Signs of Life in the Garden!

A few months ago, Joey came home from Cub Scouts with three tomato plants. He promptly put them in the back yard, and our first "real" gardening efforts began. We were determined to keep these plants alive and (hopefully) get a few actual tomatoes from them! They quickly outgrew the plastic containers they came in, so we repotted them into terra cotta pots we had on hand and moved them to a sunny spot in the yard. It was very exciting about a week ago when we discovered there really are tomatoes out there! So far, only two of the three plants have tomatoes, but the third one has some flowers on it now so I'm hopeful! Here's a picture of our one cherry tomato (we only have ONE tomato on this plant, but isn't it adorable?)This tomato plant didn't come with a label so I have no idea what type of tomato it is. But it's growing a ton of little guys! They're just a few tiny signs of life, but I count it as a gardening success. Next year, I'm planning to plant several larger plants since I hope to make and can my own tomato sauce. Wish me luck!

Goofy Kids

Alicia is a great photographer. I love when she catches candid moments like this one, with Joey and Kristin goofing around. It captures their personalities so well!This summer, the kids simply cannot get enough of the water. Whether they're running through the sprinklers, going to the water park, going to the beach, or simply splashing around in the paddling pool - they are obsessed! Note Simon in the background. What he's obsessed with is trying to eat Joey's goggles.
I'm not sure where this started, but Joey loves to pop up in the background of pictures lately. So, an otherwise sweet portrait of Simon and his Grandma Mikki ends up looking like this:I just LOVE that he does this. Yeah, I know that some people might feel like he's messing up the shot, but I disagree. I think it adds such a great element of humor. Joey is such a fun kid. He's a joy to have around.

Tandy's baby shower

Tandy's baby shower was a big event! And I mean that literally, because the girl invited over 40 people! It was almost standing room only. But, the more the merrier. Tandy had a great time, and got lots of lovely gifts.

Here's a photo of some letters that Alicia painted for Tandy to hang in the nursery. Alicia bought plain wood letters at a craft store and both designed and painted them herself. She's such a talented, artsy gal!Another super cute gift she got were these wee little bunny slippers, crocheted with love by my dear friend Cassie. I can't wait to learn to crochet so I can make adorable stuff like this! Seriously, could they be any cuter?Here's a photo of Tandy and Mom. Poor Mom was finally taking a moment to sit and relax. She was very excited and anxious about the shower. She wanted everything to be perfect for Tandy, so she was really stressing out! You wouldn't know it from this picture, though.And, just because this is my blog, I'm going to include a photo of Tandy opening MY baby gift! I went a little crazy with the gift because I wanted to get her a little of everything! When I put it all in the box, I put this story book on top: Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman. I just recently read this story, and I loved how it asked for blessings on a baby girl to make her strong and wise. I don't really understand what blueberries had to do with it, but I thought the story was sweet nonetheless.And now, we wait. Tandy's due date is August 12th, but she's ready for the baby to come any time now. Tandy says she can't stand the heat. I feel for her. Remember that Kristin came in October. So I was at the uncomfortable huge pregnancy stage through the dog days of summer myself! It's not the most fun. But, if you get a healthy baby, it's all worth it.

Garden Stones

The kids recently put together these garden stones to use in our yard. There's an area between our two orange trees that has a few stones left from the previous owner that have pictures of lilies on them, or something similar. These three perfectly fill in the empty spaces. Joey and Kristin had fun designing their own stones, and then they helped Simon with his.

Simon's Photo Face

When Joey was a baby, he seemed to have the same startled look on his face every time we took a photo, so I started referring to it as his "photo face." It seems Simon has a photo face, too. Observe:He makes this face practically every time I pull out the camera. I think this kid is going to give us a run for our money.

Another Jam Session

This week, there were some very delicious looking raspberries and blackberries at Costco. So I thought it was time to make some more jam! A few months ago when we made strawberry jam, I thought it would take all year for us to use it up. I guess I underestimated how truly delicious homemade jam is, because it's all gone now! Originally, I was going to have the same group of friends over to make jam, but it didn't work out. I still had all the berries, though, and no hope of fitting them in my freezer. So: I decided to have a solo jam session! Well, not really solo. Kristin helped me a lot. She helped me mash up and measure the berries. Then I did the cooking part. Here is what the jam looked like as it was cooking. Isn't it the most beautiful ruby red color? And it made the whole house smell like warm berries. It was divine.When all was said and done, we had three batches of jam. One was plain red raspberry, one was mixed berry (raspberry & blackberry), and one was triple berry (raspberry, black berry and strawberry). The Mixed Berry one was my favorite! But they all turned out well. I think I might make some more berry jam, actually. It's so pretty and so delicious. Stuff this good is meant to be shared!

Simon's First Birthday

One year ago today, Simon Atticus LeVine came into the world to join our family. I can't believe it's been a whole year already! To celebrate his first year, we had a birthday party here at home. Lots of friends and family came to wish him well. Simon had a great time. He especially liked his birthday cake. At first, he would only poke at it, but before long he decided to dive right in.It's kind of funny to me that Simon enjoyed his cake so much without any prompting from us. With both Joey and Kristin, we had to coax them into trying their first birthday cake. They weren't even interested in touching the frosting. Simon didn't hesitate, though. That's my boy.This next photo shows the aftermath of his cake experiment. He was messy, but happy! Sometimes a sugar buzz makes everything better.After we gave Simon a quick bath to get all that buttercream off his face (and out of his nose, and out of his ears, and out from under his fingernails...) we opened presents. Simon got so many fun things! He got lots of toys, especially toy cars! Simon LOVES cars, and didn't really have any to play with that were age appropriate for him. He also got some really cool bath toys. But more than anything, he needed clothes. And boy, did he get plenty! Yay!Since we had 14 children at the party, and not much for them to do inside, we decided to get a bouncy castle for the back yard. I thought it would be fun for the kids, and would also give them something to do while the adults visited inside. I'm really glad we got it, because it was definitely a hit! The party was at 2pm, but the bouncy castle was delivered around noon. Joey and Kristin didn't waste any time getting inside! It looked so fun, even I got in and jumped with them for a while. Of course, I ran out of energy after about five minutes. Jumping takes a lot out of you!The bouncy castle we got also had a slide built into the side of it. It was a pretty steep climb to get to the top - and a pretty steep drop to the bottom. But it was super fun! (Yes, I tried the slide a time or two myself as well!) Joey would sort of jump up before heading down the slide, so he'd sort of fly/fall down most of the slide. He thought it was great, but it kind of gave me a heart attack.Awww, look at Joey and Kristin getting along long enough for me to take a photo!Anyway, it was a really fun day! Happy birthday, my sweet Simon!