Jam!

My apologies for the hiatus.  We've been busy, busy lately, and in fact just got back from a wonderful girls' trip to Tybee Island.  Here are some of the updates since Father's Day:

We made jam!  Strawberry Jam.  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough strawberries from our garden to make jam (who knew you needed so many??).  It was a group effort: Mom, Beth, myself, and Nat all worked together and created a beautiful, and delicious, finished product.

Here's Natalie supervising the process:

So many more pictures to post, along with a complete recap of our trip to Tybee and Savannah.  Also, Natalie's 6-month photo shoot.  Stay tuned!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads we know!

And, especially to our guy on his first Father's Day!  We love you.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does YOUR garden grow?  Ours is growing like nobody's business.  We've been busy bees harvesting, weeding, thinning, replanting, and watering.  This afternoon, Natalie and I ventured over for some outside playtime and to snap a few photos of our garden.

Don't let the face fool you, this kid loves being outside

Monitoring the garden from the shade

She really wanted to help hold the camera

Listening to mom talk about feeding the ducks

Mom & Nat

Flying provides a great vantage point

In the trees!

Practicing rocking from sitting onto her knees

Garden

Tiny tomatoes

Zucchini, now with several flowers

Scarelady, keeping watch over the produce

Carrots (which I think we will enjoy sometime in 2013)

Lettuce

Peas

Check out all the pods!

Onions, green beans, and peas, potatoes in the background

Spinach--we've already had one cutting of spinach and it was delicious.

Tiny radishes poking through the dirt.

Potatoes

Flower on the potato plants

Sweet potatoes

Sunflower

Strawberries

Zinnias add some color

Pretty in pink

Marigolds for a little more color and to attract the bees

Clematis (not in the garden, but at our house)

Flower boxes

This is about half the blooms open

Flowers on the deck

Loved planting flowers this spring!

Official vacation countdown is on....this time next week, we'll be on the road!

I Love a Parade!

Last Saturday we had beautiful weather, and decided to take in the Sunman Firemen's Festival Parade!

The Local Boys

Nat was all about the Parade until the firetrucks started beeping and turning on sirens

Trucks from neighboring towns joined in (and passed out candy!!)

Old time tractor

Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Jessica, and Daisy

These guys pedaled the entire length of the parade route...and back!

Nat enjoying some playtime, and showing off her sitting skills

A Mom's Life

Wow, so June is really getting away from us already!  I just realized that I have only made one post so far for the whole month.  Apologies for the lack of updates.

I promise pictures tomorrow from our weekend adventure: Parade!  I didn't take a lot of pictures, because (one) I forgot my camera (again!) and (two) Natalie was none-too-thrilled with the horns and sirens at the parade and so I ended up holding her for most of it.

Also to blame for my lack of free time for blogging is our garden!  Maybe I'll get my act together and post a few pictures of it as well.  It's doing awesome.  We harvested our first cut of spinach, and our first planting of beets and radishes.  I'm looking forward to a tasty spinach salad tomorrow.  We've also been busy planting.  And weeding.  That's an uphill battle for sure.

I'll end on a humorous tale.  Tonight, Natalie and I bonded in a way that only a mom and baby can....when she pooped in my hand.  She was sitting on my lap and eating, and my hand was cradling her leg.  I felt her tense up, heard the tell-tale grunt and then the diaper filled.  Then, I felt something warm in my hand, and looked down to see that the diaper failed.  I had a hand full!

Flies Have Very Small Brains

Saturday, I was carrying groceries from my car in the garage into the house, and left the door to the house open while doing so.  A giant (huge!) fly came in the house during the process.  I can't say that I really blame him, since it was approximately 98 degrees outside on a Saturday, and a cool 70 degrees in the air conditioned house.

Since Saturday, the fly has spent no less than 9 hours a day buzzing around the house, flying into windows in, what appears to be, a tireless attempt to get back outside.  The fly is gross anyway, but his size makes his buzzing extraordinarily loud.  And annoying.  I have an issue with repetitive noises to begin with, so the buzzing has really been grating on my nerves.  Finally, yesterday, the fly buzzed himself right up to the sliding patio doors!  Aha!  He was flying right into the side that opens.  So, I sneaked up, unlatched the door and slid it open right as he was making an attempt for freedom.....

He buzzed right up to the warm air, and turned around and zoomed back into the house!  He spent the remainder of the afternoon flying into the living room window.

Enough of the that.  Here's what you really came here for:

Natalie is a growing machine this week.  I swear she has grown a mile in the past few days.  She is sitting up brilliantly, and for many minutes at a time without needing to be balanced or saved from a crash to the floor!  She is eating bananas and sweet potatoes, in addition to her oatmeal and rice.  She shows a real preference for sweet potatoes!

During playtime on the floor, Nat is pushing up onto her knees (but hasn't yet coordinated knees and hands), or will push her butt straight up in the air and then stick one leg up, too.  If I were the betting sort, I'd put my money on a career as a pilates instructor.

She's so proud of herself!

Love the smile

The end of her pilates move

She has just completed a 180 degree turn and scooted off her blanket (and managed to take one of her toys with her)