Birthday Cake

Gina's Famous Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (first time!)
Recipe: follow the directions on the box. But be smart and buy two cans of pineapple, not one. As you can see here for yourself, Gina had to learn this the hard way.

32

Ouch, that's a big number. But look what you get for breakfast on your birthday around here!
This afternoon Thomas took Gina to our favorite restaurant for lunch. She got spanikopita and he got a gyro. The most beautiful bouquet Gina ever saw... you know what makes it so pretty? There are CABBAGES in it! Seriously, someone is a genius (and it's Thomas).
Gina came home from teaching to find this surprisingly large stack of presents on the table. Winnie is included here for size comparison.
It's been a terrific day.

More pictures of plants

A few weekends ago we did some gardening in the front yard, but never got around to posting pictures. Here they are!
The hydrangeas and holly bushes have been there for several years but just about everything else is new.

A few years ago Gina planted some ornamental cabbages along the front walk. You know, for fall, like a harvest-time kind of thing. She thought it looked cool but Thomas made fun of them! So she was pretty surprised when he picked these out at Lowe's.

Gina's favorite place in the house right now is the front porch. She brings her laptop out and does her lesson planning there. It will be so sad when it's too cold to sit out here anymore.

Bye, summer.

Birthday Girl

This pretty lady is Gina's Oma. She is Gina's mama's mama and she was born in 1915. Isn't she lovely? She tells the best stories (what a memory!) and always has a hug for you. She bakes amazing cookies and she can beat almost anyone at Wii golf.Happy Birthday Oma, we love you!

Some backyard improvements

We took a little break from lesson planning last weekend to do some work outside. Here's the end result: a new border to the right of the walkway. Hopefully those poor half-dead grasses will survive... we bought them several weeks ago but didn't have time to plant them right away, so they just sat out in the blazing sun in their little plastic pots until they were extra crispy. Gina has killed lots of plants this way. We added a stepping stone. See?

Things we grew that we are going to eat

This little fig tree just looked like a stick when we bought it so were surprised when it actually grew three figs.
These cantaloupes here are the size of a tennis ball. We'll have to keep Winnie away from them.