Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Smiles From Heaven!

I went out to water last night and got a surprise. A very special tree is in bloom. Every year we hold our breath until we spot the little green leaves coming. This tree is a very special tree because....

It came from Chris's Mom and Dads. It was started from a tree that came from Chris's grandfather. It is in our back yard by our white picket fence.

We just love the color.

Don't forget that you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

This very special tree is a Rose Of Sharon. Do you have a "Special Plant" in your garden? Click HERE to see Laurie's Mom's special plant.


Monday, July 30, 2007

Overnight Guest!

We had an overnight guest on Friday night. Jerzie's Daddy & Mommy went to the Jo Dee Messina concert and we had the baby overnight.


She went for a walk with Aunt Laurie. It looks like she had fun.


She watched some TV. I don't know why she gets to be in charge of the remote. She's probably looking for the Mets game.

She giggled, laughed and played with some of her favorite toys.

She slept from 9:30pm until about 7:30 in the morning. She even helped her Daddy pack up everything in the morning. We think she enjoyed her stay with us.


Sunday, July 29, 2007

Green Thumb Sunday!

Here are some shots from our nature walk yesterday. We aren't sure of the names of the wildflowers.





Stop by yesterdays post to see what else we got pictures of.

Thanks for stopping by.
Happy GTS.


Saturday, July 28, 2007

Nature Walk!

Today Chris and I decided we needed to get away for a while so we went to the woods where Chris deer hunts. We didn't realize how hot and humid it was out until we started on our hike. There are 2 ponds and a couple of creeks on the land. Chris has taken me up there in the late fall and winter before. It sure looks different during the summer. We were surprised at how many different kinds of dragonflies there were at the big pond. We took pictures of 5 different kinds, but only got good shots of 3 of them. They sure are quick little guys.


This is a shot across the "big pond". There was so much noise from the buzzing dragonflies and from the bullfrogs. It was still very peaceful.

This is by the smaller pond. The hill behind it is almost all pine trees for as far as you can see.


This butterfly is really small (maybe the size of a quarter), but has some very beautiful markings.


We spent about 2 hours walking around and taking pictures. We hope you enjoy our trip as much as we did. Hopefully you got to stay cool during it :)


Friday, July 27, 2007

Did You Know?

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) is a variable biennial plant, usually growing up to 1 m tall and flowering from June to August. The umbels are claret-coloured or pale pink before they open, then bright white and rounded when in full flower, measuring 3-7cm wide with a festoon of bracts beneath; finally, as they turn to seed, they contract and become concave like a bird's nest. This has given the plant its British common or vernacular name, Bird's Nest. Very similar in appearance to the deadly poison hemlock, it is distinguished by a mix of bi-pinnate and tri-pinnate leaves, fine hairs on its stems and leaves, a root that smells like carrots, and occasionally a single dark red flower in its center.

Like the cultivated carrot, the wild carrot root is edible while young, but quickly becomes too woody to consume. A teaspoon of crushed seeds has long been used as a form of natural birth control – its use for this purpose was first described by Hippocrates over 2,000 years ago. Research conducted on mice has offered a degree of confirmation for this use – it was found that wild carrot disrupts the implantation process, which reinforces its reputation as a contraceptive. Chinese studies have also indicated that the seeds block progesterone synthesis, which could explain this effect.
It is recommended that, as with all herbal remedies and wild food gathering, one use appropriate caution. Extra caution should be used in this case, as it bears close resemblance to a dangerous species (Water Hemlock). The leaves of the wild carrot can be a skin irritant, so caution should also be used when handling the plant.

Wild carrot was introduced and naturalised in North America, where it is often known as "Queen Anne's lace". It is so called because the flower resembles lace; the red flower in the center represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace. The function of the tiny red flower, coloured by anthocyanin, is to attract insects.

All research was found HERE

Remember click on the photo's to enlarge. We thought this was an interesting article. We hope you enjoyed it.


Thursday, July 26, 2007

Tagged!


So here we go. I hope you aren't too bored with it.


