Tell That to the Jury

This morning Emma and Delaney were driving each other and me crazy. At some point Emma was in the kitchen pouring her cereal and then I heard Delaney crying that Emma had hurt her. I was beyond irritated.

I went in to help Delaney and began to grill Emma on what happened, what exactly had she done to Delaney. She was being vague and working on her breakfast. I kept pushing, frustrated, until she said, "I am just one person. I can't stir my cereal and tell the truth at the same time."

She kills me. Talk about defusing the situation!

Delaney Funnies

I said, "I need to get on the floor and stretch my back."

She threw herself on to her stomach and said, "Yah, do yogurt."

New Yard

I was really sad when we moved from the back house, which you can just catch a glimpse of in the middle of the photo to the right of the pomegranate, to the front house for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest reasons was that we had finally gotten the back house and yard really nice. Some stuff wasn't even nice until we rented it. It is so silly how you will make stuff nice for other people, but not yourself. I guess life just gets so busy. Anyway, we haven't waited so long to work on making this house more enjoyable. Sam spent his spring break tearing out the old grass and building raised beds. The yard was overgrown and unloved. Until now. This bed has carrot, radish, and swiss chard seeds planted, as well as cilantro, egglplant, and a tomato. It is nice to be growing things again. Eventually, Sam wants to plant and espalier a fruit tree to the right of the window along the fence, which would be a great space saver in this yard.This is our new table that provides us with some much needed shade. We love to eat outside, especially in the summer when it is hot. I think we will live out here this summer!
Here is the other raised bed that Sam put in. It has bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley,sugar snap peas, and chives. Our compost is happening very slowly in the back. It doesn't get as much love as it should, because...Hey, I've got kids to take care of. I can't be fussing over this pile!I really love this bed and it's curves. It has strawberries and some jasmine there, which I am hoping does a nice job filling the fence in. I love this window. It was part of an old dilapidated door in the back house. I am so glad we salvaged it.
Sam surprised us and planted two blueberry bushes. I have great hope that they do well. They look happy now, and even have a few unripe berries. I was a bit sad we didn't do anything much while Sam was off, but I am so glad he worked so hard out here. We enjoy it every day, and I just love waking up and heading out to see what is happening in the yard!

Disappointed

Today as I was going out front with the ladder to wash windows, I thought I should check on the progress of our mockingbird nest in the neighbors palm. Last time we checked there were three little eggs. I was distressed when I could not locate it. I had wondered why they had not seemed very attentive lately.

Then I remembered a conversation I had previously with that same neighbor before I realized we could look at the nest from our side of the fence. What a mistake that was. I asked him a couple of weeks ago if we could come into his yard because we were so excited to see the nest that had been built there. I told him how excited we were that the birds had used some of our yarn and sticks, and that we enjoyed watching the progress.

"Oh, that's what all that racket has been," he said.

The nest seemed pretty sturdy to me, and my suspicion is that he knocked the nest down, which makes me not like him very much anymore. I didn't tell Emma. I knew she would be sad and wonder, as I did, why would someone do that?

Conversations Overheard

Emma and her friend are at play in the other room. I hear Emma say emphatically,"We are very, very poor. We live in such poverty. We live in the desert."

Later I hear this...E: "You don't want to kill a scavenger." A: Yah, because they clean up all the stinky bones."

Silly kids.

In Which I Inundate You With Pictures

We visited a local Botanical Garden and communed with nature. Here are some lovely bleeding hearts.
I love Borage. It is such a hairy little plant, and the flowers are edible.
Amazing roots on the Moreton Bay Fig.
Girls who run with the wind.
This bee was in need of a stop to unload his amazing pollen saddlebags.
Wisteria spiral
Monarch caterpillar on a milkweed plant. The plant and it's strange pods are what actually stopped us. We didn't know what it was until closer examination revealed 5 or 6 little fellows munching away contentedly.
This working water pump was a highlight.
This nest is actually in our neighbors low palm. We have had fun watching "our" mockingbird and her partner building their nest through our kitchen window. At some point we went out in the yard and broke a bunch of twigs off of some branches and threw some snippets of yarn out for them as well. If you look closely at the bottom of the nest you can see our pink yarn. The last time we checked there were 3 eggs. We can't wait for them to hatch!

Strawberry Picking

We visited a local organic farm the other day for a tour and strawberry picking.
It was a big hit, as you can see. We were pulled by a tractor through the fields all the while getting lots of interesting information, but better yet, tastes of plants straight from the fields. The girls tried everything; cilantro, romaine, radishes (spicy!), carrots, spinach, snap peas, and lots of strawberries.
We each got a small box to fill with strawberries. Of course we ate and picked to our hearts content.

Color Coordinated Blocks

Emma locked herself in the playroom the other day to work on something unhindered by Delaney. She came out awhile later to invite me in.
I had to take some pictures of her little creations because they were so visually pleasing.

This and That

Emma loves her scooter. She is really fast on it, and graceful (if one can said to be graceful on a scooter). She loves to ride it when we go on walks or just to the corner if we are out front. I was really touched when she was helping Delaney to use it, because it can be hard to share.

I was feeling sort of unmotivated the other day. It was gray and cold outside, and I was thinking about how I did so many more creative things at home when I only had one. Delaney is a lot more active and doesn't always stick with little experiences I set up for her the way Emma did. She is also so busy interacting with Emma that I get kind of lazy. I needed to do dishes, so I decided to set up our water table in the kitchen. Delaney had been interested in the one at Emma's school the day before, so I set about scrubbing all the nooks and crannies. It was kind of a mess from sitting outside. I set it up on some beach towels and filled it with warm water, sea shells, kitchen utensils and other goodies, and she loved it. She played in it for 45 minutes and I got my work done. I was even able to sit down and enjoy watching her play.

Sometimes I wonder why we don't paint very often. I guess this picture is a reminder. I know, what a grinch I am! I love it when the weather is warm and we can just hose off outdoors. Emma's nickname for Delaney is Big Eyed Chub Chub, which I think is hilarious. She still has the big eyes which you see here, but has really lost her chub chub as she approaches her 2nd birthday. The other day she was saying Big Eyed Chub Chub over and over in the car in her gravelly little voice and it gave us all a laugh.I love how self motivated Emma is. She is such a busy girl and does not need to be entertained. This is great on one hand, but can be very messy. She is constantly taping and shredding and creating. Wads of wet construction paper are her constellations drying on the edge of the sink. Rolls of tape disappear into thin air. I find weird little piles of stuff in drawers and cupboards. Her stuffed animals are always taped, bandaged and wrapped in a myriad of dishtowels. She is sort of like a maternal rat with her nests and lovies. This is her telescope. She was busy in the kitchen for a long time when she called me in to look at the universe through her wonderful creation.