How much wood could a Woodchuck chuck?

(Did you know that another name for a groundhog is a woodchuck?)

So my sister asked for an update on the groundhog and it actually appears that he has vacated the premises. Tuesday morning I put that rock back in the entrance to his "den" under my step and it has not been moved since. Nor have any more green tomatoes been nibbled. So hopefully that means he's long gone. I talked to my landlord about it and it looks like they're going to come set a trap for it just in case it's still hanging around. I will definitely post a pic if we catch him!

Groundhog day...

Oh. My. Gosh.

I just figured out who/what has been eating my plants.

Just after finishing my post on my missing lettuce garden I went outside with Avery, considered putting the brick rock back into its spot again, decided against it for now, and stepped off the back step when we heard a rustling noise in the bushes. Something big and furry started racing towards up. I quickly picked up Avery, moved away from the step, and watched in fear. Was I going to get bitten by this animal? What was happening?!!

Instead of eating me alive, the animal dashed into the space under the step. And did not come out. We waited a couple seconds, I calmed down Avery and then she said she wanted to go inside. I did too.

Of course I got online and searched through some pictures to confirm that what we saw was a groundhog, closely resembling this one.

I have a groundhog living under my backstep. What the heck do I do now? (Besides be freaked out to leave the house).

A Cinch to Make!

I recently heard about this blog called Make It and Love It from a friend and I've been wanting to do some easy sewing projects so here's the one I did first: A cinch bag for Avery.

All I needed to buy for it was a roll of ribbon ($0.60) and 1/3 yard of fabric, which I got on sale for about $1.50. And it only took me about an hour to make. So fun!

Where oh where did my lettuce garden go?

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a gardener. I have little experience and anything I do plant is lucky to survive. Having said that, here's my story:

Earlier this year I got a free packet of seeds in the mail from one of my freebie blogs I read. The packet was an assortment of organic lettuce seeds. So I thought I'd try my luck planting them in some pots. I had to transplant several times into larger containers as the plants got bigger. But then about a month ago I finally put them into the ground. I have a little plot of dirt outside my backdoor that I put them in. I ended up with about 10 various lettuce plants. And they were doing really well, despite the mild July we're having. I actually could have picked all the leaves off and made a nice salad. Of course I was going to give them some more time so that I could have more than one salad.

However, yesterday I go outside and notice something missing... My lettuce plants!!!

Some kind of bunny, deer, or other animal enjoyed a nice middle of the night salad. Ahhh! I know what you're thinking, she should have put a fence up. But I remind you that I am not a gardener and the seeds were free. You live and you learn right?

As to the culprit, I discovered only two curious clues. The first clue: This rock.

I found it sitting there next to my back step. I'm not sure where it came from but it is roughly the size of a brick. (I actually noticed this peculiarity before I saw the lettuce plants gone.) So I rolled it into the space between the dirt and my back step, where it fit so well I concluded that it probably originated from that spot in the first place. But when I woke up this morning it was out again!! And no, my kids are not moving the rock. Perhaps our hungry bandit has a hiding spot under my back step. Or maybe it's short and needs a stepping stone to reach my second clue:

A half eaten green tomato. This also happened twice. First, when I discovered the lettuce plants gone, and then again this morning.

My tomato plant is a whole other story altogether. For now I'll just say that it's right next to where the lettuce plants were and probably also needs a fence. (Not that I have much faith that it will ever get hot enough in Wisconsin for my 40+ tomatoes to actually turn red!)

So I guess you can say I do NOT have a green thumb. More like green thumb envy.

Aunts and Grandparents

My mom. dad, and sisters Katie and Ashley came to visit us for a couple days this week. It was so fun to show them our new place and do some fun things with them. The kids especially loved all the attention from their aunts and grandparents. Here are a few pics of their visit.

Bowling the first night. I am a terrible bowler! But Avery loves it because she gets the bumpers and the ramp to get the ball rolling. Of course her ball HAD to be green (she's really into green).

Yesterday Merrick and Dad went golfing, the girls went out to lunch, and then for dinner we went to a park and had a BBQ on our new portable grill. While we were there, Merrick taught my sisters and dad how to play Bocce ball. I loved this pic of Camryn chasing after Grandma and Avery. Wait for me!

After our picnic we went over to Pewaukee Lake to watch a Waterski show. They do this every Thursday night at 6:45. We sat right by the lake and watched the waterskiiers do tricks.

Sometimes it took a little while to set up the tricks, but when they pulled it off, it was pretty cool! These guys all stayed up with their flags. It was fun to see what kinds of tricks they could do, and it was also kind of fun to see them wipe out (a lot!).

We went out for ice cream at a little Chocolate Factory right on the boardwalk. It was a fun little exursion and the weather was so perfect, quite ideal.

