When We Picked this Cabbage,

Logan cried. These basketball sized vegetables have become his favorite plants in the garden. He begged me not to kill it. I had to explain that we grew the cabbages so we could eat them. I told him I would take his picture, and he could help me make a salad that we could share with our neighbors.

He felt better.

This Weekend I Was Out With These Hot Ladies

...at the Shakespearean Festival. Please go see Secret Garden if you get the chance. We also loved Comedy of Errors and As You Like It. Some weekends you need to go out with the girls and laugh until you pee your pants.

Lessons From the Garden

It is a tough time to raise kids.  I worry about Logan falling into the traps of entitlement and laziness.  I worry that he will be disrespectful.  I am working hard to combat these vices that have unfortunately become the socially acceptable norm.  Even though he is little, I believe that now is the time to really begin teaching him to be respectful, hard-working, and grateful.  

This summer he and I have worked hard growing a beautiful garden.  It has taken us out of stores, away from the screen, and away from the battles being inside brings.  After months of tilling, weeding, watering, mulching, thinning, and transplanting, we are finally picking.  If anyone comes to visit, Logan wants to take them out to see our garden to show them the vegetables he has grown.  Even though I could have completed the necessary tasks much more quickly if I had done them alone while he played, I'm glad I let him help.  He pushed most of the seeds in the ground himself.  He spread the mulch.  He even knows how to tell the difference between the weeds and the plants.  I hope that learning the Law of the Harvest while he is young helps him do more than just plant gardens one day.

Pics I Should Have Posted, but Didn't

These are from our excursion to New Mexico. 

Concerning Trend

I'm working as a mentor for college students in an online university.  I love what I do.  After several months of interacting with students, I have noticed an interesting trend.  Not many people do what they say they are going to do.  Of the 90+ students I work with, I would say I can count on less than 20% of them to consistently keep the commitments they make to themselves regarding their progress at the University.  It is a sad truth that many people are willing to betray themselves.  When considering trust, it is important to have others trust you.  It is perhaps more important to be able to trust yourself.  More and more it seems acceptable in our society to say what we think we should, or what sounds nice, regardless of what we actually intend to do.  Even in cases when the right intentions are there, so often the discipline to keep our word is not.  

Happy Birthday to Me

For my 27th birthday I went to a fantastic little pizza joint with one of my favorite people.  Girls night is such a wonderful thing.  Thanks for the fun Marissa!

Please Allow Logan to Give You a Tour of our New Backyard

Welcome to our new yard!

We have lots of potato bugs and ants under rocks.

This is our shed.  It is where I keep my tools.

This is a little running path.

This is an old pole I found in the bushes.  It is good for lots of things.

Here is my garden.  Mommy helped me plant it.  

This is my little river.  I find things in it.  

I like to play in the water.  I'm usually muddy by 8 am.

We have lots of plants.  

This is my raspberry patch.  

Caving Through the Eyes of a Child

Logan and I came to New Mexico to visit some of our favorite people. We had the pleasure of visiting Carlsbad Caverns this week. I kept telling Logan that we were going to visit the caverns, which he insisted on calling "caberns". When we entered the cave and he saw all of the big stalagtites hanging down from the ceiling, he looked up at me with concern and said,

"Mommy, the caberns are biting us."

I May Be Jumping the Gun,

but I'm fairly concerned that Logan is color blind. He has learned so many concepts with ease, that I may be expecting too much of him. He speaks very clearly in complete sentences (all day long), can name his shapes, animals, numbers, and even recognize some small sight words. He shows no promise of recognizing his colors though.

When did your kids learn colors?

Logan's Mothers Day Greeting

Me: "Good morning Logan."

Logan: " Mommy, can I have a treat since it is Happy Mothers Day?"