Sidewalk Chalk

It's one of those indispensable summertime activities that keeps kids of all ages engaged and outside.

Turkeys in the Hen House

 Papa's been workin' on our coop!  Hip hip!

*this is just the run, we will be attaching it to the hen house...

Pulling Up & Upside Down

He has mastered the pull-up.

He's pretty good at sitting back down too.

He's even better at spotting my phone innocently resting on the couch cushion, and then handing it to me when he finally notices I've caught him!

::::::::::

You've seen this in his 'learning to crawl video,' but he still loves doing this move!  I've been trying for weeks to capture it, but the minute I reach for the camera he moves on...this morning I got lucky as he was clearly in performance mode!

Stairs

He can climb stairs now.  We started small, and now we're up to full flights!

Summer is Coming

The kids and I had some fun backyard time with the chicks today!  They love scratching around in the lawn, but can't stay out in the breezes for too long because they're not fully feathered and could get fatally cold.  I even caught 2-week-old Petunia taking a dust bath!  We also got out the wadding pool for them to run around in the sun but that didn't last long, because Marigold repeatedly flew out (see E's winning smile after she caught her).  They are double in size from when we brought them home, and all 3 have started sleeping on their perch, so cute to see all of them lined up asleep.  I really want to get a small run built this weekend, and have made great strides in clearing out the back corner of our yard for the coop!

Later in the evening the Humes came over for our first backyard hamburgers of the year!  We also got out the snow cone maker E got for Christmas a few years back for some post dinner treats.

Garden Update!

The carrot tops are showing, the broccoli is just springing up, the sugar snaps are climbing their trellis, the bush tomato's are flowering, the strawberries are beginning to bud, I can almost smell the sweet peas,  the romaine is very happy, and we have a few sunflowers starting to reach upward!

Seattle Tilth's Children's Garden

E's class took their last field trip of the year to the Children's Garden at the Seattle Tilth.  It was very informational, they got their hands dirty, and tasted many different plants, the all around favorite being the silver shield sorrel (tastes like a sour apple).

My Day

Feeding hungry mouths, scrubbing dirty fingers, reading the same book over and over, entertaining question after question after question, drying tears, giving up on the definition of sleep, multitasking, sharing the same cold, finding the value of coffee and a camera.  I love being a mom.

::::::::::

At school E worked very hard on this card for me, although we have never been to Glazed and Amazed I think she was dropping a hint...And her hand print is a quilted hot pad (too special to use of course) that one of the grandmothers created for each of the children in her class using their actual hand outline!

::::::::::

And finally, me and my mom.  We had a really nice time together today.  My dad and D were out of town so we took the kids swimming, and went out for dinner.  She made us an amazing rhubarb pie yesterday and we just had a very relaxing and mellow day.  Thanks Mom, you have taught me so much.