Home again.

I'm home from a short jaunt out to visit my brother's family. Todd took off for North Carolina to windsurf with the COWS (Central Ohio Windsurfers) so I thought I'd have a little trip for myself, too.

I was especially happy to get to spend some one-on-one time with my niece Marissa, who I simply haven't gotten to see as much as I did her older sister Natalie when she was a toddler. Marissa is almost two, and whip-smart. The amount of words she knows, and the sentences she puts together are just astounding. She also gets this little smile and amused look in her eyes that looks exactly like her dad did at that age.

Here's Miss M:

And her big sister Natalie is thriving in preschool, asking millions of extremely intelligent questions (at least in her doting auntie's opinion), and living a rich pretend life. Here she is dressed up as a bride (I was the groom, later we had a baby--it felt a little weird):

So that was fun, to get to see these gorgeous girls and spend some time with them and with my brother and sister-in-law.

Today I finally went out and bought some of the plants I've been dreaming about: the bronze fennel, the green and gold thyme, the purple basil. Also some Shasta and Gerbera daisies, and some other cutting-garden type flowers. Also some pink and purple vincas to scatter along the front of the bed, and some pale pink vincas in hanging baskets for the front porch. I've planted about half of them. It was a large chunk of change, and there's still so much I could buy--!

Well, Todd's finally home, so I'll sign off.