Decepticons

While it may looks like one person has yet to place their ships and the other person is cheating... there is a reasonable explanation to this game.

It's not a game.

These are top of the line, very newfangled, cutting edge Battleship Brand Laptops.
Hours of enjoyment for all involved, let me tell you.

I have the most amazing friends.

My friend, Char (if you're not reading her blog, you should be!) sent me the most lovely housewarming gift a couple of days ago.

She already posted it on her blog, and since I'm feeling quite under the weather, I have not. So here it is.



Char, I thank you with all my heart... and all my messy cooking skillz!

Green Thumb?

Part of the reason I was SO excited about buying a home was the possibility of a garden. Growing up we ALWAYS had a large garden. Did I say large? I meant HUGE garden. Lots and lots of tomato plants. Green beans. Peppers, peas, carrots, broccoli, and my favorite: Zucchini.

No, I'm not kidding. Sweet lovely zucchini cookies, breads, sauteed zucs. Mercy!

Unfortunately, we moved into our home about a month too late to start a real garden. What's that you say? It's still snowing in your backyard? What you need to know about FL's growing seasons is that there are three. The "summer" growing season actually starts in February and at the latest, early March. So, by the time we moved here, it was too late for my precious zucchini. The reason you have to get started so early here is because the sun become beastly quite quickly. By the end of May, you've basically just got your tomatoes left.


So, that's what we're doing. Tomatoes.

We've also got a lovely little herb planter going on: Sweet Basil, Cilantro, and just today I bought some Chives.


I have to tell you how much happiness it brings me to go out there and water my plants every day. Communing with nature and all that.


This last picture has me totally excited.

These are my baby grapefruits. Each of these pea sized green balls will, hopefully, be a delicious grapefruit eventually. I'm already drooling.

Seriously can't wait for the October growing season! The planning starts now!

Diet of Champions

We took Lucas in for his one year well-child exam today. At nine months he weighed a whopping 13 pounds 14 ounces.

Today he tipped the scales at 14 pounds 14 ounces. Heavy sigh!

And it's no wonder, when you consider the staples of his diet.

Pencil erasers. Crayons. Dirt. Playdough. and Raisins. Kidding. Mostly.

He's obviously very cute, he's just not very big. Fortunately, we've already run the gamut of testing and they've found nothing wrong with him. He's just bound to be little. We're buying him some jodhpurs and a whip to get him started early on his jockeying career.

Anyone who has fed him a meal knows that he's not little because he doesn't eat enough. He loves to eat. And he's quite vocal about it. He will definitely let you know if he needs more food. Which he will.


I take a lot of pictures of him eating to prove that we do actually feed him.

I kid. It's because it's the only time he'll sit still for me.

Confession Time.

We have never (not since we've been married) had a dining room table that we could regularly eat at as a family. I know! This sounds totally ridiculous.

In every house we've rented, the dining room was either too small to seat our entire family at once, OR the dining room was carpeted. CARPETED. Can we discuss the ridiculousness of putting carpet in a rental dining room? Do you know how trashed your carpet gets when you let little kids eat on it?

Our house? No carpet in the entire downstairs. Do you know what this means?!
I'll tell you what this means!


It means eating dinner as a family.
It means having someone in charge of setting the table.
Having someone in charge of clearing the table.
It means sitting as a family around a table to enjoy a meal and a conversation and each other's company.
It means Mom feels motivated to make dinner again.
It means enjoying my children and hearing about their day.
It means I have more patience.

I really never thought that something as simple as eating dinner together could produce such amazing results. Looks like it might be time for me to start wearing an apron and pearls.