How does my garden grow?

Well, I'll show you! Here are some of the latest pictures from our urban backyard food supply.

Nasturtiums, not so much for eating (although we do sometimes sprinkle the flower petals in our salads) but just because they are a joy to have in the garden.

Our overflowing herbs (foreground) and trellis-breaking tomatoes (middle plot).

Eggplants, winner of the Most Persistent Plant award for this year. They began the season riddled with flea beetles, but now they are producing small but gorgeous purple-and-white striped fruits. This may be my last year for eggplants since my husband has decided that they make him ill. Oh well.

Peppers and swiss chard, 2 of the most disease and pest resistent plants in my garden.

A black and yellow argiope, gorgeous and brave to build a web in the middle of my garden, letting us get very close to it without moving a muscle (if spiders have muscles). This fellow (or lady) is the inspiration for Callan's halloween costume this year.
Ah, the harvest! Callan's favorite pastime is to grab the "harvest basket" and head out to the backyard, returning with purple beans, cherry tomatoes and other lovelies.

Pics, pics, pics

I'm making good on my promise for more recent pictures of my family:

Here's Callan on a recent trip to a playground. We are spending more and more time at playgrounds lately since the weather is lovely, and Thatcher is much more able to enjoy the equipment.



Since Thatcher's not walking yet, he still gets frustrated with slides because he wants so badly to go up and down them under his own power, but he just can't yet. Here's one of his happier moments, at the top.

Recently, we attended a fundraiser for the Junior League called "Touch a Truck." Basically, it's a 3-year-old's truck Nirvana. There were around 30 different trucks (backhoes, UPS truck, car carrier, recycle truck, you name it) just open and available for kids to explore and climb on. Needless to say, Callan loved it.


He also loved the jumpy castle and air slide, much to our complete and utter shock. Unfamiliar kids + lots of squealing + separation from mom and dad + physical challenges = a good time for my sensitive child????? Who would have thought? It just shows that you can NEVER fully predict your own child. This look of glee on his face says it all...

Thatcher is...well, you'd just have to meet him. The whitest kid you will ever meet, with ice blue eyes. Super intense personality, but takes physical knocks totally in stride. A huge streak of goofy, zany silliness. And a vocabulary that blows me over for a 14-month-old kid.
Here's Callan and my dad on a recent trip to the zoo.

And my mom and the boys and I on a snack-break during a hike on Belle Isle, an island in the James River running right through Richmond.

I'm a bad girl

Yes, here it is October, and I'm posting. This blog has been one of those things that hangs over your head and you say, "Oh, yeah, I've got to do that, but it's been so long...what will I say? Maybe tomorrow..."
But, right now I'm just going to face this blank canvas and post, for Pete's sake! I'm not going to try to catch you up on what has happened in the past 2 and 1/2 months, I'll just start right into the present.

Callan is in preschool for the first time, and he has a friend. A very sweet friend named John Mosby (said all together as a first name, according to Southern tradition like Mary Kate or Billy Bob). We had our first play date last week and Callan keeps talking about John Mosby. I love that he has friends, and he is starting to say "hi" to our next door neighbors and ask direct questions of our friends. His social repertoire is just blooming!
And simultaneously, his need for motherly nurture is at its peak. He pretends to be a baby, talk like a baby and have needs like a baby. He also often refuses to hold his grandparents' or daddy's hands if mine is available, and indicates his clear preference for Mommy in other things. One day last week he sat at the kitchen table and pleaded, "Please, don't leave me, Mommy! Please, don't leave me!" So, I can tell that this social blooming is taking it's toll on him. He's just not ready to grow up all at once.

Thatcher is talking like he gets paid a dollar for every new word. My favorite word lately: "hug," which he says and then comes over to get one from me. Could he get any cuter? Of course, he's also learned the word "yuck" (which I use when he mouths something disgusting), and he used it quite appropriately, but not politely, at the dinner table tonight when he refused to eat his pasta and veggies.
Thatcher is also quite the personality, with an infectious laugh and an impish gleam in his eye when he requests something he knows is off-limits. Example:
T: "ni-ee" ("knife")
Me: Yes, that's a knife.
T: "oh-ee!" ("hold") [insert impish gleam here]
Me: No, Thatcher, you can't hold the knife.

Matt is teaching biochemistry, writing grants, supervising his lab, and lots of other things that more than fill his time at work. We just bought a new/used car (2007 Kia Rondo) and are getting our old one (1992 Volvo 940) ready to sell. I also just painted my kitchen Blackberry Wine (deep eggplant-y purple) and our dining room has been Paradise Valley, a lovely shade of pear/lime/honeydew. I love how it has turned out.

Okay, I'm going to stop for now, but will try to be more faithful, especially with pictures, since I know some of you care about those. Thanks for your patience!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Callan says the most inspired things sometimes. Here's a recent conversation we had about the days of the week:
Me: Callan, what is your favorite day of the week?
Callan: This day.

