Any Similar Revival

Here are the photos to prove all my big talk yesterday about eggplants and peppers and such. Also, my very cute garden gnome, who helps me water and weed (sometimes. ok, almost never) and keeps me company. (always).

June is the best month for my garden. Until July. But right now, it’s June. I planted these lettuces and chard back on St. Patrick’s Day, when we were having that crazy March heat wave.

They are so yummy. You can also sort of see the baby kale coming up between them. Go kale, go!

Here is a lovely thing: volunteer hollyhocks, being all gorgeous.

I love them.

I had these little twerpuses helping me out last week. We planted more pole bean seeds. They are poking up their little green heads today, less than a week later.

Here is one who likes to eat strawberries out of my garden, pull the heads off the blooming lavender, and march round and round the garden paths. But he is mostly interested in doing this:

And then he has to show me all of his boo boos. His legs are pretty awesome right now.

I have little green tomatoes, teeny tiny purple eggplants, baby jalopenos, and onions that are starting to fall over. It’s a good year for the garden!

Because I seem to have dropped off the face of the planet. Actually, and this is embarrassing, I changed my computer settings to clear all my cookies, and couldn’t remember how to access the dashboard of my blog. And I could have, you know, just asked Chad for it, but I didn’t. So that’s why.

Basically, I’m a slacker.

Wanna see some pictures?

The boy went to Safety Town last week, which was a lot of structure for him. He was deliriously tired by Friday, but he learned 911 and “Stop-Drop-and-Roll” so it was worth it. He also informed me after fire safety day that he is going to be a fire fighter. Ok!

His first day, complete with back pack.

Walkin’ the walk.

Token dopey face photo with fire truck in background.

Future Fire Fighter!

Now that Safety Town is over, we are back to our normal activities: bike riding in the driveway and dirt digging in the dirt pile. Happy Summer!

I think this is the first time I’ve ever gardened in February. Monday was warm and sunny, and I cleaned out my front bed. Tuesday was winter again. Then spring came back on Wednesday afternoon, and I finished the front bed and started digging out the purple cone flowers and black-eyed Susans that have seeded themselves all over the place and are taking over. And today, it is winter again. I have all sorts of grand schemes for the garden this year, as usual. My biggest scheme is the one where I plan to keep up with everything through the whole summer instead of throwing in the towel in early July and letting the jungle take over. I am full of good intentions in early March, sitting at my computer with tea and a lap quilt. Garden brain. Sigh.

And since posts without pictures are kind of sad, here are some recent pages.

Or trying to be, at least. The impulse comes and goes, and sometimes, the creative juice I need doesn’t coincide with the desire. But I get some done, nonetheless.

Ha, I guess I’ve really been loving that marker-stroke alphabet!

Not a whole lot going on around here in the way of outings and events and big deals. Just playing and tea parties and baking and puttering about the house and yard. Wanna see?

Here are some recent pages, since I’m the worst blogger in the world.

We found Ada 13 years ago, abandoned at a gas station in the middle of the night. She was a sweet, affectionate cat. Always looking for a lap to snuggle on, a chin to head-butt, a dog to rub her face on. We were never sure exactly how old she was, but always figured she was around the same age as Emma, who is 14. I think she was probably much older, though. We loved her, and we’ll miss her.

Happy New Year! I love January and the feeling of a fresh start that comes with it. We’ve had a full week of people we love and fun things to do, a great way to start 2012!

First, Chad’s parents were here for a few days, and Aiden had fun bossing Grandpa and Grandma around.

We also had our first big snow of the winter, of which we took full advantage. First, we put the kid to work with his new shovel:

And then we went sledding:

He is trying to push me around on the sled here:

Then we had “The Lotion Incident”

Yeah, the lotion is off-limits now. (“but Mommy, I only used as much as my thumb, like Auntie told me!” Hmmm, some miscommunication there.)

Yesterday, we had fun hanging out with some friends, and I got to take pictures of beautiful baby M on a furry pillow.

Hello, Gorgeous!

A good week to start the year! It’s been sunny here for the past few days, which does wonders for my spirits. I’m thinking I have a bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder, because I get quite cast-downish when it’s grey for too many days in a row.

How did your first week of 2012 go?

That is Aiden’s favorite line in his favorite Christmas carol.  He is quite enamored of carols this year, and has several memorized. He bursts into them frequently, at full volume, with great gusto. He totally charmed the lady at the grocery store by singing (after a fun rendition of Rudolph) “Hark the Herald” and “Away in a Manger.” She was a bit misty-eyed afterwards. Anyways, I know it’s been quiet around here on the old blog lately, but I have a few pictures to share. Merry Christmas! I wish you all a bit of Christmas magic this year.

Yes, that is s’more trail on his face. Homemade marshmallows make AWESOME s’mores!

Still recovering from the feast last night. (And the late night Wal-mart fiasco for Legos. But that’s another post altogether.)

It was cold, but beautiful. Winnie-ther-Pooh was hot the whole time, of course. (Don’t you know what ther means?)

It’s been a good month, albeit a very rainy one! We’ve had lots of trips to the county parks this month, going on nature hikes and riding a big-boy bike for miles on end. We’ve had a lot of fun inside too, playing and learning with friends, enjoying the first fireplace blaze of the season, reading books, and baking lots of goodies. I never want October to end.