Lovin' It

The transition to Summer is officially beginning in the Wagner household and we are lovin' it! Our yard is planted and our shade garden (pictured above) is in full bloom. The strawberry plants are flowering and we are looking forward to picking the juicy fruit. We even made our first trip to the local Farmer's Market last weekend, a favorite summertime activity. We are looking forward of more days of sun, hours spent at the neighborhood pool, bike rides, hikes, lunch at our favorite local farm restaurant, camping trips and BBQing with good friends. Bring on Summer!

Still Growing!

Some of you may be wondering if our yard is still thriving and well. We are proud to say that indeed it is! Our family has truly enjoyed our backyard this summer and we are loving the beautiful flowers, green grass and our little garden.

We have had some "lessons learned" in the process. I know I'll be planting fewer marigolds next year. I like them because they are hardy and last a long time but they sure can take over! My favorite flower of the summer has been the Shasta Daisies...so simple and yet lovely.

This is my favorite flowerpot, love how the red zinnia spread (that was just one plant) and contrasts with the deep purple petunias.

Our garden has been faithfully producing this summer too. We eat a lot of broccoli in the Wagner household so I thought I'd give them a try this year. Who knew the plants would grow so grand! I've been blanching what we don't eat right away and freezing it (we tested it and it is so much better than store-bought frozen broccoli).

We planted two tomato plants of differing types, both of which have a lot of tomatoes on them yet have not ripened (we planted them a bit late in the season but I'm guessing they should ripen in the next couple of weeks). We've also enjoyed fresh zucchini (I knew even we would be successful with that!) and have carrots that are still growing. We're sure enjoying this new gardening adventure!

A Long Awaited Milestone

For the sake of keeping it "real", I have to confess that I accomplished a new milestone today. Before I tell you what that may be Dear Reader, I must first ask you to reserve judgement. In my defense, I'll blame my parents. In actuality, they were looking out for my well-being by keeping me from accomplishing this when I was younger (and instead assigning the chore to my older brother). They knew that I had a tendency towards clumsiness and wanted to prevent any potential mishaps, including the loss of life and limb. Now...what is the great milestone that I accomplished today for the first time EVER? I mowed the lawn!!!

(Oh, there you go...judging, judging, judging. Now it's your turn to confess!).

No worries about what others may think about how long it's taken me to accomplish this feat because most important of all, I made Mr. Wagner quite proud. While he's in the great country to the north of us working away, the Little Miss and I have been tending to the house and yard. Though he didn't ask, I got the sudden urge this morning to try my hand at the lawn, wanting to leave it as well-kept as possible for my hubby who has worked hard to keep it looking so nice. Mission accomplished!

(Do I have to admit that it's not like I had to operate a high powered gas mower? We have an easy-to-use manual mower but that's besides the point. Bottom-line is that the lawn is cut and my digits are not!).

Big Girl Bike

The Little Miss is quite proud of the fact she got her first "big girl" bike this weekend. This new bike suits her most stringent requirements; it meets her favorite color criteria (purple and pink) and has a cute basket. Her mommy wanted to get a new helmet to match but the Little Miss is partial to her old, reliable, red helmet (much to Mr. Wagner's relief).

On a another note, Yours Truly had to share pics from the rose tree in our backyard, proof that there are still plants alive and well even a week after being planted! I am really happy with our choice in planting this as I love roses but never have liked the thorns. This tree still has thorns but they are high enough off the ground that they won't interfere with backyard playing. Can't wait for even more flowers to bloom!

Backyard Transformation

Some of you may remember when our backyard looked like a wild weed field. Well, we are happy to announce that those days are long-forgotten history. This Memorial Day weekend concluded the long home improvement project and we are sure pleased with the results!

Mr. Wagner deserves the kudos (and could use a new tube of Bengay). The past couple of summers he spent countless hours hauling in load after load of dirt and gravel, extending our patio and adding a sidewalk, putting in an irrigation and drainage system, laying sod (and maintaining it diligently to challenge the best of golf courses), building a large raised flower bed and two redwood garden boxes.

Yours Truly consulted on the landscape design but mostly had the easy job of babysitting (the Little Miss and I have enjoyed a lot of girl time and fun outings). This weekend we spent a small fortune on the plants and all finished the yard together. We are really happy with the outcome! Now, Yours Truly needs prayer for a green thumb...

Where Art Thou O' Summer?

