Sunshine

I have taken very few pictures over the last week, since a certain someone ran in front of me suddenly and broke my toe when my flip-flopped foot collided with the back of her shoe.  I have lasted this long without having any broken bones, so a broken pinky toe isn't too bad, I suppose.  However, it has kept me off my feet for as much as I can stand being off my feet. 



The upside to all this forced sitting?  I'm caught up with all my mending.  My house is a wreck, of course, but at least I'm caught up with something.

Sigh... 

This week's You Capture theme is sunshine.  

Naturally, I thought of my little Miss Sunshine, sitting in the sunshine looking all beautiful

Grace (6 years old)

with her sweet, sunny personality.

She's always ready to be goofy, too.  :)



The sunshine has been doing its work outside in my little garden box.  This is what the zucchini and salad looked like on Thursday of last week:

 

Zucchini beginning to grow

Salad beginning to grow

Now, on Monday, everything has sprouted!  (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

Can you tell I had input from the kids on what to grow?  However, they had absolutely no say in how much salad I planted. 

I have some thinning to do, of course.  I planted extra of...well...everything because I was planting several seeds that were a few years old and I didn't know if they would even sprout.  Some are doing better than others, like this plot of zucchini, which is the same one pictured above and now has three seedlings:

The same zucchini plot

The other plot of zucchini isn't growing as much so far, but there's another brand new sprout poking its little green head through the soil so it's not through yet.

 

Zucchini

I have high hopes that this year we will actually grow more than herbs and one lone zucchini that we can eat.  :) 


Photos are SOOC except for cropping and text added...of course.  :)

This post is linked to I Should be Folding Laundry (You Capture).

(Catching and) Releasing Butterflies

Each year, my dad and stepmother give the kids caterpillars to watch and to take care of until they transform into butterflies and are ready to be released on or around Easter.  (Click here to see last year's post.)

Let's see...

Butterflies ready to be on their own?  Check.

Two butterfly nets from Dollar Tree?  Check.

Headphones?  Um...check.

I'm not sure why Josiah (9) had his headphones on for this...

The time came for us to release the butterflies.  

Actually, as Grace (6) reminded me, we should have released them days ago because I'd been saying for several days that we would release them.  

OK, so we finally got around to it.  This year, the butterflies had to be coaxed (more precisely, picked up one by one) from the butterfly garden, and even then, they wanted to hang around and not fly away to get on with the things butterflies do in the big, wide world. 

This was a nice change from the last few years, when most of the butterflies flew out of our yard as quickly as they could.  This year, the butterflies flew close to the house and weren't in any hurry to escape from the children.

Chasing a butterfly

  

Stalking a butterfly

Catch, release, repeat

Not in any hurry to fly away

Have you ever raised butterflies from Insect Lore or another source?

Front Row Seat

Grace (age 6) watching the boys play basketball

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom (Wordless Wednesday).

Giveaway Winner

With the help of my lovely very tall assistant,

Robert (age 14), who, I believe, gave me this exact look when I asked him to draw a number this evening.

I can tell you that the winner of my recent postcard giveaway is Kari!  

Congratulations, Kari!

You Capture: Chocolate

I can't think of a yummier theme for this week's You Capture...Chocolate!  

I stopped by The Chocolate Box for a little inspiration, since we were in the area today.   

Daisy, the owner, graciously gave me a tour of her delightful shop, and showed me some of the many chocolatey treats she makes:

Dipping a sample blueberry

Dark chocolate covered blueberries, plus one sample sized berry

Oooeee Goooeeeys:  Daisy's version of s'mores in a bag.

Chocolate covered Twinkie...How could this be wrong?  :)

Chocolate covered Nutter Butters

Dipped Rice Krispy treats

There were chocolatey-themed aprons...

 

And signs...Oh!  Her signs!  Loved them!

(But not as much as her chocolatey treats!)

 

Why, yes, those are chocolate handcuffs.  No comment.

This was her sign at the register.  :)

  ~~~~~

 
Here's a bonus shot of chocolate...A Hershey's Kiss in the glow of a computer monitor's button.  (This is SOOC except for cropping.)  The kiss is out of focus, but the shadow effect was pretty cool.

You can find The Chocolate Box on Facebook here.   If you're in the Conyers area, you can meet Daisy this Saturday at the Taste of Conyers event in Olde Town to taste some of her delicious treats! 

This post is linked to I Should be Folding Laundry (You Capture).

Giveaway: 5x7 Postcards (NOW CLOSED)

I was recently contacted by PrintRunner, an online printing company, about hosting a giveaway on my blog.  PrintRunner offers--among other products--online postcard printing.  I am pleased to tell you that I have a giveaway for 100 5x7 postcards!

Giveaway details:

• Postcard Size : Postcards 5x7
• Quantity : 100 
• Colors : 4/0 Front Only Printing
• Paper : 14 PT. UV Coating on Front
• Rounded Corners : Yes 
• Proof : None 
• Ready to Ship In : 4 Business Days

 

*Please note:  This giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above.

So, what would you do with 100 postcards? Leave a comment telling me how you would use the postcards for a chance to win! (Please make sure I have your email address so I can contact you if you are chosen as the winner.)

For additional entries, you can leave additional comments for each of the following things you do:

• Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect
• Receive my blog posts via email (enter your email address in the Feedburner box at the top of my left sidebar)
• Promote the giveaway by posting a link to this post on your blog
• Promote the giveaway by posting a link to this post on Facebook

The giveaway ends on April 17th at 7:00 p.m. ET, at which time I will randomly pick a winner from the comments. On April 30th, PrintRunner will email the winner with instructions on how to claim the prize.

Disclaimer:  This generous giveaway is offered by PrintRunner. No monetary compensation was given and I will receive postcards for hosting the giveaway. For more information about postcards, please visit http://www.printrunner.com/postcard-printing.html.

You can follow PrintRunner on Twitter and/or Like them on Facebook.

Easter

Happy Easter!

On Sunday, in addition to celebrating Easter, we celebrated my youngest nephew's 4th birthday.

The kids had an Easter egg hunt...

 

Grace (6), with a look of total concentration as she flies down the steps.  She tickles me!

Even some of the big kids hunted eggs (Robert, 14, with a borrowed basket)

while everyone else watched from a safe distance.  ;)

My Dad

(The scurrying of all the children made for bad pictures.  I didn't get even one good picture of Josiah hunting eggs!)

Grace (6) and Josiah (9)

"What do you mean, I've had too much sugar?"

There were fun confetti eggs to smash on other people's heads. (Robert got me...twice.)

Grace with the birthday boy

Stomping on the remains of the confetti eggs

 

Silly cousins

There was even a puppy to love on.

Grace and Josiah loving on Mr. Bingley, my niece's puppy.

And, of course, presents to open

and play with.

What did you do on Easter?


This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom (Wordless Wednesday) and I Should be Folding Laundry (You Capture).