Birdie Thuringer

Over the weekend, PJ looked at me on twice and asked when he could golf. Like he was waiting for me to say, "Go NOW! Play 36!!". But he asked at 4:30 and 5 p.m. respectively, and instead I said "What about dinner? And baths!". He wanted to take Ava to play 9 holes, which I was all about, but the timing was all wrong. So I suggested that they go Monday. I would have dinner ready as close to 5:30 as I could, and they could eat quick and go. I made Chicken Kiev (I happened upon the recipe and happened to have plain yogurt AND fresh chives already- crazy!) and made the beans we got in the csa bag. Then they were off. Ava is still a little young to go as the people golfing behind PJ had to tell him not to swing a couple of times as she wanted to be close to him and doesn't truly understand about the club colliding with her head. But all in all they had a great time. She was practicing in the yard earlier in the day while I was weeding and was excited to show Dad her new skillz. We'll see if she shows continued interest in this. Then Birdie would be a totally appropriate nickname!

On a Rainy Morning

On a rainy morning the kids and I like to start our day slowly, in our pj's till 10 ish, lazy breakfast, imaginary play (Ava's new thing is playing Bob Evans- I am always Sheila the Server, and she orders for herself and her brother- every. meal!). And Fred, in that spirit, likes to curl up with the Little Man on the beanbag and start the day slowly as well.

Big Fat Childrens Clothing Sale

So there's a phenomenon I am sure is not just around these parts, but is new to me, and that is the Big Church Sale. I attended one of these Big Church Sales yesterday with the intent of procuring some gently used clothes for the kids. And boy what an experience! A friend called and asked if I wanted to go- she said she was pretty motivated to find some clothes for her little one as he is growing like a weed. I was also interested and quite motivated as James is rapidly outgrowing a lot of his things too. I found out from another friend where the church was and searched it out on Google, and found the info on one of the local news channels web sites. It started at 8 a.m. and L and I decided we had better get there right at the start. We got there about quarter to, and we were not anywhere near the first ones. The parking lot was filling up FAST. We went in the door, and at first stop a lady gave you a number and a map (!!!). Then we went into the gymnasium to wait. The announcer said that first they would let in the first 150 people, then wait about 10 minutes and let in the next 50, and so on. So that happened, and a short while later we, as numbers 254 and 255, got lined up to go in. Now we were prepared as we had a map, and it was byobag (which we did although I saw lots of folks without altogether or with laundry baskets or hampers it was that crazy!). L and I were kind of competing for clothes as she was looking for the same size for her son as I was for James. It did not turn to fisticuffs thankfully. We perused a really big table for the boys, and I went and checked a rack for coats / snowsuits for both James and Ava. Then over to the girls area for Ava, then back for James, then back again for Ava. PJ had gotten me $60 in cash the night before, so I had to stay within that perameter. I stuffed 2 bags full then sat down in a quiet area to go thru, add the totals, and weed out things I wasn't sure about. I calculated about $52 or $53, rounding up, and decided to be done. But then was thinking that the kids don't have jackets for fall at all so I went back. Found James one, and then while waiting for L went thru the boys table again and found a pair of sleepers. I knew I HAD to stop or I would be toast, so I left the general area, and when she was ready we went to check out. All in all, I got for James: 2 pair khaki pants, 2 jeans, 2 overalls, 4 longsleeved shirts, 2 one piece outfits, 2 footed pyjamas, and a jacket. For Ava, there were 2 pairs of pants/leggings, 2 nicer dresses (one Talbots!), 2 more casual dresses for school, and 2 turtlenecks. And, get ready for this, my grand total for ALL THIS LOOT was $59.75 !!!!! Talk about WHEW! It was an awesome experience. There were a lot of people volunteering the sale, so when people would go thru their stuff to weed out, there were plenty of baskets laying around to put what you didn't want into and those ladies emptied the baskets and had that merch back on the tables lickety split. It was a very smoothly run operation, and L and I both got a lot of nice clothes for great prices. This particular church runs a spring sale as well, and I think this particular church sale is well known for doing just kids clothes. Apparently the sellers keep 90% of the profits, the church keeps 10% and whatever it doesn't use to advertise or pay for it's costs for the sale it uses for it's community outreach work. L heard that there's a waiting list for sellers, as well as volunteers (they get to go thru everything before the sale for first dibs!). Also, she heard someone say the first people got there at 2:30 a.m. !!!!!!!!! Now THAT is motivation. After the sale we went out and had a great breakfast at a local place she read about in the paper, and when she dropped me at home her husband and son were here visiting with PJ and the kids. So we hung out for a few and broke the party up to have lunch. It was a very successful morning for sure.
Tomorrow we are going out for shoes I think, so wish us luck!

