Preschool Open House

Tuesday August 30

We met Adley's teacher for the new school year as well as her 15 new classmates.  This will be the largest class yet so Adley is very excited.  10 girls and 6 boys promises and fun school year.  Adley decorated her notes folder and then went in search of some new friends. 

Making friends and art projects.

More best friends in the making.

School starts September 6!

Garden Update 8/22/2011

The square foot garden - 8/22/2011 with harvest.

As of 8/14/2011 our harvest was:

• a handful of raddishes
• 2? scrawny beets
• 6 small (golf ball sized) purple onions
• 1 large cucumber
• a large bunch of swiss chard
• a couple bowls of sugar snap peas (mostly eaten right off the vine)
• cilantro (eaten right off the plant)
• 4 baby roma tomatoes that we ate immediately.

Since then we picked:

• 6 large cucumbers (the largest weighed 1.8 pounds
• 16 small beets
• 22 small red onions
• 2 bunches of swiss chard

And the next week:

2 more cucumbers

3 carrots

The swiss chard is now done.  We still have cucumbers, carrots and possibly a bell pepper or two. There's plenty of lettuce to eat too.  Salad anyone?

Splash Pad

Our local park recently installed a splash pad and we visited on Family Day.  There was plenty of water to play in on a hot day as well as plenty of shade and the playground too!

Adley found a friend to play with right away.  When her new friend had to leave she found a new friend without too much trouble.  It wasn't until we were leaving and I asked Adley what her new friend's name was.  She told me that she didn't know because the little girl only spoke Spanish.  They played together quite well for over half an hour without being able to understand each other.  

Cana took awhile to warm up to the cold sprinkler water but she was soaked through and loving it by the time we were ready to go home.  

Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Starved Rock with Grandma and Grandpa

Starved Rock Lodge lobby.

Walking around the lodge grounds

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?

A close encounter on the climb to the top of Starved Rock.

View from the top.

Looking back toward the lodge.

"I see a duck!"

Keeping busy with colds

Both girls have had a cold this past weekend. We have had to stay indoors and lay low - even missing church on Sunday. And I think we're all tired and bored. Its still hot out and our association has been spraying the grass so we've been trapped. Good thing we have amazing imaginations on our side. This is the Toy Story crew on their way to camp.

Excavating small toys from a block of ice - an idea from one of my favorite blogs Chasing Cheerios.

Pizza time

Time to thin the lettuce!

Planted August 1 - green leaf lettuce and a spring mix.

Us girls haven't been to our garden plot in several weeks due to the heat so there's no new pictures to post. As an update we have harvested so far:

• a handful of raddishes
• 2? scrawny beets
• 6 small (golf ball sized) purple onions
• 1 large cucumber
• a large bunch of swiss chard
• a couple bowls of sugar snap peas (mostly eaten right off the vine)
• cilantro (eaten right off the plant)

we're still waiting for larger onions and carrots as well as more cucumbers and a bell pepper or two. Tomatoes were a bust this year. We got 4 baby roma tomatoes that we ate immediately. We grew those at home and they didn't receive the care that they needed (more water?).

Most of all we learned a lot! Sure beats last year. We have lots of ideas for improvement next season.

More Children's Museum Fun

Staying Cool

Trip to IKEA

How we sleep

Adley on the left

Cana on the right

Baby dolls in the middle

All is as it should be.