Garden

It started in February. The looking and poring over the seed catalog. The big tractors bringing dirt in from the fields. The planting of the seedlings, hoping that somehow, that would ensure that the garden would actually get finished this year...

The very expensive perfectly lovely and slightly stinky dirt that has been sitting in my parking spot for two weeks...
and here we are! Three of 9 beds finished! I'm hoping the fence gets finished soon and that we can save the very steep slope for next year... I'm already tired!
Aren't they lovely? The indigenous dirt is RED CLAY, as in, get it wet, and it's practically playdoh that takes forever to drain. Not so great for planting. We had invested lots of time and effort and rototilling into a 20 by 30 foot somewhat flat spot that after about 4 years of soil additions was showing promise. But, when the decision was made to totally revamp the space between Grandma and Grandpa Hulbert's house and ours, it was time for raised beds.

So, I did the math, toddled off to Home Depot, ordered bricks and had dirt delivered and filled Jared's camel back and sent him outside to work. I did help build the walls up quite a bit, but he did all the hard parts like the corners and making sure the bottom layer was level.
They are awesomely high (because of the slope, one side is higher than the other) and Jared has plans for water to each bed and power to put the drip systems on timers, a separate amount for each bed if I want. Isn't he smart? Once all the beds are done, he'll hook the water up and we will spread all of the walkways with rock, so it will be dust free in the summer and you won't sink in the winter. There is a big path down the middle for tractor access, if we ever need to dump more dirt or rock or whatever.
Yesterday I got to plant two beds!!!! In the first went potatoes (I think it's late for potatoes, we'll see how it goes...) and marigolds (above), sage, and nasturtium for bug control.
In the second went peas, the lettuce transplants (and some more seed), sage, cilantro, marigolds, edamame, carrots, radishes, and two kinds of beets. (the milk jugs are to protect them from the deer until the fence gets up. Hopefully the fence will beat the rest of the seedlings!)
I've been meaning to take pictures for days, Max woke up at 6 so I snuck out to get some in the good morning light. These two pictures turned out so beautiful, and it's appropriate because that's how I see my garden. I don't see dirt and trash from all of our work, I see a beautiful place full of plants and fresh produce.
Thank you Jared, for working so hard! It is and will be BEAUTIFUL!!!

Stuff.

1. Max is 9 months old now... I'm going to try to take pictures tomorrow. Let it suffice to say that he has stolen my heart and adds light to my life.

2. I gave Max some birthday cake tonight. Not just any birthday cake... rainbow cake with so much dye I'm surprised all of our teeth weren't green. He highly approved. This makes me feel slightly guilty, I NEVER would have fed Pearl frosting at 9 months! I guess this just makes me Worst Mom of the Year (or Best, if you look at it from Max's point of view).

3. I planted potatoes today. Purple ones. I feel like a real farmer. I also planted beets, but first I had to ask Sherry if we like beets. I think I've only had canned ones, fresh ones should be much better, right?

4. My amazing studly husband put in an 11 hour day in the garden. We are up to a total of 3 filled beds. Unfortunately, we have no fence yet so anything I put in would end up as a deer buffet, so today I mostly planted seeds (hope the fence will be up by the time they sprout...)

5. I made lasagna for a women's shelter with 20 7 year old brownie girl scouts this week. I think that makes up for feeding Max cake.

6. Last night I made a stir fry from the bok choi I had planted in my window boxes. Talk about feeing like a super homemaker! Don't worry, it didn't last. I'm pretty sure my sink is dirty right now.

7. Went to lunch with Jared and the boys on Friday. I love watching Jared with his boys. Those are my men (big and small). Max ate 1/5 of a cheeseburger and fries. Did I mention he only has two teeth? Not sure how he's doing it...

8. I bought Oreos because Sam asked for them in the grocery store. Sucker. Why does he have to be so dang cute!

9. In one day I made 5 pounds of meat worth of meatballs and 2 full flats (3 gallons pureed) of strawberry jam. I was tired after that.

I think that's it. I'll try to get pictures up next time:)

Baba

So, I pretty much have exclusively breastfed all of my children. They got an occasional bottle, but never when I was there to see it. I don't even think they had one often enough to be able to hold it on their own. But Max, he is my constipation champion, so he still really needs 4 ounces of pear juice daily. (a daily dose of beans has been helping as well.) Lately, he's been holding his own bottle, and I just think it's adorable. It's just something that babies do that I never really saw mine do before.

