Our Garden

We may live in the city on a quarter acre lot, but we have a garden!  We really do and it is actually a pretty good one this year thanks to all of the rain we had during the Spring and Summer.  I had been meaning to post these pictures for the past couple of weeks and kept forgetting.  Now apparantly we are under a hard freeze warning for tonight.  What??  It is only September!  Believe it or not, the day before yesterday it was in the mid 90's and tonight the low is expected to be in the mid 20's.  How's that for Minnesota nice?  Well, before our garden is no more, here are a few pictures. 

We grew corn for the very first time and I was really suprised that it actually grew!

If you look close you can see Quinn is about to throw a big handful of sand at Paige.  Uh-Oh!  That is the first thing he tries to do when he sees dirt...boys....

In this picture you can see the corn of course, but we also planted green beans along the fence (they never stood a chance, the rabbits ate them) and carrots (most of these seeds washed away in the first big storm the day we planted them).  This is Paige's garden, a small space on the front side of the real garden that is not fenced.  You can see on the fence how only 2 cucumber plants infested the whole wall!  This was our first year planting cucumbers as well.  I think next year we will plant just one.

This is the inside of the real garden, the tomato plants are huge!  We are looking forward to canning them this Fall, so hopefully we can keep them covered and warm enough tonight through the frost.  We also have lots of peppers, broccoli, cabbage, raspberries and strawberries.  Oh and herbs, TONS of them!  

In case you haven't had a garden before, even the smallest of gardens are a really great way to have the whole family involved in something.  The kids love helping plant, watching everything grow and produce food they can eat ..that is if they would actually eat vegetables.  But most of fun, picking everything.  It was a fun year for the garden, I can't wait to do it again next year!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

It was a really big day!  Tuesday was Paige's very first day of kindergarten and we made it through the day without any tears!  That day we made it anyway...I never guessed it would get harder instead of easier.  But first and foremost here are some pictures of her big day.

Paige woke up with a big smile on her face, excited for her first day.  She got up without hesitation, got dressed in the new school clothes we carefully laid out the night before and sat down for breakfast.  She didn't eat much and I didn't force her as I am guessing she probably didn't have much of an appetite with all of the butterflies flying around in there.  After breakfast it was time to head out the door so she and Quinn sat down to put their shoes on.

Once we were ready I had to take the a few more pictures of Paige posing with her backpack and grinning about this very big day.

Check out the Justin Bieber backpack!

One more outside! 

Then into the car we went and off to school.  Paige was ready and excited.  And of course, a bit nervous too.  When I asked her why she said because she wouldn't know any friends and would miss her momma.  (Melt my heart)

I took the entire day off of work because I wanted to be there for her to walk her to her classroom and pick her up right after.  It was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy the moment.  Paige posed for a fun picture on the steps of the school, she picked the spot out all on her own.

As walked through the doors, she held my hand all the way down the long colorful hall filled with kids and parents and chaos!  Orderly chaos, but it was quite a busy morning nonetheless and nearly every kindergartner and their parent was lingering among the four classrooms and connected hallway.  Paige and I found her cubby, hung her backpack and found places for all of her classroom supplies.  We checked out where she would sit, where she would rest and just took it all in.  Her little classroom was a tiny saferoom away from everything big and scary that was outside that door.  Her teacher was kind, yet firm.  Two very important qualities in someone who has to manage 25 scared 5 year olds.  Paige was going to be just fine, I just knew it.  As I kneeled down to hug her before Quinn and I said our goodbyes I felt the lump in my throat trying to make an appearance.  I forced it back knowing that if anyone should cry at this moment it certainly couldn't be me.  My tears could fall in the car, where I couldn't touch paige's amazing confidence and trust.  She returned my hug as I squeezed my eyes tightly looking for strength.  She then so sweetly made sure to give her brother a hug and kiss as well.  Her teacher came to collect her and she waved me out the door with a smile and she headed to the table with her new friends to color a picture of what else...a turtle.  But before I left, I had to sneak just one more picture of my kindergartner.