nina & froggy

Nina was pretty excited to find this little frog. She now thinks she has a gift with frogs (like her bee gift) and it's true, the frog keeps swimming back to her. He lives in our little pond and I find it quite amazing that something so tiny makes such a loud croaking sound. I love listening to the frogs at night so I sure hope froggy sticks around. Isn't this an amazing world we live in?

Sergeant Soil: We put our worms in charge!

Sela's 3rd grade class has a little business to pay for the food and supplies for their class pet, a guinea pig named Loopers. All year long they save their food scraps from lunch as well as shredded paper and all of this goes in a box with earthworms. The worms break it down and the end product is what is called worm castings. It is an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. They sold their big bags of worm castings last weekend at a University of Washington Garden Fair. By the end of the Garden Fair,they had made about $130 and had sold out. Loopers will be living the good life. I really enjoyed watching the children very enthusiastically explain the process to the people who approached their booth. When business slowed down, they took to the streets and tried to steer people to their table. And who can resist a child selling a $6 dollar bag of worm poop? And if worm poop isn't enough, well, they offered a free gummy worm with every purchase.
Sold.

Early Spring

The saying, "If you don't like the weather in Seattle, just wait five minutes," has been so true lately. It's making me a little crazy, but I'm taking it in stride, given the fact that we've had a pretty mild winter this year and enough sun mixed in. Well, it's never enough, but you know what I mean! Anyway, during April it can be sunny, cloudy, drizzling, hailing, sunny again, cool, warm, etc. All in one day, even. Dressing for a day in April is not easy either. I changed three times one day this week. Starting the days in capris and ending with a parka. As I began this post it was drizzling, then the sun came out and the entire view outside my window changed. I almost ran to grab my running shoes, but alas, the clouds came back and I can hear Juan hurrying to get the lawn mowed because the forecast has possible hail. Sigh.

Sela has her first track meet today. She had some jitters this morning, but is also very excited. I gave her some new socks last night and we talked about what she wanted to pack in her lunch. I think it may get rained out though, but hopefully not. She's doing the triple jump and running the 440.

We were in Texas when the tulips bloomed in our yard, so I haven't been able to enjoy them as long this year, but they have sure brightened up the house the past couple of weeks. We are gearing up to get the garden in. Zig planted lettuce, but that's it so far. Our strawberries are coming along and we've got lots of rhubarb. I made ginger rhubarb muffins this weekend (thanks Lisa!), and can't wait to to have more fresh produce in the coming months.



Zig planted a little patch of these right outside a kitchen window.

Look at the pattern on these little plants. Amazing.

the last of the tulips

Isn't she pretty?

Kona making the rounds

I sent Sela to pick up Nina at the neighbors last week, and this is how they came up the driveway.

Strawberries and raspberries.

Mom, if you'll notice, that end chair is a rocker! I ordered it with you in mind :)


Happy Spring!

Look at me, Dad!

Why is dressing up little boys as girls so much fun? I don't know, but it's pretty darn funny! I like to show these pictures to Zig when he's been traveling, you know, just so he knows what he's missed!

Rollin + Autumn

Rollin has a little friend named Autumn in his preschool class. He asked for a playdate with her and she came over this week. I wondered how it would go. She is very dainty and sweet and "girlie." And Rollin is well, you know, nuts! In a good way, of course. And as boyish as they come. He does, however, like to dress up in princess dresses, so I thought they might find some common ground. Well, these two had a great time! Autumn played dinosaurs with him, watched his stunts, played in the treehouse, jumped on the trampoline, and collected eggs. I heard the two of them talking about how Rollin would open the egg doors and Autumn would grab the eggs. Then he told her he would show her the way. He took her little hand and they skipped off to the chicken coop. I couldn't get my camera fast enough!

