Our Whole Harvest

I accordance with trying to eat all foods organic and/or less processed, we decided to start a very small vegetable garden this year. And when I say small, I mean very small. Four plants small. A friend gave us some of her extra seedlings, and while she had more than four, we wanted to start out small. (I'm not known for my gardening successes.) Three of the plants she gave us were of three different varieties of tomatoes and one was a bell pepper plant.

Only two of four plants took and they were both tomatoes. They grew and grew veeeeeeerrrryyyy slooooooooowly all summer long. Finally, in August, we noticed some little tiny Roma tomatoes starting to grow. We've watched them over several weeks. This week they are FINALLY ripe enough to pick! I'm afraid the four green ones you can see won't ripen before it frosts, but we'll see.

I'm guessing it took so long for them to grow because the spot they are in doesn't get enough sunlight. And the problem is, I think it's the sunniest spot in our yard! So, our gardening experiment will have to continue next year--when we'll be REALLY adventurous and maybe start six or even eight plants!

I was trying to get a picture of two of my cuties with the tomatoes and this is was they gave me. You can't even see the tomatoes!!

Not-so-green thumbs up!

Doo, Doo, Doo, Lookin' Out My Backdoor

Linus anticipates helping Daddy mow the lawn.

I know that Daddy is looking forward to the day when Linus can help, too.

Have you ever paid attention to the lyrics of this song? Weird-o-rama! I thought I'd heard that CCR was never into drugs. I think I may be mistaken!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

For Father's Day, I gave Duncan an IOU for Nationals tickets. As the season neared its end, we decided we needed to jump on it! Last Tuesday night, we packed up the kiddos to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and we were off! We grabbed some dinner from Ben's Chili Bowl and had fun talking, watching the game, and taking self-portraits. (See below.)

And as an added bonus, they won!
(Not a common occurrence during the 2008 season.)

Better luck next year, Nats!

First Haircut, Take Two

Just a few weeks after her sister's first haircut, it was Violet's turn. Truth be told, they would have had them done on the same day, but they were both a little skittish about the whole thing and both needed A LOT of talking about it before the big day. We went when each girl, while still a bit anxious, decided that THEY were ready. They both did well, but I must say Violet acted as if she'd had her haircut many times before. She practically climbed into the chair by herself to get started!

Here are the before pictures.

I ended up giving Violet a quick bath and shampoo since our waffle breakfast included syrup. You can imagine the consistency of her hair following breakfast. Not so conducive to getting a hair cut!



Here's the first cut.

Bangs!

Almost done!

All finished! New hairdo, but same sweet Violet!

Enjoying a lollipop outside of the nearby pet store.

After shot of the front...

...and the back!

As hard as it was to let the baby hair go, I think we'll ALL be so much happier. After all, it's JUST hair and it WILL grow back, right?

Eating Vs. Sleeping

Who will win? Do you wonder? Click below to find out!


Poor third child. Misses his morning nap all the time. That's how it goes, I suppose. He's just gotta adapt!

Double Stroller-->Triple

Four year old legs can only walk so far, you know.

More later,

First Day of School

Amelie.

4 years old.
To school three days a week.
Kindergarten--next year!
Where did the time go?

I think this is my favorite picture to date. It was completely spontaneous and not directed by me at all. I love it.

A rare candid of the five of us outside of Amelie's school. Our van-with-three-hubcaps behind us. ("Mommy, why does our van have three silver wheels and one black wheel?")

Sniff, sniff,

Scenes from Linus' First Birthday Party

My niece, Megan, did a fabulous job getting some pictures of Linus' party this past Saturday. Here's a small sampling. She took nearly 100 shots!

It was such a marvelous day. It was humid, but the rain held off. We had nearly 60 people come and celebrate with us! It was casual, relaxed, and lots of fun. We are ever so thankful for Linus and his life. We pray that there are many more birthdays to celebrate with him!

Linus' First Birthday

The rest of Linus' birthday was full of a nice combination of relaxation and preparation for the big par-tay, which was held on Saturday. The girls helped to make the party decorations.

Here Violet displays the napkins used as a model.

Amelie did a fabulous job painting the lion.

For dinner, we had homemade pizza and green beans. Bowie Grandma and Grandpa came over for our mini pre-party. I defrosted one cupcake and decorated it for Linus. The rest of us enjoyed some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Linus, being a third child and no stranger to sweets, knew exactly what to do with his cupcake. To begin with, he grabbed a handful of icing and shoved it in his mouth. When he was done, he wanted more! So, he got part of a cookie as well. It's only your birthday once a year, right?

Next up were the gifts. We gave Linus the Traditional Salada Family First Birthday/Christmas Block Walker. (As you may have guessed, Amelie got the Block Walker for her first birthday and Violet got it for her first Christmas.) We also gave him his little painted (by Daddy) chair and The Dangerous Book for Boys. My parents gave him the fun car twirly thing.

Since Linus is our first boy, we've never had such a thing in our home. Everyone had a blast with it!

It was a wonderful day leading up to the party to end all parties. More on that in the next post.