Harrison’s first birthday party

Harrison’s first birthday party was a success! I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. There is a lot of pressure for a perfect 1st birthday party.

We decided on a pirate’s treasure theme to incorporate his golden birthday in there. I googled and researched and practiced and made a really awesome treasure chest birthday cake. Brice’s dad, Bill, made an amazing nearly life-sized ship. Both of Brice’s parents helped us prepare a ton of food. It was so fun to celebrate with lots of our friends and family.

Harrison was a little tentative with his birthday cake, but he eventually dove in. He had a blast opening gifts, too. He didn’t understand why as soon as he had finally gotten one open and found out what was inside, I took it away and made him open another one. He just wanted to start playing!

Father’s Day weekend and Paul’s birthday

(I’m so behind! There are going to be some catch up posts coming up)

We went to Brookfield for Father’s Day weekend to celebrate my step father, Paul’s, 60th birthday. It was a rare opportunity to get all 7 of the kids together. Paul’s brothers and sisters all came to Wisconsin for the party, too.

My step-brother-in-law is a very talented photographer and got some great shots of Harrison and the whole family. I can’t wait to see them!

He doesn’t know he can stand.

Whenever we let go of Harrison’s hands as he’s standing, he immediately sits down. Yesterday he was playing with the cat tunnel and stood without support for at least 5 seconds!  He thought it was supporting his weight, but he kept lifting it off the ground and banging it back down.

Garden Update!

My garden is looking great! I am so proud of myself! I’m still in awe every time I water my plants. I really can’t believe that they’re growing.

My lettuce is huge and lush. I’m thinking we could almost make a single salad from one head right now. I’m going to wait till they get a little bigger before trying them.

The bell peppers are so tall! They’ve all got little white flowers on them. The jalapeno has a couple of flowers and one little pepper! It’s about an inch long already. It doubled in size over the weekend.

I have two containers with pea plants. I had to transplant some because they were getting too crowded. The ones that I moved are growing much more slowly than the ones I left alone. The plant that stayed put are more than a foot tall. They’ve got their little tendrils coiled around the branches and string I set up for a trellis. They’re climbing like crazy.

I still haven’t made it to the farmers market to get herb plants. I might just end up getting some from Tru Value or Home Depot.

Brat Fest

Memorial Day weekend in Madison means one thing – Brat Fest!! Last year I was quite pregnant with Harrison and bought a onsie planning to put my future baby in it 12 months later. I’m so glad I planned ahead!

(Oh yeah, Emily and Kyle came to visit! I didn’t get a chance to see them since I was at work, but they got to play with Harrison.)

The three of us went Friday for dinner. The Hippo ate a half of Boca brat himself. He tried a little sauerkraut, but it’s definitely NOT one of his favorites.

We got to hear an amazing young musician. Scotty Fish is quite a talented guy and he can’t be more than 13 or 14 years old.

Harrison got to meet local news anchor Susan Siman from Channel 3. She was our celebrity cashier and she was smitten with the Hippo.

H and I went again tonight for dinner. (Brice had to work, but he got a leftover brat in the fridge.) We had to do our part to beat the record!

Bear Crawl

Harrison isn’t a huge fan of the grass on his legs and knees, so he does a funny bear crawl in the backyard. (don’t mind Brice being a goof in the background… )

Gardening day

I had yesterday and today off, so I got to do a little more work on my garden. Everything’s growing really well, except one green pepper plant that got too damaged in the wind. I picked up a three pack of replacement green peppers when I got more potting soil.The peas are flourishing! I had to move half of them to another container. I didn’t expect them to all grow so well.

I moved the lettuce from the egg cartons to little pots. I’m not sure how well they’re going to survive the trip. I only used half of my seeds to start with, so even if none of them make it, I can start over. I read that you can stagger your planting times with the lettuce so you have a continuous supply, so that’s my plan.

Next on the agenda is to build a trellis for my awesome pea plants. I didn’t really know about their need to climb, so hopefully it’s not too late. I read an article about building a trellis out of branches and string, so now I just need to hunt for some downed branches!

I’m continuously amazed at my little plants. I had very low expectations going into this little gardening adventure, but so far so good!