My favorite part is when he takes it out to smile at it...
and talk to it (he's working on a /b/ sound, I think it would sound more like a raspberry if I had very drooly kids).
Oh, and look, even cooler than being able to look around while you eat is the ability to grab cool toys like the vacuum cord while eating.
See, got it!
Love my sweet almost nine month old boy! Even if he does think a bottle is WAY cooler than snuggling and nursing with mom!

More Cousins

Maxi and Sidon have been having good times. This is them at Sidon's blessing, which Max slept through (thank goodness). That's why he's in jammies and Sidon is all dressed up.

At this age everything goes in your mouth. Even your cousin's nose.
This was them today in their matching outfits from Grandma. They really are both sweet smiley mellow boys. Lucky for them actually, as they are both # 3 they don't really have a choice.

No, he wasn't sad, he was pooping. Which we deem a great accomplishment.
Happy boys! Sidon was even happier later on when Max got his fingers in Sidon's mouth... I was just about to tell Max that Sidon doesn't want Max's fingers in his mouth, when I noticed that he was happily sucking away on them. We think they had Mighty Bites cereal residue on them. Yum. That cereal is from Trader Joes and is super organically healthy, but it makes Max always smell sweet like a muffin. After this incident, Sidon smelled a little bit like a muffin too:)

Hula

The Hulbert and Taylor kids spent quite a lot of time together today. This morning, the girls saw me making my kids do some yardwork and thought it would be fun to join. Then Pearl got to play with them at Grandma's house while I took Sammy to a birthday party, and then they all stayed there so I could help Jared with the garden (which I'm pretty sure will take forever. My poor seedlings!).

This was one of the results of the dress up fashion show play. To be fair to Sam, there really aren't a ton of boy dress up options, he could have done much worse. Just think Maori warrior, right? He did spend much of the rest of the day playing space rangers from Buzz Lightyear Star Command (but Cumorah hasn't see that movie, so she was a fariy space ranger).

He actually does have pretty impressive hip movement! So glad Maryann had her camera:)

The Taylor Family

Baby Sidon was blessed recently and I got to take pictures of the Taylors. Here are some of my favorites (PS this post is for Lora. It might take Maryann a while to post pictures, she's a bit busy...)

Why is Cumorah raising her hand? Well, it's because to get them to smile I asked who thinks Aunt Amy's the best... apparently I have a fan:) We'll see if she still likes me tomorrow, since I turned down her request for a caramel corn refill this evening:)
I love this picture of them because it's so romantical and Maryann is a romantic. I'm pretty sure if I saw a picture of myself doing something so cheesy I wouldn't like it, but Maryann looks cute. It's them. They just love their boy.
Adorable, no? Yes, Brian, you got a boy. And someday he'll fix jeeps with you. And this makes you happy (and us too... we're glad he's around)!

Justification.

I was thinking today and have come up with a list of reasons which justify my having a housekeeper for my tiny house. Here they are:

1. I have three kids (some of you know exactly what I mean. Enough said.)

2. She changed the sheets on Sam's bunk bed last week. They had not been changed since I was forced to to kill scarlet fever germs. So having her around gives Sam a much more hygenic life

3. I started cooking again. Which is not only healthier, but it saves us from going out to eat at least one if not two nights a week - which, if you think about it, pretty much pays for her. Tonight I am grilling a whole chicken rubbed in fresh herbs, onion, and olive oil with steamed artichokes and roasted butternut squash, fingerling potatoes, and brussels sprouts on the side.

4. I haven't bought clothes since she started. Why? Because I am actually able to keep up on laundry. I am no longer thinking the kids don't have enough underwear, because I am so on the ball now they only need like 3 pair. Seriously. The load of laundry I folded this morning mainly consisted of the clothes we wore yesterday. We have a lot of clothes. I just didn't know it before because they were sitting in the dirty mountain of laundry that I liked to ignore. Now I can admit those clothes actually exist.

5. Jared said the other day that I have been happy lately. It's true. A constantly clean house makes me happy.

6. Sometimes I wander around the house and feel like I have nothing to do. So, I organize a drawer. Or Bissel that spot on the rug that has been bugging me for a month. This makes me happy and relaxed, practically tripling my patience threshold, which is good for the whole family.

7. I am no longer defined by housework. I have a manageable amount to do every day, but I have time for other things. Now, instead of feeling like I should make time to play with Sam, I actually HAVE time to play with Sam. We did hooked on phonics yesterday. And painting. And cutting. I actually sat with Max today for 30 minutes and did my therapy color boxes with him. He mostly ate them, but I think he liked the attention. You know, the good parts of being a stay at home mom. In the end, the really important parts. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy those things.

Totally worth it!!!! Thank you Ernestina!