Minnesota Zoo

The kids and I are safe and sound in Minnesota and having a great time. There is plenty to keep Josh and Kate entertained. Kate spends half the day chasing after Gunner (the bulldog) and Kitty (the cat) and Josh is happy to bounce a ball up and down the hallway. Today, we are making cookies and spending the afternoon in the family room working on a Quiet Book for the kids.

Yesterday we visited the Minnesota Zoo. The weather felt like a North Carolina October. It was cool and sprinkled on and off throughout the day. We had a great time. Enjoy the pictures!

July 2009 Photos

How Does Your Garden Grow?

A few summers ago, Katelyn and I went to Minnesota to visit my mom, "Nana" as she is known by the kiddos. While we were there, we helped her plant a square foot garden. It was so neat and organized and Kate loved playing in the dirt. Ever since then I have wanted to plant a garden. I love the idea of being able to walk right into your own backyard and find fresh, organic produce for so much cheaper than a trip to the grocery store.

Katelyn, a few summers ago, playing with Nana in her backyard!

In early March, I started planning the garden so we could get approval from the Home Owners Association. Most of my research came from Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It is a wonderful beginner's guide for someone like me who knew nothing about gardening. After several rough drafts, I had a plan and set to work. One morning, while Kate was at preschool, Josh and I hit Lowes to get the wood and other supplies to build three raised bed boxes. We also picked up the "ingredients" to make the perfect soil. A few stores later and we had almost everything on the list, minus some different varities of compost for ultra rich soil.

The following morning, after screwing the boxes together (thank you Nellie!) and stapling the weed barrier on, we arranged the boxes in the box yard. It was starting to come together. Another morning was devoted to mixing up to very large piles of compost, vermiculite and peat moss. It was tough work, but the result was a light and fluffy soil rich in nutrients. After filling the boxes and stringing a grid across tops, our boxes were ready to be planted.

4x4 Raised Bed Boxes

After a bit of rearranging, this is what we came up with.

My step-brother's school had a plant sale with great deals on vegetable plants. We bought peppers and tomatoes there and then hit Walmart for onions sets, and seeds for peas, green beans and spinach. The next week or two were spent planting and caring for our little plants. It was so fun for the kiddos to go out in the backyard each afternoon and see what had grown since the day before.

Just starting to grow...

The peas grew so fast!

We were surprised one afternoon to come out and find these little treasures.

It has been a few months now since we first started this adventure and we have a beautiful garden! It looks like we will have a bountiful harvest. The journey has only begun and we have high hopes for some delicious salsa once the tomatoes and peppers are ready to be picked.

The peas have since been eaten and the pole beans have taken over completely!

Long and lean pole beans!

Spicy Jalapenos... perfect for salsa!

Bell peppers

Banana Peppers

Lovely tomatoes!

We have already enjoyed peas, green beans and spinach, and they tasted wonderful! It has become part of our routine to spend at least 15 minutes outside in the garden each afternoon watering, weeding, and seeing what is new. I hope we are creating wonderful memories for our kiddos of our very first garden.

The Phoenix Trip

I have been putting off posting about our amazing trip to Phoenix because I know it is going to take a long time!! We had such a wonderful visit and Nauni created an amazing post about all of our adventures. So, in lieu of creating a whole new post. I will just give you the link to her blog. :)

John-Michael and Nauni's Blog

Enjoy!

Josh's First Birthday

Birthday's are so much fun at our house! We decorate downstairs the night before so that when kids wake they will find a fun surprise before breakfast. Josh pointed at all the decorations and said "baaa?", I'm translating that to mean that he thought they were pretty neat. It's tradition to have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Josh was gobbling them up even before we got the tray locked into highchair! I think it is a tradition that will continue for many more birthdays.


After a nice long morning nap, the family headed out to Five Guys (a burger place) to meet Grandpa Ron, Nana Kim, and Granny for a birthday lunch. Josh ate his body weight in french fries. He has learned to make it very clear when he wants more of something. It's amazing what he can communicate without any words. :) On the way home, we picked up some balloons, a birthday must. Josh took his afternoon nap, and Kate helped decorate his cake and the table and helped wrap presents. She was a great little helper.

When Josh woke up, we had some yummy pizza and then played outside with some really cool water squirters.


Then it was time for presents. Josh was into all the boxes, but soon tired of having a new present put in front of him while he was still trying to play with previous box. We ended up letting the kids "help" Josh open up most of his gifts. It was cute.


The culminating event of the evening was THE CAKE. We had been anticipating this moment for weeks. Josh is known to have a fairly healthy appetite and I was pretty sure that he was going to devour his cake. He did not disappoint. I have the video to prove it. Enjoy!

Potty Training

Yesterday was a fun day around out house. It was "Potty Training Day"! This is a day I have been putting off for almost a year for various excuses. Well, all excuses set aside, I decorated our little bathroom downstairs on Monday evening with balloons and fun pictures to make it fun for Kate. She went potty right when she woke up with no problems, then we came downstairs and I showed her the party in the bathroom. She was a little confused, but she thought it was pretty neat. After a breakfast of pancakes and juice (she got to drink undiluted juice all day long!), Kate told me she had to go potty again. She did it all by herself! Throughout the day she had a few accidents, but she had just as many successes. I supplied her with lots of salty snacks and sweet drinks to keep her needing to go potty. It wasn't as rough of a day as I thought it would be. Ask me if I still feel that way in two weeks. :)
We might get brave enough today to venture out to Walmart to buy some cute new underwear. We'll have to see. I'm so proud of my big girl.

Joshua's First Year

It's tradition that I spend the week before our kid's birthdays sorting and reminiscing through all of our photos in order to create a masterpiece video that perfectly displays the previous year. After hours of listening to songs to find just the right fit and arranging each photo in just the right order it's ready. We always show their birthday video while we are eating birthday cake. It's my favorite part of the party.
Joshua is our second blessing and I have savored each and every moment of his first year. Here is the video of our sweet little man... I hope you enjoy it.