Simple pleasures

Yesterday was a really crazy day, and by the time things settled down, late into the afternoon, it was just Jagger and me at home. He absolutely LOVES to go outside (side! side!), so I decided we would go out and pick a few tomatoes. Our tomato plants are always plentiful, and the only exception this year is that they are unruly and plentiful. They have outgrown the metal frames that we caged them in to keep them shapely and upright, yet we neglected to remove the cages. So now it's too late, and we have a jungle of caged tomatoes in our back yard (which makes picking a daunting task). So, after finding that most of the tomatoes were still green (phew, I can procrastinate that task for a few more days), we decided to take a peek at the rest of the garden. As our remaining family members trickled home, it turned into family harvesting the garden night. Just a few ears of corn and some potatoes are left. And the green tomatoes. I suppose now the real work of canning and freezing begins, but I am very excited about that part this year. I am going to puree and freeze most of my carrots and yellow squash to use in my newly discovered Deceptively Delicious recipes. I should have enough tomatoes to keep us in spaghetti, pizza, and salsa for the winter. Yay!!


Here is one of the girls planting magic beans!



How cute is my boy!? He's peering up over my belly :)


Got corn?

Lest we forget

9.11.01 Remembered

I thought about the anniversary of our country's recent tragedy yesterday, but, sadly, I was too wrapped up in my own grumpy mood to give it any serious reflection. My friend, Lisa has posted a beautiful tribute over on her blog. Click here to view it.

Blog, blog, blog (read: blah, blah, blah...)

I am such a bad blogger. Either my life is exceptionally boring, or I just don't think anyone would be interested in what I have to say. Oh well. Actually, I think that, more often than not, I just don't feel like sharing what I am really thinking. Again...oh well.

So, yesterday, I took all of my files from my old computer, dumped all of the useless stuff, and put all the rest onto my new computer. My new, wonderful, fast, reliable, happiness in a machine (if your mind went where mine did with that last description - get it out of the gutter!) computer!!! So, as I was completing this task, I thought, hmm, I should probably print all of these digital pictures I have saved up over the past, oh, several years. Uh-huh. Jaw drops. I have roughly 1,500 pictures to print. Hee, hee, hee. The laughter comes from picturing the hundreds of dollars I will have to spend if I really want to print them and then do something with them. I am not a scrapbooker, so I suppose it could be worse. And who said digital photography was so great?

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids doing their "homework." Funny, though, Emma (laying on the floor watching TV) is the only one who has actual homework. So cute.

New beginnings

Yesterday was the first day of school for my two sweet little girlies. One in 2nd grade, the other in kindergarten. It was a little sad, just to feel the changing of the times, the leaving them to fend for themselves. But, for the most part, I just get so excited to see them begin new adventures in their lives. I honestly was a little nervous about Emma's teacher this year, but when I picked her up yesterday, her first words were, "Mommy, I had the best day. I am so glad I got Mrs. ~~~~!!" Time will tell whether my apprehensions will ever be realized, but for now, I am happy, too. I really have a core belief that things work out the way they are supposed to without too much unnecessary meddling (gather from that - I don't usually request specific teachers for my kids, because there are probably reasons I can't see yet for them getting who they get).

As it was the first day of school, and as I am no longer teaching, yesterday was also my first, first day of school at home. I have to say, being a stay-at-home mom rocks! I am getting my eyes opened to the innumerable blessings of housewifery. Now, don't get me wrong, I have actually been on both sides of the fence for the past nine years. I have taught full time, part time, and have been home during the summers. So, it's not that I don't acknowledge how challenging it is to manage a family (house, kids, husband, comings and goings, etc.). It's just that now, that's all I have to do. My only responsibilities (yes, immense in themselves) include taking care of my house, kids, and husband (and the little ones I am providing day care for as they come and go). In the past, I have done all that (except for the day care), plus worked outside the home. It is an amazing burden that has been lifted from my shoulders, and I am delighting in my new-found freedoms. It is like soaking up the first warm rays of sunshine after a long winter. I am immensely grateful for this new blessing.

Peaceful mornings

So, yesterday morning, the kids all wandered out of their sleepy beds and onto the couch. It was chilly in the living room after a cool windows-open night, so they all snuggled up in their blankies. None of them were interested in breakfast yet, and nobody had anywhere to go or anything to do. They were perfectly happy to hang out on the couch together and watch one of the many episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog we have saved on the DVR (Jagger loves anything involving puppies). It was a perfect summer morning, and a fitting end to a great summer (as school starts on Monday). I'm going to miss mornings like that.

Catching Up

So this summer has been mostly filled with baseball and T-ball. The girls played on two different teams this year, so we had games four days a week. This was Em's first experience with machine-pitch, and she did so good. Nervous at first, but she caught on quick. I think her batting average was somewhere near .500 (impressive, huh?) Bella played on a T-ball team with a bunch of kids who had never played before. One of the dads told me he thought Bella was the most athletic kid on the team. (hee, hee, hee). It was so fun, but I am honestly really glad that it's over. Jag really, really wanted to play with the big kids! Every chance he got, he would try to run out onto the field. One time, I had to chase him almost to 2nd base. Every time whatever girl's team we were there to watch went out into the field, he would commandeer the available balls and bats and try to coerce me, or the other sister, or whatever family member was there to play with him.

Whew, this blog is finally done!

So, I decided to create a blog - for family and friends to keep track of us, for me to purge all of my random thoughts, to post the occassional meaningful discussion. However, this has been way more of a task than I anticipated. I have been working on this thing for a week now! I remarked to my friend that I would have to search through every single background on thecutestblogontheblock.com before selecting my perfect one. (I did end up settling with this one before viewing every single selection, but I still think it's pretty cute). That experience alone attests to my have-to-have-it-just-right personality. From address, to fonts, to colors, to playlist, etc., etc., I wanted to have everything JUST RIGHT. Alas... I decided today to deal with just-for-now and at least get the thing up and running. So here it is.