Harvest Time

We have begun to harvest items from our garden. In the spring Jim was so excited to plan out his garden. Anyone who knows Jim well knows that a lot of pacing around our yard went into effect as he thought about layout, where the sun is at each time of day, design, the fence, etc. This is our first real harvest at our house. Last summer we moved in the end of June and were only able to plant peas. This year we (by this I mean Jim and the kids) planted corn, raspberries, tomatoes, assorted squashes (acorn, butternut, spaghetti, gourd, etc.), cilantro, basil, and parsley. The kids were so excited for their tomatoes because we got ones called Beefmaster, Mr. Stripey and Oregon Spring.

We have had tons of tomatoes. Since I am not much of a canning girl we have been finding other uses for the tomatoes. Luckily we have figured out how to make delicous V8 drinks from our juicer. We also made salsa last night which was delicious. Plus lots of deli sandwiches. Our corn is almost ready. I at least know how to freeze that :)

Jim and Liz go out each day and be farmers to see what they can harvest.

Here is a picture of Jim and Lilly. Our corn is already tons taller but you get the idea.

something borrowed, something blue

One of the plusses of parenthood is you can try to talk your kids into dressing up into almost anything. I got Lizzie to dress up in one of my old dresses. Here is a picture of me when I was five. Here is Lizzie in the same dress at about 4 1/2. We even did her hair in braids like in my picture but you just can't see it as well. She loves her new dress and calls it her princess dress and has already worn it to church many, many times.

On another note, Ethan had his first day of 1st grade yesterday. When I picked him up one of the first things he said was "I want to lay down, mom.!" The poor kid was tired from a full day of school. He seemed to have liked it though. He said they played the Indiana Jones theme over the intercom which he thought was cool. Lunch went okay. He said the fries were a little cold but dessert was awesome. I missed him and our house felt weird without him here. So I am now home with 3 girls all day :) Lizzie starts pre-school on the 9th so we will see how that goes. She also starts dance class on Sept. 4th.

Afton and Lilly are doing awesome. I will post some pictures of them later. Lilly has found her feet and loves to grab them and is so close to laughing. Right now it is a squeal, scream type thing. She has also found her hands and likes to move them around in front of her face. Afton absolutely loves rolling over and will roll to her stomach at every opportunity. They are both grabbing onto toys which is fun to watch. They are also eating rice cereal. I have forgotten how time consuming feeding baby food is.

true sign

You know you have truly earned your "mom badge" if you are at a Harmon's at 9:30 at night on a Friday buying Pull-Ups and Formula and a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's (mom needs something right? :)

Growing Up....

I have been a little too thoughtful this weekend at how fast my kids seem to be growing. In one week my cute little Ethan will enter the 1st grade. I am going to miss him so much. He is my big helper and it will be an adjustment for all of us for him to be gone from 8:15 to 2:55. I think this is harder on me than when he went to kindergarten.
The other day I had to tell him that his best friend will not be going to the same school as him anymore. Ethan started crying and was so sad and kept saying "But he is my best friend."
It was breaking my heart. Even worse was when I realized in these years of growing up there are going to be many more things I am going to have to tell him that I won't want to. I know there will be a day that I would trade anything in the world to tell him something as simple as your friend won't be at school but we can still call him to play anytime.

Let's watch it....

3 words you hate to hear from your pediatrician.


Today the babies had their 4 month check-up. Technically they are already 4 1/2 months. They are growing, growing, growing.

Afton weighs a whopping 12 lbs and 3 oz. while Lilly now weighs 11 lbs 3 oz.

Afton has an issue called torticollis. Her muscles on one side of her neck side are weak and she likes to kink her head to the side at odd angles in the swing, crib, etc. Our pediatrician reccomended we take her to a chiropractor to fix it. Isn't that funny. A little 4 month old to a chiropractor. We also need to do neck exercises and have her try to strenghten the muscles. Good thing we have a physical therapist in the house that can help out. Afton also has a little ridge on her head where the bones are together weird. We are going to watch it for a couple months and check it again at the 6 month appt. She can grow out of it. Worst case scenario if it is still there we might start talking about having to go up to have a procedure done up at Primary's where they go in with some laser thing and fix it. As you can tell I am not the best at medical descriptions. It would be at least an overnight stay though. We will cross our fingers. Jim's mom came and helped me at the appointment and it was so nice to have some extra hands.

Lilly is Ms. Smiley girl and will smile and baby talk at almost anything. She is also our kicker and kicks, kicks, and kicks, she is also learning to grab onto things.

Afton is learning to roll to her side and twice now has rolled onto her stomach. She also is grabbing onto things. She does a lot better on her stomach than Lilly and likes to sit in the Bumbo.

*In these pictures Lilly is in pink, Afton in purple and I am holding Lilly.