The West Coast Wagner family household, especially Yours Truly, is excited for June to start. While we aren't looking forward to the multiple business trips that both the Mr. and Mrs. have to go on (we'll cover Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania between the two of us within the month), we are anxiously anticipating the start of summer and the promise of outdoor fun. Now if only the weather would actually start cooperating.

A new experience we're looking forward to this summer is participating in a "Community Supported Agriculture" (CSA) program through a local farm. Beginning next week and every week thereafter through November, we get to pick up a box of fresh produce to enjoy. With our CSA, we choose the produce we want for the week (we elected that option rather than going with their pre-made boxes in effort to avoid all things beet-related). While we would love to have a garden large enough to grow all of our own produce, we are limited by space and thought this would be the next best option. We'll let you know how it goes!

Speaking of the garden, our backyard is quickly shaping up thanks to dear Mr. Wagner's hard labor. We are hoping to get most of our planting done this coming holiday weekend and are really looking forward to enjoying time in our yard...if and when the warmer days arrive. Please Dear Summer, come!

Growing Too Fast

Oh how our Little Miss is growing up! It's such fun to watch her change from a toddler into a little girl. At the same time, my heart breaks at the thought of how fast time flies us by!

Yet another sign of the Little Miss growing up occurred this past weekend when Mr. Wagner converted her toddler day-bed into a real, full-sized "big bed". Our girl loves her new bed and has managed to stay put for the past three nights. The only mishap occurs when her blankie or favorite stuffed animal ("Lambie") falls out in the middle of the night. This results in dramatic tears and the call for mommy or daddy to rescue the fallen treasure.

Next project for her room is to paint the walls green. We have the paint selected but are focusing on yard work for the next few weeks. The walls have to wait for now. In the meantime, I need to brush up on sweet talking in effort to coerce my dear Mr. to help with this task. Painting is right near the top of his "most-dreaded-to-do-list". Let's face it, I won't be able to convince him but I have a secret weapon...as soon as our Little Miss bats her long lashes at Daddy, he's a goner. Wish me luck.

Mission(s) Accomplished

We'd been expecting to be out of town this weekend but our plans changed and we took the opportunity to catch up at home. I have been wanting to paint two accent walls in our living area for quite some time. Mr. Wagner is not a fan of painting so I wasn't expecting his buy-in or help. I learned however that my Honey won't say "no" to even his least favorite of activities if I use the "it's almost my birthday" comment in a sweet yet ever-so-slightly "I-dare-you-to-say-no" guilt-laden tone. Plus, Mr. Wagner knew that his Mrs. was on the verge of a potty training breakdown so he (reluctantly) agreed.

As you can see, the painting mission was accomplished. Mr. Wagner sure did win points with me this weekend. He didn't even complain (too much) as we were painting side-by-side. Oh how I do love that man!

It's hard to tell from the picture but the color is Mocha (it's really called "Neutral Brown" but how boring is that? I'm taking the liberty of renaming it for Ralph Lauren). We're just showing a snippet so you'll have to come for a visit if you want to see how it really looks.

As for our other very important mission this weekend, we are happy to report that the potty training is starting to "click". Our Little Miss made great strides the past couple of days and Mommy is no longer on the verge of a melt-down. Can you say Praise the Lord?! Mission (almost) accomplished...now we just need to get the BM's down (Can't figure out what that means? Try a medical dictionary).

We're Home!

Just a quick message to say that we made it home safely from our Hawaiian adventure. We had a great time on the Big Island with my side of our family. We'll share more about it later after we catch up on our much needed zzzzz's. After a "red eye" flight late last night and not getting to our home until this afternoon, we're greatly lacking. PTL that all of our flights went well and the Little Miss was a terrific traveler!

Alive and Well

Hello, dearly beloved blog readers. Please don't give up on us, I know we've been slacking on the updates. The Wagner family is still alive and well. Like most of you, we are keeping busy at this time of year. Here are just a few of the things we've been up to lately:

We accepted the fact that our little girl was ready to graduate to a toddler bed so Mr. Wagner played handyman a couple of weeks ago and converted her crib to the toddler daybed. Our Little Miss loved her "big girl bed" from the first moment she saw it. She's done great with the transition and has only fallen out a couple of times.

Next up is a picture of the most recent home decorating project that we completed in the guest/playroom:

It was amazingly simple and inexpensive. We painted a piece of trim, added furniture knobs and used ribbon to hang the frames. Don't look too closely though or you'll realize I've still yet to add real pictures. I'll get around to it, eventually.

