Green!

"A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all, little by little, it grows nothing but vegetables..."
--Gertrude Stein

"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce."
Jeremiah 29.5

I am proud of these, the least hopeful, bush beans and shelling peas. All started late in the season from seed, one of which was transplanted here as a Mother's Day gift from Morgen, which she cultured in Preschool.

So delicate, yet thriving! I love peas, their design, their Designer.

How many zucchini can you find?

Woah! Gettin' big! I need to check on the produce more often!

Pretty amazing...

...that vegetable just pops out underneath that wilting flower! Outstanding! Hoorah!
I think zucchini vines are really cool: spikey, hollow, vermilion!

Unbelievable! These hearty peppers are winning the fight to survive against the leaf-devouring slug and the sun-hoarding zucchini foliage! I see a nice Thai stir-fry in my future...

I have no idea what this volunteer vine is, I have never had vines in this bed. But oh the fool I would be to destroy the oft-rewarding vine!

What do you think? Pumpkin? Watermelon? Some delicious gourd pooped there by the birds living in the house space above? Hmmm...that doesn't sound right.

Big tomatoes.

Tiny tomatoes.

Red tomatoes!

Strawberries!
This year, there is enough to share, and a four-year old who is actually restraining himself until they are ripe...and then they are eaten by the eight-year old. It's survival of the fittest around here! (If only they wouldn't ripen one at a time!)

And today we visited the St. John's Farmers Market, a new endeavor for 'The John' and yet another reason to love living here on the Peninsula. What lucky livability we have stumbled onto! I bought beans, beets, and a Walla-Walla onion.

Fresh vegetables are gorgeous. Organic, fresh beets are a thing I would've never believed. They are weird, hairy, you can dye things with them. I love multi-talented veggies!

And then I discovered the Macro setting on my little point and shoot...

"[The kids and I] planted the seed, [we also] watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
1 Corinthians 3.6-7

Thank you God, for the fun and food that is our garden, and even the local farms around us!

Self-Portrait

A couple of posts ago, I put up a few watercolor cards I had quickly sketched out for our school teachers this year, and it was funny to me to get all these comments like, "wow, I didn't know you could do that!"

And then it was depressing.

Has it really been that long since I've painted, that I have nothing to show for it? Is that part of me so removed from my daily life that even my children are surprised by my secret talents when once in a while I amaze them with drawing something that darn near looks like what it is trying to look like? Actually, whenever the kids say, "mommy, that is really good!" I tell them, "well yeah, I'm an artist!" And then I make them repeat it out loud. I've pretty much got 'em trained. One time Taylor slipped up and said "mommy was an artist" but I sent him out back for a willow stitch and we set him straight right away.

So I thought I'd show you another example (maybe the only other living example) of my work as an "artist". I painted this self-portrait when I was...in high school? College? I took college art classes in high school, so I get mixed up. But I cheated and did it from a photo... a photo that my dad took of me when I was no more than 15, judging by the flipped-up collar.

There are so many flaws in this painting (obviously before the college classes where I learned to draw proportional hands), but it's not too shabby if I do say so... I'm obliged to wonder what would've been produced had I not stopped drawing/painting?

This is the photo I was working from:

Having a Field Day

It's the middle of summer already, but bear with me...I've got some catching up to do from the end of the school year! We were really fortunate to be able to have Morgen and Micah in an awesome preschool with the Headstart Program this year. Their teachers were fantastic, exceeded my expectations for preschool and the kids both LOVED going to school every day!
At the end of the year they have a big Field Day, with races and activities outdoors and a special guest indoors! Their classes were split up, so I darted back and forth unsuccessfully trying to see them both in their elements. Here are a few fun shots from the day:

Micah's chillin' on the bikes with his buddy Anaysia, ready to start the race.

...And off they go! I love how Micah pulls back on the handlebars when he's putting all his might into the start-up.

Ready...set....GO!!!

Checkin' out the competition...

"neeeeeoooooooohhmm!"

"Rah-rah, shish-boom-bah!" If you weren't riding a bike, you were cheering on your friends!

...or shish-boom-bah-ing your baby brother.

Noble: "stop it."

One of the activities was "painting". They set up water and various brushes and rollers and let them loose. They loved it! Great idea!

This is Morgen's new pose when I'm taking pictures of her. At least she's not hiding!

I was very proud of my little man because he was the only one that got how you do an egg race. (Everyone else used their other hand to hold the egg onto the spoon and run) Micah's the winner in my book! Yay!!

Then came the crazy snake man. He brought some deadly, venemous snakes to crawl around on the floor with the children...so sweet!

Actually, this guy was seriously awesome. He was like the Crocodile Hunter...but with snakes.

King Cobra! "And there's the hood, children. Don't do this at home."

Noble just wants to take a nap and doesn't understand why we're all just sitting on the floor criss-cross-applesauce looking at a crazy guy wave poisonous snakes at us.

What is she thinking? Is she intruiged? Frightened? Hungry? Yeah, that's probably it. That girl's always hungry.

I couldn't believe Morgen got in line to hold a snake! That girl is full of surprises!

"Red to black, friend of Jack! ...But only in North America."

Of course I expected Micah to want to hold it. He probably wants to put it in his pocket and bring it home.

