Monday, May 30, 2011

Perspective

My children have a new very good friend, he may be their best friend together right now. They have had a few friends, and a lot of associates. Z may be their best, because he belongs equally to both of them. The three of them play so well together, surely they will have bad days but for now, its going nicely.

Many people say "two is company and three is a crowd." Obviously, my kids havent found this out! Today when Z's mom said, arent you getting tired of having Z around? (They wanted him to spend the night and he wanted to stay...) Nathalie said, "Oh no. Its so great to have three sometimes! We are only two and we love having three, its perfect because then we both have someone extra."

So there you have it, its all about perspective! Z and my children, together, chose to get into the public pool today. It has been cold (55-chilly for late spring) here for weeks and thus the water was frigid!!! Z stood by the side for a minute, but my two (first T then N) were the FIRST children into the water of the Enterprise, Ks Public Pool this year. They want a medal and a certificate. And they want to adopt Z. His mama said no. Twice.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Gardening

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This is our garden, we havent had great soil here. It is black and rich, but too thick. Years of putting the goat manure/straw on there, and a load of sand helped immensely. To further help it, Frank bought a book on lasagna gardening from the bookstore his first wkend home and we made some beds. We also bought some plants, not all of my seeds were successful. These are the lettuce plants, we have had 3 hot days here so far, but mostly very cool and the lettuce is doing well.
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We also had quite a bit of old alfalfa, straw and brome hay that was no good and we used it to break up and line our rows. This gives us mud free walking paths as well as keeps the weeds down. All of these things are good for the soil and will make it looser and nicer as it breaks down.

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See our bales lined up?I love the way the peat moss looks. Frank used the tractor bucket to get bucket loads of old manure. The new manure is fine for the garden because goat manure is green, means it can be used immediately. However, the older stuff is nicely composted into loose black earth and we have a large pile of it, that wasnt situated near the garden. Why? Because we didnt originally know where our garden would be our first fall/winter here. So we laid out newspapers thick and overlapping, wet them, laid manure/loose sandy soil/peat moss/composte and created garden beds.
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It looks a little haphazard in some areas, but there is almost no weeding! It looks neat and organized for the most part and is growing better than our other years.
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The old hay bales (this is part of the reason they didnt get used) had some horrible burrs in them, they stick in your hands and have barbs so when you pull them out, they leave something behind that hurts and irritates for days, so we were smart and wore garden gloves.
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Frank hauled all of these bales from the barn, he is better lifter than I am... He is strong! I have to drag/roll the bales and he just picks them up, and loads them. It is very nice to watch!
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Since he left we have made more beds, and the in between areas made hills and moved around the flakes of hay to accommodate. I have many vegetables planted and a lot of things have come up. We had a lot of volunteer squash and zucchini as well, we tried to transplant a few which are doing okay but the ones I left alone are 3x as large. I just fenced them in with squares of hay so we wont trod on them. The sprinkler actually reaches the whole garden, I repositioned it several times after walking the perimeter until I found perfect placement. I dont have to move it at all, I just turn on the spigot and set a cell phone timer.
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We pick up newspaper in our plastic recycle bins, we recycle everything possible and have a nice center right in town. We take our recycle in and fill up a couple of bins with newspapers. In the summer they are for gardening, in the winter its fire starter. oh, and the kids get them for the comics and they read them, then we use them. Its a way to get free homeschool reading materials. Check our your local recycle center they may support your reading habit also!
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Nathalie doesnt enjoy heat like me, but got her daddy's green thumb. I get her out early/late and she is a huge help. Tad will help me with anything, but we all know the plants will do better if she plants them-either the seeds or plants/transplants, and she takes very good care of them. She enjoys working in soil and is able to garden without us successfully now.
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I just think this picture is pretty nice looking on the right half, it really doesnt need much more comment than that.
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We have continued laying down hay flakes around the perimeter because its unerving to move the perimeter. If I mow around hay flakes, I feel less like I may kill a plant. The mower shoots out green matter which is helpful in composte, but not great when shot at tender bean plants!
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Random fuzzy picture of mama. Oh and my mama bought the shirt I am wearing I DIDNT filch it off of her I promise!
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Just another photo by Tad. He and Nathalie took turns with the camera. I dont care if there are photos of me, but at the end of the day I want both of them in the photos for posting. We try to have them take turns, Nathalie would rather take photos but she also wants to be in them... Plus if she has the camera much, we have A LOT of close ups of things like, a bug, a blade of grass, a ducks beak, a chicken foot. Etc...
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This is a very poor shot of me after gardening, why it is in this set of photos I have no idea but I am not editing the html now so there you have it.

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Our green thumb girl. She has enjoyed the garden more this year than ever before, it is much more user friendly. She likes to run, hop, skip and jump down our hay paths.
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She has her own row of sunflowers and has many carrots and beans up already. She is even pleased by "her" onions though they are not her favorite foods. I have more updated photos of the garden now, will post those later.

