My mama passed along some purple pole bean seeds to me this spring...And though we had a rough start with them, and needed her to come back and help us nurture them to their now-abundant state, we are now officially endowed with some glorious bean vines and their glorious purple bean produce.

{Note also the tomato plants behind the hand in that shot... Tomato plants! Like I dreamed of in this post! Never mind the squirrels have been stealing the green tomatoes so far... Ugh.}

Meanwhile... Out of the blue, we noticed a pumpkin/squash/melon/gourd vine growing happily all by itself in the corner of our yard. Happy and independent. And NOT planted by us.

{I LOVE the curly-ques of these vines}

What a riot, right?? A thriving vine, NOT planted by us. Turns out that in the winter, when I threw out the mini pumpkins and gourds from our Fall decorations (I tossed them in the corner of our yard, thinking maybe some squirrels would eat them as winter food. Oh, the irony-- I WANTED to feed the squirrels then... but now they are eating my tomatoes and I DON'T WANT THEM EATING ANYMORE!), at least one of them managed to deposit a few seeds deep enough in our soil to get this vine growing. Happy surprise!

We are finally seeing what the vine is turning out to be-- not pumpkins like I was kind of hoping for, but a fun striped decorative gourd. We've been watching two of them grow plumper on the vine this past weekend. 

Ah, green things... It feels good to have a few in our yard that we are taking care of... Makes me feel like trying for even more next year!

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(But let us not speak of the two separate Great Zinnia Massacres of 2011 at this time. The wounds are still too raw.)

This Week Kinda Kicked My Bum...

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since the last blog... It's been kinda nuts-- something taking us out of the house every day, some rough nights of sleep necessitating nap times for me instead of blogging time. It's been good-- I'm starting to feel I can get out in the world like a normal human again-- but its also been exhausting.

Meanwhile.... Lucy turned 3 months old this week. Can you believe it?? (Dang it! I have GOT to finish and post Lucy's last three days of her newborn month... Note to self: Do it this coming week!)

Somehow, in between errands and outings and naps and colic regressions, we managed to get these photos done:

Lucy, 3 Months

(inspired by these/link to month 2)

Isn't that hat cute?? A dear friend from my ward crocheted it just for Lucy. I love it! 

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Meanwhile, another crafty and recipe to share. First, the recipe: 

White Chocolate-Dipped Cereal Pops

~ inspired by the Trix-on-Stix I saw on Pinterest, here~

The Original Recipe- Trix On Stix

It's pretty much just Rice Krispies treats...minus the Rice Krispies.

Supplies needed:

1 box of Trix cereal {10.7 oz.}

1 bag of small marshmallows

1 stick of butter {you won't use it all}

1 pkg of mini jumbo sticks {tongue depressors}

A. In a microwave safe bowl, add 1 pkg of small marshmallows and 3 Tbs of butter.

Cook for 3 minutes on high

{keep your eye on it - every microwave is different}

B. Next, butter your spatula.

It makes stirring all that stickiness SO much easier.

C. Add about 3/4 of the box of Trix cereal to the bowl of warm marshmallow-e goodness and stir well.

D. Let the Trix mix cool for about 10 minutes

{The balls stick together better when the marshmallow has cooled a bit.}

While you're waiting, butter a pan to place the finished balls on.

When you're ready to start, butter your hands so the mixture doesn't stick to you either.

{**Tip: re-butter your hands after each ball.}

E. Grab a fistful of Trix mix, roll it into a firm ball in your hand, then stick a stick in the middle of it.

  My Own Variation:

I did exactly what the original recipe asked, with the following modifications:

1. swapped Cocoa Puffs for Trix

2. used white melting chocolate and 4th of July sprinkles to jazz up the finished product. 

3. Note: I started by adding the chocolate to the non-stick end... but I found that the whole thing held together better if I put the melted chocolate around the stick (see photo #3 above.) The stick thing is a cute idea... but it really didn't work well for us in reality. I might skip that part next time. 

All in all, a fun project, and tasty!

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And the crafty:

Fabric Scrap Necklaces

{found here, and super cute on the original model!}

First, a pile of torn fabric strips... ready to braid, with the help of my handy clamp. 

Next, some not-so-gorgeous self-snaps... What can I say? I schlump about at home on the days I don't have to go anywhere... and a bandanna head is pretty common. 

Did you spy Lucy in the mei tai sling? Sleeping so peacefully... 

Yeah, I used one of her elastic headbands to hold her binkie in. It kinda worked. *blush*
(As soon as she was truly asleep, I took the band off. I promise.)

And Noah, playing in and around my area, using the dowel as a "train" and other fascinatingly imaginative things... Cute kid...

The final braids, temporarily knotted together so I can keep track of which go together for the necklaces...

A pretty fast crafty, and I did get them finished and made into necklaces. My assessment--- they look EXTRA cute in the sample photo I used as inspiration, but I'm still trying to convince myself they look as cute on ME. Haven't worn them in public yet.... Still, they were fun to make!

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Okay. Hate to blog and run, but this post took way long to blog... I have GOT to go to bed!!