Someday

For the past 3 years I have wanted a greenhouse and I know that someday I will get one, but in the meantime I have to be creative. So here is creativity at its finest. I have learned that if you put the seed trays with lids in the grass that it keeps them warmer then placing them on the pavement or on a table. So here they are in all there glory....in the grass!Also I have learned that pre-sprouting seeds is the way to go. However, one must be careful when doing this, because if you forget about them this is what happens. You get crazy little seedlings. With Baby Aiden around I tend to forget about the garden, but I am trying to spend a little time each day. I don't know if all these seedlings will survive but I am hoping some of them will! I am hoping to get these out in the garden in a few weeks, if they don't make it however, we will be buying starter plants. :)

Future Farmer

Baby Aiden is ready to help in the garden!

Garden Update

I believe these little seedlings have been in the ground about 2 weeks now and they are coming along quite nicely.

Here are the red cabbage plants they are the slowest to get going I am not sure why, as I have never grown cabbage before.

Baby Tomato plants. These are heirloom and I am hoping that the season will be long enough to get tomatos off of these plants. The plant in the front seems to show some signs of stress and I am assuming it is due to the weather, although the other two seem to be fine. I will keep watching it and adjust as needed.

Anthony's pepper plants are all planted and sitting in the sun! I am hoping that having them in pots will help keep them warm enough. I used mushroom compost in the pot and on top as mulch so I think that will help too.Are lonely Artichoke! I love Artichokes, so I am hoping to get a few!

Here is the brassica bed, it is coming along nicely. The purple Brussel Sprouts seem to be growing the best, which I am VERY pleased about.

My first planting of peas was a COMPLETE flop. Who messes up growing peas...aparently I DO! One of three things could have happened, either I planted them to deep, the seeds were bad or lastly in the monsoon we had they could have gone bad. So I replanted some new seeds in hopes to get peas this year!

In the meantime the lettuce and radishes are coming along nicely. Hoping to have fresh salads soon. YUM!

Well there is the garden so far. I am hoping to plant potatoes and onions this weekend. Anthony will be home to help with Aiden, which will free me up to be outside in the dirt! YAY!

College bound

GeoTagged, [N47.37128, E122.54653]

He may only be 2 and half months old but he already has his college picked out. Go Huskies!!!

Baby's Nutrition

1. Smart Fats
2. Best Carbs
3. Proteins
4. Young Tastes
5. Fiber
6. Vitamins and Minerals
7. Iron
8. Calories
9. Raise a Lean Baby

Pepper Plans

My husband loves peppers, I love my husband, therefore, I grow peppers! In the past peppers have been super easy to grow and I have high hopes for this year but living in the Pacific Northwest may prove a bit challenging. Last week I bought multiple plants in hopes that we will have some success. This year I will be growing them in pots due to a space issue in our small backyard garden, so they will live in a very controlled environment, which I think will create better success. I am hoping to plan them either tomorrow or Monday. Stay tuned for more details and progress.

Old Lady!

Recently I was invited to play in an Alumni Girls Waterpolo game. I was super excited and then I suddenly realized that I was 10 years older, really out of shape and just had a baby 8 weeks. Scary I know, but what the heck you only live once. Everyone in my family joked that I was going to drown and there was a part of me that thought they might be right. So last Monday my hubby, brother, baby and I all headed to my old high school for the game. Can I just say, it was a blast and it was just like riding a bike. I remembered everything, the rules, how to grip the ball and most importantly how to tread water and SWIM! Here are a few pictures from the big day, I hope that we can do this again really soon. What a great work out!
Here is a few from the actual game! The only thing I wanted was to wear my old number...#14! And I did!

Aiden cheering on his mommy. He was such a good boy and sat through the whole game!

Here I am practicing before the game and discovering that I do actually remember how to play!

My hubby that this was the best picture of the day! Me almost drowning!

I am so glad that I was brave enough to go out and play, it was great fun and hope to do it again!

Bathtime!!!

When we first started bathing Aiden he hated it, and I mean HATED IT! Now, it could have been the sponge baths we gave due to his umbilical cord drying up, but nonetheless he hated them but now he LOVES them! As you can see he is all smiles!
Daddy singing rub-a-dub-dub to him! One of his favorites.

