I wanna live where the green grass grows...

Spring Garden

OK so we didn't plant any rows of corn, but Paul and I made our first attempt at a vegetable garden this past fall. We (by we I mean Paul) dug up about and 8x10 section with 3 rows. I ordered heirloom seeds and we did lettuce, cabbage, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, squash and beans. I think we got a few snacks out of it and also had fun. And learned a lot. When it came time to think about a Spring garden, we decided to go big, and enlarge the garden about 10 fold. We even borrowed a rototiller and added amendments, etc.

I have to say now that things are growing, this garden has become like another baby. I have to go check on it several times a day, and I'm starting to worry about what's going to happen to it when I leave for the weekend, etc. It's situated in our back yard where the kids play, so it works out perfectly. The kids play and I garden. I highly recommend this as a project for a stay at home parent! So far everything is going quite well. We bought a few seedlings from the big box store, and I also ordered lots more heirloom varieties and germinated them myself.

We are already seeing tiny green tomatoes and little baby yellow squash. I am so excited! We gave the kids their own row, although I really don't trust them in the garden too much yet. We've lost more than one pepper plant due to a little shoe snapping it in half. They love it though, and they even help me rake leaves to mulch with and take the compost out.

If you'll notice, our garden quite resembles the state of Nevada. In the top right is the original section where our fall garden was.

Making rows in early February.

Spinach. Who knew it was so easy to grow?! Next time we'll be planting LOTS more of this. The kids pick it right out of the garden and eat it.

Lettuce. Again, SO easy to grow. We did learn that you have to thin it to get it to grow better. That seems obvious now, doesn't it.

We went ahead and harvested our carrots a few weeks ago. Daddy was at work so I let the kids get in their and go digging for them.

Doing the carrot dance.

Here's "Nevada" looking a little more like a garden, and a little less like the actual state.

Cabbage from the fall garden. Unfortunately a small creature (probably a stinking mole!) enjoyed it before we did. Grrr.



New For Spring

Onions. I can't remember if they're white or yellow. We'll know soon enough.

Beans.

Little green tomatoes. We have 3 different varieties going. 9 or 10 plants total. I'm hoping we have enough to "put some away." And I'm hoping someone will show me how to do this.

Watermelon! Fingers crossed.
Our kinds neighbors treated us to a whole watermelon this weekend. The twins were adamant it came from the garden. Because we planted a seed last week.

Just in case you are curious, or if you want to trade notes, this is what we have going now:

Cucumbers - seedlings from the store and also an heirloom variety which I'm having trouble germinating.

Peppers - Jalepenos and red sweet. Also attempting orange bells from seed.

Canteloupe - heirloom from seed

Potatoes - from the farm store.

Radish: not looking hot I think I will try again in the fall
Broccoli: ditto on radish

Squash: yellow crookneck and 2 heirloom varieties

Eggplant : Black Beauty from the store. And who knew the seeds were so hard to germinate..I'm on my 3rd attempt with 2 different varieties.

Strawberries...from seed, and heirloom again. I think it will be a few years until I see and fruit but it's fun anyways.

Carrots: They are supposed to be red, fun!

And then we have all sorts of squashes growing out of the compost pile. I'm excited to see what becomes of it. I've read that you can't grow new plants from seeds from grocery store produce. This is because the big seed companies (Like Monsanto I guess) create seed that can't be reused, if you will, so that farmers have to buy new seed every year. My "freebies" are flowering profusely, but I've yet to see any "fruit", so this may be the case. We'll see.

I think that is. We are having a lot of fun and are excited to see what become of it. I'm hoping to have lots to share.

Thanks for reading :)

The Blog Lives!

We're Ba-ack! I'm not even going to pretend I'm going to get caught up on what's happened between Halloween, the date of my last post, and today.

So here's some photos of our day today. And it was a beautiful day for sure! We headed down to The Woodlands to pick up Owen's quilt for his new room. Then we went to Sweet & Sassy for a haircut for Lilly. Had a picnic in the park, then rode the trolley.

And the icing on the cake, was sprinkles, on ice cream! It was a happy day!

