Another week has flown by...

I can't believe it is Friday again - this week has flown by. Here are some pictures from this past week...

Two little fishies...

This is Ivy swimming in her pool with her friend Corbin. They had a lot of fun getting in and out and playing with the pool toys.

Ivy eating on two pieces of corn - she LOVES corn on the cob.

Saving a cheerio for later...

More pool time - we try to play in the pool after Ivy's nap and before dinner...

by then, the whole back deck is in the shade and it is much, much cooler.

Another play date with friends...

As usual, 5 moms and 8 kids!!!

See below for names and approximate ages...

L-R: Caleb C, 13 weeks, Jackson F., 2 years 8 months, ,

Henry F. 12.5 months, Riley C. 3 years 4 months, Colton B. 14 months

Natalie J. 7 months, Trevor J. 3 years, Ivy N. 15.5 months

A fun week...

We've had a great week this week...my mom is finally "officially" retired. She had retired once before, but went back 6 months later. She is now done with teaching and ready to spend lots of time with Ivy - and I'll tag along most of the time!

Ivy got a new stroller and baby to push around. As you can see, she LOVES it!

The baby also has a carrier - Ivy wasn't so sure about that.

My cherry tomatoes from the 12th of June.

We've had some pretty rainy days lately. Ivy was so sad that she couldn't go out and play in her pool, so I filled up the bathtub in my bathroom. That worked out great! Ivy LOVES to look at herself in anything shiney...Here she is looking at herself in the overflow thing...too funny!!!

Ivy playing the the "swimming pool"

Eating squash casserole - she liked it but liked playing with it even more!

So, I'm wanting to try to change from using disposable diapers. I just hate that I throw away a huge bag full of diapers once a week. I hate to think of all those diapers in the landfill and them taking 500 years to decompose. I'm going to try this "hybrid" system called the gdiaper. It is a clother diaper with a disposable liner that goes inside - the better thing about this is that the disposable liner is plastic free so it is biodigradable - in like 50-150 days. I can even compost the wet-only ones. And they are flushable, but I can't do that at home because we have a septic system. So we'll see how it goes.

And finally, my garden pickings from this evening... a tiny zucchini, an okra, and two cherry tomatoes.

How does our garden grow...

First off, can anyone tell me why I don't have any birds at my bird feeder?? 

(That is our cat Barney,  he LOVES to lay under the bird feeders!)

Now onto the garden stuff...

Our first tomato!  It fell off when I touched it to see if it was ripe...I think it could have used one more day...  I don't really like tomatoes, so I can't say that it tasted "good" but it wasn't horrible!

We'll have a few more cherry tomatoes that will be ready in the next day or two...

WATERMELONS!!  I have two watermelons!  I hope more will grow!

More tomatoes - these are pictures of our big tomatoes.  They won't be ready for a while... We have a lot more than I took pictures of...

There's a Grumpus Among Us...

Ivy had her 15 month check-up today...  She had to get two shots.  I have put off her 12 months shots, but after talking to the pediatrician, we decided that since we are going more places that other kids play, that it would be a good idea to go ahead and get a couple of the shots that cover the most risky things.  So now, we'll wait until her 18 month check-up to get any more shots.  But for some reason, after every shot, Ivy gets grumpy and tired.  She took a three hour nap today and still went to bed at her usual 8:00!

Ivy snuggling with her blankie after fussing because I wanted to take her picture.

Ivy on the floor - she's fussing in this picture - not even sure why - just because she can, I guess!

I almost forgot...Here is what Ivy "measured" today...

Weight: 26 pounds, 8 ounces (90th %)

Height: 32 3/4" (97th%)

She's a BIG girl!!  The pediatrician said she looks great and to keep doing what we are doing! 

Corn and Carnivores...

We had corn on the cob with dinner last night...I cut off part of one of the cobs and let Ivy work on it.  She did a great job and had it cleaned off in no time!!

We met a group of moms and kids at Carnivore Preservation Trust in Pittsboro, NC.  I have been several times, and we took Ivy back in October.  Ivy was able to see more and notice more things this time.  We saw lots of carnivores, but of course the tigers are always a big hit!

Waiting to see the animals...

A Kinkajou named Wednesday...

Ivy looking at Romeo...Here is his story: 

Romeo's previous owner, who lived in Durham, purchased him from a pet store owner in Wake Forest. The owner was then charged with animal cruelty by the Wake County SPCA when he took Romeo to a vet to be declawed and defanged. The owner was not able to prove Romeo was born in the United States and it is against the endangered species act to import tigers into the United States. Romeo was placed at CPT by the USDA. 

Please visit the Carnivore Preservation Trust website:

http://www.cptigers.org/

It really is an AMAZING place!! 

A busy start to June...

 Ivy has become very interested in the potty.  When I tell her that I am going to go potty, she now runs over to the bathroom door.  She watches everything I do.  So, I decided to buy her a potty to keep in the half-bath downstairs.  That way, when I go "potty" she can sit on her potty.  She loves her new potty - she even asks for toilet paper!!  She says, "pih" and points to the toilet paper...  I only give her one square - she just sticks it down in her little potty then pulls it out again.  We'll have to work on that!  :)

Ivy and her new potty.

One of the cats has lost some weight.  Her name is Sharky - she is our smallest cat with her normal weight being right at 7 pounds.  We took her to the vet on Tuesday and she was down to 5 pounds, 14 ounces.  We had blood work done and the results came back showing that she is perfectly healthy!  So the vet wants us to feed her some wet food to up her calorie intake.  Hopefully that will work.  But I sure do wish I hadn't had to spend $170 to find out that I need to feed her some wet food!

Ivy carrying the cat carrier

(disclaimer: no cats were in the carrier while Ivy played with it!)

We went to the mall today and met some friends to play.  Allyson is only 4 days older than Ivy (but Ivy is of course bigger!).  Southpoint Mall has a little kids play area.  The things they have to climb on are covered in this soft rubbery stuff so kids can climb all over it and really don't fall off because they sort of "stick" to it.  Ivy had a great time - she was worn out!

Ivy playing with her friend Allyson

A nice safe place for Ivy to climb!

And while we were at the mall, someone hit the back corner of my van!!  Luckily it was a nice, honest person - he left a note with his contact information.  I got in touch with him and he said to have an estimate done and let him know and he would take care of it.  I was able to get in and get an estimate today ($550) so hopefully we'll get this taken care of pretty quickly.  I've only had this van a couple of months - we bought it used, but it is still new to me!  I hate that I have an ugly ding already!!  I LOVE MY VAN!!!