Getting all dried off! He is even learning to enjoy the lotion, it has taken sometime to teach him lotion is not poison.

All dry, and a cloth fuzzi bunz diaper on! He is getting a little chubby too! That is not the normal changing table cover, but while Daddy was changing him, we had an accident. So a blanket works just as well!

All done and still smiling! Thanks Daddy for doing bath duty, so I could take some really cute pictures!
Hope everyone has a great day!!! I know I will with this smiley little boy!

Let the Planting Begin!

Last Saturday the weather was amazing! So we went to, two plant sales, which were total flops, but we did score at the farmers market. We then scored again at a local nursery where we got more dirt and vegetables. Baby Aiden was a pretty good through all the stops even if he does hate nature. When we returned, I put Aiden down for a nap and then headed out to the garden to help my family! We had a great time gardening together and bless little Aiden's heart he slept for four hours, so we all got tons done!

Here is the tomato bed, no tomatos yet, but the marigolds are in and ready to keep the bugs away! Oh and the volunteer garlic that has come up randomly in this bed. My goal is to plant a few tomatos this week, but I am still a little concerned about the weather.
Here is the broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprout and parsley bed! I know its a lot, but when you have limited space you have to cram it all in! I am very excited about the purple brussel sprouts that are in my future! YUM!!!
My peas have still not come up yet which is leading me to believe that the seeds may have been to old or they drowned in the monsoon of a rain storm we had the other day. They were only a year old but they were not temperature controlled and they might have gotten wet in the move from St. Louis! Ooops!

There is still tons to be planted but I need the weather to get better and more consistent! The two beds not shown here are empty but they will be full soon!

Baby Tuesday

Well I have began to swim in the gigantic sea of nutrition and baby feeding books. Good Lord, everyone has opinion and boy, do they like to share it. So far I have accumulated some well know sources and decided to start with the most traditional of theories. As a gift I was given the Dr. Sears book, called The Baby Book. I really like this book as it goes step by step through all stages from infancy to toddler hood.

I have read the two chapters on starting solids. Wow, so much to learn and to do to prepare. Who knew. From when to start to how to start. Traditionally, you start with rice cereal and move through different foods. Also you introduce water in a sippy cup, that ought to be interesting. Since my last memories of sippy cups are with my friend Erica and lets just say there was never water in them. First you start with a very thin mixture and move to more textured foods as time goes on. Most important thing that I have read so far besides all the allergy warnings is not to pressure or push food on a baby, but let them try and decide what they want to eat.

So thus begins my plan of what foods I want to try and when. I need to plan this far in advance since I want to grow a lot of what eats. I know, I am crazy. We are going to the doctor tomorrow for his two month check-up ( first shots, YIKES!) and I know it is super early but I will ask her when she thinks the best time to start solids is. Aiden already likes to eat, and consumes A LOT! So I think we might be starting earlier then 6 months.

Harvest Monday

A very sad harvest but a harvest at that. More, more and more Oregano. My wonderful hubby will have to make something with all of this.
Here is an aerial view of the garden area. It looks kinda sad at the moment, but it holds so much potential. Saturday was a beautiful day, so my family and I spent all afternoon outside adding dirt, planting, weeding and scrubbing the decks! It all looks fabulous and ready for the summer!
Last summer I participated in Harvest Mondays over at Daphne's Dandelions so this year I am starting earlier. I love seeing everyone else's harvests. I am so jealous of all the other people that live in warmer climates. Hope everyone has a better week than me, I have to take my baby boy for his two month check-up and first set of shots!!!! I am dreading it!!!

Best Friends

Toni loves Baby Aiden! She is so patient and kind, Aiden is learning to pet her. It's very cute to watch him look at her and smile.

YAY gardening!

This last Thursday was a good day...my parents had their landscaper come and put in two more garden beds. (the ones on the right in this picture) I was very excited about this since 3 beds was just not enough in my opinion, but I am also of the opinion that you can never have to many garden beds.
Here are the two new beds, I wish the guys would have put more dirt in them, but I guess we will have to do that.