No signs

We sat in our booster seat this morning despondent and thrashing about while I pleaded with him to show me either "out" or "please" or "Mommy". Nothing doing. We learned a new word, Ava and I, and decided that we would keep practicing, and hopefully he would pick it up eventually. Daddy is helping the church with a Habitat house today, with a game of golf later (where he will use his new 3 iron hybrid). It's just sad that it's 93 degrees today with about 150,968% humidity. Hopefully they will survive.
Nothing else new here. We are VERY angry (when I say we I mean Ava causing me to become). I am trying to figure out what the heck to do about it. She is sharing very well lately, and getting rewarded for it which is a bright spot for us.
We have new cucumbers ready to come out of the garden, and tomatoes galore that are almost ready. We got some corn in the csa bag, and I am trying to decide if I am going to make the corn salad or have PJ grill it in the husk. With him being gone tonight I think I may just go for the salad if I have the ingredients. Too bad there are not any little tomatoes ready to come off and go into the salad! If we get that dogwood tree transplanted we can expand the garden and plant some green onions and watermelon next year.
I have to figure out (this week I think) about when we are going to the farm, and Dick will be coming around the 25th or so (so I will be freaking out trying to get the house ready) and in less than a month Didi and Papa will be here. We are looking for some fun things to do, day trips to show them the area. There is a nature preserve here in town that has a good accessible trail we can take the stroller on so we will do that one morning, and maybe do a picnic lunch after, and I think we want to go to Amishville (aka Shipshewanna) and do some exploring. Also heard the new Elkhart farmers market is amazing, so that might occur too. And PJ instructed me to allow for him and Tom to golf like 6 or 7 times. So we will be pretty busy around here for the next while.
The new countertops should be in in the next 2-3 weeks, and I found a tile outlet store but they were closed when I went Saturday (!!!), so will have no choice but to take the Darling Angels and pray that they remain calm and still and quiet while I try to decide on a backsplash. Yikes.
Now I am just rambling and must go feed my children. Take care!

Signs

Yesterday I declared that I did not think the boy would ever sign anything to us. Ever. Then tonight he melts my heart by signing "Mommy". Helps make up for the fussiness he is going through right now due to teeth, the poor boy. He continues to be the most darling thing in the world (seriously) and makes us so happy every day. Except when he is shrieking. Then not so much.

Reference

For reference on garden size, these are the pictures from when said garden was first planted. Quite a change from below! (edited to add, the last picture is from June 30)

Garden

The garden started out small and quaint, and is now a beautiful mass of green and yellow, and soon to be red. There are zucchini coming out of our ears, and in addition we have harvested the best cucumbers and a super yummy pepper. The tomatoes will be forthcoming soon, and there is a broccoli fighting for light and food in there too that will give food soon from what we discovered yesterday. So far we have eaten the cucumber mainly in salad, and the zucchini has been prepared just sauteed in olive oil and salt and pepper, in a super yummy bread from the America's Test Kitchen book, and in a thai-ish rice noodle dish I got from our csa group. I recently got a book from the library with a simple-ish recipe for zucchini cake- instead of frosting, tho, you put lime curd on top and between the 2 layers. I am waiting for another huge zucchini to come off the vine for that one and will let you all know how it turns out. I can say with certainty that the zucchini bread is a hit, and is REALLY good toasted and topped with a bit of peanut butter. MMMMmmmmmmm...

The garden as we see it now is quite different than these pictures here. You can no longer see the tomato cages, and the tomatoes are as tall as the fence. Also PJ had to take out the chicken wire on the sides to let the plants spread out a bit. There are tomatoes and zucchini outside of the garden, but the little dogwood tree is sharing it's space nicely, and in return I am lobbying for it to be moved to a spot better for it to grow.

Ava looooves going out to the garden with her daddy and bringing in the latest harvest. Between the garden and the csa, we have drastically cut down on the produce procured at the grocery, and I LOVE that!!!

