Garden 2013 | Post One

I know it's been awhile since I posted. I've gotten majorly behind in Project Life, and without it's context, the photos just seem a bit random to me. We haven't really had a big event or done anything really important since Easter around here.

That said, the weather cooperated earlier this week (right now it's raining and should be changing over to snow any minute) and I was able to get the early planting veggies in the ground.  They probably should have gone in the garden a couple weeks ago, but it's been so wet and cold.

Here's a view of our entire garden.  We have three out of sixty-four plots at our church. We inherited the plots last year. It includes the two raised beds, and then the entire back bed (part of it will hold squash, which is not yet planted).  The closer bed is perennials (see below). In the farther raised bed, I planted 10 hills of red potatoes.

Here's a box of perennials we inherited.  The rhubarb is doing really well and we'll probably have some by this weekend or next.  Last year the rhubarb did awesome and we were able to eat it until October.  There is asparagus spears coming up to the left of the rhubarb. When we got the plot last year, these were already too tall and reedy to enjoy, so I'm looking forward to getting some this year.  At the top of the bed there are strawberries. Last year there were some blooming already when we got this bed. I don't know if I should have done something to them in the fall, but they did not come back well at all!

In the large garden, I have peas on the left side with the chicken wire fence. The outer two lines on the right are carrots. In the middle is lettuce and spinach.  My plan is to plant my peppers and tomatoes in between the two, so they can take over the space of the spinach/lettuce when it dies away in the heat.  Green beans will go between the peas and carrots.

We're supposed to get precip the next few days, and hopefully the sun will shine and my garden will grow.  We'll see how this all works out.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend we had many of Darrin's family members come to visit and we got to meet our niece Oriana for the first time.  We had lots of fun!  They got in Friday after work and Grandpa joined Darrin and Ian at soccer practice. After that, everyone came home and we enjoyed some Parmesan tilapia for dinner (my favorite fish recipe, and oh, so easy!).

Saturday morning we dyed eggs.  The kids always look forward to it, but I think I like it more than they do.  After only two or three eggs, they're ready to be done.

After egg dyeing, we headed to the zoo.  We spent several hours there and had a great time. The kids and I were there a few weeks ago for spring break, but we came in from the south. Coming in our normal way, we could really see the construction changes starting to happen. It will be neat to see how they upgrade what we already think is a terrific zoo in the years to come.

While we were at the zoo, the Easter Bunny visited our house, so we were able to hunt when we got home.

Sunday morning we said our good-byes to Darrin's family and went to church. After service, there was an Easter egg hunt for the kids.

That was followed by lunch at Marlena and Noah's and another hunt. We also opened Easter baskets and the kids had fun playing with their bubble blowers.

Project Life 2013 | Week Nine

I'm starting to hit the wall. The excitement from the beginning of the year is wearing off, and I'm getting behind because I'm not as motivated. That's why you're seeing a layout from two weeks ago, but not the most recent. It's still not finished, and I have no excuses for it not to be.

Here's a look at week nine, February 25 to March 3, 2013

Annaliese turned 3 this week, there was a puppet show at church, and Annaliese held her horses for oatmeal. The insert is a picture Ian drew of our family by our house.

Back of the insert are Annaliese's birthday cards and a note from day care on her birthday. It also documents how she made it all day without an accident.  Right page, we went bowling on Saturday and then Walter came over to pay.  In snapping the picture today, I realized I never did finish this like I had thought; I meant to use tiny alphas to spell the name of the bowling alley out on the "You are here" card. I'll do that when I finish up the other weeks.

Here's a closer look at the pictures for this week:

Annaliese took princess cupcakes to school for her birthday. She had leftovers we enjoyed for dessert after supper. Glad her face was captured here- not sure I've ever seen this particular expression before. She was excited to turn 3.

The morning of her birthday, she got to open a present. She was very excited by her princess Vtech game. She loves to text on my phone, and this allows her to type a letter to a princess.

She is just a bit impatient at dinner time. Darrin always tells her to hold her horses, and she pulls her hands back like in the left picture and says, "I'm holding my horses!"  She was excited to eat oatmeal for supper.  Tonight she had an applesauce pouch squeezed on top to make a happy face.

Sunday after church service there was a pasta bar and puppet show to raise money for youth mission trips over the summer. The kids LOVE to watch the puppets, so there was no way we were going to miss this.

Ian got a free game of bowling from school for his birthday, so we met Marlena, Noah, and Walter at the bowling alley.  We played two games and it proved to be a bit long. Ian was disappointed he never knocked all the pins down, and says he prefers bowling at Grandma Diane's bowling alley.

It was Annaliese's first time every bowling, and her first ball didn't even make it to the pins. The people bowling next to us showed us the cool ramp, and it saved the day.  She'd push the ball down, and then turn around to walk back, not caring how many she knocked over. 

A shot Darrin snapped of Annaliese peeking through her dollhouse window. 

Walter came back to our house after bowling and he and Annaliese played together. The Cinderella dress has gotten a lot of wear lately, but it's getting really small on her. Have to keep my eye out for a new one!

Project Life 2013 | Weeks Seven and Eight

Finally caught up from all the birthday craziness, and tonight, once the kids are in bed, I'll order pictures for this past week and get started on it.

Week Seven February 11-17.  Covers Ian's birthday, Valentine's Day, and birthday parties for both kids. 

The left page and insert.  I included the Valentine's Ian and Annaliese gave their friends, as well as Annaliese's writing on one.  I added some love stickers to a Seafoam filler card to jazz it up a big.  The insert is a birthday certificate from Ians' teacher.

Right page for the week and insert. The insert contains all Ian's birthday cards.  I used two cards from Simple Stories for journaling cards on the right page.  For the birthday spread, I just chose a few pictures, some of which I know I probably won't include when I make actual layouts of their birthday parties for their albums.

 A closer look at the pictures for the week:

Ian had 21 Valentines to address this year.  He wrote "my friend" and "Ian" on all of them himself. By the end, he knew how to spell friend without looking.

Enjoying a cupcake on his actual birthday.  He took Batman cupcakes to school to share with his class and had enough left over for us each to eat one after supper.

Friday night we headed out to Kobe Steakhouse. It was our first time taking the kids to a Japanese steakhouse. Ian loved it, but Annaliese did not.

Food spread for the Star Wars party on Saturday night. We had "han" burgers, Jar Jar links (hot dogs), grape sabers, Vader veggies, Bow-ba Fett pasta, Jedi Juice, Yoda Soda, and Dark Side beer (a local brewery produces a beer called Dark Side).

Rapunzel spread for Annaliese's brunch. Donut tower, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs and ham served in a frying pan.

Two of my favorite pictures from the party- all the kids in their Jedi robes with their light sabers, and our family before breakfast. 

Week Eight: February 18-24. This was an interesting week in that we had Monday off for President's day, and then had Thursday and Friday off for snow days.

No inserts this week. The right side is entirely devoted to the snow days and playing in the snow.  The left page is mostly devoted to Annaliese and her week of firsts.

A closer look at pictures for this week:

Left picture: I've been bringing home books from work for Ian to read. Annaliese found this one, though, and played school with it constantly. She'd sit and "read" it, saying what she remembered I had said when I read it to her. She'd tell us, "Come sit close if you want to hear a story." Must be what her teachers say.  Right picture- Sunday the diapers came off and the underwear went on, and she's never looked back. She's holding out her hand waiting for her reward for going in the potty.

Sunday was also her first day of swimming lessons ever. You'd never know that because she was completely comfortable in the water; loved jumping in and floating. Such a little fish!

It started snowing Thursday around lunch. With no snow on the ground to play in yet, the kids spent much of the morning at the table coloring in their books. They spent at least an hour straight just sitting there.

While the snow was falling and they'd grown bored of coloring, they watched Peter Pan and Cinderella.

Friday the snow had stopped so we headed outside to play. Ian called me over so I could get a picture of him making a snow angel.

Annaliese wasn't into snow angels or sledding. She likes to be on her feet. She loves to say, "I'm balancing!" and show off her skills.

I saw on pinterest where you freeze food coloring and water inside a balloon, then unwrap them for something cool in the snow. Thing is, they take forever to freeze. I made them with the kids while we were home on Friday morning, but by Friday night they were still water. Saturday morning they seemed frozen, but when we unwrapped them, only the outside was frozen. The water sloshed around on the inside.

So glad in the winter our backyard is a hill so we can sled right here. Ian loves sledding (Annaliese actually did go twice...).  On Saturday, the sun was out, there was no breeze, and it was the perfect snow for building a snowman.

It struck me as a bit ironic that while the kids were busy playing in the 8 inches of snow on Friday, our trees were filled with robins. Guess spring is coming!