Down on the farm

This year we joined a CSA, which stands for community supported agriculture.  The idea (if you haven’t heard of it), is you pay a set fee at the beginning of the season and receive a share of the veggie harvest throughout the growing season.  With our CSA we go to the farm on Monday evenings to pick up our share.  There are often choices (last week for example, one choice was 3 lbs of any mix of eggplant, fennel, carrots and cabbage), and there is pick your own stuff too, last week it was green beans, herbs and flowers.  The boys really enjoy going to the farm; Brian especially asks to go all the time and he loves to help pick things and we usually bring something to feed the chicken, which he loves to do.  Last week Calvin was home and actually was able to come with us to see it!

A board on the way in tells you what you will find in the tent, and also what is available for picking. 

You sign in on the list, then go around the tables and pick up your veggies.  This time there was a three-legged carrot to gawk at!

Bins full of veggies!

A picture of the farm… the people are in rows of herbs, behind them, the tall stuff, is tomatoes, in the foreground there is swiss chard, green onions (I think) and baby lettuces.  Sometimes we see the tractor driving around!

We spotted the chicken and Brian and Calvin set off after him!

Here chickie chickie chickie!

Then, we picked some basil…

…saw the chickie again, and headed home!

Brian's 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday Brian!

I asked him who he wanted to have over for his party, and he said "Cake and ice cream." He decided on a peach cake, so that's what we made, and he loved it! He even had seconds, because it's only his birthday once a year!

Even Eli had some cake, thanks to grandma, and as you can see he was pretty happy about it too...

Here's the birthday boy, sporting his new Super Why cape I made as a birthday gift. Pretty soon he will have the power to read!

Just a few more pictures from Delaware

Beating the heat

Well somehow we drove down to Delaware but woke up one day in Arizona! It has been hot, hot, hot, over 100 degrees. So the only thing we have had much interest in doing is splashing around in the pool. Here's Eli before his first time swimming...

...he was a little uncertain at first but it didn't last long, he had a BLAST!

What a cutie! He has been having so much fun splashing in the water.

And Brian too! He can almost stand on the ground in the shallow end; I can hardly believe how tall he is! He got a new hat for some sun protection and some pool noodles to play with. It's a good thing I have 3 suits for each of the boys (yes I packed SIX swimsuits) because we go through them!

Penn State!

Driving down to Delaware, we stopped by Penn State and had some ice cream at the new creamery!

Then we walked around and saw my old dorm...

...and some aquariums...

...which were a gift from my class! The boys really liked them!

Grandma and Papa come to visit

Grandma and Papa came to visit this past weekend. With their help and logistical support, we were able to do many things around the house that needed our attention: vegetables went in the garden and flowers went in the pots, shrubs trimmed, closets organized, and so much more. And of course we were able to have some fun too! We went to the pool and splash park at Camp Arrowhead on Saturday:

We bought a sandbox for Brian, which he loves (and I do too because it heeps him from digging in my garden where I planted seeds):

We played outside and went for walks:

Brian went to a real hairdresser for his first professional haircut, which you can sort of see in this picture. Both Brian and Sasha love when Papa comes to visit because they get to go on walks every day!

Last day of school and graduation

On the last day of school, Brian was one of many kiddos wearing a Big Brother shirt... it was pretty funny.

Graduation was at Camp Arrowhead, a sort of suburban little park that the YMCA has. The 2 year olds didn't have a graduation per se, but we did get a picture with all his teachers.

They had set up some inflatables that Brian wanted to go on so, so badly ("I very want to!") that he was mad at me when I told him he couldn't just climb on (there was a line). He actually waited in a long line twice to go on this one.

He ate lunch with Miss Julieann, his favorite teacher. They ate lunch together after preschool fairly often. After lunch I had to put away the camera because we went to the sprayground, where Brian had a blast and I took Eli to get his feet wet. Needless to say, I had to drag Brian away when it was time to go!