walking and talking

Bee and I took a walk on the trail that runs behind our house this morning. I took this picture at a park nearby, the yellow flowers made me feel happy.

We went a little over a mile. She was a great walking partner and I hope it's the first of many.

If I lure her into a routine now, perhaps it will continue into her teen years. I'm hoping she will be so used to walking and talking, she will continue to do so even after it's not cool to hang around your mom any more.


Devious? Maybe. Fingers crossed that it just might work.


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It's silly, how proud I am when I get to harvest a vegetable I've grown in my garden. I'd be a terribly arrogant farmer. With acres and acres of crops, my pride would really get out of hand.

Being able to cut up a cucumber that tastes so delicious and put it into some dressing for lunch the next day. The taste of a tomato fresh from the garden cannot be compared to anything you can get in the store.

I enjoying weeding, watering, checking it for signs of problems.

It is small, our garden. The amount of happiness it brings us through the summer is well worth the work.

 We've got squash, tomatoes, basil, jalapenos and cucumbers. We've also started a strawberry patch (fingers crossed) that we'll be able to harvest in two years.

 Bee and her grandmother outfitted her fairy garden, which turned out to be such fun. We water those happy plants too and make sure that everything stays in good shape.

It really is one of the best parts of summer. I love my garden.

blurry but good

June is gone. It was a blur of activities, all fun, but a bit exhausting. Baseball, softball, swim lessons, library trips, splash park, swim pond, playground, free school lunch, a grown ups only trip to St. Louis, a few nights of 4th of July fun.

I'm trying not to be one of those moms who is forever complaining about all of the stuff we are doing when we're the ones who made the choice to do it all! Instead we find joy in each day and sleep really well at night.

It is a really fun phase we are in right now. The kids enjoy most everything we do and are so much more portable. I think we are in the magical period of time between the exhaustion of having toddlers and whatever having teenagers will be like. I had read once that it is a very contented period of time to be in as a parent.


I plan to savor every second.

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4017 Days

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Today we celebrate eleven years of marriage.
4017 days.

Last night, J baked me a cake. The guy does not typically bake cakes, I cannot remember him ever baking a cake, this was an EVENT. He made it from a recipe I found on Pinterest (thank you pinterest!). It's delicious. I may go have some when I'm done typing here...

This morning, our kids brought us breakfast in bed with homemade cards. Cheerios for J, toast for me.

In my estimation, the next 4017 days stand to be just as good. Maybe better.

Knowing I've taught my kids that breakfast in bed is a good thing and that cards are required on special occasions means that we are all set until they leave the nest. I'll have to teach Bee how to do a quiche and hollandaise before next June.

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DISNEY 2012

 A month ago, we took a trip to Florida.

 We spent a week in this magical place where our kids were overstimulated, overfed, and in awe of everything they saw.

It was great.

Looking at these pictures, I find it hard to believe we were ever even there.
Did it really happen? Did we really go.

The Disney trip was exhausting, expensive, and sort of a huge blur.

And totally worth it. We had a blast.

I think now, a month later, I am finally recovered from that trip.

Which means now I can start asking myself - where are we going next?!!

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SIX

My Buddy turned six. SIX. We are now the proud parents of two full-fledged school-agers.

There were cupcakes on Easter, a birthday cookie at his party on Tuesday, six candles in his birthday doughnut on Wednesday morning, and birthday singers with his ice cream sundae out to dinner Wednesday night. Celebrate, yes we celebrate, how could we not?! Life is grand.

On Thursday morning, he woke up to huge excitement. "MY TOOTH IS LOOSE!" Six for twenty-four hours and he's got his first loose tooth.

"It feels good to be six," said Buddy. I'll bet it does.

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SIBLINGS

It should be fun, right?! An egg hunt in the yard? No cousins here this year, but I hid our decorated eggs and set them loose to find 20. But no, it has to be a race. A competition. There must be anger and tears.

????

I love my kids, but man. They can drive me nuts sometimes.


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