Chairs

When Pauline passed away, Dick asked me if there were any items from her apartment I might want. Included in the request were 2 chairs, velvet seated, caned backed that I remember from forever ago. I beleive there are pictures of me in said chairs as quite a young lass. So it warmed my heart to see James take such an interest in these chairs. He particularly likes the one backing the front window. It's unclear how much of that is due to his desire to stand up on the chair and see what's going on in the outside world. He spends a good deal of his time in the chair, sometimes sitting quietly, sometimes moving around quite a bit and listening to Mom and Dad remind him sternly several times that he needs to sit on his bottom, or an old fave from when Ava was small, "Sit down or Get down!". Ava occasionally tries to get into the chair with him which is usually met with stern rebuffs and occasional smacking. I suggested one chair could be for her and one for him, but Ava likes a challenge. As long as there are no more falling off and landing on his head like a pogo stick (seriously that ruined his whole day) we are good. He's getting a better knack for getting down by himself, so hopefully there will be more good times to come in my (and James') favorite chairs!

Fred is (still) a super cuddler

Ava put a pillow on the floor last night for Fred, and they cuddled while waiting for Lawrence Welk to begin. It lasted about 30 seconds before the boy clamored over and tried to climb cuddle mountain!

Clavicle

Ava, James and Mom just returned from Bluffton, IN where Ava got a good bill of health, clavicle-wise. She stood VERY still for her new xray (great job!) and got a cool sticker that lost its stick in about 30 seconds after she stuck it to any/every flat surface till she settled on the stroller. The Dr. scanned the xrays into the computer and printed out a copy for us, hence the picture you see. He said she is healing great, has a slight bump which may or may not grow in size, and it's unneccesary to come back to be declared "healed", she's on such a good track. He said we should go another month before any major things, like bike riding and soccer, but to pretty much let her be a normal child and she should be just fine. I thought about the bike thing on the way home, and if I am on foot with her and able to help her over the bumps, then I think we will still put her on, as I end up helping her anyway. It will be good practice, and by the time she is healed she will be ready to fly solo over the big bumps!

Congratulations to our good healer!

There will be more posts later, (precious children! huge zucchini from the garden! new (to us) play equipment for the boy in the backyard!) but for now this is all the time we have. James may be attempting to escape out the second story window as we speak....

I know how to make a long story long, or James Eats Pesto

So tonight I had planned for dinner grilled chicken breasts, couscous, and the greens that were in last weeks csa bag that we had not eaten yet. (We had eaten everything else, including the onion that we sliced and put on our hamburgers last night and the other half of same onion sliced and roasted with the new potatoes on the grill with olive oil, salt and pepper. Mmmm.) Anyhoo, tonight was different because PJ's friend came over to test the paint on/in our house for lead. (With a couple of possible outside exceptions we are negative- Wahoo!!!) And it was our week to pick up from the co-op and deliver the csa bags to our 2 local co-csa-ers. Ava and I left and immediately hit traffic due to the construction on Crescent (they are putting in brick crosswalks and it is super pretty!) and the drive was difficult. But we got there, and delivered our fare and returned home unscathed. When we returned, PJ's friend was gone, and I asked PJ what he would like for dinner. He said he wasn't really hungry (he had the leftover giant cheeseburger for lunch with leftover salad so can't blame him) but he would make me whatever I wanted. I said there's no sense cooking up all that chicken, so I would improvise. I knew that the greens needed to be cooked, as we had new greens this week. I cooked greens last week (from the week before? or maybe we got lots...) with a recipe I found online that turned out pretty good. I didn't remember where I put the recipe, so I decided to wing it. And the fresh basil in this weeks bag inspired me to make some pasta with pesto and parmesan to go with the greens. So I get to cooking. PJ meantime had made the children meat sandwiches, which consists of various combinations of the following: turkey, ham, mayo, mustard, and cheese. He and Ava eventually left for the gym, and James and I visited while he continued to eat his meat sandwich. I remembered when cooking the greens last time that I thought there was too much chicken stock, so I used less than I remember putting in last time. It was about 1/3 cup stock, and in that I put minced garlic, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper. Heated it up, and put in the greens, turned down the heat and let it cook and steam and absorb the chicken stock. Then made the pasta (cooked in more stock) and mixed it with pesto, fresh grated parmesan, and some chopped basil. Soooo gooood. I went into the dining room to sit with James, and he took quite an interest in my plate. I am always willing to share, but tonight I didn't share the greens as I put in a lot of the crushed red pepper and they were way too spicy for him. But I gave him a piece of penne, and he looked at it and continued to holler. Now he has been doing this thing lately that he likes to take his bites off his plate. Mind you, if you put the plate on the tray, he will still dump it onto the floor, but if you hold it for him, he will find the exact right piece for that moment in time. I didn't think he would eat it- I was sure it would end up on the floor and Fred would eat it, but lo and behold, he loved it! So I let him have at as much pasta as he wanted. And he had quite a bit. So now, although Ava only eats like 5 things without complaint (one of which is pancakes which I made this morning) my heart glows to think that one day our son will eat the food that we prepare for him and not be limited to 5 items or less. Aaahhhhhhh....

