The Face of Genius

I think that Logan might just, may be, possibly is... a damn genius!

He's the cutest thing in the world, most of the time. And overall he has a very good nature about him, mostly smiley and giggly. Lately he's started showing signs that his giant head may be of more use than just throwing off his balance. He's always been a good communicator. I've known what he was trying to say for a long time. As expected, he's been picking up new words every day. He puts two words together, rarely but sometimes three... usually it's just tacking a name to the end of a command or request: Nigh-Nigh Mama... Bye Bye Papa... Sauwwy Noah (sorry Nola)... etc.

And recently I've noticed his knack for retention. I tell him something one time and he remembers... like letters and numbers. He was sitting on my lap the other day and making noise, I wasn't really paying attention to him. Then I realized what he was saying: letters.
"Oh. Oh. Gee. Dee. Oh. Oh." My shirt said GOOD JOB on it.
He was reading the letters from my friggin shirt! And subsequently I've tested his ability and he has continued to impress. "El. Oh. Gee. Aye. En." LOGAN! Frankly, it's freaking me out.

I'm not sure he's supposed to be knowing this stuff yet. Maybe he is... I honestly can't remember when Nola started reading letters, or counting... (I know! I KNOW! You're not supposed to compare children to each other... blah blah whatever!) So now, little smarty pants has started counting. Counting! He can't speaking in sentences, yet he's counting. In the backyard the other day he was counting. Of his own accord he was running along the posts in the chain link fence and as he ran by them he would count (not always correctly, but neither does my 3 1/2 year old). "Two. Two. Free. Four. Five." ...running running running, all by himself along the fence... "Ayyy. Nigh. TEN!" Holy Crap. Holy Shit. He just counted to ten. COUNTED TO TEN! Freaking me OUT!

My Little Genius. He'll be the smartest player Da BEARS have ever seen!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to Me
Happy Mother's Day to Me
Happy Mother's Day Dear Janae
Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Had a good day today. Really. Didn't start out too well though...

Usually Kirk works on every holiday know to man, but he was off this one. I woke up with the kids. He tried but couldn't resist the snooze feature on his cell phone alarm clock. And ironically ended up waking the kids up earlier than they would normally have risen due to his alarm. The thought counts here, according to him. Not to me. I knew he wasn't going to wake up with them and was planning to get up anyway - wish he wouldn't have set his alarm at all. So my Mother's Day started around 6:15. Whoopie!

So around 9 he gets up (because I asked him to). He got me a card, a bottle of wine, a bag of beef jerky and a balloon on a stick. The balloon part has become somewhat of a tradition with us for some reason, probably because they are readily available at Walgreens (as are cards and wine and beef jerky). But this year I assumed he would get two - they really aren't for me even though they say Happy Mother's Day on them. But no, just one. Can you guess what instantly happened? One balloon, two kids. The Battle of Mother's Day began. Within five minutes of crying, screaming and hearing 'mine' a thousand times the balloon was now a two part balloon. No one was happy.

So once the Balloon War was over and we were all calm (oh, I chose not to open my card upon receiving it because I was mad and didn't want to come off completely ungrateful) we tried to figure out what to do with our day.
I asked Nola what she thought we should do and she said, "Go somewhere."
Where? I asked her what she thought I would like to do, where I would like to go?
She said, "Well, Mama, you like to clean the house."
What else?
"You like to make us all food."
Ha ha ha... What else?
"You like to plant stuff."
Well, you got one out of three! Where should we go?
"Home Depot! They have plantin stuff there!"
Sounds good to me. (I needed tomato cages)
"Can we go after that to somewhere and look at lots of toys?"
Maybe...

So we went to Home Depot, then to Target. I also needed new underwear. Then out to eat at El Maguey - Yum Yum Yummiest! (still have leftover tamales for later!) Then home. And then it started to get really good! Kirk watched the kids and I got to do yard work. All by myself! With no little helper, and no littler helper! I actually got all my plants planted! Now he's giving them a bath and I'm blogging about my day (with a glass of wine). So all in all it was a very good Mother's Day.

Recap of what I got:
a very sweet and funny card (which I read later when I was in a good mood)
a bottle of wine
a balloon on a stick
a bag of beef jerky
tomato cages
new underwear
and (last but not least)
free time!