Morgen shares her lunch--or at least her spork--with Noble. She loves to be with him.

I will leave you with this...
"If you handle a snake like this and you don't sweat, you don't have a nervous system!" --The Snake Man

Ten

For those of you who have me in your readers (ha! as if!), I have a new header photo. Just thought I'd give it props. Like moving furniture, I like to change things up once in a while...so I also added a little photo explanation in the sidebar.

My mom has been visiting, and I haven't felt the urgency to blog about all the fun stuff we've been doing with (or without) her lately, which indicates that my mom is still the main audience I blog for. So shout out to moms-- woop-woop! Hi mom!

First this: oldies--I mean 80's day at school (yeah I know...not funny):

Like...totally gag me with a spoon. That's not how I dressed AT ALL, like, I'm SO sure!

OK, it kinda was. Except I wasn't even that cool.

I realized recently (and I blame Facebook for being the stealer of time and photo album attention) that I have been completely remiss and haven't posted anything about my wonderful eldest daughter leaving the single's life and turning the big one-zero. Double digits! Like every other parent before me I ask, "how did we get here?!" and then, "am I that old?!" So without further ado....

Korah Turns 10
Korah's birthday falls at the worst time of the school year. Her fourth grade class had a big overnight field trip, then it was Memorial Day where everybody's gone, then another big field trip and end of the year stuff, which at our school means Potluck Season. And to top it all off we had zero party money and zero inspiration. My brain is on super-low capacity for the first year of every baby's life (and I hate to say it, but I'm still there today...nine months and holding). I had wanted to take Korah out for a very special mother/daughter birthday thing, and it was just impossible to make happen! We kept postponing birthday plans and even though she was disappointed, this is what I love about Korah: she trusts us and loves us and goes with the flow, patiently (or even not so patiently) waiting for her day in the sun. I don't even know where to start when I want to explain to the world how many hits this girl takes for the team. I guess it's a trade-off because in a way, she gets first pick a lot of the time. She is foremost in my mind I have to admit, maybe because I've known her longer than anyone else! But she has to deal daily with little brothers and a sister who get into her stuff, break her things, undo her work, and live in her space. She has to clean up their messes, listen to their music, and succumb to their schedules and bedtimes. Because of them, money is tighter and mommy's attention is divided. But Korah takes..it..all..in..stride. In fact, she even embraces it! Accepting and loving one another might just be a family value for us and she has no choice, but I am so proud of who she is. For the most part she is kind and loving toward her siblings. She tries hard to do right by them, and instead of getting selfish, she gets silly! Instead of demanding Radio Disney, she'll sing along with The Donut Man, and often have her siblings cracking up in the back seat of the car. Because of this, I just love to bless Korah with special privileges, like her own CD player, so she can stay up late listening to books or Nora Jones or whatever she wants. She has good taste, and I trust her choices. And did you catch that? CD player. She'd be thrilled to have an iPod, but you'll never hear her mention it. She's good with what she's got; she's just awesome that way.

We finally got around to some inspiration we could all agree on, and ended up pulling off a really fun party! The weather had been hot, so we planned some fun water games and a bbq. It ended up sorta muggy, but I knew a bunch of 10 year olds aren't picky about the weather when it comes to messy games and birthday parties. Ten year olds are awesome.

Bucket Fill Relay: relays rock. When it started to get monotonous filling their enormous buckets, Dave started pacing back and forth talkin' smack, pumpin' 'em up! It was awesome to see them get all motivated!

Afterward, all by themselves, they initiated a little game I'll call "Dunk the Dad". Here, David is saying, "ohhh...ok...that's enough..." and the girl with the braids is quipping, "no it's not!!"

SQUIRRRRRRRRRRT!!
Micah has the POW-uh!

'Lil bro', 7 months old

I love Korah's expression in this picture. There is a cute story behind it, but I like it because it shows her full of joy.

And she is thoughtful too. She takes time to appreciate the people who love her.

I love this picture as it's totally a sign of the times. "Remember that shirt I loved? Remember both of our friends who battled cancer (and won!)? Remember building the nursery for Noble and how the new window still needed trim all summer? Remember how I was nervous to get my ears pierced so I wore fake ones?" Those will be good rememberies.

We think it's [kinda] funny that no one is watching Korah blow her candle out because they are all too busy claiming their plate of strawberry-mango shortcake, and fighting over the can of whipped cream. That was some tasty stuff, I tell ya.

Daggonnit, I love this girl!!

Mmmm....he loves her too!

We have a picture like this from when she was just a year old! Maybe someday I'll scan it and put it up.

I just had to put this up. This girl is so cute and such a good friend.

And the grand finale..... S'mores!!

I loved it. I loved leading the games. I loved having all these kids at my house! I loved that my girl was the center of attention and eating it up. She deserves it and so much more! Everyone loves her, and for good reason. She's not perfect of course...she's related to me, so I know that well! But in spite of me, she is turning out to be one beautiful girl...and I am so proud to be her mama. Happy Birthday, Korah! May all your dreams come true!*

*This is kind of our inside joke about Disneyland, Paris, Hawaii, and all the other things we dream of doing together. For now we love the moments Jesus has given us together :)