October

October

October went by oh so fast
The weather got a little less hot
The twins took swim class
And we played in the parks a lot

Daddy was gone for work the first week
We managed to get by better than we thought
First time to use a babysitter, she was very sweet
Kind of nice to know that sanity can be bought

The big day for mommy was finally here
After practice swims, time on bikes, and running lots of miles
Grinning from ear to ear
She finished her triathalon with a smile

Baby Ginger is officially weaned
She is getting so big it was a bittersweet day
But she was ready so it seemed
And now she is sick, is this the price we pay?

This Halloween was the best one yet
The whole family dressed up, so much fun!
Little Ariel, George, and my gnome made quite the set
They're all in bed now and the candy thrown out, save for one
...or two.

Paul is at the World Series as I write this
Wish for him they'd leave with a win
But he is crossing a bucket item off his list
One inning left now, it's looking grim

Hello November I've been waiting for you
Thanksgiving, Hot tea, Leaf Piles
Trip to the zoo planned, a festival too
Life is good, I'll remember to smile

September

Well September started off hot and as I sit here writing, we have the windows open for the first time in months. It feels great. I'm looking forward to that first cup of hot tea this fall. Maybe tomorrow.

This kids have gone back to their preschool for one day a week. The twins love it and Ginger is coming around to the idea. It's only 5.5 hours a week, but it truly makes all the difference. Today we also started swimming lessons. Plenty to keep us busy and growing.



Lilly got a Barbie DVD at the library a few weeks ago. The twins call it Barbie's Diamond Castle. I don't think that's actually the name of it, but it has stuck none the less. They were playing so well today while I got a few things done. Then they came to me so excited because they wanted me to see the diamond castle they built themselves. So of course I had to get the camera out. All those canisters, etc to the left are steps, there's even a teacup or two behind there...they had they steps increasing in size as they led up to the castle. They pulled all those fabric bins and the picnic basket together as part of the castle construction...I love their imagination.


I took this picture of Ginger yesterday. She just looked like such a big girl in her jeans and bow. But I still call her Baby Ginger. Baby for short.

This is the first day of school. They are posing with their preschool director, whom we adore! Can you see the uncertainty in Ginger's eyes?

Last year when I picked the twins up from school they were always SO excited to see me. They would literally run to me shreiking "mommy!" and give me big hugs, etc. So this year as I was walking into the school to pick them up, I decided I would go get the twins first so I could give them all of my attention since I knew they would be really excited to see me. Or so I thought. I found them playing a heated game of Memory (remember that game?) in the school's new gym with their friends. I made a big deal of my entrance and how excited I was to see them. They barely looked up from their game. I think they said "hi mom." So now I go get Baby Ginger first when I pick them up. She's very happy to see me and I get hugs. When I went to pick her up after the first day of school, the first thing she did was say "snack." School makes all my kids hungry.


We've decided to try a Fall garden this year. This is Paul constructing it, along with Owen's help. We've never had success with our past attempts at gardening, but we're convinced we're doing it right this time. So far our tomato plants look great, our beans are growing like weeds, and the squash and cabbage are growing. Spinach and lettuce will be planted in another month or so. The kids each planted their own carrot patch this weekend.

Goofing off

A lot of times when we come home, Owen likes to pretend he's Daddy and sit in the driver's seat of my car and push buttons and stuff. When he finally comes inside, I play along and ask him how work was that day, etc. One day last week, Lilly decided to join Owen. She got in the passenger seat and she was the mommy. So when they both came into the house a few minutes later, I asked them both how work was. Lilly quickly corrected me and said "mommies don't go to work." Oh. So then I asked her what mommies did. She said "mommies go the Y and to the grocery store." Can't argue with that.

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me...

The Brown family is back from vacation, and ready to take on the world. Or something. The great thing about taking a three week long vacation is that you are pretty much ready to come home and sleep in your own bed again. It's always hard to leave the great weather, beautiful river, fun activities, and free childcare, but hey, it's good, to be back home again.

Every summer we pay the surcharges to check our luggage, to take two planes, to drag 3 kids through 3 airports, to drive 1.5 hours, to get to "the cottage." The Cottage has been in Paul's family since before he was born, and he has visited there most summers of his life. We plan to follow suit. Originally purchased by his grandparents, the cottage is now owned by Paul's parents. It is directly on the magnificent St. Lawrence River, of the Thousand Islands region. Yep, like the salad dressing, that's where it was "invented." Maybe I'm partial, but it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. That river gets in your blood and draws you in. We always spend the month following our visit lamenting we aren't still there, and scheming how to stay even longer the next summer.

