The Deck Roof

We really love our Oregon weather. The rain and the sun. Yes, we do have sun. Summers, which officially start on July 5th, rarely have rain. While we love the sun, our dining table gets bathed in the setting sun right at dinner time. It's hot and often blinding. Putting a roof on the deck solved that problem and will allow us to sit outside and watch the rain without getting wet. It was the perfect solution!

Step 1, paint the ceiling . . . before it's on the ceiling.

Then do some building.

It helps to have a big toolbox with lots of useful tools . . .

. . . and a handy guy.

Princess decided to do some building of her own.

We have a roof!

The shingled part.

The rain gutter and pretty flowers that LK planted. We are waiting for the flowers to fill the baskets.

A place to hang a bird house and a hummingbird feeder.

We have to thank my parents for the deck and roof. It was their gifts (Home Depot gift cards) that paid for it all. To honor and thank them, we had this placard made.

We love our deck!

Lucky Girl

I spent my childhood searching for four leaf clovers. And I never found one. Princess started looking for four leaf clovers last year. She found 2 last year and she just found another one at homeschool park day last week.

Lucky girl!

The Royal Hunting Dog

Warning!! Graphic photo below . . . 

Washing dishes, I looked out the window to see the royal dog pawing at something and wagging her tail. It was very unusual behavior, so I went outside to see what she was up to. I found her "playing" with this mole. The mole didn't survive the play time. 

Art

I recently came across several drawings that Princess has done. We have so many of these and I thought a great place to save and share them would be right here!

Princess & me:

Snivey (a Pokemon) eating grass:

 Alligator on rock by the water:

 Bat flying by barn in the rain:

 Ant carrying a big giant berry up a hill:

Princess and me:

 Have you seen the Disney Channel movie, Lemonade Mouth? This is the band.

 Happy music:

 Drums on stage:

I know that I'm the mom, but I think she's pretty darn talented!

Yes, it happened again . . .

. . . but I'm back blogging.

Today, let's check out the garden. The Lizard King has taken over and he is thoroughly enjoying it. I hate gardening, truly, and decided that I was just done. Princess enjoys gardening and has spent a good amount of time helping.

We bought a few starts this year, but LK decided to plant seeds in the spring to grow his own starts.

 LK put paver stones in so it's easier to walk in the garden, especially once things start growing.

 Here are the kale and beets that LK started from seed, ready to go into the garden.

 Tomatoes were also started from seed.

This year we've planted lettuce, potatoes, zucchini, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, kale, and strawberries. This is the second year for the strawberries we planted last year and WOW do we have strawberries. This was the first batch and we got three times as many on the second batch. There are more out there that need to be picked. I am amazed!

I bet you're wondering what I did while all this gardening was happening. Well, I took pictures and sat in this chair. :) What a life!

What is growing in your garden?