Little plants in

The straw bales have been prepped and are now ready for planting.  Yesterday Guillermo planted a few plants but he did find it a little harder than he thought it would be.  He said it wasn't easy digging holes in that straw and so the easiest thing is to put in plants that are still relatively small.  Leaving the plants that have grown bigger, and need bigger holes, for the regular garden.  Still, he's excited about this experiment and says he even plans on planting lettuce into the sides of the bales to see if that will work.

Great time of year

This is such a nice time weather-wise in San Antonio.  We get periodic rains, the weather is neither too hot nor too cold, and there are no mosquitoes yet.

We enjoyed this broccoli from the garden the other day.

Here's how our deck looks right now:

You know the weather is nice when the petunias look this good!

Another experiment

We've heard of this before, but after reading an article in a Costco magazine about straw bale gardening, Guillermo decided he's going to give it a try!!!

The bales are in place.

The bales got a good soaking with the rains we had the last few days, and today Guillermo is prepping the bales with ammonium sulfate.

The line going across the top of the bales is a water line, for when the plants start growing.  It's not time yet to plant in the bales.

Fun evening painting

Last night, two of my friends from Elrod and I went to a painting class at a place called "Painting with a Twist".  We were a little nervous at first, but after the first strokes of paint, it was actually quite fun.  While we painted we drank wine and munched on cheese, olives and crackers.

Some pictures of our class.  I'm on the very right behind the pink painting.

You can't see me here, but I'm sitting between the two ladies on the left.  That's Sharon towards the front and Barbara behind her.  You can only see my hand holding a brush.

Another view of our class.  

My painting getting started.

Just about finished.

Painting is done!

Title of this painting class was "Japanese Cherry Blossoms"

And here's our whole class with our paintings.  The model we were following is in the background standing up on the easel on the left.  I love how everyone's interpretation is different.

And the three of us with our finished paintings!

Barbara and I would like to do another painting class.  Sharon said she probably wouldn't do it again - too stressful for her!

Enjoying the snow

A picture we received recently.  Seems like little Leo just loves the snow!

February Tucson visit

What a nice time we had in Tucson.  It was hard to believe how big Scotty is now.  We remembered so fondly being with him last year at this exact same time - when he couldn't talk yet and was just learning how to walk.  A year makes a HUGE difference.

Here we are eating at one of his favorite restaurants where he just LOVES the macaroni and cheese and then enjoying tapioca pudding with jello.

.

Some things are still the same - Scotty still loves playing with playdough.  Although this time he could help me make it!  Here he is showing how his two fingers turned blue from the food coloring.

Nice warm playdough.

Getting his playdough supplies out.

On Tuesday we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the zoo.  Tia Abuela Irene joined us and we all had a very nice time.  

Going in to the cave is still a favorite of Scotty's

Those fish are BIG in the water inside that cave!

 We watched the little mini loader building this carousel last year - and now this year he got to ride the carousel!  He picked the leopard to sit on.

All the other times we've been to this zoo, the train wasn't running but today it was!  How exciting!  So we took advantage of it and had a most fun, but very windy, ride around the park outside the zoo.  When the train started to take off, Scotty was so happy.  Irene and I loved watching him laugh and laugh while saying, "chug a chug a chug a chug a choo choo choo".  He really did enjoy being on a little train.

Eating at another of his favorite restaurants - Boston Market.  He likes the food there but he also likes the fact that from Boston Market's parking lot, he can see the BIG dinosaur that is by McDonalds next door.

So, we spent a total of 8 and a half days with him this time.  Our shortest trip ever.  But we made the most of our days and are grateful we could at least have those 8 and a half days.  We had planned more outings with him but one of the days the winds were gusting at had to be more than 40mph and the other day we talked ourselves out of driving ALL the way out to the Desert Museum, instead opting to just take it easy at the house.
In this video, towards the end, you can hear how Scotty says "Abuelito".

Playing in the park close to his house.

It was a little harder getting pictures and video of Scotty this time.  Because whenever he'd see the phone or tablet up, he'd immediately walk over to me saying, "let's see (it)".  

A precious memory for me from our visit to Tucson:  

We put St. Patrick's Day cling-ons on the patio window.  Scotty found out that if he took down the Pot 'o Gold cling-on and handed it to me, that I would give him a big hug and a kiss.  So, several times during the day he would take it off the window and bring it to me, wherever I was.  And I would say, "Again?!?!?  Ok, that means I give you a hug and a kiss!"  And I would give him hugs and kisses and then put it back on the window.  Sometimes it would come back off the window right away!  Which was just precious to me, because it meant he is still ok with me giving him hugs and kisses!!