Square Foot Gardening

I am so excited that we have our very first garden! I always wanted a garden, but just never thought I had time to take care of one. Of course, I have been either pregnant or taking care of a little one most summers during our 9 years of marriage--so I was probably right that I didn't have time. This summer is different, though. Our youngest child can walk all by himself and that alone makes a big difference. Although, one thing I didn't count on is his intense desire to walk on a garden and to pull out everything within his reach!

A couple of months ago I learned about a method of gardening called square foot gardening. It sounded easy enough so we decided to try it.

Steve built a box that is 4'X4' and left the middle empty. You don't have to amend the soil underneath the box, but we chose to mainly because we have terrible soil. We dug up the grass and then mixed bagged topsoil into the soil left behind. Then we filled the 4X4 box with a very rich humus and topsoil mixture. The grids on the top are just to mark off 1x1 sections that make planning and planting the veggies easier. We chose to only do one section this year since it's our first attempt at gardening. We've planned out a section of the yard that would be good for up to 4 of the boxes, so maybe next year we'll add another box or two.

We did the planting this afternoon, but I just didn't have time to take a picture afterwards--it was too close to dinnertime and bath time for the kids. By the time that was done, it was too dark for pictures. I will definitely get pictures either tomorrow or Monday.

Ryan is helping Steve dig up the grass

We now have all the grass out and Kaeli is helping to loosen the dirt left behind.

And here is the finished product!

Our plan is to eventually kill off the grass around the box and make pebble/stone paths around the box/boxes. This will help to reduce the amount of weeds and grass that end up in the garden box. When I post "post-planting" picture I'll include a list of what we are trying to grow this year.

No glow bear

I just got the girls to bed and I'm still half giggling to myself. Every night Kaeli and Paige sleep with the closet light on and each of them has a special stuffed animal that they sleep with. At Kaeli's age, it seems there is a lot of pressure to ditch the more "childish" stuff. As I was getting them in bed I asked if they wanted the closet light on. I saw Kaeli give a quick glance in Savannah's direction before answering--NO MOM, we don't need lights. I could see that both girls kind of wanted the light on, but each was afraid to admit it. I kept the closet door closed, though. Then I tried to hand Kaeli "glow bear", he's her beloved stuffed animal that she's been sleeping with since she was about 3. She still sleeps with him every night, but she said "mom, I don't need glow bear". I said "Oh, you're not going to sleep with him tonight?" She said "mommmmmmmm, I haven't slept with him in a long time". I got the hint and just said "oh, yeah, I forgot". I decided to use that as a teaching moment to tell them that no one is going to think badly of them or like them less just because of what they like and don't like or what their preferences are. Of course, adding that anyone who does judge them based on that is probably only trying to makes themselves feel better, anyway. As I turned to walk out the door, Kaeli says "OK, you can open the closet door a little bit". I can't wait to see if glow bear finds his way into her bed tonight.

Paige's first sleepover....

and I miss her so much! It's funny how many times I've asked "where's Paige?" only to have Kaeli look at me like I was crazy. She's slept over with her grandparents before, but that's different. Probably the biggest difference is that I always called to say goodnight or she called us. I think it's hard to know that I'm not going to say goodnight to her at all. But, I'm very happy for her and I know she's having a great time. When we got to Emily's house, she jumped out of the car and barely said goodbye. I'm pretty sure she's not missing me right now.

Kaeli has her friend, Savannah, over for a sleepover tonight. They've been doing lots of "girly" stuff and actually played school for a long time. I find that funny considering that today was a day off from school. Guess they just can't get enough of it. It's 9:50 right now so I'm going to have to give them the bad news soon---it's bedtime. Kaeli wanted midnight. I comprised with 10:00.

Ryan had fun with his friend this morning, I think. We had a our 2 neighbors over most of the morning as well, so I can't say that Ryan really interacted with Brian a whole lot. With 7 kids all running around there's not a lot of one-on-one interaction. I was really impressed by how well they all played together, though. Probably the cutest thing thing is seeing AJ doing everything he can to keep up with them all. I think his favorite thing to do is just imitate whatever he sees the older kids doing. At one point Kaeli climbed up on top of the monkey bars. She was a little nervous coming down so once she reached the ground again she laid down and "hugged" the ground. AJ saw her and, without a clue why he was doing it, he laid down and "hugged" the ground as well. He did try to climb up after her, but I had stop him halfway up. It's amazing how grown up he seems already.

I better get the girls to bed now....and I won't be far behind them.

