Feels like Spring is right around the corner....

This weekend was beautiful. It felt like Springtime. Daddy made breakfast for us Saturday: scrambled eggs, cheese grits and sausage patties.  Miss Piggy scarfed down a few handfuls of Cheerios & puffed wheat , 2 whole eggs, half a sausage patty and a few spoonfuls of grits. I also gave her her first sippy cup of mango juice. It was very difficult to pry the cup out of her hands. I had her sip on it at lunch and dinner to make it last longer for her. I think this girl is going to love juice as much as her Momma does. 

Stella had a little play date around lunch with Izzy, then we made a trip to Home Depot to get some flowers and a few other things needed for around the yard. I sat Stella down on this blanket and she sat here for hours. She did a lot of singing and also yanked up some weeds. That will come in handy in a few years. I can totally see me making a game out of weed pulling!  Here she is making a jungle gym out of Daddy. She had so much fun doing it yesterday, she did it again this morning.

I picked out some pretty flowers for the hanging baskets on the front porch and the window boxes on the back porch. I didn't do a very good job of picking out my flowers. I only bought one of the white flowers thinking I could separate them, but it's one big mound-no can do!  And the snapdragons couldn't be separated either. Oh well, just another excuse to go back.I planted what I had and I'll make a quick trip this week to get the rest of what I need to finish. 

Donald made this potting bench for me a few years ago with an old cast iron sink my parents found for me.  Still love it!

I've been meaning to clean out our other 3 raised bed gardens for months and months, but just couldn't or didn't feel like getting around to it.  Our garden last summer was awful.  It rained and rained and rained and nothing grew. Seriously, it was pathetic. .There have been years in the past when we were constantly outside after work "harvesting" all of our fruits and veggies.  This year we had a few tomatoes, couple of peppers and that was about it.  It was probably best though as we were a little tied up this summer. Ya know, new baby and all. I would have felt horrible if we had all of this food just wasting on the vine. 

I finally got a compost tumbler (for free) and I'm so excited to put it to use. I've been "composting" for years, but I've never done anything with it. It was essentially a pile in the back corner of the yard where food scraps and random yard material sat to decompose. I wanted a tumbler or for D to make me something for years but I really didn't want to pay full price. D's cousin Justin found this one in his neighborhood with a "Free" sign on it. Woo Hoo! D picked it up the next day. I can't wait to read over my pinned articles on Pinterest about composting.  

Thursday, D had a aluminum carport installed so we can house the boat, motorcycle and trailer. Now he will be able to park under our carport on the side of the house for the first time in over a year. I think it looks great and really fits in our yard.  Side note: Our pool will go just to the left of it this summer. So excited!

Donald cleaned out our herb garden this morning.  The severe cold killed my insanely large, overgrown, woody, I'm-going-to-take-over-this-raised-bed Rosemary plant along with most of the other herbs. It's best though.  It had a good five year run and it's time to replace the bed with fresh, nutrient rich soil and new, better herbs and start over again.  I'll pick up a few new herbs and get them planted hopefully this week.  Can't wait to post pictures.

This afternoon we watched Daddy at softball practice and Stella played with her baby friends.  We had dinner at Los Bravos afterwards and Stella passed out in the car as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot. She played hard today.

Almost all of the little ones got into the cooler. I'm sure it'll be a proud moment when Donald teaches Stella to fetch him a cold one.

Then she got bold and thought she'd explore this folding chair. 

Then she got stuck.

This little mobile bundle of joy was 9 months old yesterday! She can stand by herself for a few seconds or propped up as seen here . Her favorite foods are yogurt (still since day 1), oranges, berries & breakfast goodies such as waffles , pancakes and French toast. She also loves most meat but especially beef. 

She's been very talkative lately and singing in this adorable high pitched voice. It's so precious. She barely napped this weekend (these 30 minute naps are going to kill me), but was really in a great mood both days. She seems to be quite outgoing in most situations. I love her budding personality. I've said it so many times but she is such a joy and we are incredibly blessed with her.