In Farmer Joe's Garden

Joe vs. The Slugs Edition

Our first harvest of the summer came on June 3. I harvested lettuce from one half of our lettuce plants, providing enough lettuce for us, our two neighbors, and another family. It was delicious! We've since harvested enough for a few more salads. Joe has about 15 lettuce plants and three late sprouting spinach plants, so keeping up with the harvesting is becoming a daily job. The beans are growing, too, and we're seeing the first signs of coming tomatoes. What lovely salads those tomatoes would make!

One small problem has developed. Slugs. I found six slugs on various lettuce leaves as I was harvesting and washing the lettuce. Joe found a seventh slug just before the lettuce it made it to his mouth. Who washes the lettuce around here anyway? He's been researching total slug elimination but has yet to act on behalf of our precious lettuce. When will he take action, what will he do? Who will win this epic battle? Tune in next time for an exciting installment of 'In Farmer Joe's Garden'.

These other pictures are of some other plants blooming beautifully in the yard, most of them from a flower box Joe built in the back earlier this spring.

Update: Yesterday we enjoyed fresh green beans, spinach salads with cucumbers, and chicken stew with fresh garden carrots for dinner. All produce compliments of farmer Joe's garden. Delish!

Conspiracy Theory

Lately we've been finding Xandra and Theia conspiring together in various corners of the house. I think we should be worried.

Wet, wet, wet!

Summer is officially here. The pool is out in the backyard and the girls have been enjoying it for a few weeks. Xandra's friend Jillian 9pictured above) was over to enjoy it the first night we had it out. The water has been pretty cold as the trees keep out direct sunlight. I'm hoping the warmer temperatures will bring warmer pool water. Last time the girls were in the pool, their lips turned blue from the frigid temps.

Out with the old

Our baby bandicoot (Aliyah) has found her fingers. She's loving her fingers so much that she's decided she'd like nothing to do with the pacifier. "Come on, mom, that pacie is so yesterday." This comes with mixed blessings as she is very good at soothing herself with her fingers, but in the event that she doesn't want to do that, there remains no way to force quietness upon her. I think I may just miss that pacie after all.

0 for 2

Aliyah's first shots in the Bumbo. It seems to have taken her longer than Xandra or Theia to enjoy being in the Bumbo, but she's starting to get the hang of it. Maybe, if we're careful (at least more careful than we were with her sisters), we can avoid having her fall out of the Bumbo. We're 0 for 2 on safe Bumbo handling.

Platypus Pandemonium

Theia's growing stature means she's starting to reach things I wish she would leave alone.

Today she found Xandra's water glass from atop the counter and we ended up with a wet dress, chair, and carpet as she pulled it down to get herself a drink. All this trouble not even mentioning the hullaboo from Xandra howling about Theia taking her water.

Her fingertips aren't limited to finding water cups, either. Games with 1000 pieces off the bookshelf, tubes of toothpaste and neosporin off the bathroom counters, and boxes of crackers off the desk are all fair game.

She not only can reach countertops, but she can reach over the pack n play where Liyah sleeps. It's not uncommon to find water bottles, Mr. Potatohead noses, lips, and shoes, and piles of animals and blankies in the pack n play waiting for Aliyah at her next naptime.

The dress up continues. Last week it was beads, swimsuit coverups (Xandra's, of course), and jammie pants (also Xandra's). All at the same time! Beautiful, darling!

In other pandemonium news, she continues to despise her vegetables and love her little brown bear we've named Amp.

Two Warm Pink Blueberry Jammies

A few thoughts from the world of Xandra:

Spelling Lesson:

Xandra: "Momma, look, I spelled my name."
Momma: "Xandra, there's no X."
Xandra: "Oh."
Quickly adds an X and a backwards four to the end.


"That's your blueberry?" - She asked Joe this question last Saturday in wondering about his blackberry.

"I like pink and purple." - Something I hear from Xandra at least every other day. In a world where pink and purple are of great importance, one must understand that there are two shades of pink. Hot pink and warm pink. For those in need of translation, warm pink is light pink. "That's not hot pink, that's warm pink."


"Daddy is my husband." - No matter how many times I insist that daddy is my husband and cannot be her husband, she remains steadfast to her claim on him. I guess he'll have to buy two bouquets of flowers in August. One for each wife.


