As my garden keeps on growing!!

Well, here it is as of Saturday!  It's amazing what can come out of a little seed! I had planted about 7 yellow squash plants...which I now realize was WAY too much!  We are going to be eating a lot of squash.  But, I love watching them all grow.

Here is our first yellow squash.  You can't really tell it's size from the picture, but it's ready to eat! I'm going to pick it today so we can eat it for dinner.Here is Olivia modeling the latest in green bean fashion.  She picked it and then ate it...which is great, but since we only have about 6 right now, we need all we can scrounge together to make a meal!  I am thinking we'll have enough to feed one person pretty soon...

If you look at the center of this pic, you see a little brown dried up flower...look right above that and there is the first green pepper we've gotten! It's tiny, but it's there!

Luke isn't as excited about his peas as I thought he'd be...I guess he likes them better out of the freezer!  Once again, we have enough right now for one meal!

You can see the zuchinni plant there in the middle.  We eat a lot of zuchinni's around here, so these will be enjoyed!

We have some carrots that are doing great, and my scallions are growing nicely too.  A few herbs are scattered in there.  Brad thinks I planted too much too close, but it's all growing nicely, so I'm sticking with it!  I won't be able to get there to weed again until Thursday...so I'm afraid of what I'll be facing then!!

Random thoughts

Why is it that I can put together a crib by myself, but I can't seem to figure out simple bookshelves from IKEA?
Why can I beat all three games on the Wii of Indiana Jones but I can't get passed level 1 on the kids Cars game?
I can remember where any recipe I've ever made can be found (trust me, there are a ton of random ones floating around here), but I forget any appointment that I haven't written down three times.
My daughter is really good at making her bed, but terrible at combing her hair and staying clean.
My son can talk anyone into just about anything, but no one can talk HIM into anything.
I can understand just about any 2 year old but I have no idea what the lady at the nail salon says to me on the phone.
Why have my kids inherited the worst qualities from me (Olivia and her hair again), and only a few of the good ones.
Why do I find it easier to hang out with kids sometimes rather than with their parents?
Why can't I seem to teach my kids anything when I want to? 
How will I ever teach Luke to play baseball when I can't throw a ball near his hands?  They always go over his head or in his face.
Will Olivia ever be able to concentrate on one thing at a time rather than be like me thinking of everything else but what she should be focused on?
Will Olivia ever eat a meal without half of it ending up on her clothes, the floor or on the person next to her.
How will I monitor who they're friends with once they start riding the bus and I have no control?
When will they care about whether their clothes match?
How does Luke always have perfect hair? (this drives me nuts)
How can a kid be so darn cute and so frustrating at the same time?
Will I ever be organized? 
Why can't I find the reciept I'm looking for?

Adventures in grocery shopping

Grocery shopping had become an actual enjoyment this year with Olivia being off at school and only having to tote just Luke to the store.  We found a Stop and Shop that had not only the "car carts", but also the handheld scanners so he could do the scanning.  Yes, it increased our shopping time a bit as I waited patiently for him to scan the bar codes, but it kept him involved, and most importantly, in the cart (an added bonus of a muffin or donut in there with him as well). 
Today I had to pick Olivia up early from school since it was the last day, so I thought I would treat them to lunch at Friendly's and then make them suffer at the other Stop and Shop which doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the other one had.
Well, maybe the sugar high from the sundaes was what got me because the shopping trip did not go very smoothly!
This is what it sounded like:
"Put down that jar before it breaks, we do not need pickled beets." 
"Luke, please stop running"
"No you can't sit in the cart, you'll squish the food"
"Luke, I'm going to the next aisle, are you coming?...well, we're going without you"
"Luke apologize to the lady you almost ran over, and stop running!"
"Olivia, you do not need every flavor of yogurt drink, I'm only buying one"
"No, I don't need a coupon for that, I'm not buing it just becuase there is a coupon."
"No Olivia, that is not a can of dragon toe nails" (I kid you not, it certainly looked like it might be from the picture on the can)
"Luke, what did I say about running?"
"Just because you see it on TV doesn't mean it's healthy"
"Can anyone hear me?...anyone listening?"
"No, we're not self scanning an entire grocery cart...this time"
"Who put all this gum in the cart?"

I must have looked pretty harried on my way out.  I'm pretty sure a few old ladies wanted to slip a parenting book in my cart.  I've never looked so crazy!  But, no one broke anything (it's been a while since anyone knocked over a bottle of juice or anything like that)

Camp can not start soon enough (June 24th, 16 days away).  I think I'm going to start shopping after the kids are in bed...

Thoughts on Camping

So, we took our second camping trip this weekend...and I have to say, I still don't get why people enjoy it so much!  I like the setting up of the camp and being outside (well, for the most part) and the kids really enjoy it...and of course there are the S'mores (my main reason for even going).  But, there is no way to stay even remotley clean when camping.  And you can't avoid the spiders.  Ugh, they're everywhere!  And we're not spider people.

