a blessed July...and August...

I know that I have not kept these monthly posts up, but I did not want to stop them all together, so I am going to catch you up on July and August in one!

July family photo on my birthday

July was a good month. We didn't make any trips or have anything big looming or planned, but ended up having a month full of fun stuff. There was my birthday, our 10th wedding anniversary (which included dinner out, by ourselves!, thanks Mom and Dad R), and a visit from my brother M and his wife A, and also a short visit with my brother L and his fiancé J who were engaged this month too! We also spent a lot of time outside in the garden and in the backyard with the kiddie pool and sprinklers going.

August family photo in sil M's pool

August was an anxious month. Getting ready for G to start school! Yikes! Along with getting school supplies, we also had times to visit and help Mrs. B in the kindergarten room, an evening with all the kindergarteners and their families and an all school picnic to help us get ready for her big first day of school. We also were able to squeeze in a pool party, roadtrip, day at the fair, and a fun 5th birthday party for G into the month as well.

August brought our first harvest out of our garden as well. Being that we planted the garden a month late, we enjoyed fresh beans a month later than when most people did. Which means we got to enjoy a really long season of fresh green beans. And ours definitely the most productive beans we have had yet! We were able to freeze 8 quarts, and missed out on freezing another 8-10 quarts due to our galavanting all over the country. We also had several meals of fresh beans (enough so the kids would say "beans, again?"), so yummy. I am enjoying G's help and interest in the garden this year a lot. She wanted to plant the beans, help weed the beans, and of course pick them too.

G notes:

• She learned how to skip!!! This is something that she has been wanting to do for some time, but couldn't quite get it. Well, one day in Target, she finally got it! So she skipped up and down the isles while the boys and I made quite a scene cheering her on. Yeah, we are that crazy family you roll your eyes at in Target...
• Her drawing ability really has come quite a ways. Now she is adding words and crazy faces to her drawings...so much fun! She also is drawing everything that she can think of - basically anything that she can't spell the words out to that she wants to write. Yeah, I would say she is ready for kindergarten!
• We started reading chapter books with her before her quiet time every afternoon. Have read Charlotte's Web and are in the middle of Stewart Little. S and I are enjoying this just as much as G is!
• Loves being outside. Loves putting on shows. Loves visiting with our neighbors and their dogs. Loves going to the park and playing with friends and cousins. Loves green beans. Loves riding her bike. Loves summer. LOVES the fact that she will be turning 5 and going to school.

W notes:

• His vocabulary and speech have progressed a lot these months. Other people comment that they can understand him a lot better (especially over the phone). He talks more like a little kid now rather than a toddler.
• He comes up with grand stories to tell us, has a great imagination in playing with G & C and also by himself. He also instructs us how to respond to his stories and games.
• Wakes up in the morning asking for an apple to eat and if we can play a game before C wakes up. Orchard Game being his favorite, "ticket booth game" (Monopoly Jr) being second pick.
• Dislikes the doctor's office very much. He vividly remembers the drs and examinations and shots that needed to be done with the polyp we found at the end of last year. Then in July he got hand, foot and mouth and also got a hairline fracture in his foot that required an x-ray. None of these incidents helped his dislike of drs! But we are making progress thanks to Dr. Tammy and had a good 3 yr well check in August. Insert stats here when I remember where I stashed that note (forgot regular book I record that in that day) and he is in the 60th percentile for height and weight.
• Loves playing ball! Has endless patience with trying to hit a ball with his bat, asks constantly to play "baseball guy" or "football guy" or "basketball guy". My favorite part of it though is that he goes through the whole process of pretending to put on the pants and the shirt and the helmet and throws us the same and makes us do that too.
• Loves playing with his trucks. Loves playing with G. Loves reading G's books. Loves playing in the park. Loves being outside. Loves to snuggle. Loves his dadda.