We had fun with our family! It's so fun to have people come visit. Next time we see each other, we'll be in Texas for Christmas and my brother Jordan will be home from his mission in Switzerland! Yay!

i scream for ice cream

Isn't she too cute?

Mortal Instruments Series

I never really considered myself a fantasy reader but that's what I've been reading lately. My latest find: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. There are three books, the first of which is pictured here, City of Bones. I finished the third book yesterday.

The story involves werewolves, vampires, faeries, warlocks, and the main characters are Shadowhunters, humans with angels blood who mark themselves with ancient runes to give them added strength and stamina in fighting demons that plague the earth, unbenownst to regular "mundane" humans. The main character Clary is thrown into this world when she finds her mother captured by an evil threat.

For some reason I couldn't decide if I liked these books until I finished them all, but now that I have I can say this: The characters Clare creates are very believable, very captivating and endearing, and the storyline is really interesting and the conflict is somewhat unique. The ending was hinted at so often that I thought I would be disappointed when it played out, but I think the anticipation of the characters realizations helped drive me to read the book more quickly. And the ending was well put together so I definitely enjoyed the experience.

Overall, my opinion is that these books are really entertaining YA Urban Fantasy. I think you will enjoy them as much as I did.

More Pictures

I keep learning so many new techniques with my photoshop class that I can't help but share some of the best photos I've edited.

Wet and Wild

Today for playgroup went to this splash pad. It was really fun. Avery loved it. I loved not having to get in a swimsuit. Camryn liked it at times, but mostly was interested in trying to get into the building with the bathrooms. Here are some pictures I took. I've edited them with some of the things I've learned the past two days in my photoshop class: adding text and burning the edges. Sorry about all the cheesy sayings. I had to get creative. :)

photoshop experiments

Today is Day 7 of my 14 day online photoshop class I am taking! Jessicasprague.com offered this class for FREE and I couldn't pass it up. The class covers framing and adding special effects to your photos to make them look unique and way cool. I LOVE the things I have learned. I wanted to share some of the photos I have edited this week.

Photo 1: Here I learned how to add a vintage hand-tinted look to a picture, add a frame, brush in some extra color to highlight (I highlighted Avery's jacket here), and I brushed in little stars around in the sand.

Photo 2: Adding in frame and wordart .png files.

Photo 3: This style is called TTV (through the viewfinder) and it makes your photos look like they've been taken through an old camera.

Photo #4: I layered several textures over the photo and blended them all together to make this picture of Camryn look really cool. Then I finished it with a clipping mask to make the edges look grungy.

Pretty sweet huh? I can't wait to show you what I learn next!

Independence

We had a nice Fourth of July. We ended up having a good weekend. Some friends invited us over for dinner and games and then we walked to the Elementary School to watch some nearby fireworks. The mosquitos were SO bad we all got eaten alive despite multiple layers of bug spray. (Apparently even though our weather in the summer is ideal here in Wisconsin, we can't even go outside without getting 4-5 bites instantly. My poor kids are banned from outdoors until their numerous bites calm down.)

Anyway I thought this was a fun scene with Merrick climbing up so Avery didn't fall down from the jungle gym. They stayed up there to watch the sky light up.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is having a nice Independence Day. This morning I took the girls on Sussex's Kiddie Parade. I pushed the kids in our stroller with all the other festive bikes, wagons, etc. We walked about a mile down Main Street to the Village Park where they handed out ribbons and ice cream. It was a fun little excursion and I think it got us more in the 4th of July spirit.

"I Like To Be Spoiled."

Yes, that is a direct quote from Avery. Merrick was talking about everything Avery got for her birthday and lovingly said she was spoiled. Avery overheard and said, "I like to be spoiled." She's a quick learner.

Avery had a great birthday yesterday! She woke up to streamers, balloons, and a table full of presents. This is the cake I made her. I bought the doll in the cake decorating section at Michael's and her dress is the cake and frosting. I have no experience with making flowers and stuff, so don't look to closely!

Then at 10am we had two of Avery's girlfriends come over for a Princess Party. We made dressed up, Fruit Loops necklaces, hunted for Snow White's poison apple, did an Ariel Scavenger Hunt, ate themed snacks, colored princess pictures, etc. It was really fun.

We opened the rest of her presents throughout the day. Here she is hugging her new Belle Barbie doll and wearing her new princess backpack. For lunch Merrick came home and we all went to McDonald's for Happy Meals and to play in the Playplace.

For dinner we went to Chili's. Yum!

Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese to play games only. I got a coupon for signing up for their e-club and so we got 100 tokens for $10. We actually only used 50 of them so we can go back sometime again for free. :)
Finally we got home and finished up the day with cake and the last few presents. Whew! I don't know about Avery, but I was definitely tired after that day...