Our yard & my helper.

I keep forgetting to post pictures from my wonderful Mother's Day. Gabe and I worked in the yard for the entire Mother's Day weekend, which was a lot of fun. Gabe built me the raised planters I've wanted since I moved here. So now our tiny, unkempt yard is our tiny, charming yard with flowers and fruits and veggie plants. Last week Ellis helped me water. We were both pretty soaked in the end, but it was fun :)

Here is our yard now...(pay no attention to the grass---that's our next yard project to tackle)

Those are our blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, tomato, banana pepper, bell pepper plants, and cilantro:

Here is our yard in process over M's Day weekend:

And back to Ellis watering (her arm, in this case)---sorry things are so out of order:

It's you against me, Hose. I plan to win.

And apparently Ellis can NOW climb up onto and subsequently over the back of the sofa. See what happens when you neglect your toddler in order to update your blog?

More recap!

These are completely out of order, but here we go!

Ellis and SWEET cousin, Sammy checkin each other out:

October 11, 2009: After Ellis' dedication (and prior to that, her first trip to the ER due to a weird rash all over her torso). Tylenol was a big favorite that day.

During Ellis' dedication:

Talking to Janae on Skype:

On the way from the ER to Ellis' dedication--sweet girl who wasn't feeling too great:

We celebrated Gabe's birthday while Tim, Kristi and Sammy were visiting. The candles caused the balloon to pop and Michigan lost, but otherwise it was a nice celebration.

The introduction :)

Some end of September pictures:

These dahlias are the same color I carried in my wedding bouquet---Gabe gave me a bunch for our anniversary. Well done, Gabe. Well done.

zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Our three year anniversary dinner at the Bent Noodle---where we had our first date, our wedding rehearsal dinner, and every anniversary dinner since----first anniversary we were joined by a third.

daly, a token, & flowers

Here is Daly sleeping.  He's very good at this activity, which is why I photograph him doing it so much.  I just want to support his interests.

I thought this was kind of funny.  A couple of weeks before the school year ended, I found this half-sheet of paper in my mailbox.  It says:  'Brooke Knipp  Happy Birthday!  July 30' (my name and July 30 were hand-written, perhaps a reminder to me?), then: 'Hope you have a wonderful day!  Please enjoy this small token of appreciation for all of your hard work as well as a celebration of your special day!  Enjoy!'   

Let me tell you, I have truly enjoyed this half-sheet of paper.  Like you wouldn't believe.  This photo was taken on the day we visited the zoo together.  Of course the paper treated me.  I'm really excited to see what Half-Sheet-of-Paper has planned for my actual birthday.  Clearly, he/she won't forget, the date is written right on him/her.  I mean to sound funny, but I realize I may be coming off as cynical more than anything.  The paper says "small token" and that's what it is, so I can't complain---but I can make fun of it because the paper also tells me to enjoy it.

Here are some shots of the flowers I did for the wedding of a friend of a friend.  The bride's bouquet had roses, ranunculus (one of my favorites), tulips and spray roses.  The bridesmaids bouquets were smaller, white versions of the bride's, but instead of ranunculus we used freesia (smells so good).  Thank you Keri and Charlie for the use of your chilly basement for my work area.  

There is more new stuff in the post right before this one.  I decided to post twice since it's been awhile.   Happy belated 4th of July to you all!  Gabe had been awake since 4 am Colorado time traveling on July 4th, and was asleep before 9 pm...so we didn't view any fireworks this year.   Hope yours was fun ! 

photos

As promised, here are the pictures I described in my previous post:

One freshly painted reddish-orange table:

Many magenta peonies lovingly delivered to me by Amy:

 

Two things you should never buy me (and probably should never buy period):

Two shots of Gabe in the shower at Lowe's:

Later this same day, I found Gabe trying out the inversion machine at Sam's Club.  He was hanging upside-down, not strapped in, on the floor model of the inversion machine.  Gabe made errands much more fun that day.  Every time I turned around he was hiding in showers, inverting himself, or who knows what else.

One little Dooly napping in the kitchen window:

A dozen, or so, overripe  bananas thawing in order for me to bake them into banana bread in order to end the two years of Gabe teasing me about putting ripe bananas in the freezer for banana bread that never seems to actually get made in order to win a fifteen minute back rub in the bet made by Gabe that this time would be no different:  (I won.)

Seven envelopes I sent to Gabe (with letters inside) while he was in Costa Rica (I found them when looking for something else):

The journal I made for Gabe before he left for Costa Rica:

Nate and Jenn got here Monday.  We've been up to Ft. Collins for the New Belgium Brewery tour, where we ran into Collin L. during the free bear tasting after the tour.  Yesterday we went on a 7+ mile hike in Eldorado Park, and then to Keri and Charlie's for dinner and a bonfire.  Today we'll be heading down to the Springs, and then they leave tomorrow afternoon.  I've got a bunch of pictures from the week, but I think I'll wait to post them until the end of their stay with us.  

p.s.  Summer vacation doesn't yet feel like it.  It seems like the weekend--but it's been really nice so far...

pancakes, pollen and paws

You CAN make buckwheat pancakes with one egg.  Yesterday's pancake-making event was my most successful to date.  I have never before managed to not ruin at least one (normally the first) pancake...until yesterday, that is.  I mixed  fresh-cut strawberries into the batter, along with a little cinnamon.  And for the last two I also mixed in white chocolate chips. To top it off we poured the homemade maple syrup G's grandpa makes and bottles. It was scrumptious.

I forgot to post a picture of the lovely sunflowers Gabe brought home for me the other evening. Since I've spent a combined total of six years working as a florist, Gabe is always a little skittish about buying me flowers.  Apparently I've given the impression that I'm picky when it comes to flowers.  I always love getting flowers, no matter what...but there are certain flowers that I personally like more than others.  Sunflowers in spring are a great pick (so are ranunculus, in case any husbands are curious :).
Below is a picture of Daly doing one of his favorite things in life.  Clean-sheet Day ignites all sorts of excitement and energy in our lil' feline.  The game begins when we "ripple" out the sheet over the mattress in order to spread it out.  As the sheet is in the air, Daly jumps with all his might up into the center.  Then the sheet falls on top of him and he assumes army-crawl position.  We poke him once or twice and he swiftly flips over onto his back, creating a tent of sorts with his four paws.  This position enables him to swipe at our pokes with cobra-like speed.  This entertains all three of us for at least a dozen minutes every time.

spring is starting to spring

The first flowers of Spring are blooming (at least the first I've come across). Here are a couple of pictures.  Notice the unbloomed tulips in the lower right quadrant...

After church today, I asked Debbie if I could take a picture of her sparkly feet.  Have to say, I've never asked someone that before, but she reluctantly agreed.  Thanks, Debbie!

Yay for Spring!  (Minus the snow we're supposed to get this afternoon, evening.)