Orchids

Yesterday someone at work gave me an incredibly beautiful orchid. Two of them actually. My plan was to take one to my mother-in-law as a gift and the other one home and turn it over to Jake in an attempt to keep it alive but then Lincoln reminded me that we're about to be gone for 10 days. Orchids are incredibly hard to keep alive as it is and I have a completely black thumb so I figured we'd enjoy it for the next few days and then mourn its passing upon our return from Iowa. Lincoln had other plans though. After dropping the kids and the 2nd orchid plant off at his mother's this morning he sent me the following email:

My mom said she would babysit your orchid until we get back, then you can kill it in person.

Now that's love. Thank you honey.

Summertime fun (and a new haircut)

This morning Hannah decided that she wanted a new "summer" haircut. I may have led her to that decision because she won't ever let me pull her hair back and it's way to hot to wear it down all summer, but she had the final say on how it would be cut. She LOVES it and has been preening all day. It probably won't ever look like this again since she will never let me blow it out the way Maryanne did today but I think it will still be cute even when it air dries.

Here are some fun summer pics from our afternoon outside. Please don't notice the meadow length grass/weeds that constitute our yard. That is, in the few areas we actually have something green and not brown on the ground.

Hannah's new haircut:

Jake and his bubble blower:

Hannah with the bubbles.  Such a serious face:

Another serious face.  Who knew bubbles were such a serious business.

Showing off the hairdo:

Doesn't he look like he's plotting something and I caught him at it?  That's a big stick he's got there.

I love this picture.  Such a perfect summer picture (minus the dead grass and the high weeds):

My lilacs.  I have the blackest thumb ever but I've actually managed to keep these alive.  It took five years for them to bloom but ever since they did they've gotten better and better each year.

If you're wondering why our grass is as bad as it is, I will give you two reasons.  One, when we built the house we didn't have them truck in much top soil when we hydroseeded it and a lot of the soil is clay and sand so it doesn't grow well.  Two, we've never treated it with anything but we certainly should have.  Most of it is crab grass on the hill and the lower part is all moss.  And finally, all the dead grass and bare dirt at the top of the yard is courtesy of the wild turkeys that come traipsing through on a near-daily basis.  They peck at the ground digging up grubs, I believe.  I know they peck at the ground, I'm just not sure what they're looking for.  As for the high grass, that is a result of a lot of rain and no time to mow the lawn and then the one sunny weekend day Lincoln gets sick and I don't know how to run the mower.  As I told Lincoln, thank God we live at the end of a dead end road and no one ever sees out lawn.