"Birdies don't wear jammies." - Recently Joe heard Xandra talking in her room after lights out. When he ventured into her room to see if she needed something, she informed him that birdies don't wear jammies, they don't have green blankies, or beds, or bears or bunnies. She and I had discussed this idea when tucking her into bed. She told me that the birdies were going to bed in thier nests with their jammies and blankies. I informed her that birdies don't have jammies and green blankies, just little girls have those. She then went on to list all the things birdies don't have and I agreed, kissed her, and left the room. Evidently this conversation was still on her mind half an hour later when he stopped in to check on her.


"I'm two." - Xandra's response whenever she meets someone new. They say, "Hello" or "How are you?" and she always responds with "I'm two," while holding up two fingers. Last week she did, however, inform us that she was four (Cousin Emma turned four last Wednesday (Happy Birthday, Emma!) and I'm thinking this is the reason for her sudden leap in age). Evidently she feels she can just decide what age she'd like to be. I'm thinking of adopting that idea, too. "I'm twenty-five."


"Where does God live?" - This question amidst a geography lesson about how one grandma lives in North Dakota and one grandma lives in Nebraska.


"Spankings are no fun!" - Had trouble stifling the laugh as I held her and agreed with her after her most recent spanking. It's too bad you can't type inflection, as that was the funniest part of the statement.

1000 Words

No, it was not intentional. Yes, we were practically rolling on the ground when we saw it.

I'll Race Ya!

Joe participated in Lawyers Have Heart, an annual 10K run in DC, this past weekend. The girls and I ventured out to cheer him on. Despite all of his setbacks in attempting to run over the past few months, he finished the race, and in a good time (for him).

Milk and Cookies

It's not uncommon to open our refrigerator and see random items placed within. The milk for dolly and alphabet magnets (which are actually chocolate chip cookes, I've been informed) are just two recent examples.

Every night for the last week after dinner Xandra runs (yes, runs) to the refrigerator and retrieves her bag of chocolate chip cookies (aka alphabet magnets). She always brings me one and we each have our dessert. It's quite an enjoyable ritual, although I have to admit I prefer real cookies more.

Stacking the Deck

Recently while I was cleaning up the kitchen, Xandra asked if we could play Candyland. I got the game out and told her to set it up. She proceeded to get the board, the cards, and all the playing pieces out of the box while I cleaned up the kitchen from lunch. When I returned from clean up to play the game, I helped her stack up the cards she hadn't managed to get in the pile.

Xandra started the game by luckily drawing the pink princess card that advanced her to near the end of the game path. I cheered her on in her assumed luck of the draw. I, of course, then drew the red card, which advanced my playing piece a mere one hop on the path. Next Xandra produced another pink card with a gum drop on it, which moved her backward in the game, but was still an amazing feat. Two special cards in a row! On her third turn, I finally saw her reach over into the seat next to her and grab another card. A pink special one! While setting up the game, she had very cleverly taken out all of the pink cards and placed them in her booster seat. Then when it was her turn she could have any pick of the fun pink cards that she wanted. I thought they waited until they were at least three to stack the deck!

Word Count

Theia's words as of today (approx. 16 months):

Buddha, Aliyah, Theia, Dada, Mama, Uh oh, All Done, Yah (for yes), ssss (for shhh), and something that sounds a little like thank you.

I love you Mommy

Is there anything more precious to hear than, without any coaching from you, and without you having even said it recently, "I love you, mommy." Maybe the only thing better is, "I love you very much, mommy."

Thanks, Xandra, I love you too.

On the grow

Aliyah's growing, growing, growing. She's three months old this week and she's smiling lots, sleeping 8-10 hour stretches at night, and wearing 3-6 month clothes. Here are a few recent pictures of our little beauty.

Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!

Last Thursday, before our aunties and cousins left, Xandra, Theia, Liam, Beth and Trisha took a trip to the National Zoo. Highlights are below:

Panda Bear Pandemonium

Liam making friends with some school kids eating their lunch nearby.

Beth and Liam at the otter tank. The otters were sleeping.

Pull girls, minus Aliyah, at the Otter tank. Otters are still sleeping.

Watching the gorilla (pictured below) eat his lunch.

Visitors from the North

We recently had a visit from Auntie Laura, Auntie Beth, Liam, and Evie. We REALLY enjoyed their visit.

We had lots of fun romping,

riding,

gardening,

lawn mowing,

sweeping,

eating,

picnicing (which was really just more eating),

sleeping (okay, there wasn't as much of this as we would have liked, but we did do some of it),

see-sawing,

sliding,

swinging,

strolling,

climbing,

cuddling,

reading,

playing,

mickey-mousing,

and lots of other general silliness (including, but not limited to, goose poop).