Four jobs I've held


1. Babysitting (Every single weekend and some during the week)
2. Waitress in the snack shop at the hospital
3. Quality Markets grocery store (10 Years)
4. Wal*Mart (12 Years and still going)


Four movies I can watch over and over again:


1. Cars
2. Wedding Crashers
3. Elf
4. Shrek


Four places I have lived:


1. Frewsburg, NY
2. Jamestown, NY
3. I have only lived in two different places.
4.


Four TV shows I watch:


1. Rachael Ray (Talk Show)
2. My Name Is Earl
3. American Choppers
4. Miami Ink


Four places I've been on vacation:


1. Niagara Falls
2. Florida
3. Virginia Beach (Honeymoon)
4. Adirondacks (Lake Placid)


Four favorite foods:


1. Homemade Pizza
2. Stromboli
3. Chicken Pot Pie
4. Prime Rib (From LaScala)


Four websites I visit: (blogs)


1. Mom
2.
Kris
3. Pea
4.
Ann


Four people I'm tagging...


1. I am supposed to tag
2. four people
3. If you haven't done this Meme
4. and want to please feel free.


Let us know if you do it. So we can check it out.





Pea has given us an award. It is The Creative Blogger Award. It is for those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping other bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others. We would like to thank Pea for such a nice award. We read many blogs and don't feel we could just pick 5 people or blogs so we want you all to know how much we enjoy your blogs and we hope you enjoy ours. Thanks again Pea.


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Bath Time!

While out for a walk Chris and I noticed these Blue Jays taking a bath in our neighbors birdbath. We tried to be sneaky about it and get some pictures before the birds saw us.

It was starting to get dark out, so the pictures aren't as clear as we would like them to be but we had to share them anyway.
They sure were having a lot of fun.

Click on pictures to enlarge and see all the splashing that is going on.

We haven't shown our neighbor the photos yet, but I am sure he and his wife will love them. See why you should always bring your camera with you when you go for a walk.


Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Special Projects!

Remember when we told you that Chris had to stop working on the kitchen because he had a special project he had to work on? Well we can finally show you pictures and tell you about it.
Do you know what it is yet?

Yep it is something for the birthday girl.


Uncle Chris made her a toy box with her name on it. He did a lot of work and he loved every minute of it :) Chris loves to build things especially if he is giving it away as a gift to a family member.

He put special hinges on it so it won't close on Jerzie. He also grooved out the front edge so she won't smash her little fingers.

Look at how cute she looks sitting on it. Mommy and Daddy thought it was really neat.

Jerzie is opening her special gift that Uncle Chris and Aunt Laurie worked on together.

We made her a scrapbook with pictures from the time that she was born until the day of her party.

We know she will enjoy it when she gets older. Believe it or not we remembered (after we had it all wrapped) that we didn't scan any of the pages, so when Mommy and Daddy are done showing it off we will get it back so we can show you the pages. We also made two DVDs one of all of her photo's (1600 and something) and one of all the videos we took of her.


Monday, July 23, 2007

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Baby J.'s first birthday yesterday. Her Mommy and Daddy had a big party for her at Allen Park.
They did a puppy theme since Baby J. loves puppies so much. Her Mommy and Grandma made puppy dog ears for all of the kids to wear.
They had puppy paw streamers up and balloons.
She even had a cake with a picture of her favorite stuffed animal puppy on it.

She started out a little slow on the cake...

but before too long she was giggling and having a great time.
She really got into the cake.

She even tried to finger paint herself with it.

She spent time opening presents with her Mommy...

(she loved her new doll)

...and with her Daddy.

She got tons of new clothes and a lot of new toys to play with.

She had a really fun time, but she just wore herself right out. She passed out after about 3 hours of fun. Mommy and Daddy did a really good job with her first birthday party.


Sunday, July 22, 2007

Green Thumb Sunday!

Click on the blogroll in our sidebar to see other participants.

Please click on pictures to enlarge.

While driving home one evening, Laurie happened to notice that someone had planted these beautiful Lilies at one of our local parks. So yesterday afternoon when the sun was in the right spot, we went to take some pictures.

We really aren't sure who planted them or how long they have been growing there. Sorry we don't know the names of any of them either.

We hope you enjoy them.



Stop by yesterdays post to see the nature photos that we also took on our trip. We are heading back to Allen Park today, but not for nature pictures. Stop back tomorrow for the rest of the story.

Have a great Green Thumb Sunday!