AeroGarden Adventures .. One Week!

As you can see from the picture things are going good!  The chives are taking over the world and the basil and thyme are coming along nicely as well.  Around Friday or Saturday the nutrient light popped on so I dropped some in and everything seems to be good to go now … I even remembered to add water to it!  Hopefully things will continue to be this easy .. gotta love idiot proof gardening!

Here are some questions I’ve gotten about my AeroGarden for anyone interested:

• What is an AeroGarden?  Here’s the description from the offical site:
  

  NASA tested aeroponic technology grows plants in water, nutrients and air so simply and easily that anyone can succeed. Choose from over 20 different seed kits, from fresh herb varieties to cherry tomatoes, salad greens, chili peppers and more. Fully automated garden with built-in grow lights. No dirt, no weeds, no mess and no green thumb needed. Indoor gardening made easy with AeroGarden.

  I like that there is no green thumb needed as I’m pretty bad at keeping plants alive. I also like that the plants are supposed to grow twice as fast as traditional plants would.  




•  Aren’t AeroGardens for growing pot?

  This made me LOL!  I didn’t realize that as a potential use for my AeroGarden until after I bought mine.  Since then, SEVERAL people have asked that question so I googled it and apparently some people are growing pot in their AeroGardens.  I however, will stick to growing basil and whatnot in mine.

Pictures from Miles’ Birthday Party

 
Blowing out his candle

Opening presents is VERY serious business!

Last Sunday I had Miles’ birthday party.  I invited all of his fathers family (other than my sister who lives all the way across the country, I don’t have any family that I am close with) and even-though his Grandmother who he only sees twice a year coudln’t be bothered to show up I would say that he had a nice time.  He had one mini-meltdown when we started to cut the cake because he wanted Thomas to say whole but he was easily distracted when I asked him if he wanted to open presents.

As for me, I’m glad it is OVER.  Hosting parties for the kids family is SUPER stressful.  Add that to the funk I’ve been in because my BABY turned four and like I said I’m just glad it’s over! 

For more A Thousand Words Thursday head over to Cheaper Than Therapy!

AeroGarden Adventures Day One

The first time I saw an AeroGarden I was at Target and I remember thinking to myself that I wanted one and couldn’t wait until it was on clearance.  Well unfortunatly I missed the clearance but I kept my eyes open and was able to pick one up at the local grocery store a few weeks ago for around $40.00.  Being the procrastinator that I am thogu, I just got around to setting it up on Sunday.

The Aerogarden came with the “Gourmet Herb Seed Kit” which includes sweet basil, chives, and thyme so that’s what I’ve got growing in there.  I also picked up an extra herb pack because they were on clearance too so I’ll have it as a back-up since I’m not exactly known for my green thumb.  Set-up of the AeroGarden was a breeze as this thing is idiot proof and all you do is put it together, fill with water and drop the nutrients in .. it’s even got a light on the front that lets you know when to add more nutrients.  I was excited when I checked on my herbs this morning and saw that they had already sprouted and I can’t wait to see how long it takes to get actual plants.  I will update the progress weekly so feel free to stop back and check out how things are going (or how long it takes me to kill them, LOL!)!

Photographic Evidence that my Kids Love Each Other

Sometimes I wonder why my kids can’t just get along.  I know it has a lot to do with their ages, Miles’ rigidness, and the fact that they’re siblings so they’re genetically predetermined to NOT get along.  Even-though I know all of this I still wonder… and then I see something like this.  Abby wrote Miles this message on the dry erase board in the playroom and I thought it was about the sweetest thing I had EVER seen! Of course I had to take a picture of it, because 1. it was super sweet, and 2. I wanted photographic evidence that it actually happened.  So here it is, and I’m sharing it with the world!

Now, head over to 5MinutesForMom for more Wordless Wednesday, and Seven Clown Circus for WordFUL Wednesday!

Kid Food Spaghetti and Hotdogs equals Spaghetti Dogs

One of my good friends forwarded this“recipe” to me and as soon as I took a look at it I knew I HAD to try it out.  Both of the kids love hot dogs and spaghetti so odds were good that they’d eat it, and the recipe was so easy that even I managed to prepare it without screwing anything up (and this is saying A LOT since my skills in the kitchen are pretty sad).  We’ll definitely try the Spaghetti Dogs again but I think next time I’ll make the hot dog pieces smaller, add more pasta and throw in a packet of macaroni and cheese mix.  For anyone interested, here are the directions:

Cut up hot dogs into small pieces

Poke pieces of spaghetti through the hot dog as seen above.  I broke the spaghetti in half first so it would be easier for the kids to eat once it was cooked but you can leave it whole if you’d like.

