the end of the saturday work day

the NEW flower/lettuces garden! yea. i planted wild flower seeds today. we put this bed in b/c grass will simply not grow here for some reason (it's not the soil, we tested it). notice the muddy ground all around the bed...

this was wes' crowing achievement today. a 3 tiered veggie garden on the side of our house. this will be home to the vine plants such as squash, melons, cucumbers, peas (on a lattice thing). & we just eeked in to fit the subdivision requirements of not growing vegetables in your front yard, past the front of your house walls. seriously! & apparently someone complained about our neighbors who were growing corn in the front flower bed. gah, get a life. (how mature does that sound?)

my tulips. i just really like white tulips. yea, they have some yellow tinge; we have learned that is b/c our soil is a bit 'basic' or acidic, i forget which causes the yellowing of white blooms. which is why i can't fix the problem-o b/c i forgot the equation basically. i'm so tired!

this picture has nothing to do with our day. in fact, it was taken yesterday i believe. it was to prove to adeline that her mama is so cool, that during her nap times, i do fun things like play with legos. i also had a strong desire to count the legos & then at the end they fell over before i could count them. darn it! but here is our mega lego-duplo collection. i have to say, they are a lot of fun...even amelia enjoys throwing or eating a lego or two most days.

so here is the hop hut with the small river rock covering. wes is digging a mini ditch between the yard & garden/hut, so we didn't fill in all the rock yet. WOW, is that back breaking. and the big 'ole pole sticking our of the ground? well, that's to put a mosaic table on it that we made years ago with the crawfords. we just don't have random poles sticking out of the ground for no reason, eh?

looking from the hop hut towards the garden. first is the strawberry patch, then the 'main' garden which will house tomatoes, peppers, onions, carrots & some other minor things that i can't remember right now. we put in the wood today. okay, WES put them in. isn't he just wonderful & handy to have around?!

this bummed wes & i, all these bags! why couldn't they deliver all the stuff in piles & leave the plastic bags out of the deal? as wes called it: an environmental disaster. in order to cultivate a garden to feed our family, we have to create waste that will last how long? centuries? hhmm... this was just half of the bags, btw.

yard work

today is THE DAY. we are beginning to unload the massive amounts of soil, rock, humus/poo, & mulch. (well, the mulch will be a bit later.) already today we have moved 18 50-pound bags of small river rock under the hop hut & then another 5 around the grapes/berries... & then we moved a dozen or so bags of soil & 4 bags of poo. wes has built one new raised bed & is now planting two more hop mounds under his beloved hop hut. & it's not even noon yet! gee, think what we could get done if we weren't pushing addy in the swing half the time, lol.

btw: his hops from last year are going crazy already & two sets are nearly a foot tall! can you say B-E-E-R. lol.

we have two more raised beds to build & then more soil for those beds...& then plant some spring veggies & lettuces. then fill in another bed for asparagus with soil & compost & then wait until my asparagus roots get here in a few weeks. i'm a bit nervous about the asparagus b/c it's a lot of work the first year (buying roots already established takes a year of waiting away). for those who don't know, it takes 3 years from seed to the plate & in between then will be months of trimming the wee asparagus plants. so i ordered roots ... if all goes well, we may have some edible asparagus next spring! i think.

did i mention that the soil is nothing but MUD (as is most of our back yard)? we all have two sets of clothing today: outdoor & indoor; just strip down as you enter the house. oh yea, & dog crap piles somehow look very similar to mud clumps today...so we have that all over our shoes as well.

we will post some pics at the end of the day. & i see the first lily of the valley bloom peeping through.

all of this will help with our goal to lower our grocery bill this summer in addition to cutting our electricity use by 40% using less a/c & a clothesline instead of the dryer. there's this awesome retractable clothesline out there. i want it! but it's a bit over $200! egads. does less dryer use allow for an expensive clothes line? & using less a/c shouldn't be very difficult as last summer i was in my 3rd trimester & would start sweating & overheating in 72 degree heat. i insisted our house was nearly as cold as a fridge...normally i don't really like a/c because i'm cold constantly, even in the summer. so we shall see if we meet our goals:

