Garden!

Finally, after some setbacks with Andrew's frst garden because of his shoulder surgery in mid-April, it is all planted and is really starting to bloom. A few of the crops will be harvested a few weeks later than most people since Andrew had to hold off on planting until his shoulder was back up and functionning. But, otherwise, the crops are doing great and Andrew has developed a new hobby.

Here is Farmer Andrew tonight with his two apprentices. The crops he has planted are (let's see if I can remember everything!) - several varieties of sweet corn, eggplant, regular tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, green beans, cantoulope, watermelon, and pumpkin. I think that's everything!

Yes, you will find me at the farm stand out front in a few weeks. Seriously, I am considering it if we get the over-abundance we could get if things come up as they are supposed to. :) I don't know where the heck we will put so many canned or frozen goods, but we'll figure something out!

The boys like to "help" water the plants. Ben tells Nate that he (Ben) has bigger muscles so he can use Daddy's watering can but Nate has to use the little one until he is 4. :)

The biggest zucchini so far will be ready to pick in another day or so... our first harvest!

Gotcha!

Scenario: Mom is out for the morning at a meeting so Dad has all three kids alone. Abby gets placed in her Pod seat on the counter and Dad turns his back.

Evidence: Note the fruit basket within reach of Miss. Now note that there are no longer any grapes in said basket. Hmmm...

Exhibit A: Take note of the smiley one with dark hair and a pink bow, wearing a Little Sister tee and mysteriously holding a bunch of grapes. Uh, oh...

Crime: Going behind Dad's back and surrepticiously "borrowing" the fake grapes to see if indeed they taste like real grapes :)

Summer Fun

Summer is here with the heat and humidity to prove it! Yes, it has defintely been hot this year so far, which means we have been spending lots of time outdoors. The kids love it. They could play outside from morning until evening and never get bored. The only bad part is that they are usually filthy by evening so every night has become bath night around here, unlike the winter when we can get by on an every-other-day schedule. :)

Benjamin completed his first week of camp this past week and had a blast. It was the Bucky's Bay PEAK camp at our church and they have both indoor and outdoor activities for the kids to do, including tons of wading pools and some huge blow up water slides. He had the best time and is asking for more camp, so we signed him up for two other weeks of camps at different churches in the area in July and August, one each month. He cannot wait!

We visited NJ last weekend for my birthday and also for Father's Day and have just been spending some time at home this past week in the afternoons, since Ben had such busy mornings at camp. Here are some photos of the kids at play, both at Pop and Nana's house in NJ and also at home. Water activities are very popular since it has been so hot and humid!

Hi! :) Abigail started waving hello and goodbye last weekend, just before turning 8-months old.


I LOVE this picture of dear, sweet little Natey. Such a Mama's Boy! :)


Our little character, Benjamin. Such a funny guy with such a huge heart :). We need a faster camera to capture him in pictures lately; he's always being silly and doesn't stop moving or talking all day long!!

Having fun under the sprinkler at Pop and Nana's house while the babies nap and the big boy gets to stay up with the adults :).

Lounging in the kiddie pool at home. I put it on a slight hill so that one end would be very shallow for Abigail. Clearly, the cool pool water is not among her favorite things. She looks absolutely peeved that I have placed her in this situation, especially with a two-year-old in her face asking her if she is having fun yet! ("Do I LOOK like I am enjoying myself, mister?") I did, however. want to show off her girlish figure in her pink fairy bathing suit, so she'll have to deal for a few minutes :).

Abigail's 8-Month Photos

Abigail had her 8-month-old photos today (about a week shy of 8-months old) and was the perfect subject! She napped in the morning, had a big bottle before we left and was happy, cooing and smiley the entire time. The only time she fussed was when they tried to get some tummy shots of her, which was always her choice position for photos in the past. I think she thought it was naptime and just wanted to play some more!

This was out first photoshoot of hers without the pillow to lay her in since she now sits up on her own. So, we made sure to capture lots of sitting photos since that was her most noticeable milestone since the last round of photos.

Ta-da! Introducing our little lady...

Crayola Factory

Today I met my friend Danielle and her two little boys - Joshua (4-1/2...almost :)) and Nicholas (20 months) at The Crayola Factory. This is the third time we have visited and it was fun, as usual. All four boys had a fun time being silly and playing and it was nice to catch up with Danielle again after close to a year (yikes!).

Model Magic is always popular in our house. Here are the boys, all hard at work with their creations.

Abigail in a Baby Bjorn close-up, very sleepy from having no real naps today. At least I was able to say sleepy instead of fussy. That was later in the day :).

Sidewalk chalk walkway. Erasing is always more popular than drawing in our house - lol!

Not too many photos today since it took a bit of juggling to handle all of the kids already, so the camera didn't get picked up as much as I would have liked. But, lastly, we visited the 2 Rivers Landing National Canal Museum upstairs from the Crayola Factory too. This is included on the tickets but we have never gone because Crayola usually wears us out and I honestly thought it was more for adults. Well, D and I felt a bit bad because we went at the end of our visit and the two 4-year-olds were really into the inner workings of the canal system. They got to push boats through the canals and operate the lock system themselves. But, unfortunately, the two youngest siblings (Nate was ok, just too young for the activities) were starting to lose it at this point so we didn't stay too long. Next time we are going to start here!

Cushion Forts!

What better way to spend pj day than to make cushion forts? The boys had a blast hiding and inventing games together and it occupied them for over an hour!

Being silly! Come on, guys, give me a smile....ok, I'll take two cheesy smiles if that's all I'll get!

Peek...

...a...

...boo!

Miss Abby had a ball chewing on some toys and watching the entertainment duo from her blanket :)

Toy Story!

In preparation for the biggest event of the year this coming weekend (alright, maybe just in our house)....well, in preparation for the opening of Toy Story 3 in theaters we had a few close friends over for a little Toy Story 2 party this past week since a few of them had not seen this movie yet and must see it before going to the theater for the third one. So, we got out all of our Toy Story-themed toys, made some popcorn in our ginormous popcorn maker and, of course, we had some alien cupcakes for all of the kids for after lunch.

The boys helped gather all of their Buzz, Woody, Zurg, Hamm, alien and army men toys from around the house to set out for everyone to play with. The Kriebels and the Savignanos came over so there were 6 kids and 2 babies there. I didn't take any photos of the kids, though...I can't believe I forgot. It must have been due to the shock that all 6 of them basically sat there and watched the full movie for practically the entire time without interruption!!

Snacks! the individual popcorn boxes are always a big hit with kids at movie nights...and the aliens didn't rate too badly either :)

Aren't these the cutest things you have ever seen? They are just oozing with cuteness (and sugar :)).

Toni's Baby Shower

Last Saturday I helped to throw a baby shower for a friend, Toni, who is due the end of August. It was at Amy's house and Amy and I were asked to make the cake for Toni since we both like to bake and be creative with our baking. We based the desgin on Toni's nursery bedding, Penelope from Pottery Barn Kids, which is pink, green and white with little birds on it. Here is what we came up with. The cake is covered in white fondant, the birds are fondant, the branches are chocolate and the flowers are buttercream. Only the ribbons are inedible :).


Mom-to-be Toni with (as she put it) her two "little personal bakers!' I love this picture!

Undies!

So we're giving the undies a try with Nate. He seems somewhat interested in using the potty and has lots of support from Benjamin, who insists on having potty time of his own with his little brother! Nate is 27 months old so we'll see how it goes and go back to diapers if it isn't working out yet.

Here he is in his undies, so proud of himself!!