Worms anyone?

More details tomorrow!

Local, farm fresh, natural produce...

...and it's less than a 5 minute drive from our house.

Not having a garden this year meant less work at a time when it would have been impossible to keep with moving, but it also means no fruits to harvest and no fresh picked veggies. Or does it? There is a family farm and garden stand right down the street from our house and they have organic produce. No they aren't a certified organic farm but they use no pesticides or sprays which makes a big difference to me. What they don't grow themselves they get from a community of natural farms in the nearby vicinity. They even offer classes on how to can dill pickles AND they have some pick your own at certain times.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately on why to buy locally instead of foods that have been trucked in from 100's if not 1000's of miles away. Treehugger makes a good argument here andhere about buying locally vs. organically. I like it because it's more fresh if it's picked locally so it tastes better and is more nutritious (if picked tree or vine ripe). I can also feel good about supporting my local economy.

If you are looking for locally grown produce in your area you can visitLocal Harvest where you can find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food even grass fed meats.

The berryaholic is shown above with our bounty! The green beans were in the walk in cooler but were still warm since they were just picked!! YUM!

Summer Snow

Way back in February I mentioned that I put some snow balls in my freezer. When we were kids we'd get them out on the Fourth of July for a summer snow ball fight. This year since we were moving all our stuff was going into storage for a couple weeks we had to celebrate this tradition a bit early! I took out the snowballs and boy did my little guy have a blast with them.

The movers were actually there moving out all the big furniture so we went out and played. It bugs me that I didn't really pay attention to the fact that the fridge shelves and drawers were in the background of the pictures needing to be hosed off and packed but I can't go back and move them now :)!!!

We dumped, threw, stepped on and played with the snowballs until they melted all away!

BTW did you see the latest give away contest from the girls at 5 minutes for mom? They are giving away a Insignia® 37" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV courtesy of Best Buy! Holy cow, what will those girls give away next...if you want a chance to win click on the link to their site and leave a comment and link on your blog!!!!

A belated thank you

Awhile ago I mentioned winning a contest from 5 minutes for mom for a custom alphabet book from Amy at Sweet Arts Design. Well I've neglected to tell you all how wonderful this is. I'm saving it for when the little girl arrives so that my son will have a new book to read that's special for him.

In addition to having my son's name on the cover and used for the letter N, the first letter of his name, we were able to make a dedication to him in the front of the book. The designs and art work are just gorgeous and since we chose the Spanish version each letter spread is in both English and Spanish. This would seriously make a great gift and we're considering getting the French version at some point for the little girl so that we have both.

Thanks again Amy and be sure to go and visit her site if you haven't already by CLICKING RIGHT HERE!!!!

Practicing

It's sort of funny that he feeds this baby with the bottle. He told my Mom when she was here a couple of weeks ago that he'd get to drink Mommy's Milk when baby sister comes out. Then he told me a couple days later when we were talking about how the baby will want to drink Mommy's milk alot he said "But, but it's MY milk" quite a few times until I said that he did get to drink it and this time it will be baby sister's turn.

Glimpses

Today I was spending a quiet moment with my son, well let me rephrase that. I was resting and watching him play while he was going about playing a chattering away.

I like to just sit and watch him be creative and see his brain working, I also used to randomly video tape these moments too just to see and have a record of all of his different stages. Now our video camera battery only lasts a few minutes per charge and it's on our list of things to buy eventually (hopefully soon.)

Back to today, I just love how he's to the stage where he pretend plays holding one guy talking to another saying "You want to go play at the park. You do, OK, let's go!" As I sat there watching and letting my mind wander I felt like I could see glimpses of who he will become. Not specifics but just generalities that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He'd get this look in his eyes and I could just see that look on his face when he's a young man.

He found a baby doll that was given me for our soon to be new addition at her baby shower over the weekend and also a bottle. He has carried the baby around for the entire rest of the day feeding her milk, burping and changing her diaper. Now she's in bed with him all tucked in. Hopefully he'll understand when his "baby sister" does join our family she won't be able to sleep in his little bed!!

Another day to treasure!!!

Some random thoughts that I have been stretching my brain to remember.

A few weeks before we moved Adam read a scripture reading at church, when he was walking up front my son stood up next to me to see him better. Then he looked at me and very loudly said, "That your honey, Mommy that your honey?" I didn't know whether to turn beat red or start laughing!

I also like how lately he'll ask to talk to his Dad on the phone and ask him "Where are you going for?" I'm not sure if he means "where are you going" or "what for" or maybe both - who knows.

Things that worked to keep my 2 year old son entertained on a 10 hour drive. (The way there we split up into two days so it was a bit easier but the way home we did the whole thing in 11 hours total so we were pushing it.)

