By the way

We celebrated with pink donuts.

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that for the first time in my life, the females will outnumber the males in my family!

Garden Update

May 30

June 19

June 29

And for contrast, planting day:

It’s growing!   So far, we’ve harvested

• 6 weeks worth of spinach and lettuce
• 3 cups of peas
• 1 bunch of basil (with plenty more to pick)
• 3 bunches of cilantro

I’m trying to keep a balance between a practical garden and an entertaining garden.  Peas and pumpkins?  Not so practical.  But definitely entertaining.   

Future produce to harvest:

Backyard Scavenger Hunt

Since our last camping adventure, Caleb has been all about scavenger hunts.  He recently led us on a scavenger hunt through our backyard that had me secretly laughing. 

“And this is the fence.  It keeps dogs out of our yard.”

“This is what the bunnies eat.”

“You mean the clover?”

“Yep”

He went on to show us the magnolia tree, the 2 “A’s” on our swing set, the raspberries, the garden, bench in the shade meant for resting, and so on. 

The other participant:

Amazing

Job 11:7
“Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”

Psalm 139:13-18

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Camping

We definitely recommend Maquoketa Caves for quick weekend trip with preschoolers!   The hiking was excellent for someone of Caleb’s energy level and attention span.  Even Sophia hiked quite a bit (with some shoulder rides thrown in).  Instead of hiking a long time to one destination, there were many points of interest to explore along the way.  Caleb’s favorite cave was Dancehall Cave, so we went through a total of 5 times. 

Caleb also loved going on the nature hike/scavenger hunt the DNR put on.  He learned all about stinging nettles (the bad plant) and jewel weed (the good plant), which counteracts the stinging of the nettles, as well as bloodroot, fairy nymph bugs, columbines, garlic mustard, and ferns.  The favorites were nettles and jewel weed though.  The day after the scavenger hunt, Caleb kept pretending his walking stick got stung by the nettles, and then he’d hunt down some jewel weed to help his walking stick feel better. 

My favorite part about camping is being in nature all day and night—the cool night air, the discovery of beauty in rocks and weeds, and even the overcoming (or enduring) of the unpleasant aspects of nature (humidity, etc.). 

Caleb’s favorite thing about camping was sleeping in the tent, and the hardest thing about camping was sleeping in the tent. 

I think Sophia’s favorite part was the s’more. 

The campground isn’t large, so if you plan on arriving on a Saturday in the summer, you may want to make reservations, but it’d also be an easy daytrip if you don’t want to commit to sleeping outdoors. Bring a flashlight and old clothes so you can get muddy! 

Caleb at Four

• spends 30% of his time upside down, usually on a sofa.
• is a great big brother.
• After playing with his Lego Castle set: “Do you know who got burned, Mommy? The hot oil fell on the green guy.  He needed sunscreen!”
• bribed with a Starburst to walk bravely into his class at church.
• loves reading stories.
• is reading words/sentences like: “A man sat on a ram. That ram can not see.”  We’re about a quarter of the way through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
• has a lively imagination.  Right now, he and Sophia are going strawberry picking, but there’s a monster who wants to eat his strawberries, so they need to get the hammer.  Now they’re going to pick some blueberries.  All in the basement of course.  The other day at the park, Caleb spent half the time driving the fire truck to put out fires at the merry-go-round, swings, and slides, all with siren and hose sound effects.
• is curious. very curious. Curious enough to decide that he wanted to see if the hole at the top of the sink worked. It didn’t. He wasn’t as curious as to how to clean it up!
• wants to figure out how everything works.  The other night at dinner, Caleb was asking all about the seal for the milk jug cap.  “Why is there a seal?  Why does it have this down thingy? Why does it have bumps?  Why is it a circle?  Why is there a seal?” Or on driving past a sprinkler: “Why is the sprinkler watering the grass?  Why is it going around? Why does it make noise when it goes around?” 

Favorites:

• color: alternates between “all the colors” and “pink”
• song: “Awesome God”
• video: Leapfrog’s Word Factory series

Garden 2012

I finally took the plunge and put in a small garden.  I haven’t in the past due to a shady yard and the fear that my black thumb would make it an entirely unproductive and a waste of money.  We lost a tree several years ago, solving the shade problem.  The jury is still out on the black thumb. 

April

May

early June

I planted veggies we actually eat, so I can see what I can/cannot grow and if it’s worth the time and effort.  We’ve harvested spinach and leaf lettuce already.  The peas are climbing their trellis.  I’m excited to pick some cilantro for Pad Thai later this week.  We also have sunflower, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, bean, tomato, and pepper plants growing.

Caleb and Sophia have loved helping to build and water the garden.  And they’ve been eating spinach right out of the garden!  Caleb thought going to the city’s “construction site” to pick up free compost was a great field trip, and he even helped haul the compost to the backyard.  So far the garden’s been a success.  We’ll see how the rest of the summer goes.  We may be doing battle with the squirrels.