35, day 185 - Grant's Birthday

Today marks a GREAT family holiday - Grant's 8th Birthday. I absolutely LOVE to buy Grant gifts for any occasion, because this is how he looks when he opens every gift:

He was extra adorable today in his Angry Birds shirt. It was such a nice day. My Mom made Grant a chocolate Ice Cream cake - it was a big hit. He had a couple of friends over and we had close family attend his party.






So, what does an Eight Year old want these days? This one only asked for 2 things: 1. Super Scriblenauts for Dsi and 2. Pokeman Pearl for Dsi, only if I could find it. That sounded like a challenge to me. Michael and I were able to find all these things and more.



We threw in some Legos, Wii Pictionary, and the Nerf battle shield (a must have for the Ellenburg Family Nerf battles) We followed the party with Taco night and some Batman video games.
Eight already. Time sure flies when you're having fun. Grant is such a wonderful, smart, thoughtful son. Happy Birthday Grant. He said, "This is the best birthday ever" - he says that every year. I love it.

35, day 178 - 10.6 miles

Today was nice. I slept in 'til 9am (unheard of in the Ellenburg House) - while I enjoyed my extra bold cup of coffee and checked my email, I noticed the house was eerily quiet. Where was everyone? Everyone was outside. Wacky. Summer has officially started, they are filling the pool. Yuck.

After my second cup of coffee, I ventured to check on the plants - and added a few more, some Roma Tomatoes, Red Sweet peppers and a few jalapenos. YUM. This planter looks even better in the daylight.

Mike really did a nice job.

Later we ventured out for a late Lunch...Mexican. And then a little furniture shopping. We think it's time for a new sofa. Hmmmm.
I like the style of this one.

But I want in in the look of this one. I think I can make this one work.

I also want it in RED, which it clearly says is available on the signage, but I'm told its discontinued. Well, discontinue this signage, darn it. The hunt continues.
Here's one of Madison, just because she is adorable.

After the house was silent again, I selfishly read 2 more chapters of my Sookie book and rode 10.6 miles on the stationary bike to lessen the guilt of my amazing Chicken Fajita Nacho dinner - good bye 650 calories. And a milestone, my bike cycled 1000 miles again and is back at 0.0 - sweet. And cheesy, because I rode an extra .6 miles to see it.

35, day 177 - We're all still here

Well, looks like we all survived the latest end of the world hoax. Thank goodness I continued to count my calories, just in case.
As predicted, Mike had us working on his garden contraption ALL day again in the HOT HOT Creola Sun. For a fun change, I wore sunscreen.
Early on in the Morning, Jackson spotted a giant snake - that Mike eliminated. It was creepy big. And when Mike whacked it with a stick & the stick broke on the first strike...I was concerned, but no worries for Mike. Jackson was oddly calm. This was only the second Snake I have seen since we moved into the forest here. None the less, I could have done without seeing it.

After a few finishing touches, Mike bought more dirt. Like a ton of dirt?

Then he bought some more...It was dark when we finished up.

I planted some Cucumbers tonight (since they are $1 each at the market, seems like a good investment for the start) It looks snazzy. He even added some Hanging plants.

Since it's all ready to go, I'll take Mom out to buy some veggies for it and we'll let the fun begin. Hope you spent the almost last day doing something fun. Since the world decided not to end, I dropped my Nik Software Ultimate collection order. It was a little pricey, so I wanted to make sure the world didn't collapse before I sent them my money ;-)

35, day 176, It would be a shame

In all the end of world Hoopla that was deemed "newsworthy" on all forms of media, I thought, It sure would be a shame if the world did end tomorrow, as we haven't even finished building Mike's raised garden. Yep, Mike has been creating this raised garden contraption for my Mother...it was supposed to be pretty simple and now it has running water, but still not dirt yet. No matter the amount of sunburn I'm subjected to, we continue to build and paint. Enjoy a few...(before the world ends and all)
The Beginning - Mothers day weekend

The day of the worst sunburn of my adult life (yep, I'm seriously still peeling) (gross)




Today...(yes, that IS running water)




Can't wait to see what contraption he comes up with next for it...wish I could say I was looking forward to another Saturday in the Creola Sun.

35, day 175 Catch up...

Catch up. Really, again? Yep. (I'm fully aware of the "blogging" embarrassment)
So, what have I been up to? Well, I've had some fantastic adventures and I started counting calories - yuck. But somewhere along the way of the miserable endless counting, I've misplaced 13 pounds, so kudos to me.
Enjoy a few photos from the past 19 days...
I'm totally in LOVE with this photo.

My wonderful husband, got me a couple cool filters with my Mother's day goodies. I am determined to find more uses for this filter than the sparkling holidays.

Here I am, on Mother's day weekend...Please keep in mind, I'm probably taller in real life.

And here's my Ellenburg LOVE Trio...

Madison for week 19 of Project 52 "Window Light"

Grant as the "strong man" in the 2nd Grade Circus

A couple baseball shots with my awesome 8 point star filter (love love love this filter)




Week 20 for project 52 "Spring Fever" - I'm totally obsessed with baseball.


To prove that new obsession, enjoy a few more from Little League! (check out the Dust on this one!)





I sure hope Grant doesn't stop playing baseball (ever) - or even better, that Jackson would desire to play again, then I could be at the ball park 5 days a week, every Mom's dream come true. Long Live Baseball.

35, day 160 Catch up

I was on a roll...then WHAM! Life got busy again. Here's a little of what I've been up to, compliments of my handy dandy Hipstamatic!
Grant made his first Holy Communion.

Week 16 Madison and I went out to Mrs. Mader's Farm and photographed goats for Week 16 of Project 52.

Week 17's theme was "Princess for a Day", so I photographed the Ellenburg House Princess - Madison. We spent Friday watching the Royal Wedding - great fun for the girls.

And yesterday...I took a workshop at USA on Off Camera Lighting. It only made me want to buy more things. Great fun.
Here's the set up...

And here's my shot...

We did that all day. I really enjoyed the course and really want to get my hands on some amazing Alien Bees Lighting. That stuff was amazing!