Creating Life... and then eating it. Part Three

Sooo, I just got back from a nice 5 days in Summit, where we celebrated the 4th of July and I DO have photos and appropriate documentation of our vacation, but I have to gather it all together, which takes energy. Since I'm suffering from the lack thereof this afternoon, I thought I'd share photos of what happened to my garden while I was gone.

I was totally, completely certain that I'd come home to find the whole thing shriveled up into oblivion, I even called a friend late one night and begged her to go give them some extra water (and a great job she did) so you can imagine my astonishment when I actually came back to a jungle.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I will now proceed to toot my own horn.

I've got all different kinds of peppers and tomatoes, squashes, tomatillos, herbs, carrots, peas, beans, cucumbers and corn and other stuff too, all shoved into my last minute decision garden beds. I'm feeling pretty good about my garden considering that I've never managed to produce a one that provided me with more than a weird looking tomato and a handful of green beans

I also ended up being able to start quite a few of my plants from seeds. You have my permission to be impressed.

This garden has been my sanity this summer. I'm not kidding. I might be a lunatic at this point if I didn't have my garden to keep me grounded. I spend/waste a lot of time just sitting out there and playing in the dirt, but I figure that God intended it to be that way, so I'm excused, right?

p.s. somehow, i thought it wise to buy three banana pepper plants which are actually producing banana peppers. problem is that i have no idea what one actually does with a banana pepper. anyone? anyone?

Summertime, and the livin's easy

Having never had a little boy, it wasn't until just recently that it came to my attention that little boys choose to spend as much time as possible... in the nude. I did not know this. I should have picked up on it along the way, maybe I just didn't want to believe it was true. But it is and I have now accepted it as fact.

Little boys, given even the slightest opportunity, will strip naked and run around that way until a responsible adult intervenes.

It's causing a problem here and there for us. I think the people that live in my circle have seen more of Charlie already this summer than they ever wanted to. And when the cousins come to play, there's just a big, little boy nudest convention in our yard.

I'll admit that it can make for some good photo opportunities, as long as you can keep them covered up a bit, which is, of course, the tricky part.

Potty Talk

Today, after right close to 7 years of changing diapers, we took our youngest child to buy his first pack of underpants. It's been a good, but long afternoon around here. Potty training is not for the faint of heart, but Charlie has done fairly well, all things considered. He's filled his tummy with soda and treats, he's filled his potty several times over and he's filled his sticker chart with gold stars.

I love watching my children grow up. I love the excitement they feel as they realize that they are actually competent, capable human beings. Look at his new found confidence!

I believe I can literally say that I've never seen this boy so excited in all his glorious 2 years and 9 months of life.

And the back, of course.

Let us all hope that his enthusiasm spills over into tomorrow because after 7 straight years, methinks we deserve a little break around here.

And wish me luck. I get the feeling that as my time spent changing diapers decreases, my time spent doing laundry will only increase. Deep breath.

Arrrrrrrr Yarrrrrrrd!

I must admit that after spending several weeks with my yard looking like this....

I was sceptical that it would ever be any different. We had plenty of small children fall into those ditches. Lots of scraped knees. Lots of tears.

But oh me of little faith. Our families came through like champs only hours after this photo was taken and by the end of the day, we had grass. And shortly thereafter, we had a garden.

It's still in the new growth stages, so I hope that it will all fill in and be beautiful and lush.

Our grass is also still recovering a little from the shock of not being watered for several days. We were a little short in the sprinkler department. I tried to do it myself, but it was hard.

I've got all my veggies mixed in with my flowers, so we'll see how this goes. My mom gave me that nice tomato plant when it was just a wee lit'le thing and look how it is flourishing.

I counted today that I somehow ended up with 9 tomato plants, which is probably about 5 more than I need, but hey, I likes tomatoes.

Grow, green beans, grow! I have every intention of sauteing you in butter and garlic, but first, you must grow.

We have been finally appreciating the cooler weather and spending most of our waking hours outside. The yard is still a work in progress, of course. It's simple and largely lacking in vegetation, but we are very grateful for it.

Soccer and Rainbows and Tears

Jane finished up her last soccer game of her first soccer season tonight. She really had fun this spring, but to be honest, I think we're all plenty ready to see the season come to an end. The girls have played in the rain and the wind and had games cancelled because of the snow. I didn't make it tonight because I'm at home nursing my poor, sick son, but Brent was so kind as to pass along this photo...

It seemed like such a bright, wonderful way to end the season.

Then Jane came home and dropped her newly acquired trophy which busted into 3 separate pieces. I'm sitting here laughing quietly to myself as I listen to her cries from upstairs. Even in the face of disaster, I can always appreciate a little well placed irony.

Princesses

A few weeks back, Ben, Lizzy and Lizzy's friend Maddie were playing dress up at our house. They all came downstairs to show us their costumes.

The girls had apparently found Lizzy's play makeup and gotten all dolled up.

The girls went back upstairs, but Ben stayed behind and my sister took the opportunity to say to me,"I can't believe that you let your kids play with make up."

To which I replied something along the lines of "Ya, I know, but it keeps them entertained for SOOOOOOO long. It's like a five dollar investment and I get hours and hours of peace and quiet out of it."

"Ya," she conceded "but now it looks like you've got a couple of toddler hookers walking around your house."

At which point Ben spoke up...

"Princesses, mom. You mean they look like princesses."

Of course that's what she meant.

Orange Tie Guy

It's been at least the better part of a year since Brent and I were able to convince our small son to wear a tie to church. I've tried every week to get him to wear one. Ok, I've tried a lot of weeks. After a while, ones gets tired of getting hit and spat upon as various ties are flung at one's head.

I don't know why it's a battle that I picked.

Maybe I just like ties.

Anyway, for some reason unbeknownest to me, last Sunday, Charlie made up his mind that he was going to wear his orange tie to church. We hadn't really planned on it, so he wasn't really wearing a shirt that facilitated tie wearing, but that wasn't really going to stop him.

I broke out my phone to snap a picture of him, but catching a picture of Charlie during what should be his nap time, isn't always easy.

Observe...

I'm a little tired and frustrated just looking at these pictures.

I gotta be honest with ya, it's been a while since I sat through a full block of meetings on a Sunday.

"what? huh? me? you talking about me, mom?"

Yes, Chas.

Come back. Please.

We've been spending a LOT of time in the car, with Charlie strapped into his car seat for time out when we should be in the process of being spiritually uplifted. But if we can get him to wear ties, he might at least look dapper whilst strapped into that car seat. Sigh.