Finally, Saturdays have been filled with this:

Beaver football has been keeping us on our toes. It's been exciting enough that Mr. Wagner has to drink out of a sippy cup so he doesn't spill his soda (ha, ha, not really of course). The Little Miss is a great cheerleader and proudly says "Go Beavs!" as she watches with her Daddy.

That's all for now! I'm off to plan for the Big Day of Thanks coming up next week. More to come about that later...

Making Progress

Happy Friday to our many, many readers out there! I'm guessing we're numbering almost to the double digits now. Granted, 90% of you are related or "adopted" family members but hey, we're making progress and that's what counts!

Speaking of progress, have you heard the big news of the week? No, not that the financial bailout package bill finally passed...we're not talking about the VP debate and are definitely not referring to the Beavs loosing in the last minute to Utah by a field goal (argh). Put on your thinking caps. This is big news, people, we're talking B-I-G.

Drumroll puleeeeez...dah, dah, dah, dah...boom! The West Coast Wagners finally have grass in our backyard! Remember all the weeds? Well, some are still there but most are gone and are now replaced with our beautiful lawn! We obviously haven't gotten our landscaping completed and still have more to do however, I'm really quite proud of Mr. Wagner for all his hard work in getting the irrigation system ready and the sod down (thanks too to Fireman Jon for helping with the sod!). This all just days before the rainy season officially begins (did I mention I'm so not a fan of the rain?).

Since the rain appears to be here for awhile, the rest of our plans (flower beds, shrubs/trees, pergola, extended patio...) will have to wait. Next summer we should be able to show you the complete "After" picture of our backyard. I know you may be thinking it's taking us long enough but what would you have to look forward to if we showed you now? I know, the suspense is intense.

P.S. If you want to read more about the results of our first cake decorating class go here (No, my creation did not look quite that nice). Really, click on the link because you can also see one of my favorite pictures of our Little Miss (thanks Wally!).

Pushing Daisies

I have a confession to make. I've given into two things recently for which I am normally diametrically opposed: 1) Theme Rooms and 2) Craft Projects.

While I am all for having a few "like" items in a room, decorating with a single, obvious theme is not my style (For those of you who like that sort of thing, I mean no offense. I've seen a number of very cute and tasteful theme-oriented rooms. My bias is focused on my own home). This phobia may stem from the fact that as I was growing up, ceramic frogs were everywhere in our house (was that really popular in the 70s/80s?). My view has also been influenced by the strawberry items that adorned the clothing store my mom owned. Whatever the cause, themes are something I've always avoided. Until now.

We recently converted our guestroom into a guest/playroom. Along with this change came the need to redecorate. I wanted something fun for our Little Miss and yet not too over-the-top so as to annoy our guests when they are visiting.

Mistake #1: As I was pondering the plan, I had the atypical urge to complete a craft project. I'm going to blame my friend Joani for this one. She's often doing amazing crafts. Since I can't sew beautiful quilts like her (I'm lucky to sew on a button), I decided I'd try a collage of sorts.

Mistake #2: I made the trip to a local craft store. After I recovered from the culture shock of entering into that abyss, I found just what I was looking for: colorful paper with a variety of complementary designs ("fabric"), a glue stick ("thread"), and a daisy-shaped paper punch ("pattern"). While it was simple to construct, my own husband and mother didn't believe me when I told them I'd made it (not too surprising considering they both know me well).

This picture alone didn't constitute the theme room. I fear I may have crossed the boundary when I ordered this from Potterybarn Kids (Mistake #3). It was in the same colors of the room AND had a daisy to boot so I couldn't resist (For those of you who look closely, yes, I could have made this too. As I told you however, the craftiness was fleeting).

I think our Little Miss is going to enjoy this new room. To all our future house guests, please accept my apologies in advance if the decor leaves you dreaming of pushing daisies.

Hard at Work

Here's proof, we are working hard on the yard! OK, so the "we" in that is fairly one-sided but hey, someone has to babysit right? Don't feel too bad for Mr. Wagner. As you can see, my manly man has been having fun renting and running various sorts of mechanical thingy-ma-bobbers to get the job done (only, he'd cringe at my use of the term "thingy-ma-bobber". He tells me that this is actually called a "trencher"). Now you can see why he's the mechanical engineer in the family.

(Usually) Do Everything Without Complaining

I'm not one for complaining. I can't remember ever having sent back food that I ordered, even if it was cold (granted, I've not been the victim of a meal served with a bug or human appendage visibly floating on the surface). Bad waiters/waitresses? I still leave a decent tip. If someone were to cut in front of me in a long line, I'd grumble to myself, and maybe to whomever is with me, but I wouldn't say a thing to the actual offender.