Herb Garden 2010

Okay - Lucy - this is for you.

Last year I had my herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint,basil, chives, patchouli) all in my veggie garden plot. This year I decided to remove them from the plot and place them elsewhere.

Some come back, some do not. My rosemary, basil and patchouli did not come back. They weren't supposed to. My thyme, mint, oregano and chives did. I moved the chives into a pot and will put it somewhere. I moved the oregano and thyme into the ground by the arbor, where the mint already was. They are doing great. I bought some boxwood basil (like regular basil in taste and use but shaped like a boxwood bush) and planted those with some flowers in the bed by the pave stone patio. I have seed for more chives and purple basil, which I haven't started yet. But it's never too late! I may start them this year or save the seeds for next year and just buy a few more plants at Hartke Nursery which is down the street from me or at our local Farmer's Market, which starts this weekend!

Lucy: Herbs are sold almost all Summer long and will last all Summer long and into the Fall. And all year round if indoors. Choose a few good, big pots and get some plants that are already established. With pots you will need to make sure the moisture levels are correct (they sell really cute little terracotta worms that will tell you when to water)... and if you don't bring them indoors in winter terracotta pots will freeze and crack. And you can plant your one herb in the center of a larger pot and surround it on the bottom with ground covers like elven thyme (my favorite non-useful herb, it looks like moss) or creeping jenny (my favorite ground cover and it comes back every year). I suggest you pick a theme color and buy pots of all sizes in that color and just plant away... I like red. Either way - if you ever want to try and get together to do this, let me know. I will try to free myself from the kids to go garden shopping with you!

I will also take some herby pictures once I have something worthwhile to shoot.... Good Luck Lucy!

Veggie Garden 2010

So I am finally making progress on my garden this year. The actual plot has been turned over and compost added. I even started planting.

So far I have planted a long row of okra (21 plants, alternating regular green and organic burgundy okra), one of each type of squash I started (one ball, 8ight ball, fairy squash and yellow crook neck), as well as two rows of pepper plants (a wide variety from baby bells to Pablanos). I also started some beans around the arbor (purple pole, green pole, black eyed and lima). I have about 7 tomato varieties ready to go but I'm waiting for them to get a little bigger before transplanting into the ground.

Among all the identified plants I have, there are many that got lost in the tagging system. They were either moved around or switched from one container to another or given to me unidentified. So I will also set up an additional area along my fence for the Mystery Garden. There will be Mystery Tomatoes, Mystery Peppers, Mystery Squash, and other misc things that don't fit into the plot. These will be unmarked, unorganized and unworried about. And will probably be my biggest veggie producers!

So that is my progress. I will take some pix when things are all in the dirt.

Over the River & Through the Woods

To Grandmother's House We GO!

Went to my mom's on Saturday with The Buster & The Beans. They had so much fun. My mom's new house is over the river (the Missouri River) and through the woods (the remaining suburban woods of St. Charles) from my house. When we got there we had to go check out the pond, or as Buster calls it, the Wa-Wa.



We were hunting froggies!



Then they picked dandelions for me while Mom and Ron worked in the yard.



The biggest thrill was the hill. It took Logan a while to get the hang of it but eventually they were both going UP the hill....



Then DOWN the hill...



Even falling was a blast!



It had rained, so I was on a mission to get some good droplet photos...
Raindrops on Hosta:



And did you know that Peony buds won't open unless ants eat off the sticky layer on them? I did not know that until I was informed by my mom, who probably was told by Ron... Interesting info. Here are some little ants at work on a peony (see the one underneath?):



And then I found the best raindrop photo-op! I went to just take a picture of the one Iris remaining intact after the storm and found it was holding a raindrop right in the center. Isn't that perfect?






Then Nola Bean decided to climb a tree. She didn't get very far, but her feet did come off the ground. And to her, that's climbing a tree. Even though it looks more like she's just hugging it.



And one last shot of the kids by the tree at the top of the hill. Logan kept knocking on it saying, "Nah-Nah. Nah-Nah." Probably about 50 times... I guess he thought someone might come out, who knows. They look so small by the big ole tree.



Fun day. Kids were asleep by the time I was out of the driveway. Good times!