We are headed to TWO PLANT SALES and the FARMERS MARKET today! I am hoping to get some seedlings that I can't start like broccoli and such. Can't wait to get everything in and growing. Hurry up SUN!!!!!

Happy Family

Baby Tuesdays

I have decided to take on a new mission. Well it's a personal mission....learning all I can about baby nutrition when it comes to starting Baby Aiden on food. Now I know I have some time before I need to actually start, but there is no time like the present to learn. So I am dedicating every Tuesday to posts about what I have learned and as time goes on what I have tried. So my goals (I have two, well three, I guess) 1.) To learn as much as I can about introducing healthy organic foods to Aiden; 2.) Try to have everything be organic or as close to as possible and lastly; 3.) Grow as much of the food as I can myself.

I am pretty excited about this mission and have already reserved some books at the library and plan to probably buy a few along the way. I want Aiden to have the best possible, but I also want him to understand that food doesn't just come from the grocery store but from the ground or from an animal. I also want him to try everything and have the biggest variety he can.

So thus far I have planted 3 things that Aiden will get to try, carrots, beets and peas. It's a start.

First plantings!

Last weekend, my mom and I got out in the garden. She did the majority of the work, since our new little gardener, is not so much of a gardener yet! So far we have lettuce starts planted, radish, carrot, beet and swiss chard seeds planted as well.

Can't wait for the weather to warm up even more so we can really get the garden under way. Come on sun!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers! I am so lucky to be the mommy of this adorable little boy.

Thank you to my mom, for all your help and guidance. I have learned so much from you and am so glad to be here close to you. I know I don't tell you enough but I really appreciate you and all that you do for me! Thank you!

Rosemary, oh how I love you!

Can't wait to BBQ outside and use all this Rosemary! The bushy two plants are 3 years old and the tree like one is going on a year. These also have lived multiple places and each time made the trek and came out on the otherside just fine. Who knew herbs were so hardy.

Oregano Galore!

I have learned in my short years of gardening that you can not kill oregano. The Oregano pictured below is 3 years old. It has lived in 4 different states, and each move it has been loaded up in a penske truck and hauled hundreds of miles to our new home. It has also been divided, shared and replanted I dont know how many times. So now as the peak of gardening season is approaching what should I do with it all. Divide and Share again, maybe!?!? Any takers? Or each dinner we have must contain this abundent herb, maybe?!?! So here it sits currently at bay in these pots, but I am sure it is root bound and will need a new home soon...ideas???

Garden 2011-Pea Trellis

My wonderful hubby worked on another one of my crazy projects...a pea trellis. Last year in St. Louis I started my peas to late and while I got peas, I don't think that they produced to their full potential. So we are starting earlier this year and it all begins with a trellis. Here is step 1, pounding in the center post.
Step 2- drilling and putting the sides together. I know it is super tall, but I might plant poll beans this year and they can grow that tall, so it is a dual purpose trellis.
Carefully threading the twine through the holes at the top. Look its so bright and sunny out! YAY!
Step 3-semi-complete...it needs the twine threaded through the holes on the poles starting at the bottom but a certain little person had, had enough of his parents gardening, so hoping tomorrow I will be able to go out and thread twine!
Thank you to my wonderful husband for always doing my crazy projects. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of the garden as I do. Yay, gardening has begun!!!

Tulips, Tulips and more Tulips

On Tuesday we drove about 2 hours north to the Skagit Valley to see the tulips. In all the years I have lived in Washington, I had never been to the Tulip fields, so this year I was going, no matter what! So here are some of the fields.



Then of course we had to have a couple family photos for Aiden's scrap. As you can tell he was thrilled.

Oh yes and of course we needed this picture too!

We had a great day. Auntie Erica met us at the field and walked around with us and then we headed a few more minutes north to visit with my dad at his office for a little bit. Baby Aiden was truly a trooper for the whole trip. One outing down, 9 million more to go.

Wipe-Out!!

When you add together bright colors, music and lights, a nasty cold and a busy morning at the farmers market you get a very sleepy boy! Its hard being little.