(edited to add: photo courtesy of wikipedia, and sorry for all the parentheses!)

Out of Control

Our lives are spinning somewhat out of control with the advent of James giving up the morning nap. We are working with this new schedule but it is an adjustment for all of us. I am sorry for not blogging lately, I truly have things to put up, but alas right now it is time for me to work on Julia Child's life in France (I am at the part that she's mostly back in the U.S.) and examine the backs of my eyelids. More work to come, I promise. Bless you all!

She Divines Water By Dancing a Jig

I forgot to mention that in all the hubub at the ground breaking, Ava found time to help City Utilities by diving some water. She is such a good helper!

Ground Breaking

PJ Thuringer, Project Manager for Renaissance Pointe, invited his wife and children to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for said project June 27, 2007. We happily did so. Also in attendence were Chris, the developer from Indianapolis that PJ enjoys working with, Mayor Graham Richard, City Councilmen Glynn Hines and Tim Pape, mayoral candidates Tom Henry (D) and scandal ridden Matt Kelty (R). I'll tell you that story on the phone, not over the 'net folks. It's not pretty and lately is involving a Grand Jury. Yikes. Anyhoo, there were plenty of people from the City of Fort Wayne (employees) and the public. The builders were there and I was fortunate enough to meet The Brothers Lancia and the prodigal son who PJ also enjoys working with. Total salt of the earth. PJ also took photos while a few people said a few words, then the mayor got out his trusty shovel and broke that ground. We were in the back of the crowd, so pardon the pics, as I am not a tall woman, but we were swelling with pride at PJ's accomplishments. There are days that I am not sure how on earth they have gotten this far so fast! James decided to let everyone know his thoughts on the matter much to our chagrin as there were no microphones, and the mayor had to compete with our boy, and you know he has some volume! PJ says the models should be started next week, and I will continue posting about that. A special Renaissance Pointe Section of the blog. The project was mentioned in the city council meeting last night (yes we watched the city council meeting on City TV because we are young and vibrant and that's how we roll) and several people are excited about the possibilites, and I am super impatient to see this thing roll out! For now we will have to take what we can get. Good job Peege!

Our Chickens, Ourselves

I am sorry about the sizing of the pictures, I will try to correct it. I just couldn't wait to get these things up so you can see why we will never lose our children in the crowd!

PJ Junior Junior

On their last visit, Tom and Deb sent ahead a bounty of things she had saved from when PJ was little. There was a hairbrush, a blanket, and miscellaneous clothes. (Leiderhosen!) There were a couple of outfits that would fit James now, and this morning I put one on him. The fit is good, and he looks awesome. Now if we could just find a picture of PJ in this outfit, and see how much James REALLY looks like his Dad!

Beet Juice! Beet Juice! Beet Juice!

This morning I prepared the 2 lovely beets we received from the csa Thursday. According to The New Basics cookbook (which I love) there are a few ways to prepare yummy beets. (they're not just from a can people!)
As beets have always been one of my favorite foods, I was quite excited to see them in Thursday's bounty. (when I was preggers with the Birdie I ate beets incessantly. I was afraid she'd come out magenta. Also my friend and ex next door neighbor Kristen also was fond of beets and we would occasionally share a jar.) Most of the recipes in said book called for more beets, you know, like to serve 4, but since there were only two I boiled them and will cut them up and put in the salad left over from last night. PJ makes the best salads, and I got bean sprouts at the grocery last night that I added to mine (love the bean sprouts- I think I like all the veggies most people don't: sprouts, beets, brussel sprouts mmmmmmmmmmm). All that's missing is a hard boiled egg. I have to go now to check the fridge...
We'll see what shows up in this weeks bounty. Last Thursday there were some greens that we got the week before- I prepared them by sauteeing them with shallots in a little olive oil. I used to do Swiss Chard all the time and throw in a little balsamic vinagrette, but I quite liked it simply with the shallots. Laurie (our neighbor and hopefully new friend cause she is great and it seems like we have some similar interests who turned us onto this whole csa thing) said that she gets quite a few helpful recipes from her copy of The Joy of Cooking. I know I could get it new, but lately I have been trying to not buy new things unless absolutely necessary (underwear). Besides, down the street I found my new absolute favorite place of all time, an incredible used book shop. I got Alexis a few Happy Hollisters mysteries for her birthday and a copy of the Tales of Peter Rabbit for Ava, which she is in love with. There's a small room in the back with quite a few cookbooks, and while he presently doesn't have any copies of The Joy of Cooking (I left my name and number for when one comes in) there are surely SEVERAL other vintage cookbooks that I might have to acquire. There are certainly about hundreds of kids books that will become part of our library. The place is a treasure, and had I unlimited funds and space, there would be a large number of books coming home with me. Can you imagine all the kids books we could keep at the cabin for rainy days? I know it will be a small cabin, but we neet at least one bookcase, right? I think I will die a little inside if these kids don't like reading as much as I do. But in this family, it's hard to imagine that gene skipping anyone!

