Blurbs from the Boys

Charlie discovered our first zucchini in the garden and shouted "look, we growed a HUGE zucchini bread!!" I love that he only knows zucchini to be an ingredient in baked goods. So much like me.

Mitchy, referring to Meagan on their wedding day, "she looked like a queen!"

We were visiting friends that have a cat and Charlie asked "what kind of cat do they have, is it a talking cat?" Reading the puzzled look on my face he continued, "you know, the kind that say 'meow'?"

Mitchy was telling me that "Maggin is the prettiest girl I ever seen." I told him that he should tell Meagan that and he said "I don't have to tell her hers pretty, her already knows hers pretty!"

Charlie asked "why doesn't Mommy have a blankie?" and Dawson answered "she does, Daddy's her blankie!"

Dawson: "Can you believe trees sell oxygen?!"

Dawson was annoyed with all that chatter in the car and shouted "I wish I had hearing aids because right now I'd turn them OFF!"

Charlie was out working hard to help me clean the chicken coop, so I told him "I'm proud of you, you are a good little man!" He said "I'm only 4 Mom, I'm not a man!" "What should I call you then?" "Just go ahead and call me a good child."

Charlie took his Crocs off in the car after we had been hiking, and his sweaty feet were stinky. Dawson is the lucky one that sits next to him, so he plugged his nose and said "peeeuuuu Charlie, your feet smell like lentils and insulation."

Ella was telling the boys that when Aaron and Meagan have a baby, they will be uncles. Mitch said "I can't be an uncle, uncles are bald."

We were driving up to Green Bluff and we had to slow down and pull over a bit while some guys were sealing asphalt. Dawson was annoyed at our minor delay getting to pumpkin donuts and hay rides, and said exasperated, "we have to wait for them and they're using our tax dollars?!"

Mitch was trying to explain to me why Charlie cries when I take him to Pre-K. "Charlie can't be away from you because he's soooo in love with you."

I was telling Dawson the Bible says not to repay evil for evil, but overcome evil with good. He said smirking "no, the Bible says this: Hear me when I say, Dawson can do whatever he wants!"

Mitchy asked me "why do you have to kiss me ALL THE TIME?!" I told him because I love him, and he shrugged his shoulders and said "okay, it's fine I guess."

Mitch snuggled with me and told me "my heart is full of you." My heart melted.

Dawson: " I have a feeling the world is about to be done. I think we have like 28 more Christmases and then we're goin' to heaven!"

I asked Charlie "why are you hitting your brother?!" He answered "it's my destiny."

Dawson: "Sometimes I just feel like shouting at the top of my lungs 'I LOVE JESUS WITH ALL MY HEART!"

Dawson said this to Todd out of the blue "I guess parents are useful after all..."

Mitch asked me excitedly "hey Mom, can I have a sleepover at your house tonight?!"

Mitch made a picture for Todd and told him "Daddy, I made a picture to cheer your bottom up."

Dawson said this to me: "you're the best Mom, I have a crush on you."

Mitch: "Hey Mom, did you grow your boobies yourself or...?"

We were roasting hot dogs over the fire and Charlie kept blocking my view of the fire and waving his jacket wildly in the air. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I have to keep the smoke away to protect you, only boys can smell smoke."

I told Mitchy to clean up and he said "I heard you, but I don't agree with you."

I overheard this lunchtime conversation yesterday between the boys and almost died. Charlie: "Dawson, tell me and Mitchy again why our penis goes up, up, up sometimes?" Dawson: "well, it's because it's coming up for oxygen."

Poor Dawson had a terrible allergic reaction, so after the dust settled from the lovely visit to Hive-ville, his Allergist wanted to see him. The nurse did the usual and when the doctor came in, she asked Dawson "so buddy, what happened?!" He answered with very animated gestures," I had an EXPLOSION of hives, that's what happened!"

 started like this...

 of course Daddy was out of town:/ This is at about 2 am after 3 doses of Benadryl while we watched Duck Dynasty and Giada at Home. He was so miserable and didn't sleep a wink until 3:30 am.

