There are two kinds of people in this world....

There are pickle people and then there's... everyone else.

As for me and my house, we're pickle people.

And I just made my first jar out of cucumbers from my garden. I sure hope that in a few days, they taste as good as they smell.

My mouth is currently watering.

Lucky Number 7

Meet Jane.

Jane used to be 6, but not anymore. Now, Jane is 7.

Jane had a party for her birthday and it was filled with rainbows.

There were rainbow balloons and rainbow Twister in the grass.

There were rainbow drinks and rainbow jello.

And a cake.

A rainbow cake.

This made Jane very happy.

And it made her mom very tired.

Unfortunately, Jane had her party a few days before her birthday, and when her real birthday arrived, her mom was too tired to do much, so Jane got to invite one friend over for lunch.

Meet Henry.

Henry is a very good friend to have come to spend Jane's birthday with her.

This also made Jane happy.

Which is good, because on Jane's actual birthday, Jane's mom kinda just sat around like a bum and reminded Jane of the aforementioned rainbow party that had taken place on the previous Friday.

Happy Birthday, Jane. We sure do love you.

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.