C notes:

• Yeah, going to stop recording "new words" now. He knew over 50 words by the time he was 18 months, which was right around where W & G were too. Our kids have always been gifted with words and for that we are very grateful! C is adding new words all the time and is talking in small phrases now too.
• This boy can get anywhere now! He loves to run, especially after his sister and brother, and wants to be doing anything and everything they are. He especially loves to copy W. If W has a book in the car, C wants one. If W wants and apple for a snack, so does C, etc. etc.
• C also had his 18 month well check at the dr. Insert stats here when I remember where I stashed that note (forgot regular book I record that in that day) and he is in the 97th percentile for height and weight. Only 2.5 inches shorter than W! They are going to be the same size here sooner than we think.
• C has really developed a love for books lately. Before he liked books, but you always had to pick short ones as his attention span was very short with them. Now he brings us books, asks us to read them, asks us to read them again, and then goes back to the bookshelf for more. He can also be distracted from being fussy or upset now by books, which is great!
• Loves yogurt raisins. Loves being outside. Loves shoes (will wear anyones lying around!). Loves being held. Loves getting into everything. Loves his brother and sister. Loves to smile.

five...

A fabulous fifth birthday filled with mac'n'cheese, hot dogs, zucchini chocolate chip cake decorated herself, afternoon of play with cousins and friends, fantastic gifts (including a lot of tiny things which she has been asking for!), campfire with the neighbors, smores, and a special birthday show that G put on for us all at the end of the night.

What a great birthday for G!

(and don't tell that the rest of us had a lot of fun too! =)

4th annual trip to the state fair...

This is becoming one of my favorite family traditions. It was special this year too because it was our last big family hurrah before school starts for G.

Speaking of G...see how much she's grown?

quick trip before school started...

I was feeling a sense of urgency this August with the start of school looming ahead for G. Part of me felt like it was the end of freedom for her (and us), although I know it is most definitely not! Anyway, it made me think of all the things that I wanted to do before she started school. Two of them being making a trip to see my grandma, and also a visit to the farm. Being 4 hours away, it would not be an easy trip to make on a weekend, especially since G's school schedule is all day MWF. We decided to make it a trip with just the kids and I, and that way we could go for a longer period of time, also making visits to Brookings friends and S's folks in Willmar. It didn't end up being that long leisurely trip I was hoping for, but we did get to see everyone and had such a good time!

Kids reading books with Nana - thanks so much for coming out to the farm to see us, Gma! I really enjoyed our visit. Love you!

We always have a good time at the farm, one of my favorite places. Love you Mom and Dad!

Our time in Brookings was so short, I took hardly any pictures at all! But what a good time we had! Managed to fit in pizza, a garden party, ice cream, multiple drivebys to say hi to the big dinosaur, a sleepover, french toast, and magnet ladybug earrings all in less than 24 hours. Love you all!

Ah, and a quick lunch stop by Pappa and Aahma B. We are so sorry it did not work out to stay longer - the kids were all disappointed when we had to leave. Love you too!

Best of all, we got to come home to Dadda! Love love love love you!

test...

a pool party...

On the hottest day of the summer, S's sister M and her husband C invited us over after church for lunch and swimming in their pool. Mom and Dad B came as well and we had a lovely afternoon with taco salad, birthday gifts, cupcakes, LOTS of swimming, and plenty of water to drink out of 9 big Chanhassen Dinner Theater water bottles color coordinated by family. Thanks M & C for a nice afternoon!

fun week full of family...

At the beginning of July, we moved our office to the guest room, and planned to move our guest room down to the basement bedroom (NOT as scary as it sounds - it is really nice! Please, still come and visit us!). This required cleaning out the basement bedroom (used as a catch all before) and there was a lot of work to do, but we weren't getting guests until the end of them month so thought we had plenty of time. But, being procrastinators and all, we were of course working on it last minute. The evening before S asked if we could give my folks $60 and send them to a hotel. =) Later that night when we had more finished and all that needed to be done was move the bed, he asked if we could give my dad a hammer and my mom the sheets and tell them to move it themselves. =) But we finished the next morning, just in time!

husking sweetcorn with Boppa

Our week of R's started on our anniversary. My mom and dad drove all the way up to watch the kids (thank you!!!!) so S and I could have an anniversary date. We went out the day after our anniversary, and had a lovely time! We ate at a great steakhouse called Pittsburgh Blue, then strolled through the fancy shopping area, and ended the evening buying many bottles of wine at Trader Joe's (all things that we would NOT do with our children along!). Dad also installed a garage door opener for us while they were here (thank you!!!!) and Mom and Grace and I got out for a little shopping too. They left Saturday afternoon.