• Having some little "guys" and matchbox cars for him to play with worked for a little while
• Three disposable super 8 motel cups bought about 30 - 40 minutes of stacking and creating caves for his cars and guys.
• Silly putty was the biggest hit, he'd pass it up to me to make a snake or a ball over and over again in between playing with it himself. I'd say he did this for at least an hour each way.
• A smaller sized magna doodle was also a big hit - it was a new toy for him that he'd only played with friends houses.
• Stickers - tons of stickers - I bought one of those books with 1000 stickers in it. They clean up easily enough and we'd ask him to stick them on body parts or he'd just play sticking them all over the carseat.
• A roll of scotch tape. This may have worked a little better if he were a bit older and could rip the tape himself, but even though he couldn't tear the tape he still had fun unrolling the roll and I would tear it for him when he wanted. He just made tape balls and shapes, I suppose if you were very organized you could actually bring something for them to tear and tape together - might work on an airplane with the sky magazine? Who knows!
• A movie. On the way home he lasted 5 and a half hours before we offered the movie which even though both Adam and I feel that we survived with out them on many long car trips, Curious George was mighty nice about then.
• Each way 20 minutes of fussing was required before the total knockout! He actually did nap both ways - imagine that!

Eating meals in the car on the way home helped to take up time too, and of course snacks. All in all our little guy was a trooper and the little girl didn't decide to move and kick like crazy too far from a rest room!!!!

Ahhh

What a breath of fresh air to have computers hooked up in our own home again!!! It's been a tad harder than we thought to get settled it since the tenants we had renting here NEVER cleaned! I mean toilets were black and my husband scrubbed the stand up shower 5 times (the last two with a deck brush with those hard bristles) for it to get cleaned. I went out and bought all sorts of chemical cleaners/sanitizers that I never use to clean and sterilize stuff - no I didn't actually use them (fumes), that's what my hubby and my Mom were for. Luckily my Mom and Dad were here last week for a visit so they worked like Cinderella and my own personal handy man to clean and fix some of the damage. Thanks again guys!!

Alas, today I feel better, things are getting done and I'm grateful to be living here. My hubby said to me our first night here while he was mopping the kitchen floor at midnight and I sat sobbing that God was humbling us even more. All of a sudden I was done feeling sorry for us and started feeling grateful that we didn't live in a hut where I have walk a half a mile for water and carry it back on my head! Ah, perspective!

I'm still amazed that you guys still read this blog even though I haven't been retuning the favor. I'll get back to it eventually... but for now here are a couple of pictures of the last month.

Right after our house closed and we moved out we went to church camp where sleep was sparse. This morning I got out of bed wondering why I was sore and stiff. Then I looked at the small edge of the air mattress I was sleeping on!!! :)

One of the best things about camp was seeing our little boy confidently playing with kids of all ages and learning how to explore. Of course rocks, sticks and chasing chipmunks were among the favorites.

These are in Vegas I'm just 34 weeks along there. Now I'm 36 already yikes!!!! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I guess it helps to have many major distractions along the way!!! Now I'm almost done!

Hello!

Ah, internet!!!!

After 10 days, 10 different friends helping us pack uncountable boxes, four people helping move all of our stuff into 2 storage units and 3 families kind enough to let us keep some small items at their homes (freezer items, plants, computer stuff) we did make it out of our house by June 20th!

The next 4 days were spent at our church's annual bible camp which was super fun as well as exhausting. My son apparently does not know how to unwind and fall asleep after doing SO much playing with other kids all day so sleep was a bit hard to come by. I wish I were able to upload some pictures because I've got a ton of cute ones.

After spending a couple of nights at some wonderful friends of ours we drove 780 miles to Las Vegas to visit my mother in law. Which is where we've been for the last week. It's been so nice to visit with her, she's been so generous with everything. I have had internet access for a week now but her computer is in the room my son is sleeping in so I haven't had a really good opportunity.

I'm 34 weeks along right now and after a weekend with too many braxton hicks contractions things seem to have slowed down. We are leaving to drive home tomorrow on the 4th and the tenants who've been renting our other house for the last almost two years have said that they will be out by the 5th not the 12th as we previously thought. We'll be able to move back in starting in two days I guess! Yippeee!!!!! Being temporarily without a permanent place hasn't been so bad after all!

I'd imagine that it'll be another week before our internet gets hooked up at the house so I'll be able to post some pictures and get reconnected then. My hubby took one of me yesterday when we were walking around the Bellagio hotel so you'll get to see my hugeness when we get all the computer stuff hooked up! Till then, Happy 4th of July! Oh, and can you believe with all this craziness I totally missed my blogiversary! I can't believe it's been that long.

Here's a link to last years 4th of July picture.