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!

April 1-20...A Quick Picture Reel to Catch Up

 Naptime Art Sculpture

 Chocolate Pancake Breakfast

 Spring IS Coming

Nothing Like a Good Nap

 Stealing Daddy's Hats

This mess was from one pudding cup. One.

 I started seedlings for my vegetable garden in eggshells this year (saw the idea somewhere) but what I didn't realize was that they would shoot up so fast. I thought I had timed everything just right but they quickly outgrew their egg carton, so I took a chance and put them in the ground.

 The cups worked for the first late snow but not the second or third. Back to square one! However, if you are thinking of starting seeds indoors, I highly recommend the eggshell method. It speeds the whole process up and are a snap to plant. 

 Entertaining cousin George with a puppet show.

 Court did a lot of "Tummy Time" with George.

 

 Story Time

Luca planting some seeds of her own.

My sweet daughter came in with flowers for Mommy. She picked every single blossom off the vinca vine.

Boys and Dirt

A busy day at our house: Naomi, Luca, George, Court, Audrey and Madison

Pillows for the kids made out of fabric leftover from the new roman shades in their room.

How do you get your kids to eat new things? First eat it in front of them insisting it is "Mommy's special snack" and not really "for kids". Then, give in a little, "oh, okay, you can have a couple of bites". Bingo. Two kids who formally wrinkled their noses at avocado now request their own half (or whole) with a spoon. As you can see, Court has to get every last lick. 

March 10-16

 The snow that came in on Sunday caught me unaware and without milk, eggs or bread so we made an evening run to the store but first, Joe and I scooped the driveway while the kids watched from back of the truck. The drive was reminiscent of a ski town, big flakes, not many cars and none of the roads cleared. Court and Luca got to see several tractors with blades pushing snow up close at the grocery store, pretty exciting!

 

When the church parking lot across the street gets cleared, we end up with a long row of snow "mountains" for the neighborhood to rule. Court and Luca toured some of the caves created by the big kids.

Avocado! Funny, when I tried putting it on sandwiches, serving guacamole dip or topping an enchilada with a few slices, the kids wouldn't touch it. But when I slice one in half, sprinkle it with salt and pepper and try and eat it as my lunch, suddenly Luca and Court can't get enough. I'm going to try this method with spinach next.

Court's name for Luca is "Lula", it's pretty cute.

 You should have seen Court's face when I rolled open the sunroof while we were tooling around town, he obviously didn't know such a thing existed. And now, he wants me to open it every time we get in the truck.

 Short sleeves and snow!

I had a picture of a little trellis that I showed Joe in hopes he could construct something similar so that I can grow some squash this summer. My hubby took my little plan and turned it into a true arbor. Can't wait to start planting!

January 20-26

 Luca called me over during lunch and held up her hand, "look Mom, three moons". I stared at her hand uncomprehendingly so she patiently pointed out that the banana makes one, the space in relief between her fingers and the banana makes two and her forefinger and thumb make three. I grabbed the camera exclaiming over how observant she was. She asked to see the picture I took and after looking at it for a moment she said "actually Mom, there's four moons in this picture because my smile is a moon shape too". Astounded.

There's something comforting to me in a soup and cornbread combo on a cold night and this week it was better than ever because I found a recipe for the Best Cornbread Ever. If you like a sweet cornbread try this recipe! 

Peek-a-boo Court!

We have a travel sized Connect Four game that has until recently been used as play food with the kitchen set or more often been the jumping off point for an epic round of tug of war. However, this time, probably because Daddy helped set the tone, they really played! Court of course doesn't grasp the "four in a row" concept but he did great taking turns and sorting the chips after each round. Luca may have one every single match but they both had a great time.

Court is beginning to exert his "boy-ness" or perhaps his "Court-ness" and I'm finding the results around the house. Exhibit A: markers on the wall, I know that almost every kid does this but he seems to have a special penchant for coloring on everything but the paper. Exhibit B: cereal down the vents. I thought he had eaten two bowls of cereal. Exhibit C: chapstick smeared on my white knit cushion cover. He's discovered the joy of lip balm and knows where Luca keeps her strawberry smackers. This may be my fault, I did choose the white. Sigh.

 Luca and Fast Runner "sleeping" on their "bunk beds".

What? Why did I post this picture? You mean you don't see anything? Exactly. I was wandering around the backyard yesterday (plotting spring, has anyone else been happily inundated with seed catalogs?) when I made this sad discovery. What you should see in his picture is a 3ft by 4ft holly bush. It was a new addition this fall that I found on clearance and was quite excited about. Surrounding this decimated shrub were the small round calling cards of rabbits. This may explain why Luca, while cuddling the bunny that Daddy let her hold on their mini date to Petco said to the employee "We shouldn't take a bunny like this home because my Mommy would probably shoot it".

Snapshots of Life...

 Bean-Girl posing with Mommy....

And the Bug wanting in on the fun too...

 Taking the truck for a stroll...

 Purple potatoes that I got at the farmer's market thinking that Luca would be impressed. She wasn't. (I however, think they are so cool!)

 My little artist. Markers and paints continue to be her favorite things.

 Another coloring session, with her baby napping on the floor next to her.

A yogurt incident.

 

 Partial remains. Eighteen beautiful tomatoes were destroyed in two days by the neighborhood squirrel posse. Joe bought me a pellet gun. The posse has since lost six of it's members and my tomatoes are coming around nicely.

 Luca's favorite snack from Trader Joe's. We always run short on "O"s.

 Ahhh...drought. Can you tell which part of the lawn I gave up on?

 Court modeling his favorite new accessory

 The sweatband is a souvenir from this fun day:

"Rooooaaaaaarrrrghhhhhh!!!!"