Now we're getting somewhere

I ended up downloading a new image editing software yesterday called Photoshop Elements. The webiste was offering a free 30 day trial and I decided to give a try....it's supposedly a great editing software once you get the hang of it. I stayed up late last night trying to figure it out on my own and finally gave up! This morning I was asking everyone I know if they have any experience with the software and I actually came across someone that has used it!! Even better-she's been doing some digital scrapbooking for a few months now. We certainly had a lot to talk about this morning! She suggested that I get the Photoshop for Dummies book and, of course, I went straight out and bought it. Those that know me well know that I do not possess much patience and that once I get involved in a new project I dive in head first. Steve just laughs and tells me it's my OCD (obsessiveness mostly) kicking in. By the way, no I don't really have OCD...I don't think?.....but I certainly do have a tendency to throw myself entirely into a new project. Personally, I think it's because I have a need to conquer whatever challenges I face. In fact, I had a funny conversation with Steve today. I was telling him that I'm loving having a real hobby. He just responded with "your hobby is finding new hobbies". He summed me up so well-- I think I find a new challenge, work feverishly to conquer it, and then move on to another one.

Anyway, enough psychoanalyzing myself....the point of my current blog post is to say that I'm now getting somewhere. This "dummies" book is very well written and I'm learning so much. Not just about the software, but also about the technical information behind digital images. It's amazingly fascinating. I'm only on Ch 2 and haven't even gotten into actual editing yet. I'm still trying to learn all about how color is created and the "behind the scenes" features of the software and digital imaging.

Now I'm off to get the girls from school, feed them dinner and head off to a softball game. They don't have school tomorrow, but we already have a full day. Ryan's having a friend over in the AM. Paige is having her first sleepover at a friend's house tomorrow night....how exciting for her! And, Kaeli is having a friend over here for a sleepover. This should be good for the girls to do their own thing apart from each other with separate friends. The funny thing is that the little girl Paige is spending the night with is very, very quiet like Paige. Their teacher says they are always together, but they hardly talk.....it's like they just enjoy that neither pressures the other to say a word. :)

My head is spinning

I'm so bad about getting myself in over my head on new projects! I decided to look around the web for ideas on page layouts for the digital scrapbook---oh boy am I in trouble now!! I've spent the past 1.5 hours playing around with digital image editing software and doing searches for learning how to begin digital scrapbooking. After all that I STILL haven't the slightest clue where to begin.

I think my problem is that I forget to start with baby steps. I see pages that other people have done and I immediately want to jump in and make mine look like that. Problem is that it takes a lot of technical knowledge. For now, I'm guessing the best place to start is find a template to work with and go from there. Maybe play around with it in paint shop pro to get a feel for how it was created. That's probably the best way to learn something......take a finished product apart piece by piece working my way backwards.

So, if anyone has any ideas on the best way to really get into digital scrapbooking--beyond shutterfly's premade pages-please let me know. Most of you reading my blog have my personal email so feel free to just send an email.

For now I have to go.....looks my 2 hour window of quiet time has ended. Gotta love naptime!

Digital Scrapbooking

This past Christmas I created my first digital scrapbook with the help of Shutterfly.com. I first came up with the idea because I needed a gift for the grandparents. Once I got started, I realized it really is the next best thing to real scrapbooking! So, I made one for us as well and I hope to make a "year in review" album every year. Click here to view our 2007 Year in Review Album.
I started with Christmas 2006 because I was making it as a Christmas gift--we had not done Christmas 2007 yet.....so I will always start the album with the previous year's Christmas festivities. This was my first ever attempt at a digital scrapbook. Shutterfly's program is so easy and intuitive that I finished the book in only a few days. Of course, I'm now learning more about adding effects to pictures and so forth. So, my next album will look nicer.....but it'll also take me significantly longer, I'm sure.

I've always enjoyed scrapbooking, but just rarely found the time to drag out all the supplies. So, I never accomplished much in terms of creating a "real" scrapbook. That also means none of the kids even has a baby book. I had intended to create a scrapbook as their baby book and just never got around to it. Well, today I decided to start a digital scrapbook of Aaron's first year. I'm so excited and I've been working feverishly to at least get a few pages done. I can't wait to finish it now....shutterfly has made it so easy to make a beautiful scrapbook!

I decided to start with Aaron and work my way down to Kaeli. Ryan and Aaron will be relatively easy because ALL of their pictures are digital and still on the computer's hard drive. Paige and Kaeli will be a little more difficult because I'll have to scan their pictures first. I'm so happy to live in the digital age....it certainly makes preserving memories incredibly simple!