Put spaghetti dogs into a pot of water and boil for 10-15 minutes, or until spaghetti is done.

Strain, serve and hopefully enjoy!

If you’re in the mood for more great recipes be sure to head over to BlessedWithGrace for Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays!

Thomas The Tank Engine Chocolate Lollipops for Miles’ Birthday Party

Miles’ birthday party is this Sunday and of course it’s going to be a Thomas the Tank Engine themed party (shocking, I know!).  Even-though my skills in the kitchen are pretty lame I do usually make a cake for the kids on their birthdays, but the kids have an Aunt who has a friend that makes really cute character cakes and they volunteered their services so I just went with it.  Since I’m buying a cake I wanted to make something special for the party and Miles LOVES chocolate and all things Thomas so I thought that chocolate Thomas lollipops would be perfect!  I bought the Thomas the Tank Engine candy molds on Ebay, and the chocolate melt wafers, wrappers, and lollipop sticks at a local craft store.  I was a little nervous about making pops since I’ve never made them before, and I would have liked to get the grey lighter for the faces, but other than that I think they came out alright.  Miles saw the pops and immediately knew who they were so I guess that’s all that matters!

Happy Birthday Miles .. I Can’t Believe my Baby is FOUR!

Oh my, what a day today is .. Miles is FOUR YEARS OLD!  I’m trying to figure out how he is four and I seem to be the same age as when I had him, I think I’ll just go with it!  When you have a baby everyone tells you to cherish every moment because time just flies by, and it sure does!  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was having Miles and now he’s four years old.  Unbelievable!  Happy Birthday Miles!

Swap Package from Mamarazzi’s Favorite Things Swap

Look at all that cool stuff!

Wednesday decided the box was hers!

Last month I signed up for Mamarazzi’s Favorite things swap.  I was given a partner (hi Korbi!) and we got to send our favorite things to each other.  I knew it would be fun and I was pretty excited when I got my package today!

All of the stuff I got was pretty cool!  I love making lists (and if I could remember to bring all of my lists with me when I go shopping, I’d be all set, lol) so the notebook will come in handy for sure!  I also love the scrapbooking stuff, the candy that I already hid from my kids, the chapstick, and the PINK vinyl tablecloth!  I love everything that was in my package so thanks to Korbi for sending me such cool stuff, and to Mamarazzi for putting the whole swap together for all of us!

Miles Taking a Break from Splashing Around in the Pool

I don’t know how the weather was where all of you are, but it was BEAUTIFUL here this weekend.  Abby and Miles (mostly Abby) had been BEGGING me to break out the pool since we had that three or four days of 90+ temps back in April and even-though I didn’t think it was quite warm enough to go swimming I caved and put it up.  Abby spent about 2 minutes in the pool and then complained that it was too cold and found something else to do but Miles would have stayed in all day if I let him!  The above picture is of him taking a break from playing (hey,  playing in the pool is hard work!).  If you’d like to take a look at more great pics, head over to 5MinutesForMom and visit more Wordless Wednesday participants!

Miles Getting a Haircut and Taking a Bribe

Before: Waiting for his turn and looking out the window planning his escape?

Holding on to his ‘bribe’ for dear life.

After:  All cleaned up (there was hair EVERYWHERE!) and tuning mommy out while watching Thomas.

Miles is NOT a fan of getting his hair done so I try let him go as long as possible between haircuts, and as you can see from the before picture it was time for a new do’!  Since Miles has a hard time dealing with anything that is outside of his normal routine we’ve been reading haircut social stories a couple of times a day for the last few weeks to help him be more prepared, I also decided to bribe him as I’ve recently discovered that he’ll do just about anything for a new train.  I’m happy to report that the bribe and social stories seemed to have worked as he sat still the entire time, and even-though I’m pretty sure that I’ll have to bribe him with a new train for every haircut he gets for the rest of his life I’ll consider this a success! 

For more of the ‘finer things’ head over to The Finer Things in Life!