Happy Birthday!

So I force my children to do a shoot for their birthdays every year—it's my way of celebrating them. My husband, of course, is my assistant for these shoots. He loooooves that job! Don't believe him when he denies it.  
  

PROMO: dorkus mallorkus

KIM LOWE IS an 8 year old girl who loves her new butterfly flip-flops and thinks her brother is a dorkus mallorkus. (click on image to enlarge)
  

Froggie

I woke my 3 year old up to show him a frog I caught. Yes, yes I am a child. Why do you ask?  

BeST purchase... Snail Bait

(Yes I'm aware how strange it is that I'm posting this as a "best purchase.") This is the first year I've used Escar-go and it's the first year I have had NO problems with slugs and snails in my garden! I tried everything from beer to removing the buggers by hand over the years. I swear by this stuff!  

  

Garden's Alive sells Escar-go. 

  

What's wrong with this photo?

It's the first pumpkin of the season — picked July 16th. To be clear, that's a little strange for New England right? More than a month ahead of schedule. Interesting article, follow this link.
  

  

Who's your boss?

So I follow, I dunno, about 50 blogs. Sometimes I pop in for a visit and don't go back for a while, but I keep in touch. One thing I see that makes me laugh is bloggers constantly apologizing for being late on posting or for not posting for a while. Really? I mean, do they have a deadline? Who's their boss? 
  
You won't get apologies from me. I'm too busy having fun. Fun first, blog second — actually I'd say it's around 34th on my list of priorities. Hope you're too busy to blog. Don't apologize. Happy summer! 

Pea-Pea Tee-Pee

One project for this year was to make the garden more kid-friendly—especially with two boys under three. So I built some tee pee trellises out of bamboo, willow branches and twine. Easy peasy. They keep my critters from busting up my tomato plants while they sit in their chairs, eat snap peas, sing and chat with me while I weed. Perfect harmony! Plus the teepees help to anchor the corners of the vegetable garden. Both have snap peas wiggling up, then I added beans and cukes.Both have nasturtium. (Better pics of the garden to come later.)

SHOOT: Piece of Fabric

In less than an hour with an amazing 8 year old, I learned a piece of fabric isn't just a piece of fabric. 

NEW SERIES: Kids, Without the Kids

I'm working on a new series where I show kids without showing the kids. (Yea, that's right, I'm getting a little wild and crazy over here at FlippyGirl headquarters.)  
  

Dirt and Petals

Took a few days off to play in my garden—picking strawberries, turning compost, trimming privet, transplanting seedlings, chasing my own "seedlings" with bubbles, building trellises, watching baby birds, shoveling dirt, laying out straw, hoarding the last whiffs of peonies and mock orange, dodging thunderstorms, and overdosing on strawberry smoothies. From the busy Boston street out front, you'd never know this was out back: