Garden Progress

I thought it might be fun from time to time this spring/summer to chart the progress in our garden. To that end, here are some pictures of our humble beginnings.

This was our garden on February 20, a few days after we planted it.

And here is a picture from today:

Here's our very first tomato. It's a husky cherry red. So cool! I'm excited, because there are at least 30 blooms on this plant alone. Hopefully, if we don't get any pests or anything, we'll have a ton of them this summer!
Another view of our first tiny tomato:

The first thing we actually spotted growing was this strawberry.
It has grown to a pretty nice size now. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
Between the two strawberry plants, there are nearly ten strawberries growing. Hooray!

I just noticed the other day that we have some sugar snap peas growing, too.

And here are the first buds on one of the bell pepper plants.

Yesterday, I got down in the garden while the kids were sleeping and pulled all the weeds, and I found something out: pulling weeds by yourself in the sun on a beautiful day is darn cathartic. I would even say it is restful.

And so I don't destroy the peace of that thought, I'll leave it at that.

Rice vs. Baylor

Through work, Nathan scored four box seat tickets to the Rice vs. Baylor baseball game at Minute Maid Park this weekend. Since they're fans of both teams and would be in town this weekend, we invited Nathan's parents to go with us.

It was a beautiful day, and they had the roof open:

Of course, Nathan and I love Rice baseball because we went there and because Nathan played on the team his first two years in college. But Nathan's parents are a little more conflicted: they went to Rice and support Rice baseball, but they have been at Baylor for lots of years now and go to most of the Baylor baseball games. After a little bit of back and forth, Nathan's dad ended up wearing a Baylor shirt, and his mom went a little more neutral. Ha! Nathan and I wore our Rice hats, and Nathan wore his old Rice Baseball shirt.

Here we are!

We'd like to take Noah to a game at Reckling Park sometime soon, too. Sometimes, I drive through campus and show Rice to Noah (it's conveniently across the street from the park we often visit), and I often point out the baseball stadium where Daddy used to play baseball. We think it'd be fun to take him to his first game there this season.

When we go, though, we won't be hearing the *ping* of the baseball bats; they have changed the regulations because those bats were considered too dangerous since they hit the ball harder. The new bats have less of a ping sound and more of a thunk. That's kind of disappointing to me in a very superficial/sentimental way, because those pings could be heard all over campus, and they just signify spring afternoons to me. That won't mar the fun too much when we get over to Rice for a game on campus, though!

By the way, getting a box seat at Minute Maid Park is pretty nice, y'all. Free BBQ and Cracker Jacks ain't no bad way to watch a baseball game.

Please Get Off My Bed.

This evening, we came to spend the night at my parents' house after meeting an old friend for dinner at a restaurant. Now, the restaurant scene with my kids is not exactly pretty. By the time they are done eating, they are DONE. As in, we probably need to just get up and leave, because it is a major hassle to keep them in their seats. In fact, Noah didn't really eat anything except about two bites of chicken and a handful of chips because he was so distracted, and the excitement from both the restaurant and going to GG & Grandpa's house was really too much. Finally, the kid realized he was hungry, so my mom made him some mini corn dogs at like 8:30 (keep in mind that he is usually in bed by that time). He ate them, I put him down, and at about 9:00 he came back downstairs saying he was hungry. I had him go back upstairs, promising him I'd bring him something to eat. I asked my mom if she had any of the mini corn dogs left, and she said she had thrown the last couple away. So I took Noah half a piece of bread, after which this conversation ensued (all in whispers, since Jane was asleep only feet away):

n: I don't want bread, Mommy. I want hot dogs.
L: Baby, there aren't any more hot dogs.
n: Yes, Mommy. GG made me some little hot dogs.
L: Yes, Noah, but there aren't any more hot dogs. Here is a piece of bread, if you are hungry.
n: But there are more hot dogs, Mommy, that GG made.
L: Buddy, GG threw them away and there aren't any left. Do you want this bread?
n: Can you tell GG get them out of the trash can and...
L: Baby, we don't eat food out of the trash can.
n: But can you just go get GG to get them out of the trash?
L: No, Baby, we don't eat food out of the trash can. But I brought you some bread.
n: Well GG can cook some more...
L: No, Noah.
n: ...in the oven. She can cook some more.
L: Noah, it is very late, and we are not going to cook more hot dogs. I am sorry that GG threw them in the trash, but now there are no more, and it is time for you to sleep. Now, you eat your bread and go to sleep.
[pause]
n: Please get off my bed.

Ha ha! He may have resigned himself to the fact that there were no more hot dogs, but he sure was not happy about it. Don't shoot the messenger, Noah! Ha!

Party!

This weekend, we had a little family birthday party for Jane.

I was really loving the arrangement of the strawberry rose cupcakes until Noah pointed at a blackberry and said, "There's poop on the cake!" Whatever. I laughed and still thought it was pretty. But it did make for some good jokes later.

Nathan's mom and the birthday girl.

Cuties enjoying the cake.

Typical Noah picture. :)

This chair was Jane's main gift from Nathan and me. The girl loves chairs and climbs on anything that resembles one, so we thought we'd get one just for her . . . one that does not fall over or that will otherwise hurt her! Not to mention its cuteness.

It's teatime!

Anybody up for a shopping trip?

Happy Birthday, Jane Elisabeth!

One Year Old!

My Jane Elisabeth is one year old today.

Can you believe it? She is such a big girl!