This is part of what Jesus means by coming to him like a little child. Callan is not focused on tomorrow or yesterday, but "this day," for this is the very day he lives in. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Meanwhile, Thatcher has been striving for verbal communication lately, and he uttered his first word a week and a half ago: "Ball" (More like "Bah" but he was clearly referring to the round object in his hand.) He has since tried to imitate Bottle ("Bah-bah"), Bus ("Buh"), Block, and even Kaleidoscope! He so desperately wants to tell us things and be understood, he's not daunted by the fact that kaleidoscope has 4 syllables and just about every sound in the English language! For the record, "kaleidoscope" also comes out "bah."

Soon Thatcher and Callan will be composing sonnets together...and you will read them first right here, so stay tuned!

The beach and the big city

As promised, here are some pictures from our vacation. We spent 4 days in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a quaint seaside town where Matt's uncle/aunt have a four-story Victorian "cottage" a couple of blocks from the beach. It's bliss, and we love going there. Matt's parents and other aunt were also there for a little family reunion.

Here's Thatcher with his grandma. Without those cheerios, he'd be consuming sand.

Callan loves the ocean and greets each incoming wave with "Here comes a biggie!"

Now you can see from whom Thatcher inherited his clear blue eyes--Grandpa Hartman...but Thatcher's not so sure.

Thatcher met his (Great) Aunt Barby for the first time, and they seem to be smitten with each other. Callan also enjoyed Aunt B's habit of smelling his hair and saying "your hair smells like the the sunshine." In fact, he still says that about his hair now that we're back.

After our time at the beach, we snuck in some time in Manhattan with our dear friends Jan and Ezer and their baby Simone.

During our outing at Times Square, which completely overwhelmed Callan (what were we thinking?), we redeemed ourselves by taking him (and everyone) on the giant ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store in Times Square. Of course, Jan cursed us by wishing for the My Little Pony Car--to think we could have gotten Mr. Potato Head or E.T! Oh well, at least it wasn't the Barbie Car!

Other highlights of our trip include a Yankees game for Matt and Ezer, a trip to the Met, subway rides (oh, how we miss good public transportation!), and late night online shopping (for clothes for Simone) with Jan.

I'm still here!

Sorry to those of you who actually visit this blog (and thank you!). It's been too long since I last posted, I know. I don't have much to say tonight--I had a particularly hard day with my kids and am feeling pretty numb. But I felt guilty enough for seemingly abandoning this blog that I wanted to let you know I'm here. We are headed to the Jersey shore for a little beach vacation with Matt's family and then a visit with our dear friends the Kangs in NYC. Maybe I'll have some pics when I return.

The latest from my needles

Okay, I promised I would post a picture when I finished Kate's dress/tunic. Well, I finally sent it off a few weeks ago. Don't worry about the left shoulder (see picture below)--I fixed it before I sent it. The pattern called for a button and button hole there, but it just wasn't working for me, so I nixed it.
I also knitted some finger puppets for Kate's big brother Jack. I didn't get a picture of those. They were intended to be a bunny, elephant and a chick, but Callan picked up the bunny and said, "Oh, a deer." Oh well.

Next project: a wrap (for myself!) using some gorgeous yarn called Bette Davis given to me by my SIL for Christmas. I'm having trouble starting because I have to figure out how often and how much of Bette to integrate into the other yarn I'm using. This will stretch my ordinarily pattern-following brain.

My other little seedlings

My advice to parents who are frustrated and angry with their children and feel like they'll never escape the stage they're in: look at pictures of your kids. You'll fall in love with them again...until the next time you see them in person, probably. Then all that anger stuff comes up again and you are forced to pray for God's grace to love them. But for the moment, gazing at my adorable seedlings is pure pleasure. See if you think so, too.

How does my garden grow?

So, one reason that I don't post as often as I should on this blog is that I'm spending much of my free time creating a vegetable garden in my backyard. We have done A LOT of work on our yard since moving in. Here are the before/after pics:

(Sorry about the poor quality of the "after" picture--it's been raining relentlessly here, so this was my best shot.)

As you can see, we dug up the brick, pulled out the weeds, built a fence (mostly my dad), planted grass, and put in gardens and trees. We have plans for a deck, more flower gardens, maybe some berry bushes, and a low fence around the stairwell going down to the basement (not visible in photos). I love being in our backyard with our children, so all the hard work has been worth it. Plus, yesterday, Callan and I harvested our first crop: Easter Egg Radishes!

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. Actually, God made them...I just did all the hard work! Ha ha! Better than the taste, however, is the thrill of having grown real food in my backyard from seeds. I am such a newbie gardener that this fact absolutely amazes me.
Here are some more pictures of our "babies" coming up.

