A Whole Lot of Nothin'

That's what I have for you right now..... I have been running as fast as I can all week and feel like I am in the exact same place I was Monday. I have done tons: emailed neighborhood newsletter, five loads of laundry, chased children, taxied boys to camps and tutoring, meals and snacks (constant), baked bread 2 of 3 days this week, helped kids with pages thus becoming more distressed at what #1 seems to have never seen before, cleaned the house, grocery, Target, Costco, tried to exercise, doctor's appt for #2's anxiety about bedtime and nail biting, began packing for weekend trip, watered outside plants since the rain seems to be gone for real, chased children some more, and the list seems to get longer as the week goes on instead of shorter. G's birthday is in July and I have only the slightest glimmer of thoughts about invites and cake and how to get it together since we are out of town the week right before. If the world would just stop for 8 hours and let me catch up, I would be forever thankful. Don't look for new post until after the weekend-- we are headed out for our very American Independence Day in Canada. Buchardt Garden tour is the big event this year so I may rip out everything in my yard and start over when I get back.
love and hugs and have a terrific weekend! B

Vegetable Garden Update

Spring veggies are coming in. The carrots were horrible; pale and lifeless and pitiful compared to the harvest last year.
Putting potatoes in the corners was a mistake since they take so much room, but you have to realize this is always an experiment. I harvested potatoes on Tuesday and they were outstanding. We ate all I harvested sliced and roasted in the oven with a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic. The purple ones were great!

Peas will be harvested soon. G keeps trying to eat them now, but they are not quite ready. Hope there are some left to ripen.

Also, a pic of some lavender in full bloom below. Last year I didn't get beautiful plants like this until July.
Love and hugs, B

Tall Ships Ahoy!

During summer break it is the little adventures that get you through the week. This week's big outing was tall ships that came into the harbor for a couple of days. They were excited until I told them that the Lady Washington is a movie star--she appeared as the Interceptor in Pirates of the Carribean-- and then they went into overdrive. Lady Washington has the white bottom in this pic.

The other boat is the Hawaiin Chieftain, no blockbuster film credits, but several documentaires have been made with that one. We toured both boats and talked about taking a sail next time they visit the harbor.

The boys enjoyed seeing the ships and it broke up the week for us.

love and hugs, B

Another Walk Down Memory Lane

The nostalgia inspired by cleaning pics off the desktop continues. The quality of these pics makes me appreciate my new camera. First we have the whole family at G's third birthday.

This one takes me back to returning from a 2 week vacation to find our air conditioner DOA. We got 2 window units and camped out in the den/kitchen area for a week and a half during the hottest weeks of the year.

E's first day of first grade. A bit nervous.

Fall Festival in our Virginia neighborhood. Again, 3 great and totally different looks. E confident, G off in space somewhere, M being goofy and drooling from teething.

We had a family tradition of picking apples every fall in the mountains of Virginia. This is the boys during our final year of apple picking.

Halloween 2007. E is 6, G is 3, M is almost a year. Love M on the table in the middle of all the loot. Also love that E shed his costume and didn't bother to get dressed again before digging in.

Christmas pic 2007. D was already working in Washington and I was home with the 3 boys selling the house. And this blog was but a passing thought in the back of my mind.

The last picture of me with really short hair. After this we moved and I began the growing out process. One of the few pics that exist that I think is a really outstanding picture of me.

E look sweet. He does love stuffed animals.

We now come to the end of our walk down memory lane. Thanks for walking with me.

love and hugs, B

Before the Blog was Born

There was life before the blog and how I wish I would have been blogging then. I wish I had all those little things they said and pics of the funny things they/we did. This nostalgia was brought to you by the flash drives we bought and D loaded with pics from the dinosaur desktop computer this weekend.

M (around 7 M)

G (almost 3) E (at 6) and M (around 7 M)

G who fell asleep on the steps during a thunderstorm.

M in family baptismal gown (around 6 M)

G (2.5) E (5.5)

G- I asked him to take a pic with the flowers and he gave them a hug. This pic explains G's personality.

