Bicycle, bicycle; A hat is a hat

In just one week, sweet little Cocoa figured out how to ride her bicycle. Sure, at first she only went backwards. Then she would only get a few inches forward before she couldn't push the peddles anymore. And you can't forget how she would finally get going only to drive into the flower bed because she didn't know how to steer. Now, she's a speed demon! She races Sweet Pea up and down the driveway. She turns with ease. She even sits up off the seat and peddles at times. Wow!! I say...WOW!!! I was shocked to see how quickly she just picked it up. My hubby says she didn't want to be left behind. It reminded me of someone I know, me. I have a sister who is a year older than me and I do remember always wanting to do what she could do. So, Cocoa is off to the races now. No need to help her anymore. I remember showing her only a couple of times how to push the peddles and steer. Fast learner that one is. They ride around the table on the back patio when I mow the grass. Around and around they go. Faster and faster. I think Sweet Pea enjoys riding her bike now since she has someone to do it with. So, when do I take the training wheels off Sweet Pea's bike? Maybe when I buy her a helmet and a padded suit. She looks so big on it now. I remember when she got her bike. My parents brought it with them when they came to visit us when we first moved into the house. She was same age as Cocoa is now when she learned to ride it. My how time does fly.
The other day I went out to weed the yard and I realized that the sun was brighter than I thought it would be. So I went inside to get a hat. I normally wear a baseball hat but today I felt like wearing one of my hubby's hats from work. It's a straw hat, like a cowboy hat, but more like those you see old men wearing in Florida on the beach. So, maybe it wasn't that good looking of a hat, but it was a hat. I walked out of the garage and Sweet Pea saw me and announced, "Mommy, you look like Lola." Lola would be her grandmother, my mother. I chuckled to myself and thought, well, Lola is my mother I guess I look a bit like her. Then I remember the time we visited last and she went to the zoo with us. She had a straw hat (that of course was better looking than the hat I had on). I remember the girls playing with Lola's hat at lunch time. I even took pictures of them. So, now whenever I wear that hat I'm sure Sweet Pea will remind me that I look like Lola.

How does your garden grow

Ah Springtime! The leaves are growing on the trees, flowers are blooming, and people are outside planting their gardens. I have to admit that I was one of those people planting a garden. So it wasn't my idea, it was my husbands. He thought it would be fun for the girls to see how things grow. So a few weeks ago, he got the rototiller working and was out in the backyard tilling up the soil in a landscaping area he had yet to plant in. Our property sits on almost two acres and I have to estimate that the backyard alone is a little over an acre of mostly grass. Grass as far as the eye can see. Lots of grass.
I call it our own personal soccer field. Anyways, to give the yard a little bit of depth, he put three berms of soil for future tree planting. The middle berm is where the garden is located at this time. That day he started to till the soil, I had to go get some seeds. So I took the girls to our home away from home, "Home Depot". Unfortunately their display was mostly empty and I had to sort through a couple boxes with packets of vegetable seeds and flower seeds mixed together. It was not fun since at the same time I had to keep the girls from arguing with each other. You'd think that with them sitting in the "race cart" (a cart that is shaped like a race car) and having their own steering wheel, that they would keep themselves entertained. I was wrong. So after finding some seeds, we made it home and my husband inspected our loot. Well, it seems as though I would need to go to another store since I wasn't able to find any peas or carrots. Can't have a garden without peas or carrots. So this time, I left Sweet Pea to help out daddy and Cocoa, my constant shopping companion, came with me. We made it to Wal-Mart where we got a couple of Strawberry plants, Walla Walla onion bulbs, and another packet of corn. Unfortunately their display was pretty empty too so off to another store we went. This time it was Fred Meyer's turn to hopefully not disappoint us. Sure enough, I walked through the displays with Cocoa and there it was. A beacon of hope...an enormous display of vegetable and flower seed packets....completely stocked! So I found the peas and carrots I was looking for and even picked up a package of green beans. I was tempted to pick up a packet of "Giant Pumpkin" seeds. The picture on the packet was impressive but I opted not to since we already had two packets that my dad had sent the girls last year. What would we do with a giant pumpkin anyway? Make a whole lot of pumpkin pies? So...with our loot in hand Cocoa and I returned home to rain showers. The planting would have to wait.
So the next day, bright and early, I took on the task of planting that garden. The girls were eager to help. Unfortunately, I didn't want seeds dumped all over the place and things growing in the grass. So there was a little tension. The girls lined up side by side, and we went down the first row of corn. They took turns planting every other one. This was good for the first row. Then Cocoa disappeared. She went up front to hang out with daddy. So Sweet Pea helped with the next row of corn. She was anxious to see what color the seeds were with every packet we opened. After that next row, Sweet Pea took off to see daddy as well. I was left to plant. All alone....planting seed by seed. Eventually Cocoa came back and so did Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea helped to make the mounds for the watermelon and pumpkins. She got to count out the seeds and put them in the hole. Cocoa....well....she spent a lot of time playing with the soil and coming by me and squatting down next to me to check things out. I think they enjoyed it. After awhile it was just me again. I completed the planting process by planting two blueberry plants and a raspberry plant that my husbands father had sent the girls. The planting was complete...now let the waiting begin.

We've had some pretty good storms come our way lately so I didn't have to water much. So a few days ago while we were out back, I took a closer look to see what was going on with our garden. Sure enough, we had corn growing. All four rows.
We even have the watermelons, pumpkins, peas, cucumbers, and I believe some romaine lettuce coming up. I have to look closer at some of the other areas to see if anything is coming up. I was surprised to see it all. The girls were excited of course. I think they take a little bit of pride knowing that they planted something that is now growing. I'm just surprised I planted something that is now growing. (I'm not one to have a really green thumb.) So we'll see what will become of this garden in the months to come. Hopefully we'll have some yummy corn and watermelon to eat.