So, that was my long-winded way of saying---if I don't add much new content to my blog it's because I'm hard at work on Aaron's baby book! Wish me luck! :)

Paige's Award

The students at the girls' school recently entered a poster contest for Arbor Day. The posters were all sent to the high school and judged by the high school art club. I think there were 3 winners per grade......and Paige won 1st place for Kindergarten!! The presentation of the awards was at 12:00, so we had just enough time to have a hotdog at the softball fields before running over to the Arbor Day celebration. In fact, we walked up about 2 minutes before they called Paige's name. Paige had no idea she was a winner, so she was a little surprised when she heard her name. Kaeli didn't win anything and while she was understandably a little jealous, she handled herself very well and seemed happy for her sister. We haven't seen the poster yet, but it's supposed to be framed and then hung in the Town Hall along with all the winner's posters. I certainly hope they give it to us after that. I will take a picture of it at my earliest opportunity to post here. There will also be a tree planted in Paige's honor and it's supposed to have a little plaque with her name on it.

Here's Paige with her certificate
Here's Paige with Eme. Eme is the daughter of a good friend of mine and is very good friends with Kaeli and Paige. Congratulations Eme!!

After the Arbor Day festivities we headed home for a real lunch with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. Not too long after that Paige and I had to run out to Toys R Us to buy a gift before attending a birthday party. We got to the party just in the nick of time at 3:00. We finally got home around 4:45 and I was TIRED! I certainly slept well last night and I think all the kids did as well.

The girls are supposed to have practice today, but I'm hoping it will be cancelled due to all the rain we got overnight. But, other than practice we have NOTHING on the agenda and that is a great feeling!

Opening Day of Softball Season

Today was "Opening Day" for Kaeli and Paige's softball league. We arrived at the fields at 8:30. Fortunately, the girls played the first game of the day at 10 AM. Kaeli and Paige did very well and seemed to have a pretty good time. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop were able to come down for the day's festivities. They also helped alot with Ryan and AJ. We had a VERY busy day, but it was fun. Here are some pictures from today:

AJ and Ryan checking out a drainage pipe

Mom-Mom giving AJ a big hug

Pop-Pop with Ryan and AJ--for some reason the color on this one is really off!

Coach Steve with Kaeli and Paige--Steve's one of the assistant coaches this year and the girls just love having him involved (most of the time)

Left to Right: Taylor, Kaeli, Paige, Dajaron

Kaeli and Paige are on the end to the right

Paige "warming up"

Kaeli "warming up"

Good hit, Kaeli!!

Kaeli is the one in blue playing catcher

Paige playing outfield

Kaeli up at bat

Kaeli running to 2nd base

Paige up at bat

Paige running to 2nd base

Having fun with the camera-AJ at 19 mos

This afternoon I decided to just have a little fun with the camera. AJ was sitting in the grass just pulling up handfuls. I quietly watched him from the window for a long time. He sat there for a good, long time. It finally crossed my mind to go get the camera. Of course, by the time I got back he was up and running around. I had a camera in my hand, a beautiful day, and an adorable little boy running around with no shoes on--how could I pass up an opportunity to just take some fun pictures of his expressions. I know it's often said that there is barely a record of a 4th child because parents just don't have time to take pictures, but I'm finding that I take even more pictures of AJ. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact that I know he's my last and I'm doing everything I can to preserve these memories. A toddler is so full of life and expression . AJ may not be talking at all, but he sure speaks volumes through his expressions.

These next 3 pictures are just too funny! He was being soooo silly. He was pretending to eat grass. But, then one time he actually took a real bite of grass (picture 1). In the 2nd picture you see his face after tasting the grass. He was trying to wipe the grass out of his mouth. Picture 3 is him "spitting" the grass out. I was laughing so hard watching him do all this.

Such a happy boy

Kaeli came out to join the picture fun. She is soooo awesome with AJ. When Paige was born she was still too young to care. When Ryan was born I think she just felt displaced in the family and didn't really get too involved with Ryan. But, she has thoroughly enjoyed having AJ around. Even when I was still pregnant with AJ, Kaeli showed a strong affection toward him. She couldn't wait for him to be born. After he was born, she became incredibly attached to him. It's been so wonderful watching her be such a great big sister to him!

Sprinkler Fun

Yesterday (Thursday) felt like a summer day here. The kids decided they'd like to play in the sprinkler. The lawn could use a little water, anyway, so I told them to go for it. Bailey seems to enjoy the sprinkler as much as the kids do.

Ryan and Bailey playing in the sprinkler

Here's Paige trying to fill up her watering can
There is actually a funny story behind this picture. I was sitting on the ground taking pictures of Ryan running through the sprinkler. Kaeli came walking up complaining about something. I pointed the camera up in her direction and, in a split second, she had this huge "camera face" and a split second later she was back to complaining. I went back to taking pictures of Ryan, pointed the camera back up at Kaeli, and again she had this huge smile on her face. It was so funny how quickly she could "turn it on" and back off again.

This is a genuine look of fear. She saw a wasp nearby and she is terrified of any kind of stinging insects. She got her first bee sting last summer and that made her even more afraid.

Here's AJ watching the sprinkler activities from a safe distance. He certainly looked intrigued, but wanted no part of it.

And, here's daddy getting home from work.