OCD on the swing set

Chloe has learned this fun new trick. Seems she's figured out that she can grab my hand and lead me to wherever she wants. She doesn't seem to do this to anything else.


When we go out back to play, she employs this tactic a lot, pulling me over to the swing set. Now, my back yard is a pretty good size, so what this usually entails is pulling me about a quarter of the way there, then insisting that a pick her up, followed by excited pointing to the swing set.
Now this swing set is definitely not one of those super fancy kinds you see all the time. Its (somewhat rusted) metal with a baby swing, two regular swings, and a set of rings. Here recently she's really taken to the "big girl" swings. But even so, apparently there is an order that we do things.


First, we swing in the baby swing. Then she moves to the big girl swing. Then back to the baby swing. Then she plays on the rings. Never to we deviate from this system. Two times today I tried to put her on the big girl swing first...it was disasterous. Trust me. It must be said routine EVERY time. Weird, I know.


But here are some pictures of her enjoying herself on her big girl swing...

Garden, Part II

If you guys remember, I started a "farm" last spring. I had tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, raspberries, black berries, blue berries, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, and a wide variety of herbs. But then we got Chloe's referral and after coming back I didn't much help with anything and just couldn't keep up with everything. So it failed...

This year I decided to try again...this time just a smaller garden though :) . We kind of got a late start, so today Chloe and I went out and got some starter plants. We got some tomatoes, patio tomatoes, banana peppers, Serrano peppers, jalapenos, green peppers, and red peppers.
After Chloe got to bed, I went out and got every thing planted except for the regular tomatoes. It was quite the sight, me out there in the rain, planting peppers...just ask my neighbors. They were nice enough to offer to do it for me. But no, I did it myself.

Some proof:

Patio Tomatoes

Pepper Garden

Chloe and I made some fresh, homemade salsa tonight. It was SO good. As most of you know, I LOVE salsa. But I've never tried making it fresh. Until tonight. And I thought I would try a mango salsa, just because it sounded good. So we went out and got some FRESH tomatoes, mango, onion, avocado, jalapenos, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. Hand diced all of it, mixed it together, and here's what we got:

Trust me, it's SO good. Sadly, I very rarely do much in depth cooking these days. Its tough just cooking for Chloe and I, and if I do, we eat the same thing for days, which I hate. But we just went for it tonight. Tomorrow we are going to make either some grilled chicken breasts or tilapia and top it with the salsa. I think it'll be awesome. The only thing I'd really change about the recipe is to up the spiciness. I added an extra jalapeno, but it didn't do much. So next time I think that I'll either use some of the seeds, or try a hotter pepper. We'll see. Tomorrow I'm going to the farmers market to get some more produce to make again. :)

And last, no post would be complete without some pictures of the baby....

Mother's Day

Mother's Day will always be extra special...

Mother's Day--last year--was the day we first held Chloe in our arms.

Mother's Day 2007:

Mother's Day 2008

What a difference a year makes!!!

Spring Time...