Ewan in front of squash plant

A little baby gourd

Pretty, yellow gourd

The Accidental Gardener

The best gardening I have ever done has been by accident. The first time I tried to grow basil and some other herbs I made a garden in a little corner on the side of the apartment building I lived in. I lived with 3 other girls in an two-plex--I would call it a duplex but it was upstairs/downstairs not side by side. We had a little strip of grass on the side of the house and I made a cute little garden surrounded by rocks. I planted thyme, oregano, majoram, and basil. The basil I purposely planted never bloomed. The thyme and oregano didn't make it for very long. The majoram took off and grew like crazy. I had some leftover basil seeds that I threw in the little garden and lo and behold--THAT basil grew like crazy! It grew a couple feet tall and I made loads of pesto from those basil plants. Remember that Brie? The good old days.....That was my first accidental gardening incedent.
My second is more recent. We had a garage sale a couple of months ago and my mom brought some items for the sale. One of the items was a basket with dried gourds of all shapes and sizes. Not a huge surprise that no one wanted the gourds. My mom said they were about 10 years old. The kids found them in the leftover pile in the garage and thought they were fun to roll on the ground and throw like balls. They REALLY thought it was fun when Ewan stepped on one and saw all the seeds inside. I was working in our flower beds and the boys brought out several of the gourds to play with. Ewan decided they all needed to get squished on the sidewalk. Ugh, what a mess that was. I decided to use the water hose to spray all the crunchy shells and seeds onto the edge of the grass thinking that those seeds were sooooo old that the likelihood of them growing was minimal. Well, much to my surprise we came back from our vacation in Canada and we had plants growing. Being the scientist that I am (and fun mommy of course) I convinced Jon to leave the plants alone to see what would happen. Thank you, honey! We have been enjoying our accidental squash garden very much. Ewan and Isaac like the pretty orange flowers and watching the gourds grow. Some days it seems like they double in size! I took some pictures of it today so you could enjoy my accidental garden too!

Daily Quiet Times

I have been feeling convicted about the alone time I spend with God. At church on Sunday the word for me was to take the next week and spend at least 10 minutes a day with God. But when? The hurry-scurry of the day starts when I wake up in the morning and stops when the kids are in bed, the dishes are done, and all the toys are picked up. The best time for me to have some listening and talking time with God are when the boys go down for their nap. The problem is that a list of other things to do beckons me. Answer emails, make some uninterrupted phone calls, clean up lunch dishes, pick up a little, watch my soap opera (I can't help myself!), catch up on blog reading, pick up some more, write my grocery list, prepare for my classes--those are the things that crowd my mind if I sit still. Since the arrival of my children I have not been able to consistently have any alone time with God. If I am honest, I like having the naptime to do fun stuff--catching up with friends on the phone, reading, maybe taking a little nap myself (although those days are rare!). I want "my time" to be all about me. Sure, I pray throughout the day, but I miss God speaking to me through Scripture and Bible study and taking that time to hear Him speak to me. I need to re-balance my life a little bit. If I am not connected to Jesus then I am not doing anyone a favor! I feel different and act different when I am connected to God. So, I have committed to spend at least the first 10 minutes of naptime in Scripture and praying. My friend Jenny and I are holding each other accountable to do it for the next week. And now you know--so feel free to ask me how it is going!

Here is the update...

We have been pretty busy these last several weeks. I have posted several pictures and comments to give you a glimpse of what we have been up to. I had to use flickr to upload pictures because blogger was not letting me upload any pics. Hope you enjoy the pictures below.

On a more somber note, my uncle Billy (aka uncle booty) passed away last week. When I was little I guess I couldn't say "billy" and it came out as "booty". It stuck. He was a gentle, generous man who loved kids. He had a tender heart too. He had a heart transplant 5 years ago and had been having a really hard time with his health for the past year or two. I am glad that he is no longer physically suffering on this earth. My hope is that his heart was right with Jesus and I will see him on the other side of heaven. I can rest assured in God's comfort that He is full of mercy and is the perfect judge. He knew Billy's heart better than anyone else in the world and I hope I get to see him again.
Next time I go fishing I will think of my uncle Booty with a smile on my face. I hope that when my hair turns gray it looks like his did. He had the prettiest silver-gray hair I have ever seen.

I'll miss you Billy.

Isaac copying silly face

Silly Face

Ewan learned how to make this timeless face that all kids seem to make at some point in their lives. Where did he learn this? Oh, from another kid at church. Thankfully he just thinks it is funny and doesn't make it to be malicious. Isaac like to try to make the silly face too!

Yummy home baking!

Fresh cherries were on sale so our skin turned red trying to eat the pounds and pounds of cherries we had. I made this rustic cherry tart recipe from Martha Stewart's cookbook. It was quite yummy!

Play day with Melody

Ewan and Melody playing in "the house".

Play day with Melody

Isn't Isaac getting so big? He can climb up the ladder to the "fort" and climb up the slide! I decided that it is much easier to let the kids go around in diapers and underwear than wash a bunch of clothes (in case you are wondering).

The train Museum

Among our list of activities we did take a trip to Fair Park and see the Train Museum. It was mildly entertaining to the kids. Jon and I were more interested in the details of the kind of train it was. The boys liked the rocks and climbing up all the stairs to go into the trains. It was fun and worth it even though we finished the tour in about 30 or 45 minutes.

What we have been up to...

Well, I have been trying to upload pictures for 2 days now and have been having problems. I am going to keep trying so keep checking in.

Steve Irwin

Is anyone else totally sad that Steve Irwin died? I was reading some news about it and I got that familiar lump in my throat. He was a great entertainer and educator. It is hard to imagine another conservationist with more charisma and enthusiasm than Steve Irwin. I love Animal Planet and The Crododile Hunter. I would only get to watch it at my mom's house since we don't have cable. The first channel I usually check is Animal Planet.
I think my sadness comes from my "mother's heart". I can't NOT think about Terri and her two little babes that have lost their daddy. She has lost her soul mate--her companion, friend, and lover. I wish I could do more than pray for God's comfort and an understanding of why it happened. My prayers are with you Terri, Bindi, and Robert.