First Birthday and Other Little Updates

Seriously! How is it possible that my little baby girl is ONE?! This past year has been one of many blessings and hidden joys, and Pat and I have been especially blessed in our dear happy little munchkin. Although, I suppose if we are going to be extra precise and nitpicky, she won't reach that exact one-year-mark until just after 3 this afternoon. So maybe by then I will be used to the idea.

She stirred a bit last night, but just talked to herself and then went right back to sleep. Major gift for mommy and daddy! And she woke up happy and ready to party. We decided to make her one of her favorite breakfasts (which, being her mothers daughter, nothing can top carbs plus something sweet like real maple syrup). So, cinnamon French toast it was.

I made the mistake of serving her food before taking a picture, and she was so excited with the syrupy treat that no amount of theatrics would induce her to smile, let alone look at the camera.

She is princess for the day! (Thanks again for the sweet bib, Mary!). Forgive the poor photo-quality, even with extra lights on, my phone-camera still struggled. But now we can save this grainy first-birthday-breakfast for future nostalgia! And, for the record, she did put away almost two pieces of French toast without any hesitation.

And, after a bit of play-time, she is in bed, catching some zzzz's. Now that she's older, she is a much lighter sleeper, and it is almost impossible to take any sleeping pictures. BUT, day before yesterday, I was lucky enough to snap this shot in the car.

Precious girl!

Sooooo, I can't believe this is my view right now looking out our back door:

Was it even supposed to snow today? I thought there was a small possibility of some coming tomorrow but I had no idea we were in for it today!

So, as the snow falls, we can still dream about spring, summer, gardens, and lovely warm weather. And, speaking of gardening, we took advantage of the beautiful weather on Sunday and did a little work in the garden.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Mainly, I spread the straw bales we planted in last year to cover the entire area. I'd like to add some leaves in there as well, and then spread the secret ingredient to gardening success on top of everything. The secret ingredient being rabbit poop, a substance which many creatures from worms to Wrigley find incredibly delicious (don't ask me why, but it is true. This is part of the reason Pat calls Wrigley "Poop Monster". The rest you probably don't want to know!) Luckily since we have four rabbits who love to eat, we have an endless supply of nitrogen rich waste that can go straight on the garden and doesn't need any time to mature. I did move the droppings under one cage on Sunday, and there were already hundreds of earthworms happily going to town in there, and they were all transferred over to the garden as well! Perfect for my plants!

Pat also set up our compost pile (thanks, babe!), which he conveniently put right off the deck, so I can just step out onto the deck, take two steps, and throw egg shells/potato peelings/etc right in! No shoes required! Believe me, this will make it MUCH more likely that I will utilize this compost!

One of the things I really would like to plant this year is lavender! Maybe lining the garden? Or in its own little area? I'm not sure but I can't wait to watch it growing, and enjoy the flowers.

My mom recently told me about this blog (Lost in the Cosmos), which has been inspiring. I really love the way she and her husband used cinderblock for their raised beds. And I love the lay out with plenty of spaces for walkways. I can appreciate it even more because that is generally one of my major problems and shortcomings when gardening, I plant things everywhere and there is no place to walk, so we end up hopping precariously through the plants, almost falling over and smooshing something with each step, just to pick that one perfect cherry tomato. Since we have a slope in our backyard rather then a mostly flat area, we will have to think about how we could implement this idea . . . I'm also hoping to extend our garden. So the debate is: should we do this now or wait until next year? So we have a lot to think about . . .