydrangea, it had no flowers so when I saw this beautiful blue/purplish color I was very happy. They have this huge cluster of flowers and the plant has about 8 of them. Very beautiful.

This is my hidden rose. Whomever planted it, had to be at least 5-7 years ago. They did not account for the two bushes around the rose, now they are so big that the only way you can see it is by ducking really low. But, I am afraid of moving it, roses can be very temperamental.

And here is the square garden in the back part of the yard. Now, the only thing for this summer is to find a nice bench to go with it. To be able to sit and read a book, or just relax. So, the quest for the perfect bench is on.

Ari is helping mom by getting wet while I pour some water in my seeds and bulbs (hopefully I'll get some color on my garden). She loves to get wet. Maybe I should buy her a small pool. In this picture, she is telling me a story about cheese...

Her new favorite place... playing with some gravel.

Who is the culprit?

I wonder, wonder, who is eating some of my bulbs??? Well, this is just one possibility since rabbits, squirrels, opossums, etc... live around our house as well. I will see what makes it. Then, what does not I will try again with some sort of mesh to protect them. I know I could plant more daffodils, ornamental onions, etc.. (they don't like it) but I prefer tulips, dahlias, peonies, etc. So, I am hoping that at least 50% will make it... cross fingers. [ANY idea to protect them? Let me know]

Well, this is still adorable. First, I thought she had killed something and was carrying it somewhere, then it turned out that she is a mommy.

Help nature and other events.

I wanted to start the blog entry with this picture that I took a few days ago. This poor squirrel got stuck in a milk's ring (most likely). Let's remember to cut those things that can injure animals, kids, etc. It does not take too long. I wish I could help this poor squirrel, but he runs just by me opening the door and I am not sure how I could hold him to do it. Plus, I have not seen him since then :(

Into nicer things... This is a banana bread that I started from scratch. My third try. Mike thinks this is the best one so far (my second attempt was not very good)...

More pictures of the yard... I love this honeysuckle, last year it got some type of disease in the leaves and I thought it may died, but it looks great so far. I love the orange of the flowers the most.

I don't even remember if I planted this one or it was here, but I like the poms poms look of its flowers. I guess Ari and I like purple more than I thought.

Another shot of the purple lupine, as you can see it has bloomed more in the top.


Can you see the bi-color in this clematis? I am going to try to buy two more, a red one and a bright all purple. :)

One of my favorite flower/bush, hydrangea. I bought this one without any blooms and I thought it will be pink, here looks more like a light blue/purple/white. It will be nice next to the one that I know it is pink.

Mike finally found a ring to substitute the one he got married with. This year when we go for our renewal of vows, we will ask the reverend to bless the ring :)

Ari wants to help more in the chores around the house, I know I better take advantage of that while it lasts... but here she is helping take the garbage to the front door (then I take it to the curve).

I took these two pictures that follow with Ron in mind... Does the bus look familiar to you? Ari plays with it quite often.


I took these pictures yesterday, she was feeling better, but still had some fever. I noticed that she had something in her t-shirt and I asked her, what do you have in there? She said a K. I looked and yes, it was one of her letters. (Is around her belly button).


She loves the cats (a bit too much), but I like this picture. She always goes to Misty the most because she puts up with her more... And I am happy to say that the fever is gone :).

My new Artist!

The secretary desk that we bought at IKEA, has worked wonderfully for us. Arianna loves to seat with any of us to "type" and she manages to do things that we are not even sure how she did it!

My usual nature photography... This is a younger squirrel that manages to climb around my kitchen window and eats the suede that I put for the birds. I put enough that I don't mind that he/she eats some. The other day I saw a squirrel that had an ear cut in half due to a bad bite so I feel sorry for them even though in the summer they tried to eat my green tomatoes!

Arianna likes letters and we bought a set of magnet letter awhile back, she knows "o" "m" "h" and "p"... Then, I am trying to find a way for her to start scribbling in a place where it does not matter if she goes outside the line (the crayons are washable anyway) so I tried the fridge which worked for about 3 minutes until she wanted a different page. I guess I can tape more than the 2 pages that I did, but we might just buy her an easel soon....

Arianna posing with her masterpiece... well, then she destroyed it too. Next time, I will put it away faster...
She likes to seat in the sofa now, and takes her "bigger alphabet". It is a magnet set as well, but they are too big and they fall from the fridge so she plays with them on the sofa.

I finished a bear that I will be sending to Miya (a new baby from Dan and Beaulah). I know she is too little for the bear, but it was done with lots of love...

And I just love her smile in this picture!