10 June 2013

Harvest Monday - Lettuce and Chinese cabbage

4:42 PM Carlie: beans, bok choy, cabbage, garden, Garlic, harvest, lettuce, peas, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes No comments

I always wait too long to harvest all the lettuce. I worry it will go bad in the fridge...so instead I let it bolt--oops! But I managed to pick all the rest of it today before it gets too bitter. I'm really loving the small miniature butter heads, the ones with the crinkly leaves. Although I can't remember what it is....Victoria? Little Jem (I think this is the mini romaine) or Tom Thumb?I have some growing in labeled containers so I hope to figure it out this time around.

The raspberries are finally ready! This is the best part of summer...going out every morning to pick a handful of berries.

These are a few Dakota shelling peas. I should have planted way more. Also, not pictured are all the snap peas we've eaten. Those never make it into pictures or the house.

And these are only 1/4 of our strawberries. Every day for the past week or two we've been eating at least 6-7. Amelia has learned to pick the ripe red ones and quickly shove them in her mouth. It's about the cutest thing ever.

And I have two big heads of Chinese cabbage that's ready. Plus 3 bunches of bok choy. This is my first year growing it and it did really well in the garden. Now I just have to figure out how to eat it, other than in stir fry's. Although, the stir fry I made last night was totally delicious. So I'm glad I chose to grow it this year.

Today, I also noticed the broccoli heads starting to form. Wahoo! This is my first time growing broccoli. This is typically my lettuce/greens bed because it gets more shade.

Everything else is looking good. There are even a few green fruits on my tomatoes. Although the plants aren't very big.

As usual, the pretty cilantro is taking over. The garlic will be ready soon and I just filled that bare patch where the cabbage was with some late zucchini.

I'm excited about all the onions this year. I never get very big bulbs, but at least this year I'll have a ton (for our little family anyways) even if they are small.

I also have a row cover that I move around. Right now it's over some peppers, since its a little cooler today

And I'm excited to try a few new varieties of beans this year.

So far I'm really enjoying our garden this spring/summer.

Check out Daphne's Dandelions for more delicious harvests!

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Amelia is 13 months

8:55 PM Carlie: No comments

Isn't she hilarious?

As soon as Mia learned to walk, she's been literally running all around keeping us chasing after her.

We are so impressed with how fast she picked up walking.

Her new trick is to do a funny yoga pose and get us to giggle at her. Clever. There is nothing better than seeing a baby shake her little bum in the air.

For her 13 month celebration we went for a drive.

Can you believe she's picked up driving, too?!?

Just kidding.

Dad was out shooting guns with friends, so we had a little shopping, dinner and frozen yogurt date.

The girl can eat her weight in French fries.

And holy cow...frozen yogurt is the best thing ever.

Now that she is much more mobile, we really enjoy going to our neighborhood playground.

Amelia has no fear and climbs right up the stairs the the highest slide.

It terrifies me.

But the giggle going down the big kids slide is well worth it.

She's also picked up skateboarding with Dad.

Again, I'm terrified. But she loves it.

She also loves to read. Her favorite book is The Little Blue Truck. I'm pretty sure I've got that one memorized. She picks it out of her book bin every night before bedtime.

But she also loves this one page of Hop on Pop (Dr. Seuss).

She thinks this lion creature is a dog and basically it's the best thing ever that they are biting each other.

Him

Jim

Jim is after Him.

Ya, know. Hilarious stuff. Completely profound.

Anything with a dog these days keeps her attention. Every animal is a dog. And there is lots of pointing involved.

Her current favorite words are:

Dog
Dad
Done (as in "all done")
Uh-oh
Ohhhhh!! (while pointing with a nice oval shaped mouth)
No (while shaking her head)
Mamamamaaa (usually when she's tired or wants me)
She sometimes says other words too, but won't ever repeat them more than once or twice. Like tonight she said "hot" to her dinner. But she's hardly says it. Or "down".....she really likes her "D" words. :)
She understands a lot of words too, like: bye-bye, night-night, hi, outside, Amelia/Mia/Millie, play, milk, dinner, and more.

We just can't believe how wonderful it is to be her mom and dad. We love just staring at her and all the neat things she does. She makes it so easy to be her parents. She's so sensitive when we tell her no or uh-oh. It's kinda funny. She doesn't like getting in trouble (not that she ever does...) Although, lately I have seen her throw her little body back in tantrum mode when she wants to go somewhere or do something that we just can do. We might be in for real trouble later.

But her dancing is the best. I wish I could get video of it, but I'm just too busy laughing and giggling along with her.

And she sometimes just crinkles up her nose and giggles at us. For no reason other to make us laugh. She loves to pretend laugh or copy other people laughing. Funny girl.

It's going to be a wonderful summer!

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Harvest Monday: strawberries

6:46 AM Carlie: No comments

This little girl loves strawberries.

Good thing we have quite a few ripe berries!

We've also been enjoying some pac choi, Chinese cabbage, fresh lettuce, spinach, a little Swiss chard, and some basil. Oh and lots of stored onions or fresh green ones from the garden. Cilantro is also almost always available for fresh picking.
And finally FINALLY! I've been snacking on some delicious snap peas. Not one has made it into the house.
I think it's time to update my pictures soon. The garden has grown a lot from when I posted a few weeks ago.
Check out Daphne's Dandelions for more delicious harvests!

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2nd place @ State!

9:05 PM Carlie: No comments

These are some of my favorite people EVER.

I'm so blessed to know these cool kids and work with such talented coaches.

There is a lot I could write about all the success we had, but mostly you can tell how well it all turned out just by looking at everyone's happy smiling face (and how exhausted they were at the end...).

So enjoy!

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Mothers Day 2013

10:24 PM Carlie: Amelia, motherhood No comments

Dan made these!

I'm blessed to have celebrated my second Mother's Day today. What an awesome day it was. And nothing special happened. Just a gloriously normal Sunday family day.

Mia woke up with a big smile this morning and kept us busy chasing her all day.

Dan made this beauty in the wee hours of the morning and sent it my way. [He's cute]

What a happy girl she is. Always smiling and laughing.

I feel so lucky to have her as my daughter.

Its indescribable, the happiness I felt tonight as we were all eating dinner together and having a mini dance party. Or how she giggled endlessly as I talked on the phone (a funny little habit she's started) and wished my nana a happy mothers day and then contently cuddled in my arms for a solid 15 minutes (that never happens anymore!). I feel like that is what life and family is all about. Happy little dance parties and cuddles before bedtime.

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Garden Baby

11:42 AM Carlie: No comments

We've been spending a lot of time outside these days.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Sunshine every day. It feels like a dream. Oregon is never this lucky to have sunshine and warm happy rays shining on us in April/May.