I love what little chub my babies have. As soon as they start crawling and walking they burn it all off. Beth is crawling and soon will be walking (where did the year go?!) so I will enjoy it while I can.

Cute pic, non? What you don't get a picture of is Daniel dumping her out a few seconds later. Ah well. With Daniel as a brother she'll get tough fast!

I have had the plan to make this for so long now and I'm so happy with how it finally turned out.

With two girls in the family and mom who likes to make hairbows for them we were needing a place to keep them all where we could see them.

I used a frame that I already had sitting around and a piece of foam board I snagged off freecycle because "surely I will have a use for this sometime!". I'm so glad I really did find one.



Emma helped put the clips on.


Tada!!

Stepping stones!

We got all the materials for these a few weeks ago but didn't get around to them until now.

making the design



transfering it to the mortar (got a suggestion that mortor was a bit nicer than cement)


drying

I made one with flowers on it that I really liked but didn't make it thick enough and it broke in 3 pieces. Boo. :o(

August in the garden

My first harvest!

Finally - a pepper! Third time's the charm? My first and second attempts were less than successful and rather discouraging.

Emma's first harvest!

My sister brought these from their family flower garden. Aren't they stunning?! I love the sweet peas - they are so like another favorite of mine, snapdragons. I started them from seed but they didn't survive the move and transplant. I will try again next year.



I needed a small body to get in where the tomatos have overtaken the pathway around the huckleberry bushes and pick the ripe ones. Emma was happy to help!


Can you find her?
Beth was happy to help eat them!

Our Bookshelf

The Crimson Comet

Emma and Daniel both liked the fun whimsical story. I really liked the vintage illustrations. Just a nice story of a brother and sister going on a pretend journey to the moon.

Ten Little Bears

Daniel LOVES this book! He "reads" it to me. Just a cute poem counting book. One of those random books that could go either way and Daniel just happened to love it!

The Magic Kerchief

Daniel never made it all the way through this book without losing interest. But Emma requested it lots. The story is fun without being to preachy and the pictures could be better but aren't too bad.

A Dog's Book of Bugs
Daniel found this book interesting but didn't love it the way I thought he would. Maybe in a year or so? I really love how it is written from a dog to a dog. So I thought it was charming but the kids were pretty meh. LOL

Sipping Speders Through a Straw

Don't check this one out unless you want your child walking around your house singing "99 bottles of blood on the wall - 99 bottles of blood" slightly off-tune (except for your kids Jill lol) and often at the top of their lungs! The author has written gruesome poems to be sung to common tunes (Home of the Strange, Oh, My Darling Frankenstein etc). It's a pretty fun book. There are two others like this Take Me Out of the Bathtub and I'm Still Here in the Bathtub but we haven't checked them out yet.

Looking for a Moose

This is a really great book. Both kids loved it and requested it again and again. The pictures are darling and they loved hunting for the hidden moose every few pages.

Jurassic Poop

True story: The kids and I were at the park and I asked Daniel what kinds of books he wanted to check out of the library today. He didn't know so I suggested "how about a dinosaur book?" To which he replied "no! a POOP book! A dinosaur POOP book!" He and Emma are in a stage were all you have to say to get them to giggle is poop. Or pee. Or poot. Yeah - fun times. So I said I would see what I could find. And guess what I found on the shelf? Yep. A dinosaur poop book! It wasn't a hit only beause it is written for older kids. I just couldn't believe the luck!

It's great to be back!

The familiar black lines from my viola strings.

Symphony rehearsal started tonight. Three seasons ago as soon as Daniel was old enough to stay with Tuan for a few hours I joined the local symphony. I hadn't been part of a music ensemble since I graduated college 2 years earlier. I didn't realized how much I had missed it until after that first rehearsal. I came home feeling high on music! It was a nice sumemr break but I am glad to be back.

Pink Panda Crafts

You might have noticed a new widget on my side bar. I have restocked my etsy shop! Also - my items have been featured in a playfoods treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c62aca677456d910abab23d/christmas-gifts-for-children-playfood

Check it out!

Our garden

This is a huge post - but mostly pics. I was completely inspired by my sister's virtual tour of her flower garden and thought I would give one of our gardens. This is only my 4th garden but I can't imagine not having one now. I learn tons (through mistakes and nature) each year. Enjoy!


Emma standing proudly next to her garden. She painted the sign herself. Much better garden this year than last. She has petunias, eggplant, purple coneflower, peas, tomatos and a pepper plant.