M (unknown age-probably 4 M). We should have nicknamed him Big Daddy. I forgot he was that tubby. He was always compared to G who was a mammoth.

Favorite baby outfit. We still have it in a baby box-- thanks S!

I took pics of them together each month to record how they looked. I love the 3 individual looks on their faces. E is Mr. Confident big kid. Giggling G. M wondering when the torture of picture taking will be over.

E (age 5) got his first helitcopter for Christmas; it has been love with flying machines ever since.

One photography class is all it took to make me pretend I am a photographer. A picture of the beach at Kiawah Island SC in sepia.

I think I have a few more pics so there will be a part two to this walk down memory lane.

love and hugs, B

Fighting the Moles

There is a substance sold here called Corry's Slug and Snail Death. I appreciate this stuff on two levels: it says what it means in the name and it does what it says. What I need now is Mole and Vole Death. Yes, it seems that I may be a mass murderer in hiding. I have been fighting the moles for over a year. I have tried the poison peanuts, the detterent granule stuff, and the mole sonic beepers. My obsession is bordering on "Caddyshack" and I have seen the device you hook to your car exhaust and then insert in the mole hole and gas them out....I haven't tried it, but am reaching that level of crazy. I have some issues.

love and hugs, B

KinderGraduation

Kindergarten graduation. I am a little teary, but G has had a fantastic year and did SO GREAT! Especially considering how we debated even sending him for this year since he is a summer birthday thus one of the youngest in the class. He also has that little "with-it-ness" issue. He made it through the year and grew leaps and bounds even in the past few weeks--today when he had the chance to leave early he chose to stay until the end of the day to play with his friends....maybe that is why I am teary. Also have to say the new glasses are too cute; I just think of Ben Folds every time I look at them. They are also just like D's glasses which is what G is focused on.

Here is what M did in the classroom during the party. He didn't even notice there was food until almost time to leave. Think this one is ready for school? The question should be: is school ready for M?

love and hugs, B

Today both E and G's classes went on their final field trip to the beach. Not just any day at the beach since it was a minus tide. The water here rises and falls 9-11 feet between high and low tide. A minus tide is lower than usual so you can see all sorts of things exposed on the beach that would normally be covered. This is the beach they went to. The whole sand spit area is underwater at high tide so you do have to be careful about getting back in before the tide returns.

You could hear shouts along the beach as kids discovered things. Crabs were most plentiful

followed second by moon snail eggs found in strange sandy rubbery formations like this

Shouts of starfish, bull fish, eel, and sea snail were also heard.

This was beautifully planned with one teacher's son creating a campfire on the beach where everyone got a turn to roast marshmellows and make smores after lunch.

All four of us had a great time and D was sad he couldn't go. Maybe we will take him back to the same park this weekend for a Father's Day adventure.

love and hugs, B

Happy Weekend!

What a great weekend! The sun was out. Not just for part of a day or one day but both days all day! YYYYIIPPPEEEEE!!!!!! We went to the zoo Sunday to celebrate ET the Walrus's birthday. Neither D nor I had ever seen a walrus in person before moving here. We are enthralled with the walruses our zoo and have passed that obsessive love on to our children. When we saw that ET's 28th birthday was today, we had to go. Here are the pics:

The kids were pretty tired by the end of the weekend.

I took these pics on Saturday during my walk. The twin peaks in the Olympic Mountains; remember the TV show Twin Peaks?

I took a few pics of pretty things. My favorite ferns in the woods.

My favorite farm.

My favorite mountain/volcano in all his glory.

Have a terrific week. love and hugs, B

Keep It Simple

It certainly isn't rocket science or a gourmet recipe, but you would've thought I hung the moon and stars at snack time. I made layered jello cups for G's Kindergaten Camp class and made 3 for the munchkins to have at home. They loved watching how they were made and loved eating them.
Sometimes it is not how fancy something is.
love and hugs and keep it simple, B