2 days later and he still wasn't 100%

garden of weedin' to garden of eatin'

Okay, I get that it may seem strange to have an entire post about a silly garden. But it was such a labor of love and, this sounds even sillier, but it brought us so much joy! Even our neighbors were invested in our little project, watching it go from an overgrown heap of weeds and shrubs to a thriving garden. I got to know a handful of people just because of our garden chats, they would check in on our progress as I got the plot prepared, then later would admire how well it was doing. And as the massive amounts of cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and zucchini came, they could enjoy the extra bounty in the wooden crate I'd set out front so neighbors could grab veggies and take them home. I've had a garden for lots of our married years, but I don't think I've ever put as much work into one as I did this year! And when I say "I" it's because Todd contributes about 2% of the labor force when it comes to gardening;) When we bought our house, I forced my Type-A self to turn a blind eye to the crazy, overgrown yard. I was desperately trying to get settled in while taking care of 4 kids, often by myself as Todd traveled, managing unpacking and organizing, remodeling, and trying to prepare for my first year of homeschooling. And believe me, it wasn't easy to ignore the yard since it got uglier by the week. By the time Fall weather settled in, and we settled in a bit, I had to hit the flower beds around the house to get them weeded and edged before the snow started to fly. It was giving me hives to look at it.. But the rest of the yard was gonna have to wait. And while it waited, it had a hay day vicariously seeding obnoxious weeds in every square inch of soil. And the grass that was overgrown when we moved in enjoyed another season getting even more comfortably rooted down. But when Spring rolled around, we got a neighbor tractor dude to pull a couple of GiNorMouS bushes out by the rock wall, and then I set out to dig up weeds, and cut out the chunks of grass. Lots and lots of grass Oh my stinking gosh it was a TON of work. My little workers, Dawson and Charlie, came out to work with me every day. They loved "helping" me weed, getting muddy, and uncovering earth worms, to which Charlie would squeal every.single.time, as if he'd never laid eyes on a worm. Charlie would constantly ask if a plant was "a good guy" as we tried {unsuccessfully} to avoid pulling up the bulbs that were starting to come up. The kids began to despise the hideous, thorny Canadian thistles as much as I do, and would shout across the garden, "Mom, I found another Kamakakin missle, kill it!" And then finally, the day came to buy seeds. I got the usual suspects and let each of the kids pick something they wanted to plant. So then it was time to set to work planting. And anyone who has grown a decent sized garden knows this, but the prep and the planting is just the beginning. The beginning of a life of weeding. Weeding for fun, weeding in the morning, weeding at dusk, in your spare time, in your not-so-spare time... Just basically you always weed, and you can kiss clean nails goodbye. You will perpetually look like someone who doesn't wash their hands, ever. And then all of the sudden, after days of anticipation and checking the mounds of dark earth with a magnifying glass, at last the day comes that you see little sprouts! And then even better, those sprouts give way to food! Glorious, free food! With no chemicals, no wax, no booger eating kid fingers all over it at the grocery store. And as if wholesome, free food right outside your door isn't enough, bright, cheery, free flowers make me swoon. I always plant cutting flowers in my garden because hardly any earthly thing makes me as happy as fresh flowers in the house. And even just a couple of weeks ago, my garden was still making me happy as we harvested our pumpkins, cut sunflowers to enjoy in the house first, and then for the chickens to snack on as they dried. Corn stalks were cut and ready for fall decorating, the boys had fun whacking them down with the huge sunflower stems. I think some of the sweetest memories that I will cherish for my whole life are of watching my barefoot kids in the garden, picking produce with one hand, and holding a chicken in the other. Our garden grew...

tomatoes CORN strawberries basil blueberries ZINNIAS cantaloupe  pumpkins Swiss chard broccoli  cabbage cauliflower carrots radishes green beans summer squash spinach cucumbers sunflowers  zucchini nasturtiums

The "before" pictures

 Starting to cut back the grass.

Removing the most HUMONGOUS bush ever known to man.

 Dinner and a show. The kids were so enthralled with the tractor that I had to serve pork loin out on the picnic blanket.

 Seeds are in and so are the teeny, tiny tomato plants, blueberries and strawberries.

French radishes. Our first picks from the garden! 

Cucumbers on steroids.

One days bounty of tomatoes!

 Nothing like home grown tomatoes, and basil!

Is it just me or does this look like two legs and a... Even the carrots are inappropriate around here.

Dawson chose to plant cantaloupe. Spokane is not the best place to grow melons, but we were so proud of this small but sweet cantaloupe!

My favorite rose bush. Smells like peaches and...roses.

 The first of our pumpkins.

 Our last tomatoes of the season.