Today however, I admit...I tattled.

Hubby has had to listen to my grumbling on a daily basis for the past week. The first thing he's been hearing out of my mouth when he walks in the door hasn't been a welcoming "Hi Honey, how's your day been? Dinner's on the table. I love you. Can I help you take your shoes off? Bring you anything to drink?" (Wait, let's get real. Even on my best of days, I'd have to be heavily medicated for all those words to pass through these lips at any one time).

Instead, Mr. Wagner has been bombarded with "is IT still there?" and an "Ugh!!!" after he responds affirmatively.

I didn't want to do it but my mind kept ruminating on thoughts of the expensive, monthly "home owners association fees" that our neighborhood is charged for just these sort of things. I finally caved. Yes, I confess, it is I who submitted a "confidential covenant rules violation form" (i.e., I complained).

Dear Neighbors, I really am sorry and don't mean any ill feelings. It is a pretty color of blue. It's just not meant for your front door (at least not when the rest of us have to follow the "approved" earth-tone color scheme).

If you truly like it, please don't let my opinion interfere with your creativity. Keep it if you must. I'll turn my cheek and look the other way. After all, it's not like you painted it bright green and yellow.

Home Sweet Home

Don't you just love the feeling of walking through the door to your own home after returning from a long trip? What a sweet luxury it is. Not to be cliché but there truly is no place like home. It's not about the material things as much as it is about the "familiarity" of everything. It's about being together as a family, the comfort of your own bed, the routine of daily living and knowing where even the little things are.

That's how we are feeling tonight. Pure joy. We've been spending the past few days in the hospital with our Little Miss. She came down with RSV, a nasty virus that typically just causes a bad cold in most adults and adolescents. In young babies, or kiddos under the age of 2 that were born prematurely, it can develop into a serious respiratory infection. PTL our girl is doing much better now and we are home. Thank you to all who have been praying.

After only a few days in the hospital and not getting much sleep, our hearts go out to all of you who have gone through, or are currently going through, extended hospital stays. We can't imagine what it would be like to be parents watching your child go through a serious illness like this family recently endured. We believe that God grants all of us the exact amount of strength we need, at the precise moment we need it, to walk through trials but still can't fathom the perseverance and courage that it would take. Which reminds me...if you haven't checked out this blog yet, please do. You will want to read some of the older posts to get caught up to speed but trust me, you're heart will be stirred to pray.

Weeds, weeds and more weeds

As many of you know, even though we will officially have been in our home for 2 years this coming October, we have yet to have landscaped our backyard. Oh, it’s not that we haven’t meant well. The rains were starting and the yard was muddy when we moved in so we thought we’d target the following summer. Then, our Little Miss made an early appearance and we were understandably distracted. This past spring we decided that A/C was a MUST HAVE so we made that a priority and again, the yard waited. You know you’re procrastinating though when your neighbor asks, “Are you ever going to do anything with your yard?” Now, Fall is around the corner and this is what we have to face.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are hoping to have the weeds cleared within the next week or two. We aren’t sure how much more we’ll get done before winter sets in but are wanting to at least get the sod down. Of course, we have another excuse and will continue to take it slow; Hubby's still recovering from back surgery. Plus, I am admittedly not the best at “dirty” work and am not known for having a green thumb (despite the fact that my mom has an amazing talent for growing beautiful flowers as did my grandma. The genes must have skipped a generation).

Speaking of not having a green thumb, I was telling my dear, sweet husband the other day that I really, really, really want some nice hanging flower baskets next year. With as much kindness and tact as possible he replied, “Maybe we should start with cheap ones to see how you do?”

That's OK, don’t gasp in disbelief that he would actually SAY such a thing. I couldn’t exactly argue considering that my mom had just gotten me a nice dahlia plant for our porch. It lasted exactly a week before it joined the other potted plants I effectively killed this summer (sorry Mom!). Did I mention the red geraniums that I was so excited to plant in our front window flowerbox last summer? I decided to save the time (and money!) and didn't even attempt them this year.

Well, off to work on the weeds. At least it’s good when I kill them. We’ll keep you posted with our backyard progress. Just don’t have too high of expectations to see a beautiful “after” picture anytime soon. Maybe NEXT summer. In the meantime, I have a lot of research to do (please let me know if you have any good gardening websites, books or hints to share!).