Here’s an oatmeal sensory bin even the very oral Mr. C can enjoy-
And here we are, all painting clouds. Don’t worry, Mr. C’s paint is sour cream.
PB is getting better at drawing. These are people. A bit scary, but fun to see him go beyond scribbles.
And this wonderful slip’in’slide came with the apartment. Too bad a tan for PB and Joe wasn’t included.
Potty training with PB is finally gaining some momentum. Except then he got diarrhea. Fun.
We’ve been busy getting the kitchen garden all planted. I still have a few more things to add here and there, but the majority of the work is done.
I picked our first harvest as well. Radishes, winter greens, and spinach. All of which are getting eaten by snails and slugs. I’ve been killing the ones I find with salt out of vengeance.
I had a photo shoot with some radishes. It was longer than any photo shoot I have with my children. Radishes are so much more agreeable and are still quite photogenic.
Now it really is spring and I actually have a garden…and so not much time to sit here and type. Good weather and plants are calling!
Joe and I have been married five years now. We went on an overnight trip, the longest I have been away from my children since they were born. It was amazingly fun. We did everything that we like to do but kids make hard.
First, we hiked up to Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. In chacos, through the snow, for about a half mile. I wasn’t the only one who did it either, we passed a lady (or rather she passed us) also in sandals. It’s a little cold, but on a warm day wasn’t all that bad. Better than getting soggy socks I think.
We also ate sushi, went to a movie, enjoyed the hotel pool, slept without interruption, played disc golf, and went to Red Butte Gardens. I enjoyed such things as getting out the door by 9:00 without trying, and of course spending lots of time with a wonderful husband.
A guest post by Heather Hoyt who writes at Heather Moments.
I live without lawn right now. My yard is mostly sand–the dirt isn’t completely sand, which I would prefer. It’s just really sandy, mixed in with a fair share of rocks, dead plant material, etc. It’s not very pleasant to play in and it’s not very conducive to grow anything. There are these little dead plant things with sap on them that get stuck to your shoes or feet whenever you go outside and won’t come all the way off even if you scrub really hard.
Flowers from a recent hike:
Western Bluebell (Mertensia oblongifolia)
Longleaf Phlox (Phlox longifolia) and the awful Dyer’s Woad.
And I had no idea what these were before hiking. I’m still learning. But this app sure helps.
We hiked up Willard canyon. When Joe and I were dating we went on a perilous journey on the south side of the canyon. The trail, if there ever actually was one, was covered in rock slides. This time we went up the north side. I thought it would be a nice easy hike. It actually involved a lot of scrambling and cardio and took an hour longer than planned. We hiked up to the end of the trail and found a nice cascade:
Hiking back, I realized there was a turn that I had missed earlier. (It was marked in orange ties, I guess I wasn’t looking.) That trail switch backed up the side of the mountain and went to the bottom of a waterfall, but we were about done and didn’t follow it the full way. The waterfalls (there are two) were not too spectacular anyway.
PB had a blast, acting like it was giant playground. (Where better to climb around then on a hike?) Alternatively he was tired and wanted to be carried. We have big boys to lug up mountains, good thing both me and my husband are still young and athletic. After a certain point I told PB he had to walk. My legs were done carrying all that extra weight. (My husband is amazing fit and after hiking went and moved dirt around for a friend for another three hours.)
I also was able to capture some great shots of my kids.
The transplants are in. After a year of basically not gardening, I have forgotten how dirty and hard gardening is…and how wonderful. I’ve got four rows planted in my garden and about that same amount to still plant.
Here are the finished transplanted, featured here, here and here:
They were a bit crowded and needed more fertilizer at the end, but not too bad overall. I hardened them off over a period of five days, and planted them on a rainy, cloudy day. I was lucky that the weather cooperated pretty well.
And here is my garden right now:
Right now I have snap peas, cabbage, swish chard, various lettuce and greens, walla-walla and red onions, Yukon gold and red potatoes, banana peppers, ichiban eggplant, and roma, fourth of July, Cherokee purple and yellow pear tomatoes. I still have twice as much area to plant, most of which will be vining crops.
I’ve also been compulsively picking dyer’s woad from neighbor’s yards and cracks in the sidewalk. Although it is beautiful in bloom…it is a horrible noxious weed and it is everywhere up here. My own garden is full of bindweed. Even the plastic mulch I have down won’t kill that stuff.
Okay, enough of an update. Hope you weren’t bored.
My kids are loud. And tiring. They are so happy lately, it is hard to get them to do things like eat, put on clean clothes, use the potty, or not eat dirt. Mr. C just loves helping his mom. He helps unfold the clean laundry, empties clean dishes on the floor and snitches bread dough. He tries to pretend and do what everyone else is. He’ll demand a fork and plate just to play, while he continues to eat by handful.
PB is still into his music and cars. He’ll shut himself in his room and line up his cars in parking lots. I think both activities give his mind the down time we all need. I’m always trying to get him to do different activities. He is good enough to play along.
The play-dough pictured here was an accident. I was going to do goop, with cornstarch and water. PB put in too much water and I was out of cornstarch. So I added baking soda and flour and we ended up with a very interesting and fun sticky dough. There is room for lots of accidents when playing.
The following activity I do not recommend. Not that it wasn’t a lot of fun. It was a blast.
Vinegar kills plants. The spot where the giant volcano was is now bright yellow. I think it will recover in a few weeks.
Update on the transplants: They are doing quite good, especially the tomatoes. They were ready to transplant several weeks ago, and they keep getting bigger. It has been a struggle to keep the light high enough. We (meaning my husband did it when I asked) had to re-build the shelf. I think it is too early to put them out yet as I don’t have any means of protecting all 32 of them. I also don’t want to transplants them over to bigger pots. I don’t have room. So they are growing and will probably be a bit root bound when I transplant them. Plants can grow too well. I did transplant out my cool season crops. I ended up freezing some lettuce, but the rest are doing all right.
Everything is growing in the garden. Nothing has really taken off yet (except the indoor tomatoes and they weren’t supposed too). I think it has been a bit too cold, but hopefully it will warm up (I did see some snow this morning though). Nothing is too exciting in these pictures, but I like to keep a record of things. It makes for fun comparisons later on.
The bulbs out front are gorgeous. Many who come over comment on them. “I was thinking well of course you have pretty flowers, but then don’t you plant bulbs in the fall, and you weren’t here then?” I can take no responsibility for the flowers besides keeping the bed weeded and putting a little mulch down. I’m glad those that lived in my apartment before cared enough to plant them out, even when they are not here to enjoy them.
Liz Braithwaite 