Things are a Bloomin'

Just a few garden shots to keep you updated on our veggie patch. We also have raspberries and strawberries in bloom.
Here are our carrot/beet/salad beds and our tomato beds.
We've got broccoli!
Potatoes galore!

Brewing Beer

So on Saturday, we finally got around to brewing another batch of beer. Sorry these pictures are not the best demonstration of the beer brewing steps, but the boys were drinking beer, making a mess, and throwing hot water on each other. I thought it best to keep a distance. But, it was fun and nice to make a batch from whole grains we ground ourselves instead of from a kit. I just need to make sure Sami saves some for me in October.
Cami, me, and Lala
Sami and Lance straining the grains.
Cami, Sami, Al, and Steve discussing the cold water bayj process.

Bell Tent

The Bell Tent finally arrived a couple of weeks ago and we had to wait out the rain before setting it up to see it in all of its glory. I must say it is a beauty and I can't wait till we can use it at a festival. We can easily fit 4 double air mattresses. But we will probably only have one, but plenty of room for all of the other stuff one needs when festival camping. We also have a room divider that divides the tent in half with a screen. Should come in handy when the kiddies get bigger.

Window Film

Long ago (really last summer when we moved in), I decided I hated having blinds in the bathroom. It was hard to keep them clean and our bathroom window faced the front yard/front porch. Therefore, we definitely needed some privacy. Enter Emma Jeffs window film. I have coveted this for a long time and finally went for it thanks to Mimi's contribution to my 30th b-day. The only problem is there is a small bubble toward the bottom of the window that will forever plague me.

Skanky Blanky

Here it is folks. Sarah's blanky. I cannot believe it still exists. It is basically one long string with knots in it. It is now 28 years old. Wow!

Whales in Cape Cod...and Happy Endings

Sarah, Kris, and I ventured to Provincetown, MA for a fun and exciting whale watching adventure. It was pretty boring and freezing for the first 2 hours with a whale sighting now and again in the distance. Then all of a sudden about 7 whales or so surrounded the boat, blew bubbles and jumped out of the water. It was quite magical. I have to admit I was squealing like a tourist.
These are Humpback whales.




Kris (the bottomless pit) can't even keep up with a pregnant lady's appetite.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Debi and Marjukka.

You are both wonderful and amazing teachers, friends, and mothers. Thank you for always being there and sharing your knowledge and wisdom of life. Neither one of us could have asked for a better mother or mother-in-law.

As a side note, I had to post about our new beautiful stroller, the BOB Revolution, from Debi and Mimi. After several hours of stroller research (wow, is this really my life? :) ), we decided to go with the BOB. It is beautiful and awesome. We also purchased the baby car seat adapter, which will enable us to put the car seat carrier directly into the stroller while she is still an infant.

Little Baby Girl

So here she is. Who does she look like? :)

So just wanted to share the story of how we discovered the sex of our baby. As many of you probably know, I REALLY REALLY wanted a baby girl. So bad that sometimes my teeth hurt. I wanted a girl so badly that I felt very discouraged when I thought about raising a boy. Then I thought about having 2 boys and never having the chance to share things with a daughter and I was almost beside myself with fear and grief. This probably sounds terrible, I know. Talk about starting off being a bad mom before the baby even enters the world, but I could not help my feelings and emotions. I even discussed these feelings with a friend who is a pshyco-therapist. I did however, pretty much convince myself that I was having a boy. My entire family thought it was a boy, my cranial sacral therapist got boy energy, and the pendulum predicted boy. I think I even convinced Sami it was a boy.

Anyway, the day finally came for the ultrasound. We headed to UNC Hospital and waited in several lines before entering the ultrasound room. The second she hit the screen we were in love. She is super active right now and was moving all over the place. Her head is normal size, for now, and we hope that she doesn't inherit Sami's head size (at least until out of the womb). We saw and heard her heart beating 140beats per minute, saw her stomach and kidneys and the blood flowing through her body. We requested that the sex remain a mystery to us and the ultrasound tech put it in an envelope for us to look at later. So, when it was time to check out the legs and abdomen, she asked us to look away. She noticed the sex immediatly and printed out the picture. She put it in a sealed envelope and we headed out. I will admit that after we saw the baby I actually felt great about having a boy. I thought to myself, "I love this baby and having a boy would be amazing! Thank God! Bad mom vibes had left my brain. We took the envelope to Cafe Driade, got a beverage, and headed to the outdoor wooded seating, which is beautiful, private, and peaceful. I asked Sami to look in the envelope. He opened it slowly and had a perfect poker face. Then he said, "it is weird, it is very weird". Then he told me we were having a girl and I flipped out. I was in disbelief, shock, and pure joy. I screamed, cried, and kissed my baby daddy. Then we took a moment to let it sink in and talk about pink nurseries for awhile, then started calling family and friends. And that is that. I am still a bit in shock since I was so determined we were having a boy, but so excited about Sami's abundant xxx chromosomes.

The Veggie Garden is Done!

It has taken us many weekends of hard work to finally finish the construction and setup of the veggie garden. I think we started digging fence post holes in late September 2008. This weekend we have finally finished putting down landscaping fabric and mulching the paths. Now it really feels complete! So here is a list of what we have growing this year: asparagus, shallots, red and white onions, peas, spinach, parsley, 2 varieties of potatoes, 2 varieties of cucumbers, acorn and yellow squash, zucchini, garlic, radish, several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, beets, chard, salad, 3 varieties of carrot, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries! Oh my. We also have several medicinal herbs in the perennial beds and nasturtiums and sunflowers.

Sami's New Toy

I woke up this morning and walked to the creek for my daily "breath" of peace. I noticed that the grass in the backyard was actually grazing my upper thighs so I new it was time to crack the whip. It had only been two weeks since Sami last mowed the lawn. He went ahead and got out our very "green" hand push no gas/electric rotary mower. That was a joke. He would have had to mow the whole yard with it AND then weed whack the entire yard to get rid of the giant weeds that make up or lovely lawn. So, I finally convinced my very sensible husband that this method was not very "green" at all. Enter the electric mower. Another few hundred dollars once again donated to Lowes Hardware and we have ourselves a much better mower that we can plug into an outlet, get a charge, and mow to our heart's desire.

Half Way There

I am 4 1/2 months at this point. I have gained about 51/2 pounds so far and it is thankfully all in my uterus and maybe a bit in the cha cha's as well. :)

Tile for the Bathroom...Take 3

This post is specifically for Kris. I know how much he has been loving these tile posts and his tile opinion is crucial. :) I promise this will be the last tile post (until we are actually tiling) because I am actually feeling these last few choices.
This is Mexican tile. I LOVE it and so does Sami. It would be very cool in the bathroom and would match the shower quite well. This is a 3x3, but they also come in 6x6. Of course, they are super $$$$$$$.
This is a nice "stone" esque tile that is smooth. I think we would choose the dark blue, but the light is pretty.
These two would be used together, with the fun wavy tile as an accent every now and again.
Sami si not a huge fan of this one, but it does match the shower stripe perfectly.