1. cutting electricity use by 40% for the summer months (compared to last summer).
2. lowering grocery bill & eating more food out of the garden & having more variety to choose from (we are planting peas & beans this year & our strawberries should be edible this year).
3. have the ability to move tomorrow after hauling all this rock & soil & boards around...i think this may be the most difficult of all!

did i mention every time we made a trip to get more bags you have to add 30 pounds to account for adeline sitting in the wagon. yea, it's heavy. but i only tipped her once so far!

my parent's anniversary

i'm attempting to start a new gerbick blog tradition of writing about the people or person on a special day. hhmm, did i explain that very well? no! basically, if it's someone's birthday or anniversary i will write a little ditty about them. & today is my parent's anniversary! this is number 31, but they have been together since they were maybe in 8th grade, so i think it's more like 35 or 36 years?

my parents have been through a lot together. family dramas, one life changing car accident, sending one parent through college with 3 teenagers (well, i guess my brother was a 'tween' at the time), a house fire, suicidal pet goats, sending your army soldier son to a war zone for 18 months while your 2 daughters are in college...i can go on & on, but i won't. it's just life's hurdles??

so increasing the love quotient must happen when you are able to stick it out together... i guess that's what happens when you're with someone for 35 years or so. it seems they are now even more happy & in love than they were 10 or 15 years ago, which is pretty amazing.

one of these major anniversaries we (my brother & sister & i) are going to throw then a gi-normous party, but until then i hope they know that i love them both & celebrate their marriage with them. when i see them laughing & smiling at each other now it makes me happy as well. they are a true example of sticking with each other through good & bad, sickness & health, rich times & poor times...

together they have created 3 healthy kids who married wonderful people & now have 4 grandkids (2 grand dogs & 2 grand cats as well) & very very VERY beautiful flower gardens & have amazing organic garden. what else have they collected together? well, go in their basement & you will find enough furniture & dishes to fill up another household (wait, i think that's my mom's habit, not my dad's...hhmm, nevermind).

anyway, here's to my parents...may they have 31 more years together. *clink*

& may they learn to tell each other what they talked about with other people. i didn't say they were perfect, did i? (lol, my sister & i were talking just the other day about this habit they have: they will talk to one of us about making plans & then fail to tell the other spouse about it, leaving the other spouse to have no clue what is going on until that day & then there's a mini argument & everyone else is left questioning their sanity or at least communication skills. lol, gotta love my parents.)

daddy lovin'

i made it to the gym this morning (b/c my parents were here yesterday & then the appraiser was here b/c we are refinancing) & came home around 10 & got millie in bed & just as i was soaping my hair up in the shower, amelia starts screaming. apparently she was stuck in the crib rails...again! but, ah, what can i do with shampoo in my hair? so i finish the shower quickly & get some goop in my hair (or else i will look, uh...like einstein) & then eucerin lotion on lickity split (or else i will ITCH for the next week) & then get a bottle ready in .9 seconds & put another dora show on for adeline & then whisk millie out of her crib that has snot & cry spots all over it. she was at the exact opposite end of where i had put her down & was all rolled up in her blanket sobbing. poor little one. but a mama's got to take a shower after a work out.

feed millie, put her down for a second nap attempt & make my way downstairs & am welcomed with horrendous sobbing coming from adeline. apparently it was not the dora show she wanted (we have about 9 24-minute episodes on our tivo from dvd's). we went through all of the dora episodes & she couldn't find the one she wanted. so i turned the tv off b/c it was beyond frustrating...which only increased her sobbing tenfold. SIGH. i tell her it's time to calm down & i go off to dry my hair a bit.

