The Garden is In!

It was quicker and easier than I thought - now we'll have to see how maintaining the garden goes!

We've got beans, eggplant, tomatoes, swiss chard, zucchini, and sunflowers planted. We still intend to plant peas, onions and marigolds, but the feed store didn't have those when Mike went by last week. And we've got a few more things we are hoping to plant later in the summer to have as fall crops (pumpkins, broccoli, arugula).


Before we were ready to plant, the girls were fascinated with digging in the garden (they discovered ants, crickets and rolypolys).


More waiting, but this was after helping me drag over the posts to outline the garden. Clara actually carried several of these 4' long poles by herself!



Finally, it's time to make the rows (see how I am the photographer and not the one with the hoe? Good planning, eh?)


Gracie & I worked on the beans and the eggplant. This is Gracie getting ready to put in the eggplant.


Clara helping Mike get the tomato plants in. Check out the wheelbarrow full of compost in the background - that's from our compost pile that we have in the back by our barn. Pretty neat to be able to use it in the garden!


And the last step (but most important here in Texas) - water!


Some happy girls with Elvis!

Words, words, words

So I decided today that words are pretty important in our family (at least to 70% of the family ... see if you can do the math - I counted JM for it being half important since he is still working on his words).

This morning as I told John Michael "gentle" (he was trying to tear apart the plastic drawers holding paper), he looked up and tried to repeat "gen le." Very charming!

Clara's contribution came at lunch when she was explaining how you eat a carrot. Thanks to the PBS show Sid the Science Kid, she likes to show you which teeth you use to eat it. Not your front teeth, but your back "massagers."

Gracie's word is one that she's been using for several months. Recently, she asked me why the Holy Cross "pogo" couldn't be on their pants or skirts instead of their shirts.

And finally, the bonus word courtesy of Clara. She got to choose a sticker at the dr's office today (just a check up for JM since his cold has gone on so long - he's fine) and decided to choose the one with the metal/robot looking guy. It was labeled "Iron Man."

I asked her, "Do you even know who Iron Man is?" (I highly doubt it, since I don't even have a clue)

"Yes! I know who Ironing Man is!"

And so he was the rest of the day - "Ironing Man."

A new fun thing

Of course, once I got the camera out John Michael started to get nervous about his performance. He warmed up for Take 2, though.

Take 1:


Take 2:



I can't wait until he's a little taller. I'm thinking that he won't be so much the helper as Gracie was (she would always empty the dryer into the laundry basket), but that I will have to pay attention to make sure that hisknee doesn't end up on the door. I don't think I want a permanent-pressed boy!

Costco treats

So we found a new treat that we like at Costco. They're called "Veggie Straws." I'm sure they are not the healthiest things in the world (the second ingredient is the oil!), but they're better than potato chips and they do have tomato and spinach in them.



That's what we were doing today. But this is what Mikey was up to:



Thanks to his efforts, maybe we'll be able to enjoy veggies in their more natural form later this summer! (Don't feel too bad for him - we gave him some of the veggie straws once he was done!)

Friday's Activity - The Race

Yes, the party planner was busy again this week. I don't remember the rest of the week's activities, but this Friday was race day. Of course, it was time for dinner, John Michael was tired & hungry and Mike had just gotten home from work. We managed to get through it, but you might notice some disgruntled faces along the way...


At the start line - check out Clara. I think I was being told to "line up!" Notice the numbers taped to the backs - Gracie had made them earlier in the day, complete with names and a different number for all of us (only Elvis was spared, poor Mike had to wear two - one for him & one for JM).


The dance of joy (for some) at the finish line


The Organizer and (suspciously) The Winner!


The post-race picture taken by the "race photographer" (guess who assigned her that role?).
For our prizes, we were all given books (made from construction paper) with our names on them later that evening (made again by Gracie).

Just let us know if you would like to participate in any of the fun activities that happen daily at the house. I'm sure our Organizer would be happy to include you! I'll let you know what's coming up if I can get the Organizer to give me more than about a 30 minute notice!

Another few new tricks

Okay, I know I just did a post on John Michael's new tricks. But I forgot a few (oops) and now there are a few more.

One I didn't mention at the time is that he had started sleeping through the night. But I'm out of luck on that one - he has a cold right now, so after three nights of not waking up until 5 or 6 am, he's back to waking up once in the middle of the night. I'm sure it's just the cold, right?? The nightshirt Mom gave me is coming in handy - it says "Mommy Needs Sleep." I'm assuming it will start working better once the kids can read!

This trick started a few weeks ago -


Now both girls like to get him to push them along. He seems to prefer pushing while on his knees. If he tries to stand the Jeep can get going too fast and get away from him! (so yes, he's still practicing for walking!)

This is the "I'm so excited Mommy let me pull this out of the paper drawer & didn't immediately take it away!" look:


This next one is such a boy thing. John Michael takes the loop-the-loop track off of one of the Fisher Price toys & then ta-da:

wears it around the house on his neck. He really likes it! (and it wasn't just a one time thing!)

Okay, this next one isn't so much his trick, as his patience with his sister's idea of a fun new thing for him. I don't think it needs any more description, but be sure and check out the look on his face! Oh, and only one sister has ever bothered to try this out.



Last one - this weekend has been a fun time for playing with this toy:


He likes to crawl in it, sit in it, roll it, and sometimes have his sisters in it with him (as long as things don't get too rough - I tried to institute the you can't touch anyone else (aka, "hands to self") in the tunnel rule, but it wasn't a big success).

Did you get pinched?

We didn't! (This is my untimely St. Paddy's Day post.)

We were a super green family that day - it was our crazy Tuesday - two music class day. So here's what the kids were up to during the break between classes: