Peas anyone?

Yep, we had a bountiful crop of sugar snap peas, much to Larry's delight, but they are pretty well done now. So I froze quite a few bagfuls. It seems I was picking about a bowlful each day, so we can't keep up with eating them fresh. In December, we will be remembering the tastiness of our garden.

From left; melons and squash, eggplants and peppers, zucchini and cucumbers, onions and kohlrabi, beets, cabbage and broccoli and cauliflower.
From left tomatoes, green beans, carrots, sugar snap peas
We had quite a few kohlrabi fresh, froze some and even gave a couple away. Had fresh beets with dinner last week, and are looking forward to some peppers being ready soon. We did have some banana peppers last week, but apparently the HOT on the label really meant that they were hot ones. I assumed, quite incorrectly, that since they were the only kind at the nursery, that they just labeled them hot and they were like the mild kind we enjoyed last summer! So luckily a good friend has a use for them in some salsa.

We also have lots of tomato blossoms and many small green tomatoes. We think a visiting deer has enjoyed our plants, as evidenced by the chewed off tops. So I put out some deterrents the other day. A bar of soap, netting over the plants, aluminum pie pans, plastic grocery bags, turning the motion sensor light toward the garden, and a radio playing out the garage window at night...good old talk radio...are all my attempts to keep them away. You might be thinking, uh, I thought they lived in town. Well, we technically do, but on the very edge. There are no houses on the other side of the street where the deer come from, only baseball diamonds and fields beyond that. And an added temptation to the deer, there is a large community garden across the street also, full of plenty of good eats. Also the neighbor, who routinely walks her dog along the street by our garden, was gone on vacation last week. So all of these factors led to a couple of visits from our friendly deer population. We'll see if the return of the dog walking helps.

We are loving all the flowers that are in bloom too...the sunflowers in the garden are taller than Maria!

We have plenty to praise God for; a bountiful garden.

hiccup twins

Thought it was too funny that both girls had hiccups at the same time. Anna gets the a lot, but Maria not so much, mainly if we are having a good time of laughing/tickling/something like that.

a month late

Well, due to some other circumstances(a 6 day old) we weren't able to celebrate our anniversary on the actual date last month. But we did manage to do it exactly a month late.

Well, it all started here...January 2, 2004. On a whim, Mindy, my best friend and I decided to attend a Young Adult Retreat sponsored by the United Methodist Church...Larry just happened to be on the planning committee for it. It was held at the Swan Lake Resort near Plymouth, Indiana.

(the spot where we met)

We got there fairly early and were hanging out in the hallway outside where the sessions for the retreat would take place. One of the first people that we met happened to be this associate pastor from Fort Wayne, name Larry. I didn't think much about our meeting, but apparently he did. Later that evening he plotted how he could end up sitting next to me for dinner, so he could get to know me a bit more. He waited till almost everyone was already seated before going in to eat and figured he had a better chance of sitting next to me that way. We talked some during dinner, and later he asked for my email, under the guise that he could contact me if there were other young adult events in the Ft. Wayne area. He also quickly asked my friend for her email, when she appeared beside me, to make his motives seem less suspicious perhaps.

He left the retreat early so that was all the interaction we were able to have...me, I was pretty oblivious to anything brewing in his mind...Mindy, on the other hand had her suspicions. (Guess she had a good intuition.)

We left the retreat Saturday and I didn't think a think about him until I got an email on Monday asking for any feedback on the retreat(he was part of the planning committee). I didn't reply right away due to Internet access and time constraints...but, he didn't give up so easily.

Wednesday of that same week I received a phone call at school during the day. Well, since I can't take calls during class the caller was asked to call back around 3:15, when school was out and I could be in the office to get this phone call. So there I sat, dutifully waiting by the phone for the call, while grading papers. I was a bit surprised at the caller, as I hadn't given him my number. I thought he was calling to find out about any feedback on the retreat and I apologized that I hadn't replied to his email. He replied that it wasn't exactly the reason that he called, but he wanted to know if I would like to go out this weekend.....pause....uh, sure. Come to find out later he had remembered from dinner conversation that I worked at a Christian school and the name of the school was fairly simple(Central). I have to give him credit as he called one other school, which was wrong in the process of trying to find me. This guy had won points in my book...he wasn't letting that stop him.

Well, we went out that Saturday and as the saying goes...the rest is history!

Our dinner views.

We have plenty to praise God for; His guiding hand in our meeting and marriage...and a persistent man who won my heart!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you, have a great birthday!

Come home daddy!

Yep, we miss Dad...and can't wait for him to come home from Annual Conference, especially Mom. I could never handle being a single mom!

Here are some random pictures I took...by the way, isn't that the cutest hat ever. A friend from the mom's group knit it for Anna. It is my favorite one we have...now if it wasn't 90 degrees, she could wear it everyday!

We have plenty to praise God for; talented, generous friends.

I can't go in the TV

Maria was watching Oso(a Disney show) the other morning.

She ran into the office and exclaimed, "The little boy can't find his other shoe."

I asked, "Who is going to help him?"

She replied, "Oso."

I then questioned, "Are you going to help Oso find the little boy's shoe? He needs your help."

She looked at me in all seriousness and answered, "No, I can't go in the TV."

Well, Duh, Mommy!

We have plenty to praise God for; the seriousness of a two year old to keep us grounded!

all in yellow

(Maria has started doing the cheesy grin for pictures! Gotta love it!)

a few more pictures from Father's Day...sense a yellow theme...you would think it's my favorite color or something, huh?

a visit with Grandpa

For Father's Day, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit...Maria had a blast playing with them. Grandparents rule!

We have plenty to praise God for; loving grandparents.

One Month

Can it be that one month has already passed. How has Anna changed this month? Well, she is sleeping longer stretches at night(sometimes up to 8 hours), has started being awake more during the day. Her weight was 10 lb 7 oz (85%)and she is now 22 1/2 inches long(93%). The doctor joked that he wondered where she got the height from, hmmm? She has started making some cooing noises and even made a few smiling attempts today. She likes to suck on her hand when she can find it, but he pacifier will do the trick in a pinch. She is still a relatively happy baby, not crying much unless she is hungry or ready to be put to bed. Maria has really started being more interested in her, and less threatened by her presence. And surprisingly she doesn't seem to fazed when Anna is crying for whatever reason.

We have plenty to praise God for; another beautiful child to raise.

My dad is the best!

Guest blogger Maria wanted to share that she thinks her dad is the best around.

Thanks for loving me and Anna, daddy. We love you SO much!

We have plenty to praise God for; great fathers!

Dora in the tub

Maria likes to play with her new Dora and Boots in the tub. Today Dora was walking on the "sidewalk"(the side of the tub). She was also going to the doctor and the dentist. She has a recent fascination with both of them, maybe because we have been so often lately.

cooling off

What better way to cool off than in your very own backyard pool! Don't you love how her suit matches the pool!

We have plenty to praise God for; cheap $10 entertainment for the summer!

a day in the life...

of Anna.

Hermanos

I loved having a big sister and we hope that the girls grow to love each other more and more each day...and have their occasional sister spats...not that my sister and I did that!

We have plenty to praise God for; siblings!

Celebrating

We got to meet our new nephew, Zach, on Sunday and celebrate Joshua's 2nd birthday. We had a good day with family.

Hanging out in Joshua's bed

cousins

checking out Joshua's new toys

Bubble time!

Hey there new cousin! Did you know I am 9 days older than you. Ha!

cookie dipping

Maria thinks dipping cookies(and fingers!) in milk is the best. She will take the tiniest bites so that she can keep dipping till she only has a itsy bitsy crumb left to dip.

tub time

Anna finally lost her umbilical stump, so she got her first real bath this week, and she seemed to enjoy it.

playdate fun

Since the weather was supposed to be very nice Friday and we finally have a backyard fence I decided to have a few moms over for a play date. The kids had a good time playing, eating lunch, and soaking up some sun.

enjoying some dirt pudding!

We have plenty to praise God for; great friends!

Maria's new words

Yes, we have officially entered the nonsense word stage...rabios and juby joby are the new words she has started using. Apparently juby joby is some kind of food as she was feeding it to me the other day, we have no idea about rabios though...she just randomly says it. It's kind of fun to see her making up these words and using them often.

And if you have an explanation for these new words let us know, maybe we have a child prodigy on our hands that has taught herself some words in a foreign language. :)

Also Happy 2nd birthday to Joshua! We can't wait to see you on Sunday and celebrate, and to meet your new little brother Zach.

my bike

Maria is still working on learning to ride her bike.  Daddy does help her out some too.  She is getting more interested in it at least.

We have plenty to praise God for; warm weather to spend outside.