the Musical Stylings of Alex the Chef

So to celebrate our 6th anniversary, PJ and I went out to dinner. We got a sitter ( a girl we met at church, she is so nice and Ava is loving her) and a reccomendation for a restaurant from a coworker of PJ's. I got a new dress (thanks sjp!) and off we went. The restaurant was called The Italian Connection. It was in a strange location, which is hard to describe. It was located in kind of a residential neighborhood, but close to a bunch of retail yet off the beaten trail. It did not look like much from the outside. We parked in back, and there were a few people who worked there sitting outside the back door enjoying the nice weather. The place was smallish, and so PJ had been told it's best to have a reservation, so we were seated right away. We sat in the back room, by ourselves, and it was quiet and intimate. We had a lovely meal and a glass of wine, and we were joined by the late Pope JP II and the late Mother Theresa (in photo form of course) and when we were finished and getting ready to leave, a gentleman comes out and fires up the kareoke machine. He sang 2 Frank Sinatra tunes, and asked us to get up and dance. He had a great voice too! There was another couple who were sitting in the front who came back per his request and danced as well. It was an unexpected event that really made the evening fun. The food was good, the service was good, and there was serenading from the chef! It's one of Fort Wayne's hidden gems.
After we left there we went to Jefferson Pointe to see if there were any movies playing that we were dying to see. There were not, so we went to Club Soda to have a nightcap. Club Soda used to be some kind of textile factory that the building was wasting away so the city bought it and turned it into a restaurant/nightclub. We sat at the bar, and there was a band playing. The place was pretty packed. The ambiance there was good. It reminded me of going out in Scottsdale except it wasn't lame. It's like all the people there were there to have fun with their friends and didn't seem to be paying much attention to who was looking at them. It wasn't a "see and be seen" kind of vibe, which is what I got when going out in old town. But that is why I stopped going out there, which was like one hundred years ago, so what do I know?
Greekfest was going on down the street at Headwaters Park, but it was late and there was a cover, and I thought if we were going to go it would be fun to take the kids so they could see the dancing and taste the food. Alas, the weather did not bode well for that at all. I guess we'll have to compensate by taking them to Greektown next time we're in Chicago. Opa!

Mom's Taking us the the Zoo...

That's a Raffi song, and we sang it on the way to Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo last Monday. Judging from the weather channel, it was going to be really the only great day (not rain, not too warm) so even though Ava took over 90 minutes to consume a piece of toast, some strawberries and a small glass of oj, we went to the zoo.

The planet was there. A bunch of kids from various kids camps, something for them to do while school was out I suppose. Another reason I am super grateful for not having to worry about daycare. The kids were great. James missed am nap and Ava stayed close and was a pretty good listener considering there was quite a bit to distract her. We knew we weren't going to be there long, so we first went to the Africa exhibit. That was the only space we missed when we were there last time. It was quite a trek back, but there was some good stuff, like giraffes, Ava's fave. They are doing quite a bit of construction/expansion on this particular exhibit, so when they are done it looks like it will be quite large. After we left Africa we saw the sea lions (could not get a decent photo) and the penguins and then went to the little area where the chickens can take off their shoes and splash around a bit. I told Ava she could play but not to get completely wet as we didn't bring her suit or a towel. That lasted about 5 minutes when I saw her on all fours splashing about. We went home at that point (there were so many people there that I had to park far away and she had dried considerably by the time we got to the wagon!) and had some lunch, and that day my 2 monkeys slept like little angels. I think we will be going back to the zoo a bunch!