The Texas Hill Country

The last part of our trip we spent in the San Antonio/Austin area. We had a huge surprise 60th Anniversary party for my grandparents. Mom, Andra, Larry, and Dow did the planning and it was such a wonderful party. So great to see so many relatives we hadn't seen in ages. We all worried about whether Maw Maw's heart could take such a surprise, but she did great! I think her heart was fine because about 30 minutes into the party, she was still wondering why the party for Amanda's 21st birthday (the one she had made food for and thought she was attending) wasn't happening. Gotta love it!

The grandchildren and great grandchildren stayed back in a room while the larger group "surprised" them. Once they had greeted most of the people, we all streamed out. And that's when it began to "click" for Maw Maw! She was stunned and so happy.

The rest of the week we spent time with family. The kids always enjoy a trip to Andra's animal sanctuary/kennel. Any doggie, horse, you name it without a home ends up here! Andra reigns supreme as favorite aunt and great aunt! I mean who can compete with her set-up!


Erin, Sela, and Maw Maw


Cake time!

Sisters and babies

Sweet PawPaw

oh yeah, we're in Texas, baby!

Andra's yard and one of her bazillion dogs.

Our favorite childhood park, Lady Bird Park

It was a little bit surreal to be back to this place after 25 years with children of our own doing the same things we did as kids. Time sure does fly. Fortunately, this park didn't change much! There's nothing worse than going back to one of your favorite haunts as a kid and finding a housing development or something. Lots of Zig's favorite wide open spaces in San Diego are now pavement :(


This is a scene from the street we grew up on.


More fun at Andra's.

The famous Fredericksburg Bakery! I was so lucky to be able to see my dear childhood friend, Destiny! She is now taking the bakery over from her parents and is just as sweet (and tall!) as ever! The bakery was packed (as always) and the Sweet German pretzels were exactly the same as I remember. Wish I had one of those right now!

I wanted Dad to get at least some of the bakery in the background but instead we have a close-up. Oh well, you can see how short I am compared to Destiny! When we were kids, Destiny's family lived above the bakery. Their house was beautiful and had a huge balcony overlooking historic main street. Lots of memories in that place. Since both she and her brothers and their families all wanted to live upstairs as adults (naturally!), they decided it was only fair to make it into a B&B.


Sela and Tyler playing frisbee during the party.

The Texas wildflowers were incredible!! Stunning. I was dying the whole drive up as the highway was full of bluebonnets and other beautiful bright flowers. Erin and I had plans of getting our kids out in a field of flowers for some photos, but somehow we didn't make it happen. We were in a little bit of survival mode this trip!


Hiking comes so natural to Erin!




Erin and I were loving this field at Betty's beautiful ranch.

Mom and Sela at the hotel relaxing. We had fun cheering every time Tiger made a mistake during the Masters! The funniest part was that MawMaw got in on the action and every time they would do a replay of a missed shot she would say, very excitedly, "OH MY GOODNESS, he missed again, at the same spot!!!" I LOVE YOU, Maw Maw! You keep us entertained, always :)


The Bluebonnet...the state flower of Texas. So pretty.


These cattle live a happy life on Betty's 800 acre ranch.


Nina and Moriah

We were sad to go our separate ways after such a fun couple of weeks but we all left early enough in the morning (4am) that we couldn't dwell on it too much, which was good, because otherwise I know I would have had a hard time holding back the tears.

Family is a wonderful thing! Love y'all! :)

South Padre Island, Texas

We spent most of the second week at the beach. With so many little ones, the adults were once again, busy and tired, but there were so many fun moments to make it worth our serious sleep deprivation. There was quite a bit of wind so the surf wasn't very pretty and blue, but the weather was great and the water plenty warm. The kids had a total blast and we can't wait for next year!




Jude, Moriah, and Rollin






Mom, Camilla & Rollin getting nice and warm

Jude was my perfect model all week long

Getting as much beach time as possible before the sun beats down





Tuckered out

Cade Daniel and Rollin


The kids were dancing to American Idol






"Holdie" and Erin




Lots of fuzzy caterpillars to find


Major windy day




Nina surfing

Sela surfing..thanks Uncle Ryan for all the help!

Sand dunes




Moriah and Camilla