Aren't they the sweetest?
I felt like we planted a ton of beans, but we haven't had a very large yield. Next year I plan to sow more of them. For now, we only had a small handful growing. And one evening, Joey asked if we could "please, please, please!!!" go out and harvest some green beans for dinner. So we went out and picked some. Like I said, it was only a very small handful. Here's Joey showing off our harvest. Doesn't he look excited? And he's excited about vegetables! Obviously, I'd like to encourage this!
Here's a close up. That's a whopping TEN green beans total. But Joey was thrilled to have them with our dinner. 
Here's the thing. I've cooked fresh green beans before. I steamed them. So I thought I'd do the same with these. But since there were so few, it was hard to know how much time it really needed in the steamer. I overcooked them. One of the beans actually looked kind of burned, actually. How do you burn something in a steamer? Anyway, I took out the singed one and gave the rest to Joey. He took a bite and then instantly grabbed up all the beans off his plate and made this face:
I guess I fail at green beans.
A second after the photo was taken, Kory blew all those candles out in a single puff. It was rather amazing, to tell you the truth. How does someone recovering from a kidney transplant manage such incredible lung capacity? 
After the BBQ and the usual round of board games, we headed home. Simon was exhausted from the excitement, so I stayed home with him so he could sleep while Matt took the older kids to watch fireworks. Hope you all enjoyed Independence Day!
After the presents and cake, we sat around playing games and visiting with the family. Here's Simon and his Aunt Wendy. This is Simon's new "photo face" which appears almost every time he sees a camera. I love that cheesy grin! 
Simon had lots of fun playing with Wendy that night. First, he spent some time pointing out all the different parts of her face. "Here's your forehead..."
And then he gave her a series of big wet kisses!
I tried to snap a picture of his head, but he was on the move most of the time. in this photo you can kind of see the spot - but we'd already cleaned up his hair. Initially, the entire back of his head was a big red mess.
It turned out that Simon needed two staples to close the wound. They had me hold down his body while two nurses held his head still. He was screaming the whole time since he hates being held down. The doctor leaned in to put the staples in and then paused to ask me if I was going to pass out. I wanted to smack her. I work in a hospital! I'm not upset because he's having a procedure! I'm upset because he's upset! Just get this over with! 
Here's what his head looks like today:
It's an exciting time 'round the old homestead. We're able to harvest the first few vegetables from our garden. It's so exciting to have fresh produce at our fingertips. Kristin loves to come out and help pick veggies. So far we're getting zucchini, yellow crookneck squashes, and lots of cherry tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes are from the volunteer plant that came up along our fence. But there's loads more on the way! Look at how pretty our vegetables look! I love those vibrant colors.
For his birthday, we had the usual family dinner at our house: a BBQ (burgers and chicken) with potato salad, corn on the cob, and watermelon. And of course, birthday cake for dessert!
We got a cake from Costco, because they're fairly inexpensive - but of course, you get a TON of cake. Look how enormous that thing is compared to Simon! It's almost bigger than he is!
This piece of cake is actually WAY too big for him, but doesn't it look nice and manageable compared to the whole cake? Simon was very interested in the frosting, in particular:
He thoroughly enjoyed his cake and got it all over. Even in his ears! And he ran his fingers through his hair a few times for good measure.
Then we opened presents. Simon was particularly excited about this Wonder Pets book he received, and wanted to read it right away.
Of course, of all his gifts, I had my own personal favorite:
Star Wars in Concert came to San Diego in May. And, OF COURSE we had to go! Matt, Joey, Kristin, Wendy, Sean and I all had a great night out! First we went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (a favorite, to be sure) and then we headed to the Sports Arena to geek out! 
Star Wars in concert is a show that hosted by Anthony Daniels, the voice of C3PO: 
He'd give a bit of the Star Wars story as an introduction to a certain musical piece. Then a full orchestra would perform a song from the movie while images from the films were projected on a screen. 
Did I mention there were also lasers?
It was really an outstanding show. If this show ever comes to your town, I really can't recommend it enough! So much fun!
This is our first gardening year and so far it's been a success! We have all kinds of things growing. Tomatoes, melon, corn, beans, squash, berries, cucumbers, herbs and flowers. It's been amazing watching everything grow. Look at us, keeping plants alive!
The kids are having a great time helping in the garden with watering and weeding. It's been hard trying to keep Simon from walking all over the plants, though. He was used to climbing around in the area that is now our vegetable bed. But he's learning. I can't wait until later in the season when the kids can help me harvest the "fruits of our labor" and taste how delicious homegrown veggies can be.
Why, it's black pepper! It's all over the floor, all over the chair, and all over the table. Looks like someone was playing in it. Sort of finger painting in it. You can see the finger marks in this little pepper pile. 
Wow. Whoever did this probably has black pepper all over their hands now. Hope they don't do something silly. Like put their hands in their mouth. I'm sure that would be fairly unpleasant. Don't you agree, Simon?
"Water, give me water!"
"And a bath would probably be nice too...though my tongue is still on fire."
Last week at the school was Kindergarten Performance Night. We got to see a song or dance from each of the kindergarten classes. Kristin's class did an extended version of the song they performed for the International Fair. All the kids had to wear their animal costumes. Kristin, as you might remember, was a zebra. I'd sewn her a simple tunic, but it was really too long. So we cut it a bit shorter, and then we used the remaining fabric as a headband. 
Simon was very interested in all the music and dancing. Since the auditorium was really packed, Matt held Simon up on his shoulders so he could see. I thought it was funny how Simon basically used Matt's cheeks as hand grips.
Joey made that all by himself. I was so impressed.
When Joey and Kristin smile nicely, Simon is usually crying. When Simon is in a picture-taking mood, Joey and Kristin make faces. I've got to hand it to them - they always keep me on my toes.
One of my favorite places in San Diego is Summers Past Farms. It's such a beautiful place. So many gorgeous flowers and plants! Last year was the first time we went to their annual Sweet Pea Day as a family, and we had such a good time we decided to go again this year. Sweet Pea Day is basically just an excuse to get out and enjoy the lovely Spring weather - with extra emphasis on the sweet peas growing in the garden! The owners of the farm have a little maze made all out of blooming sweet peas: 
And, as part of Sweet Pea Day, you can wander through the maze and cut your own bouquet. I just adore sweet peas. They're so delicate and fluttery, and they smell divine. 
Of course, there are a ton of people who come to the farm on Sweet Pea Day. So many, in fact, that we decided to skip waiting in line for the sweet pea maze and instead just spent the morning walking around the gardens.
Here are Joey and Kristin on the footbridge that spans the small stream in the middle of the farm. 
We also took some time to shop in their nursery. They sell scented geraniums there. They have geraniums that smell like roses, like chocolate mint, like lemon, or (my favorite) like green apples. I also got a few herbs to plant in my garden. I was also tempted to buy some of these cosmos:
I've plented several cosmos in our yard, but so far we only have greenery - no blossoms yet. So I really loved the idea of putting these blooming cosmos into the garden. But I resisted. I can wait for my own flowers to bloom!
