A Long Day, but a Good One

Well, Mat's still at work tonight, so I thought I would do some "catching up" on the blog. Mat's helping to finish a project submittal that's got to go out tomorrow, so he's been pulling late nights and early mornings all week. He found out today that he got a promotion to Engineer 3 (E-3). I teased him about his "mosquito wings" when he got promoted to E-2, but I guess I can't do that anymore. (If you aren't familiar with Army ranks, you won't understand.) The Duvall Ave project that he's been working on for over two years, which no one thought would ever end, is finally coming to an end. It's scheduled to open on July 2nd. Here's the link with some pictures if you're interested: http://rentonwa.gov/living/default.aspx?id=17230.

I've been doing lots of reading, thanks to our great library, on ways to be a better homemaker. Perhaps the best and most challenging was Elisabeth Elliot's Discipline: The Glad Surrender which is still sitting on the back of our toilet because I keep rereading it. I also read Square Foot Gardening, and I've busy with the yard, turning it into a garden and trying to get things to grow. I read In Defense of Food and Mindless Eating, both of which I highly recommend. I changed our diets about a month ago, so that we're eating whole foods rather than processed, refined stuff with ingredients that I can't even pronounce. To that end, we bought a share in a local CSA farm and a bunch of bulk grains. So I've been experimenting with different recipes and foods. It's been quite the adventure, but everyone has been very cooperative and surprisingly supportive, and I don't think I could go back now. I read Speed Cleaning and perused a couple of other cleaning books, and I got motivated to tackle some spring cleaning and organizing around the house in these last few days of spring.
I'm also heading up a Bible study on Tuesday mornings on the book of Ephesians and was challenged yesterday to memorize each passage as we study it, so that we've memorized the entire book by the end of the summer. I'm a little out of practice with the memory work, but surely if I can still recite the definition of leather and "how's the cow," I can learn something that's actually important and useful. We've got a great group of ladies for the study, and I'm really excited about it.

Peter is doing really well with reading and is gaining confidence with writing. He somehow figured out addition and subtraction, pretty much on his own, and we started talking about multiplication a little bit. He's really excited to be promoted to the next Sunday school class, and even got up and sang with his class at promotion Sunday last week. Peter has been interested in the violin for quite a while now, so he had his first violin lesson today. Well, actually, his teacher and I had his first lesson, but he was a little intimidated about it. Hopefully he will warm up and it will go a little better next week. Peter's favorite things to do lately are to play on one of the dirt piles in the yard with his trucks and tractors, and to ride his bike.

Patrick continues to be quite the charmer, and is certainly the spokesman of the family. Problem is, most of the time we don't know what he's saying. He's a really compassionate, caring little guy. For example, it's his job to feed the dog. But he's realized how much Mathew enjoys dog food, and how reluctant Lucy is to share. So Patrick will make sure he gets an extra handful out and puts it on the floor for Mathew to enjoy, away from Lucy. He's also developing quite a talent for getting into and/or creating mischief. Today while I was in the shower, he took the inkpad out of our address stamper and managed to get black ink all over himself, his clothes, and a couple pieces of furniture. Then he brought it to me (still in the shower) to ask for help to put it back together.

Mathew grows and changes every day, as all babies do at this age. Today he was sitting on my lap, and he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then he giggled and did it again! And tonight, he said "mama" for the first time. He's cutting all four of his molars, and he and Patrick are both feeling bad, so it was pretty relentless with the whining and crying today. But precious little moments like that make it all worthwhile!

Now I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep!

Visit from Grandpa and Pawl

Grandpa was showing Peter how to do "tricks" with a quarter.

Sleepy boy #1

Sleepy Boy #2

Cameras are always great entertainment.

The guy with the longest arm takes the self-portrait... :)

Volunteer Shower

He was filthy from rolling in the mud, and needed a bath anyway.

Happy Birthday Mathew!

This was really sweet - Peter and Patrick went "shopping" through a box of their toys to find some that they could give to Mathew. Peter's stipulation was that it had to be a noisy toy. Then they helped me wrap them up.

Everyone had fun opening the boxes.

And jumping on the bubble wrap.

I made cupcakes for birthday cake, and let P&P choose the colors for icing. They each got to decorate their own cupcakes.

Patrick helped out with the blowing a little bit.

He licked the plate clean, then somehow managed to get most of it off his face, too. No sense wasting good icing!

Making Progress...

This is just a little update on our ongoing yard project. We've finally turned the corner and started putting it all back together instead of just continuing to take it apart.

Someone told me this is a "Queen Anne" rose. Some of the blooms are 8" across!

We got a book from the library called Square Foot Gardening - a different ideology about growing home gardens. So we're giving it a try. We recycled the fence boards we took down out of the backyard and made raised beds, divided into square feet by telephone wire. So far I've planted peppers, chard, beets, garlic, and beans.

Future home of tomatoes, squash, and pole beans. As soon as Mat gets the truck fixed.

He's working on it now.

Peter's helping.

Okay, back to the tour. We seeded the grass, and it's growing beautifully.

My herb garden - rosemary, oregano, sage, lemon thyme, chives, cilantro, and parsley. I have basil, parsley, and mint going elsewhere too.

The backyard garden - cabbage, beans, carrots, pumpkins, tomatoes, and peas. We had peas and pancakes for breakfast. Some of us had more than others. The boys and I saved one of each for the sleepy-head.

We had the space, so we figured we'd try some corn. It started growing a lot better after we got the fence down.

Mat's out-of-control grape vine. It's doing quite well and loaded with clusters of tiny grapes this year. Might have something to do with those compost bins.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! I'll keep you posted! (ha ha, that was punny!!)