Sunday evening our second wave of R's arrived. My brother M and his lovely wife A came to spend a week with us! Monday and Tuesday we had a great time hanging out, playing with the kids, eating pizza, going to IKEA, and seeing some awesome double full rainbows (sorry no pics!).

My brother M is as big a Twins fan as S and I are, but unfortunately the Twins were on the road while they were here. So we did the next best thing - took a tour of the new Twins stadium on Wednesday morning. And now for a bajillion pictures of the fun!

family photo on Gold Glove statue out on the plaza while we waited for the tour to start

The stadium is fantastic and built with as many MN materials as possible so it is not just a baseball stadium, but a tribute to MN as well (and love that skyline!).

The stadium is also part Twins history museum as there are artifacts and photos and areas dedicated to all the great Twins' hall of fame players and also great moments in Twins' history. Many of these we would not have been able to see if we would have not taken the tour though, as there are a lot hung in areas you have to have big $$ tickets to be in.

Of course there were a lot of photo op's for M & A (including one of A by a picture of Safeco field - home to the Mariner's, her favorite team)...

...and us!

The kids were troopers, but by the end of the tour, their expressions in this picture say it all: "are we done yet?"

After one last picture in the Twins' dugout, we look on the field to see...

...Justin Morneau! He was hurt so not on the road with the Twins, but at home rehabbing. G had a good time telling Boppa and everyone else who we saw (even if she didn't really understand why it was a big deal =).

When the tour was finally done, we went into the Twins' store, squished a penny, and hugged the big stuffed bear to return smiles to the faces of the kids before we went home.

We drove around downtown for a bit, visiting the area where M lived for a summer, and then went home for naps for all. Wednesday evening our friends, M&A, watched the kids so that we could go out for supper (thank you!!!!) with just us big kids. I told S if he wasn't careful, I was going to start to get used to this going out to eat without the children thing (it does not happen very often)!

We found a great pub with awesome food and it was a beautiful night for sitting outside, too.

Thursday was a day for hanging out, playing Carcassone, hanging art, reading books to the kids, grilling brats and eating the fresh sweet corn and beans M&A brought with them, more Carcassone and ice cream. And staying up WAY too late talking!

M&A left on Friday morning. We made sure to get a few more photos in before they left. We had a great week with them (thank you!!!!)!

Oh, but the R fun didn't stop there! Friday evening we drove to the south side of the cities to visit my brother L and his fiancee J! Cargill, where L works, bussed the whole plant up to the cities for the weekend where they got to go to a Twins game and stay in a nice hotel. We of course took the opportunity to go and see them.

L & J were recently engaged, and we are so excited for the both of them (don't they look so happy?!!)! Even though it was a short visit, we had a good time and the kids especially enjoyed jumping all over their hotel room and Uncle L!

10 years...

happy anniversary, my dear!

S & C wedding, by c.e.b.
(this hung in their house for over a year while they waited for us to print them an actual wedding photo)

the big garden post...

Yep, this is a BIG garden post. I meant to chronicle this bit by bit...as you can see that didn't work for me. So here is everything garden-ness from our house so far this summer...

We love having a vegetable garden at our house. We have a nice spot behind our garage for one, and we have worked on it bit by bit over the 4 years in this house. When we moved in, there were little terraced beds between it and the backyard. They looked very nice, but were begging for small children to climb up them and escape. So in 2007, S took out those beds and used the landscaping bricks to build a small wall between the garden and the backyard instead. In 2008, G grew a little more so S added one more row to the retaining wall, and we also added a little more dirt. In 2009, we just concentrated on what was growing in the garden. But this year, with a beautiful early spring, S and I took a good look at it and decided to make some changes.

