Harvest

Yes, it's true. The harvest has begun in my garden. I started some plants indoors what seems like forever ago, and today I was able to take my first bite out of my first home garden. Although I have had plenty of casualties, I do have a pretty good garden. Right now I have 4 raspberry bushes, (the second batch of them) 3 watermelon plants, (the only plant that all survived) 1 cantalope, 6 strawberry, 2 peas, 1 cucumber, 2 red bell peppers, 5 onions, 6 corn, 2 tomato, 2 broccoli, (I have tried and tried to plant more but they just don't want to grow) and 2 carrots. I have planted so many carrots and I actually have a few growing. I have been told that you just can't grow any and I thought they were right until I started to see some carrot tops this week. I also have 1 dead blackberry bush which I plan on replacing this week.

Back to the harvest... Today I was able to eat some peas in the pod from my garden. Brennden, Dustin, and I enjoyed the 2 whole pods together. It wasn't much but there are plenty more growing. I can't wait to taste all the rest!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Charity's 1st Birthday!!! And this year has been packed full of things for her. Starting with her favorites: book- Touch and Feel Baby Einstein, Food- Spaghetti and Lasagna, Dessert- Chocolate cake and Otter Pops, Game- Peek a Boo, Toy- A ball. She has learned to sit, crawl, roll over, walk (I mean run), climbing, says mama, dada, bubba (Brennden), arf, uh-0h, what's that, yeah, and others that I can't think of right now.

She loves to color, and dance. She has had about 5 hair cuts. She also LOVES Brennden. He can always cheer her up before anyone else. She has master the fake cry with tears and all. She loves to clap her hands and lead music. She doesn't care for veggies but will eat a multitude of a fruits including; pears, bananas, cherries and grapes. Whenever she sees a cat or dog she gets all excited. She has even been on her first horse ride.

Her latest interest is the toilet. She has figured out how to open it and play in it. Fun. She likes to go swimming and slide down slides. Laughs every time she swings. She also likes jumping and playing in the dirt. She has no fear. She can climb into her highchair without any help and out of her walker.

She still sleeps with her bunny. She even sleeps through the night. She has acquired 3 beautiful teeth and has not yet learned that she can bite. With any luck she never will. On occasion she will watch a Baby Einstein movie all the way through. She shares her toys and her food. She loves playing with Brennden whether it be with trucks or in a hut.

Charity puts everything in her mouth. Dirt, the drawer knobs, thumbs, blanket, and pacifiers that don't belong to her. Her tongue is always sticking out. Her first year has been full of lots of laughs and lots of tears. I can't believe it has already been a year.

I know this post was kind of all over the place but I just wrote whatever came to my mind in the order it came in.

Brennden's 1st Swim Lesson

Today Brennden started his swim lessons. I decided he needs them because he is afraid of falling in the water. First we were late because the bank was so slow. In fact, I left twenty minutes early and arrived eight minutes late and I didn't even get to deposit the money because the bank was so slow that I left the line.

Brennden went ahead and got into the pool with all the other kids. I could tell he was nervous just by the look on his face. It was borderline terrified. But he soon calmed down and started to enjoy himself. He learned how to paddle his arms and how to kick from his stomach and his back. I was surprised that he was even doing what the lady said to do because I could tell he was scared.

Then it started to go down hill. They had him jump on the pool from the side, and he actually did it. But then they pulled out a slide. Now let me go back a few weeks to when we took him down the big slide and the city pool. We didn't tell him to close his mouth and plug his nose when he got to the bottom so he got a lung full of water. Now he is afraid of pool slides. So they let him get out and get warmed up. After the slide they jumped into the pool once more from the diving board and then they were done so he didn't really miss out on much.

Then the really embarrasing thing. Brennden had told me he peed in his swim suit right after getting out of the pool but there wasn't much I could do at the time and it's not like anyone would notice since he was already all wet. But apparently he was done. He started to go around the side of the house to where I couldn't see him, so I called for him. He didn't come so I called again. Then one of the other moms came up to me and told me he was going potty. And he was. In the dirt. Not only was he peeing in the dirt by the swim instructors house, but he hasn't mastered the 'pull down the front part only.' He was bare butt and all where everyone could see him. I guess everyone will remember who we are tomorrow. Oh the joys of motherhood.

Hunting

Today the hunt results came out and one of us drew out and a bet you cant guess who......well, it was Angie. She drew out for her first choice on her first draw. I wish I was that lucky (yes thats a jab at you Josh). Anyway she drew the ELK-1-153 hunt, which I believe is Humphrese cow but the website will only display draw results right now so we will find out in a few days.

Frustrated

So, about a month ago we got a call about being able to refinance our house for an interest rate of 4.88. We got all of our paperwork in and waited, and waited, and waited. A month later we were finally able to get back in contact with the guy who said it would be done by the end of the month. Today we got a call from Wells Fargo stating that the guy couldn't do it because the bank we worked for doesn't do FHA loans so she would be taking over. Unfortunately the interest rate has gone back up to 6.00 which makes it not worth doing anymore. It irritates me that he took so long and that we lost our chance. We would have been paying $300 less a month if it had gone through. Hopefully it will go back down soon and we will give it another shot.

Nightmare On Elizabeth Street

Dun, Dun, Dun. It all started on a bright, warm afternoon. Brennden woke up crying. He never would tell us why he was crying. Then, later that night, he woke up crying again. This time we were able to get a why out of him. His reason, "I don't want to go down the big slide." Let me rewind. Earlier that day..... we went to the swimming pool. Brennden has been asking to go down the big slide all year long and now he was finally going to be able to. Dustin took him down, Brennden had fun on the slide, but not once he got to the bottom. Falling in the water scared him. I later was able to get him to go down with me. Once again, he had fun on the slide but not on the fall. After thinking about it for a second, I discovered one big mistake that we had made. We never showed him how to plug his nose at the bottom. When we would go into the water, it would go up his nose. And we all know how that feels. Now he keeps saying, "I don't want to go down the big slide, only the little one." Hopefully we will be able to show him how to plug his nose and get him to go down again. Until then we might have to endure a few nights of crying about the slide.