Gratituesday: To the Zoo

I love having the Memphis Zoo 20 minutes from our home. We're able to pop over there for a couple hours each week, when it's nice, and spend some time seeing and talking about the animals. It's homeschool at it's best! We can see, hear, touch and discuss what we see. 

I love that my parents have continued to buy us a membership each Christmas. This "gift of experience" continues to give and give with each visit. I love seeing the girls grow and learn more about the animals each time. They love it there as much as I do. 

Enjoy some pictures from our visit today!

Nyla pet a sheep. Our sweet Nyla isn't one to try new things, though we encourage her often to do so.
She really surprised me today when she said she wanted to and then actually did.

Naomi's favorite animal right now is the Panda or "pana" as she calls it. 

Nyla still loves the zebra's. 

One of Nyla's favorites is Maliki the giraffe. Maliki was born in January and we're seeing her grow up. It's awesome.
Maliki is Nyla's "friend" according to Nyla. She's so sweet.

I just had to have a picture of her with her face in the hole. Naomi wanted to but she's a little too short. :)

Nyla first stood in front then I showed her how to stick her face in the hole so she could be a giraffe.

"Flaminingoes" as the girls call them.

I Don't Know

I don't know what to blog about these days. Do you have any suggestions? What do you want to see from me? I keep thinking I want to host a theme each month. For example, a month of all recipes, a month of parenting q and a (not that I'm an expert but I like hearing what others are doing), what I'm reading, organizing, marriage, book reviews, intentional living, etc. Thoughts?
I wouldn't post everyday but 2-4 times a week. I'd like some feedback. Please, do tell!!!

Cookies and Ice Cream

We definitely love our dessert around here! Mommy makes some good ones!

Saying "Hello" to our New Yard

We're all settled into our new home and back into our usual routine. Thankfully, all the work inside the house got done before we moved in so I can concentrate on the yard. It needs a lot of love but I see potential and I've been working like a dog in it. It needs a lot of maintenance work but I'm excited to see what I can do with it!

And we need a lot out of our yard. Not only do we need a place for the girls to run wild but we need an adult retreat and a garden space. The girls part is done. They can wander anywhere in the yard and be fine (thank goodness for a fence) and the adult retreat part is basically there as well. I do feel relaxed when Daniel and I can go out there and sit in our chairs and just sit and talk. I see a lot I can do each time we sit but I know I can do it later. I have an ongoing list of tasks I can do in the yard. I don't feel like I'll get it all done this year or even the next, but it's tasks I'd like to see done over the next few years.

This week I've worked hard in our yard. Monday, I bought a lemon tree, potting soil and flowers for our patio pots and to put a few in our mailbox bed. I then came home and planted 2 flats of flowers, tilled up a small area for some raspberries, scouted out an area for some fruit trees, pulled up ivy and a lot of other weeks and planned the yard for a bigger bed. Tuesday, I bought 2 ever red loropetulam and 20 bags of mulch. I came home and bricked in my new large bed, extended a bed up by the house, raked and cleaned up the yard. Today I sprayed round up on poison ivy (yuck) and all the ivy I can't get up, as well as other vine stuff that just doesn't go where it is. I obviously have big plans for our yard. I may be a little too ambitious but hey, I see potential! I think I'm getting a little addicted too. :)

I'm also investing in fruit trees. My sweet grandma sent me a generous check for my birthday and I decided I wanted some fruit trees that we can enjoy for years to come. I bought 1 pear tree, the variety is Moonglow (my sister bought me one for my birthday and I found out it needed a companion for pollination; she bought me a Bartlett Pear). I also bought a sour cherry tree, the variety is Montmorency (note: sour cherry trees don't need a second for pollination, if you want sweet cherry trees, buy two for pollination). And lastly, I bought 2 peach trees (our favorite). The two varieties I bought are Redhaven Dwarf and Gala Standard. I bought all my trees from Stark Brothers. Last month, I bought my blueberries and strawberries from them and they've been very helpful. I follow them on Twitter and whenever I have a question I ask them there and they respond within 24 hours (at the latest) with the answer. That makes this newbie gardener more comfortable!

At last, here are a few pictures of our yard. It's only pieces of the yard. It's pretty big and I'm trying to add more gardening plants to it so there's less grass to cut. That is NOT my favorite thing, at all!

The first iris's are blooming!