Water Park or Splash Park

The YMCA on the north side of town added a water/splash park to their facility. It's a big area with sprinkler like things, water guns, and buckets of water being dumped from 9 feet up or so that chickens can run around in and keep cool. That particular Y is the newest one and has the nicest equipment, so PJ will go up there and after he's done working out let's Ava run amok and have fun. A couple of weekends ago we all went to check it out. James did not really care for it, but I think that's because he is not used to it. Ava loves it, and when it gets to the mid 90's it's a great place to go and let her run out some of that energy she's got!

Fred is a super cuddler

This sweet boy is a love. He would cuddle all day long. Anyone who spends time with him (the house sitter when we were in Chicago and the babysitter when we went out for our 6TH ANNIVERSARY (!! More on that later) falls straight in love with him and his sweetness and cuddliness. Even PJ is not immune and gives him some cuddle time on the couch. Here are the boys watching a little golf.

Kick it !

Ava is enjoying her second round of soccer. We are quite proud that she likes to play with the ball and other children as opposed to the bugs and grass in the outer field. She's got quite the little legs on her and enjoys kicking goals. Ava says her favorite thing about soccer is coach Crystal. And her pretty pink soccer ball that has all sorts of admirers from her teammates. Go Ava !

Safe

Ava appropriated these safety glasses that PJ brought home a while ago. While they have been forgotten in the recent past, James has changed all this with his apparent desire for safety. Cuteness ensues. None of us are safe from these two !

Germanfest

Yesterday, the kids and I went downtown to meet Dad for lunch. This weekend (Thursday thru Sunday) is Germanfest, and in this SuperLutheran town, you can imagine there are a fair amount of Germans! We braved 90 degree temperatures, and 30-40 mph winds, and ate hot dogs and potato salad containing vinegar! (actually the kids ate no potato salad, James ate a smidge of hot dog, and Ava ate her own AND James'!) There were quite a few people there for a Thursday afternoon, and a reasonable percentage of them were from the retirement crowd. A few of the older gentlemen had on their lederhosen. It was a sight! A few couples had on super german lederhosen outfits (dresses for the ladies of course) and were boogie-ing down with the polka band. Not to be outdone, Ava insisted on having a dance. When refused by Dad's friend Dave, Dad was called upon to get out on that dance floor and show them how it is done Thuringer style. Ava could have danced all night, but alas, naps were required. We'll have to retire the accordion till next year (with the exception of Saturday Night Myron Floren, of course!)

The large boy gets a haircut

not much commenting needed on this one...

Bikes

Mommy got a new pretty pink bike! Dad and Ava surprised me with it on when they returned from Ava's first soccer class on Wednesday. I took it for a spin and it is awesome. I even got a "cool bike" comment from a neighbor down the street! I took it out to get a couple of snaps of it and Ava rode her bike around the driveway. She is doing great on it, and although she is still very wary of the bumps on the sidwalk (even the super small ones) I am hoping that as she gets more comfy with the bigger bike she'll be more comfy with the bumps. The last time we went out (she on the bike and me pushing James in the jogger) she got off her bike to push it over ANY bump during the first half, and I practically had to pull her all the way during the second half. Pushing the stroller with my right hand and pulling Ava on her bike with my left hand. Steering was interesting! She also rides what we call the ride-along with Dad, also hoping this will give her some confidence. She does enjoy it, and her bike even has a basket for Baby Hop to ride along in!

How does your garden grow?

PJ planted the garden last weekend and it appears as though there's already some new growth! We have either 4 or 5 different tomatoes, some cucumber, zucchini, and broccoli. He planted right before a good rain, which I am sure helped, and we have had some nice weather temperaturewise, until yesterday when it got above 90. Today it's going to be 85, which isn't bad, but it's pretty humid. There's a nice breeze, which is from the storm front moving in. I hear on the radio this morning that it's pretty bad just northwest of us- there was baseball sized hail cancelling hundreds of flights out of O'Hare. We may be picking up PJ from work today!

Kitty Has Style

Ava (from our bedroom): "Mommy, Lionel is wearing my necklace!"

Me (from the kitchen): "Oh, Ava, I am not so sure he likes that very much..."

Ava: "But Mommy, he is soooo STYLISH!"