I just don't think camping is a girl thing.  I'm not a high maintenance woman, but I like to be clean.  I can't go a day without a shower (in camping's defense, there are showers at the site).  And when a girl has to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, she can't just step outside her tent and go, she's gotta haul her butt up the trail (in the dark with all those animal noises and the spiderwebs) to the bathroom.  (I guess I need to learn to 'cop a squat')

Now, the two times we've gone camping, it's rained over night.  If you have ever slept in a tent in the rain, you know, it sucks!  Not only is the rain loud, everything starts to feel damp, and guess what, now you have to pee (see above problem)!  So, Brad and I laid awake all night long just listening to the rain start and stop...thunder, silence, weird animal noises, and then around 5 when we were just drifting off...the birds wake up.  Then Luke wakes up to look for Olivia and asks me to cuddle.  Did I mention it was like 85 degrees in the tent??                   The campsite was pretty crowded too, we were a bit farther away from the playground than last time, and it was all wet, so the kids just stuck around the camp while we set up waiting for the tent to be ready to wreck!  They got in and glossed over their job of laying out the sleeping bags to take out everthing we had brought.  At least they were enjoying themselves!

 It takes about 1.5 hours to set everything up at a campsite (only about 10 minutes to check into a hotel I'd like to point out).  That's 1.5 hours of trying to remember which poles go in the tent first, which grommets to stick the poles into and "Don"t wear your shoes in the tent!!"-reminding the kids to keep it clean!  That's the tent we sleep in...there's also a tent we eat in.  I've never seen anyone else with one of these tents, but they are awesome.  You can actually eat in a huge net and keep the bugs off.  It's the best way to eat outside (restraunts don't need these of course because they are INside)...of course you still have to avoid the spiders crawling around the table areas.  I don't mind the cooking or the fact that someone had to eat with a spoon because we only had 3 forks.  I make up for it by making S'mores with those giant marshmallows (actually too big believe it or not).  Luke took a few bites of his, but passed it over just to eat a marshmallow off a stick. 

Did I mention that I forgot my toiletries bag?  Yes, girls need things even when camping and "roughing it".  "Roughing it" means I bring travel shampoo and the Clinique bonus time face lotions instead of the really good stuff, and I only bring concealer and mascara.  It wasn't a good thing that I forgot all that at home!   We all had to share a tootbrush (luckily Brad rememberd his stuff) Hotels bring this stuff to you if you forget, or you can buy them at a store next door.

And camping to many people means peace and quiet and  maybe sleeping in...well, when there are kids around, there's not much peace and quiet!  Luke's a loud voiced kid...and it's really hard to get him to use his quiet voice.  And kids wake up early.  (though in Luke's defense, the birds were way louder)  So, if you are near our site...sorry.

In the end, we ended up packing it in this morning (wait, all that set up and then we have to tear it down less than 24 hours later!) due to the "Tornado Watch" that the campsite manager warned us about.  No thanks!  We are not sticking around for that!  The kids were really dissapointed to leave (they actually were dissapointed that they couldn't spend all day throwing rocks in the pond).  We had another camping trip planned for the end of the month, but after this one we've decided that we are not summer campers.  It doesn't make sense to sleep in a down sleeping bag in 84 degree tents.  (if only they made little ceiling fans for the tent...or an ac unit)  So, we're going to hold off for an unusually cool weekend, or September! 

Ironically, Luke was the one who slept all night long without tossing and turning, and he was the one with the nap on the ride home!

I'm not giving up on camping, I think it's an acquired taste.  I'm still developing that...

Garden Progressing Like Crazy

Remember the garden last week?  Well, look at it now! It's growing like crazy.  I go there almost everyday to weed (I'm doing a good job keeping up!) and yet I didn't even notice that we had snap peas coming out! 

We have little squash bulbs out too.  It's very exciting.  Luke spent an hour with me this morning.  He entertained himself by taking off his shirt and spraying himself with water.  I had to stop him from taking off his shorts.  There are a lot of older people there and I didn't want them to freak out!

I had to cut the lettuce right after this picture because it was growing so crazy!  We have enough for a week's worth of salads.  But, something is eating the leaves on my zucchini plants.  I have to tackle it before I start losing my plants!

Off to Kindergarten She will Go!

Olivia officially "graduated" preschool!  Well, she technically still has three days left, but she has her certificate!  Way to go Olivia!  This was such an up and down year for her.  Her teacher was...well, I won't be mean here.  She did make some great friends and can name all the musical instruments, and their families.  She can show you how to play a double bass (air style) and knows so many different dances, I can't keep track! Also notice how tall Olivia is compared to her class! She's a giant!

Here she is with her best buddy Jadelyn.  On their first day of orientation, I told her to go and say hi to Jadelyn and they became really great friends. 

Seana, Olivia and Jadelyn were the three muskateers together.  Jadelyn and Seana would save a seat for Olivia each day at breakfast, half the time she wouldn't see them and would sit somewhere else. 

Here's Mrs. Baker freaking out about using a knife with all the kids around.  She's always a bit uptight.  I'm not sure why she teaches such young kids...I don't think she knows how to deal with them (she just had a baby in January, so she'll have to start learning!)

Here are the kids eating their cake.  One of the kids moms got them one, which was really nice!  Luke was really excited to eat with the class.  They've adopted him as their unofficial mascot. (you can't really see him from this view, but he's sitting next to Olivia)

Belated pictures

Debbie brought her camera up and we downloaded some Easter pics since I didn't have any! Here are a few:Olivia showing off her new earringsLuke and Charlie on the big rock.  Luke couldn't let Charlie pose alone.Everyone crowded on Uncle Kevin's lap.Olivia (wearing bunny ears) on the big rock with Grandma...this would be nice if it wasn't for all the junk in the background!