10 minutes later, i come down to hear her sobbing & calling out for daddy, which she had been doing the entire 10 minutes i was gone. she cries for daddy for sometimes & that's okay with me. they have a pretty close relationship & i love it. i think i'm secure enough in our relationship (me & addy) that i am just honkey dory with her wanting others sometimes. like last night when my parents left from their spring break visit & adeline sobbed & reached out as they left & was just plain heartbroken (as were my parents). i think it's great that she is so close to her daddy & grandparents (okay, & her aunts, uncles, judy, & cousins...she is a very loving little girl, now that i think of all the people she cries for sometimes). so i let her call wes on the phone & she is so happy to hear him talk & he suggests that she watch 'miffy' & is happy for awhile (until right now she is again on the floor crying & calling out for daddy).

that is my morning so far.

oh & i failed to mention that i have had my eyes opened to the importance of wearing a bra. the gym is not only good for exercise, but also so catch a glimpse of 70-80 year old women completely naked (& younger women as well) in the locker room. not that i enjoy this AT ALL. i try to divert my eyes as much as possible but there's only so much of the floor i can watch as i find my locker amongst the naked women. i believe they are all getting dressed from the pool & apparently they feel comfortable enough to strip down in front of 20 or sometimes 30 other women in the locker room. so i've now seen the progression of boob saggyiness & feel the need to wear a bra even more now (b/c even small breasts will sag, i have now discovered). i'm not even talking about a minor sag, this is, you know the joke, to the knees sort of sagging. i wonder if this is the generation of hippies?? is this those early baby boomers turned bra burning hippies in the elderly years already? anyway. i think i will make my way to a good bra store to ensure full support very soon.

AND the trees lining our street now have blooms peeking out. so this week, if you want to see something very pretty indeed, drive around in annehurst subdivision in westerville & you will see streets lined with white blooms on trees. beautiful!

& that's all i have time for b/c adeline is now in the throes of a 25 minute tantrum that has progressed to spit spewing out of her mouth, throwing things, hitting things (which make her get hurt, etc) & then shouting loudly, i'm sure waking amelia up very very soon.

weekend away

amelia pulled off some 'firsts' while we were away at her grandma & grandpa gerbick's house this weekend.

1. sat in a tub unassisted
2. went underwater (oops! it's a funny story: every time we would squirt her with a water toy she would laugh so much that she would lose concentration on her sitting abilities & then crash into the water)
3. banged her head into the side of the tub (ouch; again, oops, which quickly ended the bath time due to loud & incessant screaming)
4. ate pinto beans like her life depended on it
5. ate shredded (mexican flavored) chicken like her life depended on it
6. watched part of a 'dora' video on a tv screen that makes dora bigger than amelia herself (maybe even bigger than adeline?)...that grandpa & his tv's!

well, that's all i can think of right now.

picture of amelia sitting in the playroom--errr--tub with her big sis.

millie & her great grandma beard. amelia had lots of smiles for her.

adeline throwing & catching some balls that great grandparents lute got for her for easter (in addition to the quacking ducks on the floor. they are a kid favorite so far today).

& DANG IT. what is this all over addy's face?! i have about had it up to *here* (my chin) with weird rashes that come & go on her. really, does anyone have any ideas? (allergies to food or pollen?). i know it's not eczema b/c i have that & adeline has it in other spots, so i know what that looks like. this is just something that comes & goes & this time it has been itchy enough that she scratched her face bloody a few times.

LOL, it probably doesn't help that i THOUGHT i was putting this prescription ointment for dry skin (from her ped) on her face & then wes tells me a few minutes later that it was this stuff for her diaper rash from about a year ago. sorry kid, didn't realize i was putting butt cream on your face! & we parents wonder why kids scream & flail around sometimes...

here's a closer look. oh my, she was so tired, this was right before bedtime after a long day...

this is our mulch, soil, fertilizer (manure!), & stone (for under the hop hut) load that was dropped off today. if you look very closely, you can see the snow that is flying today. thankfully, it's not sticking. i am very much not into snow & cold right now. but it's freakin cold outside today!

millie trying to ingest her first grass. (a-hem, easter grass, that is)

just a goofy picture of adeline

another wrestling match takes place

a picture of what an entire roll of toilet paper looks like in a toilet bowl at one time.
*sigh*

that's it for pictures.

wes & i were able to go out with his brother & sister in law on friday night...& had a great time! i even ordered a 'right russian' (meaning i had a large beer right before that & couldn't fully pronounce 'white russian' correctly...silly mama who hardly ever gets to have alcohol!). we had a fun weekend & adeline has now memorized every nook in her grandparent's house. she was running around like crazy there...i think her favorite spots would be the piano & then the life size tv & also the corner 'o' toys. maybe the kitchen, too.

