born imaginative.

She's Two!

Today is the day Miss Audra turns two!

Remembering: 18 months, 12 months, 9 months? 6 months? 3 months? Just being born?

And my letter to Audra Grace.

You never stop talking. Ever. You talk to us in 8 word sentences, with correct pronouns, great grammar, specific vocabulary and you even have irregular past tense. Stuff that the speech therapist in your mama recognizes. You are a chatter box.

You are spirited, do your own thing and find yourself in trouble regularly. However, if you are found doing something you were not supposed to do, you blame (Adri did it), you deny (not me) or you make something random up (somebody else came and did it). You are quite the liar.

You are an excellent eater. You'll eat most anything. Except you hate cake (how can that be?!). Your faves? Eggs. Any berry. Panpapes (pancakes). Any meat.
You have a way with your words. Daily, at random times, I hear, "I love you so-so-so much mama. You spesh (special)." You give the very best hugs and kisses.

You've been potty trained for months now as long as we remembered to bring you, but you're just starting to tell us. "I hafta go!"

We're all tired of your "WHY?" questions.

You love pretty dresses. You don't like any bows in your hair.

You draw intricate artwork. You want to climb to the top of the very highest playground equipment.

You have slept through the night four times in your life total. All of which have happened in the last couple weeks.

You, without doubt, love your brother. You guys are best friends. He loves you right back. You both rarely have squabbles.

When you're mad, you wail at the top of your lungs "I WANT MY MAMA". Even if I'm right there.

You are a mother hen. Mostly to the baby chicks. But if we won't let you have a baby chicks at a certain moment, you will mother a baby doll. "You otay. You not cry. I right here."

You love books and you love to snuggle. You love to laugh. You love to narrate everything you do. You make us smile.

This is another dress that I wore as a child. My mom saved it for me, it's your turn. Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Gardening 2014: Take Four

Gardening 2014
Take One here.

Take two.

Take three.

Goodness, here we are at take four. The garden, oh that garden. You know what I'm growing? Weeds, that's what.

Let me tell you what's frustrating about gardening for me.

1) I want to have a picture perfect garden. I want no weeds, a cute little fence, my raspberry hedge just so, more raised stone beds, a gardening shed with perennials. I want my soil to be fantastic and not the mess it is right now. I want beautiful mulch. And I want to grow enough to share with everyone. There's a lot that I want. But, the truth of the matter is it's just me taking care of this garden. And I just cannot do it all.

2) I like success. I feel triumphant when I know how to do something and defeated when I fail. I have grown peas a number of years successfully. Only the deer have come and dined on every.single.pea plant. They nibbled the tops off, which of course ruined the entire thing. They also came and ate 14 of my cauliflower plants. Those are the cauliflower plants I started in March. Cauliflower and peas are two vegetables I KNOW how to grow, and yet I failed. And because of said weeds, I really stink at growing carrots and leafy greens this year. I've grown them successfully before, sure. But there's problems now. Because, well, you need to weed those. I know how to grow those, but I'm not getting in there as fast as the weeds.

Goodness, this happens every year, this feeling of defeat.

Again, I need to remind myself to step back. Because I again find myself concentrating on my failures. And truth be told, a gardener who has been gardening for decades still has failures depending on the year. There's pests and critters and weather that you cannot control. So it's okay if everything isn't coming as planned.

I need to remind myself of why I am gardening. Am I gardening for show garden purposes? Clearly not. I'm gardening to feed my family. I could have a smaller garden that is more manageable and would look prettier, but then I'd have less for my family. Last year my preserved herbs lasted me all year and my frozen veggies lasted until March. There is still a plethora of food coming our way from said garden. I just need to be patient.

I need to remind myself of my priorities. I try to do everything in moderation, which, as life has it, includes gardening. I haven't spent my entire evenings gardening, but I get out there when possible. My kids still eat homemade meals 3x a day. I have been getting a few more runs in lately. I made a sweet little gift for Miss Audra's 2nd birthday. Two sweet flour girl dresses are hung in my kitchen now. I've read to my kids daily. I've pushed them on the swings and I've gone down the slide with them. I skipped weeding in favor of family beach time. Moderation.

I need to remind myself that I'm doing okay. Things are growing and my kids are thriving. Not counting what we consumed out there, I have brought 17 pounds of produce into the house thus far. So it's not a failure. There will always be another weed, but there won't always be two little kids asking for one more book.

And so, I will read that one more book, I will let the weeds grow. And I will celebrate all that is growing instead of wallowing in what is not.

And here's the garden as of now.

(There's blossoms, do you see?!)

They are coming! Not a hornworm yet, knock on wood.

Snacks.

And beauty.

And dreams in (another) secret garden that I hope to get to one of these days.

And harvesting. So much goodness.

(Two gallons of these flash freezed in trays for the winter. Mmm!)

Meals have been grand, even if 100% of the contents aren't grown by us...yet. Just a bit of garden fresh makes any meal better though.

So there you have it, the good of our garden. Which is really much more than the frustrations. It's all a matter of perspective.

Thrifted. Randoms.

I keep finding pictures from a bit ago I forgot to show you.

Large basket, barn photo, Shrek, two curtain rods, critter container, large 2 gallon jar and tall snap lid jar (that you could probably fit long pasta in). $7.00

Holstein bag, vintage alphabet tin, animal print scarf, four vintage napkins and a game still in the plastic. $5.50

And from the expensive thrift store, Two puzzles, drums, fun books. $10.00. Still a deal!

A dob bed, bone, ball and leash I crafted to go to with this little dog that matches our dear friend's dog. One happy five year old was the result!

Bread for sale. Makes me smile.

Evening farm fun.

Sunsets.

I just love my crazy crew.

Haying.

Goodness, I'm behind. Nearly a week later from our cutting hay event and I'll bet you're wondering if ever got baled. Okay, so you're probably not wondering, but it did get baled.

Because the tractors showed up at breakfast time, we were in our pajamas. No time to change, can't miss any of this important business.