Beets, "Early Wonder"

Swiss Chard, "Bright Lights"

Peas, Sugar Snap

Coming of age

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday. In the Shire of Middle Earth, that is when Hobbits come of age, so I finally feel like a grown-up now. My mother-in-law wondered if I'll grow hairy feet this year...I guess that's preferable to a perilous journey to Mount Doom with orcs on my trail.
Here are some of the ways I celebrated the big three-three:
Bohemian apple strudel for breakfast, phone calls and cards from dearly loved ones, music class with Callan, a day graced by my lovely mother's company, hummingbird cake (and a h-bird feeder, too) at community group, a 10k run today with my dad and friends, and paella & tres leches cake for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we'll go over to my parents' for more partying for my dad (4/1 birthday) and me. I love April :)

Thatch-man Fever

Hi, I'm Thatcher, and this is my life. I get up real early sometimes, and I always want someone to join me in the party. The lucky parent gets to read books to me at 5:30am. I have strong opinions about the books I love and hate, and I'll let you know about them.After some morning playtime, I eat breakfast. I love food. I love food almost as much as my brother, Callan. Callan loves food almost as much as my mom and dad; sometimes more. In this picture, I'm eating sweet potatoes, or maybe carrots. Something orange anyway.

After my morning nap, my mom is often very eager to get out of the house with my brother and I. So, we have an outing. This one is at the Botanical Gardens. I look pretty tired here, but check out my gorgeous eyes. Someday, some woman (probably more than one woman) is going to get lost in these ocean eyes. At least that's what my mom tells me, but I don't really know what she means yet.

Here is a video of me sitting in my old Bumbo seat playing with toys. I'm kind of embarrassed that my mom put this video on here because I am SO over the Bumbo. Bumbos are for babies--I'm a real sitter now.

Here I am ready to eat again!


So after I have dinner, I take a bath--here's a picture of me filling my tub. Since I splash so much, mom and dad have moved my tub to the big tub instead of the kitchen counter.

After my bath, I like to snuggle with my mommy before bed. I think she likes it too.

The end.

Knitting Knews

As promised, here are pics of my latest completed knitting project. Thatcher's Cargo Pants!

And here's the boy himself. As you can see, life is just better when you're wearing a pair of Rowan All-Seasons Cotton cargo pants knitted by your mom.

These pants are so great--they go with every shirt, they fit over Thatcher's big cloth-diaper bum, and they are so comfy and soft on him. The day will be a sad one when he grows out of these...

So, I'm still working on that baby gift for Kate who has already made her appearance. I'm close, I'm really close to finishing, but I'm trying to learn a couple of new techniques (intarsia and 3-needle bind-off, for all you knitting geeks out there), so it's going slowly right now.

My only other UFO (UnFinished Object) is a fine-guage (needle size: 2 What was I thinking?) sweater that I started oh, about 2 years ago. A short-sleeve diamond-stitch sweater with soft lavender cotton yarn. I think it's going to be lovely, but it's one of those projects that I can't knit while talking to anyone or watching a movie because I have to count stitches and pay attention to where I am on the pattern.

Okay, that's all for now.

What happened to February?

Yes, I'm still here--I haven't drowned in that pile of laundry (yet). And I can't post much now, but I just wanted you faithful friends and family to hang on, and I promise pictures, news and maybe a video will be coming your way as soon as possible! In the meantime, here are a couple of shots for you.

This is Callan in front of our house and gardens--ha ha (I wish!)!

Here's my sweet Thatcher, now sitting up by himself! No more Bumbo seat for us!

S.O.S.

Somebody help me...I'm drowning! I'm suffocated by socks, smothered by spit-up cloths, drowning in diapers, overwhelmed by overalls! My laundry is a monster that cannot be tamed; it has taken on a life of its own, threatening to squeeze us out of house and home. But, thankfully, it is all clean. Until tomorrow...

New Year, New Look

Hey, everyone, don't freak out. I've just been playing with the Blogger settings and I found a template I like better. For now. And check out my links to the sites I like. That's all.

Bitch and Stitch

Pardon this emotive mood I'm in tonight. My husband goes out of town tomorrow until Sunday and I am gearing up to go solo with the boys. I am realizing how angry and annoyed I am with my children lately--very poor timing for this weekend, but I guess this is what it takes for me to truly depend on God for strength...again. Do you ever find yourself asking questions that have no answer? Questions like:
Why does my baby only sleep for 45 minutes, but he can't go back to sleep even though he is still so tired?
Why does my 3-year old dance around the room, pee running down his leg, denying that he needs to go to the bathroom?
Why does it bother me so much when Callan takes FOREVER to wash his hands or put on his pants?
Why do babies seem to burp, then sharply turn their heads away from the burp cloth to spit up all over my shirt?
Why, if I do one load of laundry every day, when I skip a day there are 3 loads of laundry to do?
Why can't life be like knitting, which follows logical and mathematical patterns, delivering just what it promises in return for your efforts?

Speaking of knitting, I finished Thatcher's knitted cargo pants, and I'll post a picture when we get our camera fixed. I dropped it on the sidewalk only a week or so after we bought it--arggh!
Anyway, my new project I can't disclose yet because it is a present for a baby named Kate, due to arrive soon, so I'd better get knitting.