And then there was 5...

Arlo Scott Weed

Born Juy 9 at 6:59 am

7 lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches long

a story and more to come

a due date well spent

July 5th, the day that was supposedly a certain babies due date, was spent watching one of the silliest parades, face painting, games, chasing chickens and preggos on bikes (sorry no pics of that).  This parade though topped all our expectations- with a kazoo orchestra, plenty of old tractors, lots of doggies, a silly float adorned with cat carriers and recordings of meows, a bunch of gals dressed in sequins clapping their lawn chairs...oh and of course fire trucks and plenty of candy.  What a wonderful way to anticipate the coming of a new baby, one not worrying about the actual date and just living and loving every moment of this precious life.  

Now we wait...days...weeks...?  Only baby knows!

an early summer garden glimpse

It seems like not that long ago I was wagging my finger at Aaron...."no garden...no more chickens...no pigs....we will have way too much on our plate this summer".  Ever so slowly I realized how ridiculous those words were and how important these summer plans are to us as a family (with the exception of pigs we are doing just about everything I said we wouldn't...and to be honest...if we saw a few piglets up for grabs we would welcome them at this point).  Being in the garden, chasing chickens and inspecting for insects is just what we do...a baby will certainly not slow this family down.  No matter the size of the garden or number of plants growing, gardening has been something Aaron and I have always done together...each and every season.  We have gardened at my parents, on steps of apartments and even the summer we spent in Switzerland.  I give him much of the credit and am (mostly) eager to follow his lead.  One of the reasons we love this place we rent at the moment is there is no shortage of space and fertile soil...it would be a waste to watch the weeds take over!  This year we opted to try out black plastic since our weed issue is a little crazy.  We also spread our rows wide enough so that the mower could fit between each row - Aaron ideally dreaming of wacking back the weeds with a brew in hand (so far every time we go to use the damn mower something breaks on it...arg).  

We have been enjoying tender greens and purple top turnips in salad.  The kids are mining the snap peas and we are all anticipating the tomatoes, corn, carrots, beets and oh so much more to come.  In addition to the big vegetable garden (where the corn and pigs were last year) I converted the old vegetable space to a cutting flower garden.  Sort of my first "solo project" ...all on my own I planted those seeds, mulched and have sort of kept up with the weeds.  There have been failures (amish cockscomb and globe amarynth to name just two) and much success....straw flowers, love lies bleeding, calendula, zinnias and more.  I am dreaming of a late summer/fall bursting with color, flowers drying for winter arrangements and maybe even some calendula salves.  Yes there is a whole lot of dreaming and anticipation going on while our hands busily pull weeds and find potato beetles.

afternoon inspections are a must

dreams of tomatoes and gasp...even dare I say zucchini

potatoes and a pick up in need of a new home...

Smoky and her chicks...
(we let one of our broody hens set on a pile of eggs - and it happened...just 21 days later and on my birthday to boot we had several little peepers pecking their way into the world...as you can imagine Isabelle was in her glory!)

one of the snap pea thieves slyly hiding one behind her back

...not without reminding me that there are plenty more flowers...which means plenty more to come mama 

some chickens eyeing my flower garden

meat birds growing ever so quickly

and a sweet bare bottomed pee break...i couldn't resist

wanted: hair cut...

 Being here, present in these moments, is a blessing - life is so good...and can only get so much better.

party hard

Along with the scent of lilacs, Isabelle's sixth birthday has come and gone.  Her actual birthday falling on a school day that she happily paraded into her classroom with a container full of sugary cupcake treats followed by a "pool party" at the house later that weekend.  In lieu of a pool there was a slip n slide, sprinklers and kid pools set up.  It was some seriously good old fashion fun in the sun!  My sweet mother and neighbor baked up a storm and decorated cupcakes like old pros.  After most kids left we were left with a handful of family and friends that might as well be just that.  We all slumped down for a bbq, the kids dressed up in some fine attire and we relished in that warm spring day.  I can still smell those lilacs and hear those giggling children - it was a wonderful day to celebrate our six year old gal.