We had lots of visitors this summer, and were lucky to be able to rent the neighbor's cottage for overflow. In case you didn't know the definition of cottage, it means many, many people sleeping in a very, very small house. With one bathroom.

The highlight of this visit for me was learning to sail! OK I know this sounds cheesy but honestly, that's checking one off my bucket list. Paul's mom found me a (tiny) sailboat at a yard sale (yes she bought a sailboat at a garage sale). We affectionately referred to my sailboat as the bathtub, as that's about the size of it, and you are sure to be taking a bath in the river while sailing it. But all was well, and after capsizing it twice and getting "towed" in twice (or was it 3 times?) I pretty much got the hang of it. Going out for a sail and returning to the dock from which you departed, on your own, gives one a sense of pride almost indescribable. I had the biggest, dorkiest, pat-myself-on-the-back grin you could imagine. I can't wait to do it again!

And well, Paul's favorite pastime at The Cottage is fishing. Every year, he gets excited, scours all the fishing reports numerous times before we even get to the airport, get his fishing license, determines the best bait, gets up early to get out on the boat, and finds the perfect fishing spot to catch the most fish. And catches two fish. The whole time. We are now sure that it HAS to be too hot part of summer/water level too low/wrong bait/boat too loud/climate issue, and will make amends so he can catch all the fish next year.

We had a great time this summer, and thanks to all the friends and family that helped make it so. Most of all to Paul's parents for picking us up at the airport, providing us with a car, feeding us, watching our kids, and putting up with us for three weeks. We were also fortunate enough to have my aunt come for a visit, and our good friend "Uncle Mikey" was able to finally make it up as well. Lastly, most of Paul's extended family came for a huge reunion as well, and our kids got to play with/ meet their only cousins (once removed/first?) for the first time. Life is good! Enjoy the pictures.

Hard at work, but a bit of a scowl?

Lilly double-fisting it.

Lilly enjoying a peach from the farmer's market on our visit to Canada. Best. Peaches. Ever.

Big catch!

I love my family!

Best Part. It's a sailboat for ONE.

Bocce on the Green. A Brown tradition.

Caught being sweet...

Mikey and Owen. That's pure joy on both their faces.

Pirates at the Castle. It's a cottage thing.

Me in my official cottage vacation hat.

I love my goofballs.

Not so Blue.

Wow, this summer is flying by! Never thought I'd say that. I pretty much hate the heat and dread the long hot days of summer being pent up in the house. But that's just not the case so far, and for that, I am happy. We've managed to stay busy and sane, what more could a girl want? Now that swim lessons are over, we've been doing our regular library time, making trips to the Y, play dates, and movies. My parents came to visit for a few days this week and that was "super fun" as Lilly says.

With all the rain, the temperatures were actually decent last week and we were able to go pick blueberries. As you might already know, every kids loves to pick berries. For three reasons, they taste yummy, you get to get dirty, and you get to stuff your face when nobody's looking. Baby Ginger turned out to be a natural-born blueberry picker and I think ate just as many as the kids. I bit my tongue and just let all the kiddos gorge themselves on unwashed fruit while they picked - aren't you proud? We've already indulged in some awesome blueberry pancakes made by Paul this morning, and I've got a blueberry pound cake in the oven as I write. And we still have tons left in the fridge. But around here, that's not a problem.

And we still have so much to look forward too! A girls day next weekend for me, then my 10 year college friends weekend after that, then comes vacation! Paul and I have both commented that we feel exhausted all the time, never well rested. So we are now starting to make a joint effort to get to bed at a reasonable time. So far I still find myself awake well after midnight and up with the kids around 7:30. (Paul does let me sleep in on weekends, but we have a smaller house and 3 LOUD kids, so.....). Hopefully we'll both be feeling better rested very soon. I saw a shirt recently that said "These ARE the good old days." I think that's true. We may be tired and sometimes feel like we don't get a break, but I do know that life is good right now and I do not take these times for granted or wish them away. For someday I'm certain I will refer to this time as the good old days.

Granddad and Owen

Gran and Lilly

She tried to eat them all...

Some things just come naturally.