as i mentioned earlier, amelia had a few firsts...we were eating out at a mexican restaurant, yum yum! adeline was throwing a fit & then calmed down nicely once i had a *DING* moment & ordered her some whipped cream to dip her quesadilla in. then it was quiet for about a minute & then millie started the crying & flailing about in her high chair routine (that she learned from her sister, i might add). she had just scarfed down baby food rice cereal & peas & had a bottle right before we left...she was reaching for my plate which had yumminy chicken flautas & pinto beans. so i put some out in front of her to see what would happen...totally expecting a gag reflex to take place. but nope! not our hungry bear. she ate pinto beans & shredded chicken (her first taste of chicken ever, or any type of baby-vegetarian lifestyle food) like mad for about 15 minutes. these were baby eating bites of course, but she was so ferocious about it, grabbing the food & then shoving it in her amazingly wide open mouth. hysterical! so we had the preschooler eating chicken quesadillas dipped in whipped cream & ketchup & then the almost too small for the high chair 7 month old scarfing down chicken & beans.

what i find so interesting about babies & kids: they are so different. obviously, but think about it...we know some folks in boise (shout out to the brandts & parsons!!) who have a -gasp- 10 month old (already so old!?) who is a champ sleeper... i was so envious of her sleeping abilities & couldn't help but tell amelia things like "emily in boise slept through the night at this age...why are you waking up every 4 hours still?" & then i tell adeline things like "well, you know that tiny audrey started peeing in the potty regularly even before she was 1 & you are double that age". (btw: i don't use a condescending tone of during these moments of comparison. more a matter of fact tone; which leads me to believe i am not sending my kids to therapy yet b/c of my parenting choices...). yet either the parsons or brandts just mentioned in a blog post how neither of their girls would eat or liked pinto beans over the weekend. so, we have the non sleeping, non potty trained kids who will eat nearly everything (with the correct condiment, of course). kids are so strange! so how is it possible for there to be standards & milestones & books on developmental peaks when kids are so obviously different?

as for today...we had nearly nothing in our fridge except condiments (ya know, jam/jelly, ketchup, mustards, etc) & i had planned to get groceries this morning...but i was awake nearly half of the night with IBS problems. & then this morning i was still sick & ready to puke & was dry heaving (it takes a lot for me to puke) b/c of IBS. so no trip to the grocery store...but that didn't slow addy down from eating 3 snack bowls full of cereal & then 3 doughnuts given to us by wes' mom & then 3 chocolate chip cookies, also given to us from wes' mom. i was feeling so bad laying on the couch, i didn't even care what she was finding to eat. at least she was eating & happy! adeline also got to watch a total of 3 1/2 hours of dora episodes today...this is not one of my stellar days as a mama, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do when the mama is sick. thankfully wes took a long lunch break & i took an hour nap & feel a bit better now.

nothing exceptional to say today, i guess. just life going on & on!

little miss sunshine from westerville

ever since i saw little miss sunshine i have pictured that little girl as adeline. it just seems to fit. addy's personality is popping out all over the place right now & it's so much fun to see. today, the roto tiller guy (we don't own a roto tiller, so we paid some dude $50 to do it for us! yea!) anyway, this guy who was a grandpa himself kept saying how happy & sunny adeline was...our neighbor who was outside working most of the day also made that comment today, as did the workers at the gym day care. people just smile at adeline & i love it b/c i know her giddy personality is FOR SURE transferable.

so here's a new one: we think adeline has an imaginary friend. for quite some time she's been saying this word: guy-ga. i have tried to figure out who or what she is talking about & can't come up with anything! so tonight after her bath she's looking into the mirror & laughing hysterically & then starts babbling away & laughs again. this goes on for a minute or two & she keeps pointing at the mirror & saying 'GUY-GA!' so i ask what is guy-ga. she points to herself in the mirror & says 'guy-ga' & then claps & does a little dance. i ask if guy-ga is herself in the mirror & she shakes her head 'no!' & then i ask if guy-ga is a person & she nods. then i ask her guy-ga is her friend & she nods again. & then laughs, of course.

