A Garden Update

We’ve been busy gardening over in Spritzer Leyba Land, but before I tell you about the work we’ve done in the garden this spring, let me show you some photos from last summer.

See those bushes behind Miss Leyba? Turns out, they only bloom for two weeks each year and there they are, blooming and lovely! A couple days later all the flowers died and the bush transformed into a giant, overgrown hedge that blocked a view of the stairs… a super no-no when your toddler loves to sit there.

So, last May David ripped out the bush (turned out to be mostly dead with just a little bit alive on top) and we started planting a lovely little garden. Here it is today with several plants just starting to bloom and lots on its way:

David also built me a small raised bed for our vegetable garden. Here he is last year watering our newly planted tomatoes (that performed poorly due to the abnormally cool 2009 summer):

And here it is now with lots of sugar snap peas, lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes:

We also removed the bushes next to the veggie bed (behind David in the above photo). One of them had super sharp thorns and grew poisonous orange berries in the fall. The other “bush” was a spiky Live Oak tree that would grow to be twenty feet tall; definitely not a good fit for the space. Yes, there was a gorgeous rose bush, bit it was very overgrown, so we thought it better to start afresh with something new. Here is that bed today, a very work-in-progress sort of photo:

Those giant cabbages are from our winter garden; they just started forming heads, finally.

And here’s a photo of our little girl and AVID gardener! Trust me, I couldn’t be more pleased. We love working out in the yard together and I’m loving it!

(My, what a difference a year makes!)

I’ll post more photos as the summer progresses. We so enjoy working on the yard and transforming this house into a home. So glad you all are following along!

Our Life = Busy, Fun Times!

How can it be almost June?! And this our first post for the month of May. Shame on us. Sorry about that. What can I say? We’ve been busy with play dates, music classes, outings, everyday life activities (cooking, reading, doing puzzles, playing with trains, creating artwork, napping), walks on the trail, hosting some dear visitors (my friend Alice and David’s mom), eating out a lot, and having an all-around great time:














A Family of Chocoholics

I love coming up with a great excuse to bake with Miss Leyba. Today’s reason for throwing caution to the wind and eating some processed (but oh so delicious) sugar? Our favorite gluten-free chocolate brownie mix was on sale!

We’re all about the ultimate fudge brownie. And licking the spoon. After all, it’s terribly important to taste test while baking to ensure your treat is turning out right… just ask Miss Leyba!

Diaper Changes on the Go

I admit it: we frequently do diaper changes in the car. We’re rushing. We’ve been out running errands for a while. We lose track of time or have to do a quick change right now. It happens.

This week Miss Leyba decided to change her dolls diapers in (on!) her own little red convertible:


And just when you thought you had seen everything, here’s “Cat Leyba” getting her diaper changed on the steering wheel!!


While she took the whole thing very seriously, I thought it was rather hysterical.

Okay, I guess she is on the verge of smiling in the last two shots… probably because I was laughing so hard! We have so much fun together.

Thrift Store Score

I have admired and considered buying eeBoo Lacing Cards to help Miss Leyba develop her fine motor skills, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $$$ on something that I could make fairly easily on my own. Well, surprise surprise, I haven’t had a chance to design, print off and punch any cards yet, but we found these adorable ones at our local thrift store for… two dollars! (instead of $14 for a new set)

Now I would not have personally picked this particular design, Fairies of the Field (I know, it’s adorable; it’s just not very us), but if going for them means I save $12 and also don’t have to make something similar (when I have enough on my plate as it is), then I’ll go for it!

A purchase at our thrift store also benefits our neighborhood hospice and keeps items like this from being thrown away, so it’s a win-win situation for all (except for the manufacturer, I suppose) and eco-groovy to boot. (Don’t worry, eeBoo, we already own several of your matching/bingo games and I CAN’T WAIT to get Miss Leyba your puzzle pairs.)

Looking for something similar? Amazon sells the Fairies of the Field design and other eeBoo lacing card that I think are cute include the Under the Sea Lacing Cards, Friendy Bug Lacing Cards and the Musical Friends Lacing Cards.

Miss Leyba hasn’t figured out the sewing action yet (we just bought them this afternoon), but in the meantime she’s having fun playing with the shoe laces and over-sized cards!