Greening Up

Having shown you the sad state of our lawn earlier this summer, I am now pleased to report that the grass is green again!!

We got rain all Labor Day weekend and the grass perked up. After that weekend, whether related or not, the city decided to let us water again and we've been pouring it on (responsibly, of course). It's still pretty patchy in places from the summer trauma, but we plan to do some reseeding in the coming weeks. It is so nice to be able to play in the yard again, and the house's facelift now seems complete.

And here's a bonus shot of Gunnar in darling red boots by the tall corn:

What does a bear say?

Taking a cue from darling cousin Soren, Gunnar made his own video to show off his animal sounds and signs. (This is actually take two, and he kept looking back at the computer because he wanted to watch the first video of himself again.)

Do I go today, Mommy?

Maggie and Adah each began a new class this week. Maggie is taking Creative Dance (a combination of ballet, jazz, and tumbling) and Adah is taking Beginning Gymnastics (which will mostly just be tumbling). I was delighted to find a local teacher (meaning I don't have to cross the river) and they are just plain delighted.

Although they don't quite look it in these photos (Maggie was saying "ballet," and I think Adah was just trying to look the part of a powerful gymnast), they were so excited and happy with their new leotards and the whole idea of learning new steps and tricks.

Ever since Maggie has had her first class, she asks at least twice a day if today she is going back to ballet. It's just once a week. The poor girl is going crazy waiting for next Tuesday, but she'll soon have her schedule figured out.

First Day of Preschool

After walking Adah to school every day for nearly 3 weeks, Maggie finally got to have her first day of school today. She's been counting down the days for most of that 3 weeks and was delighted to have her photo taken on the front step this morning, just like Adah.

Maggie is attending the same preschool as Adah did, with the same fantastic teachers. Kathy and Diane are great women with such enthusiasm for what they do and a real understanding of kids (and their rookie parents). I am so happy to be returning to the same delightful building and classroom two years later. It has also provided a familiarity that has been comforting to Maggie as she begins the school year.

Maggie got right down to business in the classroom, cutting out a zebra. They are starting with the letter A, of course, and will be talking about animals this week.

Where's Waldo, er..Gunnar?

For a couple of weeks now Gunnar has been climbing out of his crib at bedtime and playing in his room before falling asleep on the floor. Last night when I opened the door to check on him, I found myself presented with my own little game of "I Spy." I couldn't find Gunnar. Can you see him in the photo below?

Here's a little zoom-in on his hiding, well sleeping, spot. See him now?

How cute is he? He even had his favorite blanket tucked back there with him.

Goodbye, old friend

On Saturday we finally bid farewell to longtime member of our family: our vacuum.

It may seem silly to some of you that we feel so strongly about our vacuum, but this little Hoover has a story. It's a survivor. I found this vacuum on our street in Boston when we were first married. I wheeled it home and plugged it in. It fired right up! However, it was missing a hose that connected the beater bar to the body of the vacuum. A trip to the Hoover store and $30 in parts later, we had an excellent $300 vacuum! It served us well for the next 7 years, or so, until its brush was so worn out and the burning rubber smell forced us to retire it.

Buying a new vacuum proved to be very difficult. Hoover's newer generation Wind Tunnel just isn't the same. I didn't really appreciate our vacuum until I tried to replace it. We've actually kept it in the garage for the last 12-18 months (wow, has it been that long?) because the attachments still worked and it was great for those messy jobs. But on Saturday I finally convinced Damon that it had to go.

Adieu!

Corn on the Cob

When my mom knit these slippers--

-- for Maggie last Christmas, we thought they looked like corn on the cob.

This surely proves it:

Cucumber Mania

Usually you hear about home gardeners being overrun by their zucchini crop. For some reason, our plants aren't big producers this year. We're getting zucchini, but not more than we can handle. In fact, on SUnday I had to use some of last year's frozen (shredded) zucchini to make our favorite summer cake: Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. Yum!

But I digress from the topic at hand: cucumbers.

We started some of our own seeds in the springtime, but weren't confident that our plants would be successful once we transferred them to the garden. So, when my neighbor needed to thin her own seedlings, I happily took several and planted them beneath our blueberry bushes.

Fast-forward 2-3 months: This Sunday I picked 31 cucumbers. THIRTY-ONE!

I just thought I would go outside and grab one or two for dinner, but I kept finding another and then another and then another. (Please also note that about 4 weeks ago Damon picked 19 in one day, and 2 weeks ago I picked 13 at once.)

Adah & Maggie pose with our 31 cucumbers.

Everyone complains about too much zucchini. I've never heard of anyone lamenting an over-abundance of cucumber. Why is that? It seems to me that you can do a lot more with zucchini than cucumbers. I'm open to any new recipe ideas.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying all the bounty from our garden (1 of 4 beds seen above), and last night had a dinner that was almost entirely grown in our yard. We had some homemade pretzels along with all the home-grown veggies below.

Aren't the carrots cute? They have such a great flavor, too. This year is our best carrot crop ever, as well as best corn crop. I love having a garden---despite the overwhelming quantity of some plants.