The plan (as of early April): Add another row of retaining bricks to the wall between the garden and backyard (last one, even though we know the kids will keep growing). Square off garden to the backyard gate (adding quite a bit to the size of the garden), continue retaining wall around the side of the garden to the garage. Figure out better composting plan. Redo and widen walkway by the garage to the spigot on the house. Add more dirt to make garden level. Be finished by Memorial Day, aka garden planting day.

Yeah, take 1 busy family, 3 small children, and a bunch of other goings-on and our garden looked like this on Memorial Day (really, we had worked on it and this was progress!):

But not to be discouraged, we kept working away when we had time. And when I say "we", I really mean S. I do believe if he had to quit pharmacy and take up another profession, it would be landscape architecture. And he would be good at it too!

Yes, this is S working on the walkway in the garden at about 10:30 at night. We got the kids down early one evening and he decided to go out to the garden to work, and when it got dark and I asked if he was going to quit an come in, he said "No, find me a light source." So an extension cord and the floor lamp it is! He worked diligently until midnight and finished the walkway and step. And our neighbors now officially think we are crazy.

See what an awesome job he did on the walkway?

Now onto extending the garden 2 feet into the side yard and building the retaining wall on the side. We had a slight change to the original plan. Instead of squaring off the garden completely, we decided to leave one of the small tiered beds next to the gate because of these:

These cone flowers were planted by the previous owners in the actual garden. We wanted it more for a vegetable garden, but loved the flowers, so we moved them next to the gate. They have been doing awful for the past 3 years so we were just going to call it quits and get rid of them. Then this year they go and do this on us. This meant more work on curvature for S, but we are happy we kept them!

S's Dad (Hi Papa B!) and Mom were here the weekend of VBS program and W's birthday, and Dad B helped S out on Saturday, which was MUCH appreciated!

They finished the wall on the side of the garden (nice and level!).

And they also used Dad B's pickup to haul in a load of dirt. We could probably use another, but we decided to go with it this year and see what compost we'll add for next year before getting another load.

We also purchased a tumbling compost bin from Costco in an attempt to make better compost (we are lazy composters and didn't turn or water our stationary bin, and then we had all sorts of chunks of leaves and sticks when we emptied it in the spring and fall). S filled the tumbler and we tumble it when we go out there every week or so, and we put all new compostable items in the black bin. Then hopefully when the compost in the tumbler is done, we will put what is in the black bin in the tumbler...and rinse and repeat...

In our heads, our second try at a goal for completion was getting everything finished by the end of June. Well, it is June 30 in this picture and we were ready for planting! Yay!

G loved helping plant the garden and is very excited about gardening in general. Nothing better than bare feet in dirt, too!

Garden planted - 5 hours before deadline. =)

Being that we planted the garden on June 30 (very late, even up here in the frozen tundra), our plant choices and hopes for success were a bit limited. We will see how our (clockwise from top left) 2 rows of green beans (Blue Lake Bush, one row organic heirloom seeds from Mom and Dad R's garden), 1 zucchini plant, 5 pepper plants (2 green and 3 red), 2 squash plants (Butter Bush - supposed to be a bush of squash rather than a vine), 1 row of sweet corn (leftover from a 10 cent packet from at least 4 years ago), and 3 tomato plants (one cherry, one roma, one Big Boy) do this year. Oops, I forgot a picture of G's carrots. She has 2 tiny rows of carrots (also very leftover seeds from previous years).

Week 3 - we are doing great! Beans are up, sweet corn is patchy, carrots are iffy, but weeds are at a minimum and the other plants are growing well.

Dad, don't look at the straightness of my corn row. Embarrassing for a farm girl...

Week 4 - OK, where did all those weeds come from? I swear they popped up overnight. Ah, I guess it is the curse of Original Sin we will never get away from...