I created a big bed. It's a work in process and probably will be for a long time. I like it!
Behind the bricks will be the bed. There's already a few things there that are planted or waiting to be planted.

I invested in 4 blueberry plants this year. I hope we'll be enjoying blueberries from them next year! I bought 2 O'Neil and 2 Misty. You need two different varieties for pollination. I ordered them from starkbros.com. They have a 1 year money back guarantee. 

Our strawberry patch. I planted 25 bare-root strawberry plants. I hope they'll spread like crazy and we'll enjoy them next year as well. The variety I chose was Ozark Beauty.  

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My raspberry bed. I made a gardening friend on Twitter and she sent me 5 raspberry canes. She told me I'll probably have 25 canes in 5 years. I'm excited. She thinks the variety is Heritage.

Our Meyer Lemon tree. I'm going to keep it in a pot and on the patio through the summer and fall. I'll move it into our house before the first frost. The man I bought it from said it should give us lemons this summer. It looks like it might!
I'll be interested to see how this works for us.
It's definitely an experiment. I thought a $21 experiment wouldn't be too bad. :)

A bigger picture of the lemon tree.

A peony! I'm anxious to see what color the blooms will be. I'll be moving this into the big bed by the fence in the Fall. For now, I'll enjoy it in this spot. 

As you can see I have a lot going on in the yard. My mom is going to help me with a few things in the yard for my birthday present from her. We're going to Digger O'Dell next weekend to pick out a few things for the new big bed and talk about what can be done in it.

What's going on in your yard this year?

Saying Goodbye to our "Old" House

Almost one month ago we left our "old" home and moved to our "new" home. It was a bittersweet couple of days. I didn't cry the day we moved, I was too busy and I think that was a good thing. The following Thursday the four of us went to clean our outside closet and after we were done and looking around inside one last time I lost it. It was harder leaving than I thought it would be. I love our new home and we've all adjusted well and we have so much more room but I still think about our little house. It's the first home Daniel and I bought together, we brought both girls home from the hospital to that house, learned to be parents a first and second time and filled that home with love. I know I'll think of that house often and I'm thankful for the wonderful memories I have of it.

Below are some pictures I took during our last few days at our "old" house. Sweet memories!

The girls have the best time playing together. They enjoy making these chairs into a train. 

Naomi is trying her hand at play-doh for the first. It went well for about 5 minutes then she put it in her mouth. And got it in her teeth. And all over her hands. We'll try again another time. :)

Naomi loves pushing Nyla on her tricycle. She's pretty good at pushing by herself too. Sweetie pies!

It's Been Quiet Here...

It's been quiet on our blog. And for good reason. A week ago we moved into our new home! We've been busy caring for our girls, packing up our home and lives, moving, unpacking and settling in. And we're here and mostly settled! I promise pictures will be coming of our new place. I have before and after pictures and it's quite a difference.
For now enjoy the photos below. The girls are playing dress up, exploring our new yard, loving on each other and saying goodbye to our first home. It's been an emotional couple of days saying goodbye but I have wonderful memories and more to be made in our new home.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Greetings, all ye loyal readers! I know you have been wondering where in the world the Gaffords have been. I can assure you that we have not been doing too much in the way of gabbing. Packing? Yes. Seeing wedding plans through? Yep. Working? Too much. Gabbing? Probably not as much.

The finishing touches on our new house are ongoing, and we are moving in next Friday. It will be nice to have more room for us. Our board games will go in our spare bedroom closet. And the girls will be on opposite (sort of) ends of the house. Ginny is now packing boxes and boxes and more boxes. She is just ready for it to be over with and in her new house. We all agree.

We also married off Ginny's sister 2 weeks ago. Well, not us, I mean, her parents did, but we were there. Well, sort of. My one duty that Saturday was to get the girls dressed and ready for pictures and then keep from making a scene at the wedding. I was semi-successful, as the girls had fun playing in the lobby of the church until they decided it was time to go. Before that, I was able to snap some pictures. They'll show up here eventually.

And of course, I have been working entirely too hard. Well, that's not true. I have been working a lot because the company I work for was acquired by another, and we have been working on our conversion to their systems for 2 months, which has been chaotic, sometimes disastrous, but we have made it through and are slowly working the kinks out. As Ginny says, "You have a job." Yes, I do, and I am thankful for that.

Ginny will be along at some point this week (maybe) with pictures. Until then, have a great weekend!

-D