How does your garden grow?

We've finally gotten around to planting our seedlings and I couldn't be more excited. Of course, we picked the hottest day of the week to get out there and garden, but it was well worth it. We planted a variety of lettuce, swiss chard, dino kale, lavender, rosemary and zinnias. We still have some basil to get in the ground, but that will come soon enough. Elijah helped out, and after a few explanations about why he couldn't run around in his "dirt garden" he seemed to genuinely understand that we had to be careful with the plants. Of course, then he found some worms and got distracted. I never thought I would find myself saying "Worms are an outdoor thing, not an indoor one!"

Rosemary

Greens

Watering the tulips

Showing off a worm

Spring into Summer...

We're only a month into Spring and yet this weekend seemed to have magically fast forwarded up into Summer! The weather was in the upper 80s, the wind warm and the sun shining all day long. We spent pretty much all weekend outside and have the pink cheeks and lighter hair to show for it. 

Salad seedling ready to plant in our garden!

Enjoying the sun

Grilling up dinner, yum!

The rainbow we saw earlier this evening (even though it didn't ran by us)

Alternative farms...

Lately, Elijah has been showing a real anxiety towards large scoop type trucks. This seems to go beyond just a fear, since when he sees one he will literally begin tensing up and shaking all at the same time, a look of intense fright spreading across his face. We're not quite sure what brought this fear on, since he has loved all things trucks for quite some time. In fact, he still loves playing with his trucks, including scoop trucks. Yet, seeing one in real life has turned into quite the ordeal, and we try to avoid them if we can until he's worked through this phase. Unfortunately, that means staying away from the local farm we love to visit. We've tried going a few times recently, prompted by Elijah's insistence that he really wants to visit the farm, only to have the visit end in tears with Elijah glued to either me or Marc.
So, for the time being we have a few options. Luckily, our friends Lex & Lena have recently acquired two adorable goats (and a few chickens!) and no scoop trucks, so Elijah has had a blast hanging out with them.
In addition to our friends'"farm" Elijah has been letting his imagination run wild with his indoor farm as well. He's been playing with the wooden farm my parents bought him for Channukah a bunch lately, creating intricate stories with the various animals. The other day Elijah came up to me, his hands empty, but cupped together as if he was holding something. "Piggies!" he exclaimed, looking down at his hands at the clearly adorable invisible pigs he was carrying. He then went on to describe how the lambs and baby goats were sleeping. While I'm thrilled he is having fun with his play farm and imaginary farm, I'm hoping that his fear of scoop trucks will subside eventually so we can visit our real life animal friends soon!

Family Fun Time

This weekend we were able to get in some quality family time. My parents, grandparents and brother all came to visit and spend the day with us. As per usual, Elijah had a blast. As soon as we heard my parent's car in the driveway Elijah's face lit up and he ran to the window shouting out for them. The rest of the morning was spent catching up, having Elijah show them all his favorite things and then trying out the great, new bike my grandparents got him. He loves this bike and so do I. He is able to peddle on his own, or I can push him with an attached handle. Elijah has pretty much given up on his stroller, so we've been finding different ways of heading into town (usually we take my bike or an old bike trailer that doubles as a push wagon) and this new bike is definitely going to be making its way into our rotation. We've already taken it into town a couple of times and it's been a ton of fun!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

It is gorgeous out today. The sun is shining, the skies are bright blue with nary a cloud in sight and only a slight breeze in the air. Unfortunately, today is also the day that Marc went back to work. He took all last week off work with big plans to completely transform our garden into a burgeoning vegetable oasis. We got a couple of days in before the weather turned against us and the rain clouds rolled in. It rained for most of the week and made it tricky to get outside and garden. We thought maybe we'd tackle cleaning out the basement, but that never really transpired. Instead, we found ways to enjoy ourselves indoors while keeping warm and dry. (Try and ignore the piles of laundry laying around...we may have been on vacation, but laundry still needed to be done!)

Getting dirty in the Garden!

We took advantage of the one dry day this week to start revamping our garden. We spent a couple of hours pulling out old flowers, digging out old bushes and trimming down trees. Elijah was into it as well and helped wherever he could. Step one - cleaning out the old - is almost complete. Now the fun part starts up - deciding what to plant! Hopefully the rain will hold off and we can turn the dirt and start planting!

Pizza Party!

Last night we hosted a bunch of our friends and had a little game night/pizza party/celebration of Marc's birthday. Everyone had a blast. We gorged ourselves on pizza, cookies and chocolate/orange cupcakes. I'm still reeling from all the rich foods this morning. But it was worth it, as we laughed, played games and had fun till late in the evening. And, despite not having his usual daily nap yesterday, Elijah rallied and stayed up partying with his friends.

Zeben and Elijah enjoy pizza together

Aviva & Elijah work together to hold baby Linus while Sina drinks a beer (don't worry! it's empty and washed out)

Aviva & Elijah had fun, not so sure what Linus thinks! 

Fuzzy Fun...

The other day Marc and Elijah went out to pick up a few things at the local natural foods store in town. They were out for quite a bit of time, and I wondered what had happened. It seemed that they headed to our friend's store to hang out for a bit. They came home with a new toy and Elijah had to show me how it works. It was awesome. He already had his technique down and the huge smile on his face as he twirled around was priceless. I grabbed the camera and tried to take a few pictures. The really cute ones came out a bit fuzzy, but I think the fun and joy still shine through...