she then again keeps babbling away towards the mirror & then away from the mirror, as if she's talking to someone. this is amazingly humorous to watch, i'm telling you. i believe i have read that imaginary friends often start around age 3, but i guess 2 1/2 is workable. i did ask a few others questions about this guy-ga character & i will continue to investigate their friendship to see if it is indeed an imaginary friend & then also if this friend is worthy enough to be addy's first good friend. i promise you i will never buy a car seat or set up a meal for this guy-ga, though. that seems a bit creepy. but i'm all for imagination.

in other news...we bought an ottoman from target tonight. & it stinks! then i remembered my friend becky's blog post about returning an ottoman to target a few weeks after they bought it b/c of the smell. why doesn't my memory work faster, like when we were in the store ready to purchase this ottoman? anyway, we will be gone this weekend, so i'm hoping the smell will be gone by our return.

in addition to waving, wes also thinks that amelia can give high-5's. he even showed me & she sort of slapped him one. waving, high-5's, eating solids (which today she had sweet potato chunks & loved them, but sorta gagged when swallowing. i guess that's the price you pay for wanting to eat chunks of food as a babe).

and wes is sooo proud: this roto tiller guy talked about the amazing near acre garden he & his wife have & how they compost & such...& he complimented wes on our garden soil & compost (wes had put compost down to be tilled under). he was beaming, i tell you. wes is fairly new to the veggie gardening trade & i must say he is a quick learner.

& we purchased portable dvd players for the car. we caved & did it...i just can't take another near 3 hour car ride in the back seat trying to keep adeline from melting down. she has hated being in a car seat since day 1, literally (on the drive home from the birthing center, she screamed the entire 35 minutes...& not the new baby wee little cry, it was amazingly loud & highly alarming as new parents & she has been that way in the car seat since then. it's amazing we still have our sanity intact). so an hour or so of dora doesn't seem like such a bad thing compared to the alternatives.

& we're off to avon lake tomorrow! have a good weekend.

so what is she?

what is a 2 1/2 year old considered? a toddler or a preschooler? i use them both, but she only toddles when tired & she is going to preschool next year, so... oh the confusions of parenthood!

some fun things that have happened to us recently:
1. adeline put the entire new roll of toilet paper in the toilet (unravelled, of course). i have yet to take it out. getting close to toilets make me cringe.

2. amelia ate her first few french fries yesterday at lunch & dinner.

3. adeline & amelia are both starting separation anxiety...at the same time. amelia's is more of when no one else is around, not just me. she does great in the gym day care for 45 minutes. adeline wants wes & i both...she even cried at her 'fake mama judy's' home yesterday (isn't judy wonderful? she offered to babysit addy for the afternoon!). how can they do this to me at the same time?

4. we finally sold our bedroom furniture & now have no place to keep most of our clothes. & we can NOT agree on new furniture protocol...do we buy the amish stuff that is uber pricey, but will last a long lifetime? or do we buy sorta cheap, but functional? will our style change over time? what color to paint the bedroom? here's a shock for all who've been in any of my homes: i'm voting for WHITE!

5. my white tulips came up yellow. darn it! we have planted all white & green flowering plants in the front yard. i've heard/read that this could be caused by acidic soil, but we have basic soil. darn it again.

6. somehow i have adjusted the font size on my blogger dashboard to a minuscule level, so i can barely read what i'm typing. how did i do this & how do i undo it?

7. i wait excitedly for the playgroup i attend every other friday...& wes took tomorrow off so we can leave for his parents' house after lunch. so i can't go to the playgroup. which is a bummer!

8. adeline noticed the moon for the first time last night as we were going into the amish originals store in westerville. you know, that white moon that's in the early evening sky? she pointed to it & said "DAH!" to which i replied, 'it's the moon, adeline & it's made of cheese.' & then she said "mmmmmm". *smile* that will make up for us telling her that santa claus & the easter bunny aren't real & neither is larry the leprechaun, judy crawford. ;o)

9. we are getting our beds roto tilled today! viva la dirt!

10. adeline also dumped a nearly full box of cheerios onto the floor & then mixed them with my cereal bowl of milk that she found on the counter (from hours before) & then didn't want to eat them b/c it was soggy. so we let griswold eat them. does that count as money going down the drain?