First day flash-back

These photos are of our drive home from the airport, and part of the next morning. We didnt get home until midnight the day he landed, so we dont have any home pictures of the first day. Frank had a camera in his bag, and the kids and Frank spent time taking pictures. Some of them (courtesy the children) were of passing semi trucks, sports cars, road-side flowers, etc.
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The first picture back together. Apparently photos were taken by individuals in the airport, which I hadnt noticed. We waited for many hours, because a flight was coming into KC at 2:15 so we arrived (its a 2.5 hr drive) at 1:48. He missed the 2:15 flight...the next one came in at 5:45. So we waited. By 5:30 Nathalie was pacing at the gate, running from the arrival board to the door he would come out of. At some point while waiting, she turned around to the chairs where Tad and I were sitting and began to cry. She climbed into my lap and cried from, well I guess pent-up energy. The other people waiting for arrivals sort of looked at me with confused looks. Then when he walked out, they must have understood. He was, of course, in uniform and the kids and I all ran to him, Nathalie and I both crying. Frank hurried us out of there after hugging us and later said people were saying awww and snapping pictures.
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Driving home... My heart was still racing at this point and driving felt shaky at first. The children already had possession of the camera!
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Oh thats nice... this will keep the boys away right? Keep on with this look honey, it fits you...
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I am pretty sure Tad took this photo of himself. He is proud of his long hair, though daddy constantly picks on him for it, in a fun way. Frank wanted long hair himself as a child and I remind him of that, he says its unrelated to picking on his son.
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I assume Frank took this one, because it would be an odd shot to take of ones self. He looks studious here, but trust me, he just saw a cool truck or something and is distracted by it.

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Aww... he is listening to me! Or not, whatever way is fine. It was so wonderful to have him home. The car trip home seems faster by far than the drive getting there. We all 4 fall right back into being us right away, no hesitation. Makes it harder for parting, but is wonderful for the 2 wks home.
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Anyone who knows us knows this is a constant. If I cut my hair off short Franks hands would be lost. He twirls my hair awake, asleep, he moves over to reach my hair if I am too far away. It does me no good to sit next to him and eat, I will end up with hair in my food! This is one of the top 5 things I miss, what girl wouldnt??

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Oh and I miss this. Him fixing the computer, and me being able to sit with him while he fixes the computer. He still fixes it right now, from afar. But it simply isnt the same...

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Once again the children have the camera. I wonder though, how many of you can sit like this? I have been recently informed that many people cannot, I wonder why! We grew up sitting like this, or kneeling and then letting our feet go out to the side. My mom used to tell us to "cop a squat" (which to many people means pee outside, to her it meant sit down and wait a minute) and my grammie can still do this! She is 91...
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He has become a computer geek...when he left he could fix computers as needed, I think now a new chip has been added to his brain and he communicates with the computers! On a cellular level... I am not even kidding. Its crazy, he can make them talk with each other and network, and a bunch of other things, and he speaks computer geek now. He asks me, what processor do I have? And something about 32 or 64 and ram and hardrive space and... and... and... thankfully its okay for me to just say, huh? And then he asks again and I say, huh? And that happens a few times and he raises his eyebrows and says, okay baby and then he figures it out himself...

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Conversations

"Mama I dont want to work right now."
"I am sorry N, you must. T is working, I am working. You get allowance because you help out, its the rule."
"But if he is playing and I am playing we still get paid. If he starts working, I have to stop playing and he likes to work a lot. He thinks its his hobby. I like to work some but not CONSTANTLY. I think this is a valid issue."
"Well you can choose to play when you are your own boss."
"By the time I am my own boss I wont want to play so I will have missed out."
Now I take a moment to think. Is this logical? Is it true that we make her work more than we would have because it is his hobby? She is correct, someday she wont want to play.
"Okay punk. go play doll babies."
"Do I still get money?"
"You get allowance yes. But he gets paid additionally for the extra work that I contract him for."
"Will you contract me to play?"
"Not unless playing is code for mopping the kitchen floor."
Deep sigh...

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Night-time battle

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This was every night while Frank was home, though this was a battle before the battle. The kids set up battle in their room before daddy came to tuck them in, and they ambushed him. Then they all wrestle until someone wins. Winning means Daddy makes it to the hallway...The kids miss this and will be glad when he is home full-time so that they can beat him up and "win."

Smoking on the porch

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This was one of the nights that Frank was home. Some people hate the smell of smoke, especially if they are not smokers. I am one of those odd people who has fond memories of smokers and drinkers, the smell that they carried with them was to me, comforting. Cigarette smoke, pipe smoke and beer. I do not personally smoke or drink, but love the smell. I know a lot of people have the opposite feeling about it, but it works well for us! Its kinda of like onions or kimchi. Its love or hate. In this case, we all 3 love the smell of his pipe tobacco and beer. Nathalie is wearing a new dress from mama, so likely she shouldnt be wrestling in the grass but there you have it. Sorry mama, she is a punk what can I say???

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Pizza

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Kinda like fuel. you cant go wrong with deep dish pizza, makes everything in life feel better.

Working with Daddy

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Working with daddy, I think they are starting to look alike.

Childish touch

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Our shop is clean, we spent 3 days putting up pegboard and organizing tools on the boards, in drawers and on shelves. Its neater and more usable than it has ever been. Nathalie was helpful, but spent a lot of time adding a childs touch to the shop. It did look a little too workish, so she added her things to it. She spent many hours playing in a corner of the shop while we worked, we cleaned, made fuel, built things, fixed things and she play court with her trolls, doll house babies, my little pony and a naked kewpie doll. All of this travels in a Lego bin, on rollers, and has blocks of rough wood and bits of foliage from outside for the set up.