Luca's 5th Birthday

Bean Girl turned 5 years old on August 24th. This post is late but I'd like to blame my active five year old for keeping me too tired to blog at night. Really, her brother has more to do with the tiredness so that is only partially accurate but in any case, I am behind. 

So: August 24th started out with Donuts. And sock curls (as requested by the birthday girl):

Then we had her close her eyes so we could lead her to her gift...

...which she had zero interest in driving until about 6 hours into the day when Court and Noah and the cousins started to enjoy it. 

She was more inclined to help me with some chalk drawings

For lunch, she asked for purple mac-n-cheese (I made pink mac-n-cheese last year and she remembered it well). As shown in the picture, it's hard to make mac-n-cheese purple. In retrospect, I should have used the food coloring on the noodles too but she was happy with it.

The Cake

My Mom made me a few cakes like this with china doll toppers. I let Luca pick a fairy at the store and we baked her dress in a mixing bowl.

The Non-Party, Family Barbeque:

Court kept asking Aunt Megan to "play a game with me" and then laying down like this...we aren't sure what he meant but he seemed to have fun.

The Littles

We love you Luca Bean!

Bunk Bed Building

Court is now a two year old, so it was high time to get him into a big boy bed (especially because he liked to jump in the crib and every morning I'd have to tighten all of the bolts holding it together). Joe had promised Luca a bunk bed and she was very excited.

Building:

 

 A little help measuring...

After a paint job and anchoring it to the wall- Ta Da!

 

 The second night in his new bed,Court realized that he was no longer physically confined to his room and strolled into the living room at 11:30pm. I asked him what he was doing he said "I get up, I play with toys". After that one misunderstanding, he settled into his new bed very well. I'm not altogether sure how Luca even fits on her bed since every stuffed animal we own has taken up residence there, but she seems to make it work.

Yay for Daddies!

Catching up with Court Robert

He still loves books. And books about trains or construction trucks are the best. This is his current favorite by Kevin Lewis and he supplies all the sound effects.

He loves electronics (he is a boy after all) and anytime he can swipe an earbud, iphone, remote, etc. he will. He is still very drawn to music and spontaneously breaks into song and dance.

He is learning to drive.

He still hates going through a carwash. The current coping mechanism for this is covering his ears, even if his hands are full of cookies.

Court steals shoes. He is equally happy with Mommy's "uhflip uhflops" or Daddy's work boots.

Tinker toys are at the top of the favorite toys list, primarily I think, because you can make a sword. And when I am not being pierced in the leg or back by a short pirate, I find these stashed all over the house.

Court may be the rough-and-tumble-noisy-destroyer-of-most-things but he is also sweet and cuddly. I caught him putting his motorcycle "nigh-night" complete with a snuggle and a prayer.

He loves to copy his Daddy whenever possible.

And he humors his Mommy often.

His sense of style is...

Did I mention he loves trains?

Court can be a perfectionist and sometimes this leads to extreme frustration, like when the blocks won't stack exactly right on the bobcat's shovel. He is learning to be slow and methodical in some instances.

One afternoon Court was naughty, I don't even remember what he had done but I sent him to his room and said I would be in to talk to him. This is how I found him. Sitting ever so still behind the curtain, he knew when I opened the door and I heard a happy little voice say "Hi Mommy!". Disciplining Court seems to be 50% effective and 50% me failing at not laughing and him joining in and in so doing learning that "if he is cute enough he won't ever be in real trouble". Oh help me.

Playing with Luca: he was the baby, she put him to sleep.

The days are never dull with Court Robert!

Catching up with Luca Florence

Five years old (the birthday post is coming...it's just late as usual...) and such fun!

She loves playdough and requests a photo of every creation so that "she won't forget what way she made them". This is her octopus, Court is learning the art of photo-bombing.

Apple picking! Our neighbor's tree was very prolific this year and in addition to a baked apple crisp, for about a week, Luca would pick up a blemish-free apple off the ground for her breakfast.

Here she is with her first ever completed summer reading program. She didn't have any trouble hitting the requirements. This Mama is so proud.

Her first "Selfie" (I found this on the camera...guess she borrowed it).

Coloring is still the #1 activity in Luca's life. She spends 1-3 hours per day at her desk or the kitchen table with a stack of plain paper and her markers. This is a "quilt" that she made for Court, all taped together and ready to sleep under.

Luca noticed that our outfits were "matching" so she asked if we could take a picture and if Aurora (the rabbit) could be in it too.

We love you Luca Bean!

Elsewhere in the Garden...

 My Hollyhocks bloomed this year...I LOVE them.

We have an 8ft tomato plant this year too. When you don't prune it and keep bracing it, it keeps on growing up!

It provided us with our first batch of salsa

And one more photo: we called this our dolphin cucumber :)

Battle Cucurbita

 Cucurbita, better known as the gourd family and in this instance, I'm referring to pumpkins and butternut squash specifically. Joe built me this lovely trellis because I wanted to grow my own squash this year instead of being tempted to spend large amounts of money on them in the fall, but we don't have a lot of space so we needed to go vertical. I started seedlings, transplanted them outdoors and began guiding them up the trellis. All was going splendidly until one spring morning, I found this:

The dreaded "frass". Evidence of a squash vine borer murdering my plant. I was especially outraged to find this because I had been very proactive about spraying and sprinkling squash bug poison. Then I realized it wasn't one or two larvae but 15-20 so I mentally prepared myself (I know, this is a little dramatic but I was so excited about having pumpkins!) for the slow deaths of each vine. Being thus prepared, I decided there was nothing to lose and with a paring knife I cut out and crushed each evil white larvae and then bound the ravaged stems with fabric strips. 

Every afternoon the leaves wilted in the heat and looked to be in their last hours.

 But then they would perk up again in the cooler evenings...

...leaving me with a teensy tiny hope that this baby might yet live to be in my fall decor.

A few weeks, and several more killings later, the vines look awful but five (!) pumpkins and one giant butternut squash have triumphed. 

Now, to keep the squirrels from eating them...commence Battle Sciuridae!