Garden

I am not a gardener. Nor do I consider myself a person with a green thumb.  But when we moved into our new home last year Nate and I decided we should have a garden.  Not a dainty garden. A big, big, garden.  We have 5 garden boxes: a 7x4, 6x4, 5x4, 4x4, and a 3x4. Why, you might ask would we make such a huge change in our attitude toward gardening?  Well mostly we just thought it would taste yummy and it would be a good experience for our kids.  That has proved true on all counts.  So now we have produce coming out our ears. I really attribute the success of our garden to my parents who came up to help us plant.  My kids and my parents planted almost all of the seeds and plants. I hardly planted a thing!  The kids have been so excited about the garden!  They have loved going out all summer and checking on the plants in their garden boxes.  Nate built us some beautiful garden boxes. In the beginning we figured if we didn't grow much at least the boxes would look nice, but we have been surprised by our own success.  Grant even likes to get in on the garden action.  I had him outside with me while I was picking some tomato's, and he ran off with one.  He thought he was pretty sneaky.  He plopped himself down on the patio and ate the whole thing.  He kept saying "mmmmmmmmmmm." My thoughts exactly you cant beat a fresh grown tomato.  So I guess I should retract my first statement, and accept what I have become. My name is Emily and I am a gardener. And I actually like gardening. I know, I am so surprised.  It has been a kind of strange evolution from a person who swore they would never garden to becoming the proud owner of 5 garden boxes, but I think that gardening is now a permanent part of our lifestyle.

Grant turns 1

Grant turned 1 back in May.  I can't believe how fast his first year went by.  I really did try to enjoy it since he is my last baby, but it just flew by.  Grant wasn't much interested in the opening gifts aspect of his party, luckily there were plenty of little people present who were more than happy to help him with that. He did however enjoy his cake.  I love to see little babies stuff their faces with delectable treats.  I am pretty sure that Grant tried to stuff at least half of his cake in his mouth at one time. Yes, the first time you eat cake I am sure it is that good that you have to get it all in as fast as possible. Cousin Max knew a good thing when he saw it and hung out under Grant's high chair snacking on Grants crumbs.  Grant is such a sweet easy going baby. He let's me tote him all over the place and  as long as we keep moving never cries or makes a fuss.  He is extremely busy, but very good natured. He is a BIG challenge in church right now.  He just wants to run around and climb on anything and everything in the building.  He loves to be chased by his siblings. He lets Lily boss him around and over mother him. He loves to go outside, if the back door opens he runs to try to escape to the back yard.  He loves music and will get down to any beat. He loves to eat tomato, cucumber, quesadillas, strawberries, and string cheese.  He is my first baby to reach his first birthday and not have any teeth. he loves books and will spend a good amount of time looking through and destroying his baby books.  It's a good thing he is our last kid, because our baby books will be lucky if they survive him.  At one he said: dad, mama, and barked like a dog.  Strangely, he loves dogs and doesn't seem to be afraid of them.  As I am writing this post he is 15 months and now says: car, ball, ily (Lily), uh oh, sit, me, shoe, bird.  He signs milk and more. The sign for more means generally that he wants to eat whatever you have.  If you ask the kids "who wants (fill in the blank)" he will say "me" no matter what you are offering.  He is a joy!  And we love having this little man in our family.   

A trip to the dairy

Lily's last field trip of the year was a trip to a local dairy.  It was a fragrant field trip to say the least, but Lily loved it!  Lily loves animals! She is always asking me if Grant is old enough that we can get a dog.  At the field trip she wasn't in the least intimidated by the calf, even though it was a little bit jumpy.  She was one of the first in line to feed and pet the not so little calf.  Lincoln accompanied us on this field trip and although he would probably not admit it, he thought it was pretty cool.  He doesn't like to get caught liking things that his baby sister thinks is cool, but don't kid yourself he still wanted to see the calf.  It was a fun time despite the dirt and smell.  I love it when my kids get to try knew things and they embrace the opportunity.  Lily definitely took full advantage of this field trip.