Swinging at the park today:

Janey Beth is really growing. Not only can I tell that she is getting bigger, but her little personality is changing as she develops and is able to physically do more things. For example, she is getting around more easily these days and has even taken a few stumbling steps every day for the past week or two, but she is still not walking easily, and she wants to so badly! I think the general frustration she's been venting lately may stem from the fact that she is so close to being able to do the things she wants to do.

My girl loves to play the kazoo. We have a few left over from Christmas stockings, and she learned how to play quickly by watching Noah. It's so cute to see a baby humming into a kazoo.

She also takes great delight in unloading the lower shelves of the pantry and the refrigerator. I generally let her do it, because it keeps her busy and there's nothing that can hurt her or that she can destroy . . . except the paper towels. She loves to pull them out of the bag in the pantry, unroll them, sit on them, pull on them, and eventually pull little bits off and try to eat them. She also loves to climb into the dishwasher.

Jane loves Noah and learns a lot by watching him. The other day, she watched Noah give me a kiss, then she turned to Nathan and gave him one. We're seeing her copying her brother more and more these days.

Both Jane and Noah have started singing and humming more. Just today, Jane climbed up into Noah's rocking chair and started rocking and humming. Noah didn't really do that at her age, so I think it's particularly sweet. Noah, too, has been singing more, and I love that.

Janey also loves to play peek-a-boo. She covers her face with her hands while we say, "Wheeeeere's Janey?" And then she takes them off with a big grin, and we all say, "Peek-a-boo! There she is!" She loves it.

Because I'm not making her official birthday cake until Saturday's party, I picked up some cupcakes for today. Aren't they cute? Noah chose the one with the heart on top. They were darn tasty, too. Jane's is vanilla with light pink crystals on top, there's a fleur de sel (chocolate with caramel and a touch of salt--my favorite), a coconut, and a red velvet.

Excuse the bad flash, but I wanted to see how covered in icing she got. Even after I cleaned her off, she still smelled like vanilla icing.

"Cake is AAAAAAAAAAWESOME!"

"Pardon me while I ponder the wonderfulness that is icing."

Tucson with the Drolets

This past weekend, we took a family trip to Tucson, Arizona to visit our friends, the Drolets. April and I have been friends since my family moved onto her street when we were about eight years old, and we have remained close ever since. We chat often, but we haven't seen each other in years, I've never seen her home in Tucson, and our kids have never met. So Nathan and I decided it was time for a visit.

One of the first things we did was to drive up Mt. Lemmon, just outside of town. Glory and Grace (April and Jonathan's daughters) were crazy for snow and really wanted to see some, but the only stuff up on the mountain was old, packed down, and hard, so it wasn't very fun to play with. However, the kiddos found a "slide."

View from the top of the mountain. Quite a vista.

The top of the mountain is pretty much the way you expect a mountain to look, in terms of foliage: there are lots of trees, and it's pretty green.

But as you descend, you see more rocks...

...fewer trees and more scrubby brush...

...and when you get near the bottom, CACTUS!

I was so surprised to see a mountain covered in cactus! I've never seen such a thing.

Jane had a great time being the center of attention. :) Glory (holding her) and Grace (under the blanket) really took to her and enjoyed playing with her a lot.

In fact, it was really gratifying to April and me to see our kids become good friends, just as we were. I didn't expect Noah to warm up to all the kids so well. He even snuggled with Glory on the couch.

And he played with Justus a whole lot. Those two boys could get into a lot of trouble if left to their own mischievous devices.

Another thing we did was to go to a Rodeo Fair in their neighborhood. If anyone in Tucson is reading this, you should consider living in Sahuarita! Their neighborhood is amazing and puts on these types of things very frequently. Anyway, one of the activities at the fair was a petting zoo. At this petting zoo, they brilliantly provided brushes for the kids. How fun is that? Those kiddos had so much fun with those brushes. Here's Noah brushing a sheep.

He also brushed a chicken. Why not?

Next, we got in line for the pony rides, but that line was forever freaking long. Thirty-five minutes is a long time for a three year old to have to wait in line, but Noah was so good, and I was so impressed with him. One of the things we did to try to kill time was to take pictures of ourselves:

And one of April and Justus:

We didn't forget to bring Noah's boots for the Rodeo Fair!

A picture of Nathan and Jane, waiting for us to finish with the pony ride.

Finally!

They also had a train, which we had to ride, of course. Here's Jonathan with the two boys. Nathan and I also took a turn with Noah and Jane.

The next day, we went to Madera Canyon, which is also right outside of town. It had snowed a bit in the mountains and gave everything, including the canyon, a nice dusting. I'm not sure you can see the mountains and the snow on them in this picture, but this was a view along our drive.

At a picnic spot near the canyon. I like Janey's smile here.

Nathan and Noah taking a little hike up the little canyon.

Lots of nice, craggy rocks and gnarly trees.

An enthusiastic smile from Grace, who kept saying that it was the best day ever because she was so enthralled by the snow.

Me and my girl. She's so cute and coy.

And I liked this one because it shows how much she likes to wave.

We had a great visit with our friends, and I'm really glad we went.

Symptoms

Yesterday, we were examining Nathan's symptoms, trying to figure out if he had food poisoning or a stomach bug:

N: I've been throwing up, my stomach feels queasy, I'm really fatigued, and there's an ache in my hips that's radiating into my lower back.
L: Well, it's definitely not food poisoning. You either have a stomach bug or you're pregnant.

I just got really tickled by the fact that because of a stomach bug, Nathan now has a better idea of what it's like to be pregnant. Ha!