The kids made these stepping stones in art camp. Lots of fun!
Tuan helped Daniel paint his sign. Usually his garden is bursting with petunia flowers but the stars just didn't align to get the pic and the flowers all at once. Bummer.
You can see his faded rock ladybug. The paint was just waterbased. Boo.
My rhubarb (so proud of how well it's doing!), raspberries and some peas that Daniel and I planted.
We liberally spread calendula and marigold seeds that my sister saved from her garden last year. It was really late in the season though so I'm not sure we'll get flowers before it gets too cold. :o(
This was here when we moved in - any ideas what it is?
Emma's pea patch. They aren't super healthy but are really trying. We'll get a few peas (our favorite!) this season.
Teddy Bear sunflowers and polyheaded sunflowers. Not sure we'll see orange and yellow this season or not.
I'm sad to say that this is our tee-pee. I just haven't put any rope up or planted morning glories like I had planned to. The lillies at the doorway were gorgeous in bloom though!
Ok - on to my garden.

Tomatos -

I think these are the yellow pear that Emma requested. (I'm awesome at labeling can't you tell?)

Standard sandwich tomato
Roma
My sister found Chikelida huckleberry seeds - they are an annual and not the usual perrenial variety. They are huge! Up to my chest. They have lots of berries which should turn a gorgeous purple in late Aug/Sept. I can't wait!!
I planted flowers along the edge of the garden - only the back ones really show up. I love snapdraggons - def prefer them to petunias.
Sweet peppers. All of my plants looked so small - I wasn't sure which ones would survive so I just palnted them all. But I'm such a softie that I can't thin anything out to save my life. So I have tons of plants all too close together. It's probably hindering their pollination and production. I learned this lesson with carrots my first garden. I don't think I'm a very good student! lol
Brocolli - I had such high hopes for them. They were so healthy. But our late, long, cool spring turned into a hot summer overnight and they all bolted. Bah!
My favorite snapdragons are the deep red ones. I was silly and planted them too close to the tomatoes and they get way too much shade.
A portion of our front lawn was just dirt where the previous owners parked their car. My very generous bil brought in some dirt and I spread 3 oz of flax seeds onto it. Scarlet, blue and a variety that I can't remember the name but it is from the snapdragon family. Did I mention that I love snapdragons? No? Well, I do! lol

This is in my yard! Really! Don't you just feel like you are in the mountains? I LOVE it!


I haven't seen any blue peek up yet, but the blooms have just begun to show these past two weeks.

The kids and I sprinkled a shade wildflower mix among the irises.

Not as colorful as last year. Oh well.
Teddy Bear sunflowers amongst the wildflowers. Everything just had such a slow start this year but I'm really hoping for some sunflower blooms before fall.
I have big plans for this area next year. Emma wants to sell flowers at the farmers market to earn money for "my own skateboard and guitar". This would be a great place to grow them. Any suggestions for a nice cut flower that she could sell at the market?

Hi!

Hello?

HELLO!

Is anybody still there?

I haven't posted in so long I wouldn't be surprised if nobody sees this! lol

What have I been doing? Well I've been busy you see. Making things, going places - life. But really - what I have been up to can be summed up in one picture:

But because this out-take (photo shoot for Tuan's b-day present) is so dang cute you get two pictures!

Our Bookshelf

The Perfect Pony

Emma loved this one and asked for it a lot. Just a nice short story about a girl finding the perfect pony for her.

One Potato Two

This is such a fun book! I enjoyed it each time we read it. The ending is so pleasantly surprising.

Mrs. Gaddy and the Ghost

This book had Emma and Daniel cracking up. The pictures are old fashined and quirky. The somehow modest naked ghost had me cracking up.

Our Bookshelf

Adele and Simon in America
I really liked this one. Two children travel across America with their aunt - Simon losing an item in each spot. It was a fun "learn about America" without the annoying Dora styles "you're a great counter!!".

The Black Dog Who Went Into the Woods

The kids never actually read this one but I did and really liked it. It is a very peaceful, gentle story of a dog who went into the woods beause he was old and ready to die. Just a really nice story that helps children understand and animals death without smaking you in the face with clouds and "doggy heaven"

Froggy Gets Dressed

This one got requested a lot! Our library recently got a selection of really large, oversize books. The kids grabbed this one and I read it to them. I found the small size that you can actually check out for them. There are lots of sound words that are great to do with kids.

Grandmother, Have the Angels Come?

Emma liked this one. The pictures were beautiful even if the story was a bit halting.

The Other Dog

I liked this one. Emma listened to the whole story, but we lost Daniel to "bear hunts" (worthy of a post all on its own) with Daddy. It's cute - the dog is the author. Reading the authors note at the end makes it sweeter.

That's it for this week! Hope you enjoyed a look at our bookshelf.