atti's first day of preschool

we got to hang out for a bit and enjoy the first day.

he was ready for us to leave!

ronan's first day of first grade!

i love my little shy guy.

meet the teacher

ronan found his locker!

excited to have a desk with a friend from preschool

atticus found his cubby!

any mail in the mail bin?

coconut curry

a modified version of this recipe and man was it good. i'm still working on my food photography so please forgive the not so tasty looking picture. i assure you this was well liked in my house.

central states fair

waiting in line for the dizzy dragons ride

weeeeee!

trying to leave the parking lot

we won 2 goldfish. :)

bluum

my first bluum box came. if you're not familiar with what a bluum box is head over to their web site and check out all the info. in it's essence a bluum box is a paid monthly subscription to all kinds of fun and yummy samples for mom and baby sent right to your door. in my first box i received a sample of some mary kay mascara and make up remover, hair styling cream, 2 samples of hand soap, some triple cream for eczema, and some amazing face wash and face tonic specifically designed for pregnant women. i loved the face tonic and i'll definitely be making a purchase in the near future. hand soap smelled nice but i wasn't swayed towards becoming a customer. i'm still seeing how i feel about the triple cream. atticus has some run in's with dry patches every now and again so the verdict is still out on if it works better than emu oil. although i'm not convinced anything works better than my darling emu oil, except maybe coconut oil.

all in all i decided to proceed with purchasing a box for next month. it's a fun adventure and you don't know what you'll get making it christmas in your mailbox every month.

my little slice of heaven

notice the re-use of the boy's crib

last section to get planted...it's still playing catch up

1 of about 10 pumpkins coming in right now

snake gourd

our mammoth zucchini

corn!

peppers

tomatoes

enjoying the last rays of the day in the garden

a before shot

we've come a long way from this dry, dusty patch

becoming a vagabond

just stumbled upon this blog a few minutes ago. i'm eating it up! this is exactly what i want to be doing once the kids are grown and gone and i'm free to blow in the wind. what a life. sounds like this dude is doing it solo and i would love to have keith by my side, sampling foods from different countries, and marveling at the beauty of the world with me. we're laying the groundwork now. starting savings. minimizing possessions. taking small trips to ease our souls. what is your dream for life?

it's a...

GIRL!!!

after 3 boys i had to run out and buy a few cute dresses.

attack of the lice!

ugh! what a day. we had our first encounter with some real nasty bugs called lice. ronan was complaining his head was itching and thinking he had a dry scalp like his dad, i decided to cut it short so i could rub oil into his scalp. well i suppose you can guess what i found as i started cutting his hair. what i thought was fleas (yes, i've never actually seen lice with my own eyes) turned out to be lice. i freaked out, jumped on google, then ran out for supplies. keith gathered all soft items that needed to be washed and let me tell you the laundry room looks like a landfill! i cranked the hot water heater as high as it will go which should kill anything on the stuff that gets washed. we vacuumed like crazy and sprayed the couch with some lice spray. the kids have been dosed, combed, and dosed again with tea tree oil. in 7 days we get to do it all again. sigh...the joys of life. i'm celebrated the craziness of today with strawberry poptarts and sour brite worms.

happy birthday atti!

it's that time of year, when our middle boy celebrates his day of birth. 4 years ago our little leo flew into the world and he's been making us laugh ever since. you're a ball of toughness and tenderness all rolled together. we love you and we're so excited to watch you grow into one kick ass boy.

banana oat breakfast cookies

just stuck a cookie sheet filled with these cookies in my oven. no sugar added and they're egg, dairy, and flour free. fingers and toes crossed they turn out, i've always been a butter and eggs kinda girl when i do my baking but i'm excited for some "healthier" cookies, especially since i've been having such a bad reaction to milk this pregnancy. the recipe says breakfast cookies but these are going to be our after dinner snack, a perfect compliment to a deer meat stroganoff i made earlier in the crock pot. happy eating!

one year off

"then it struck me that life was like that, too. you light a match, and you're just a child. light another, and you're married with children of your own. a few more brief, bright flares, and your babies have left home. a few more after that and your pack is used up. that might be why, at the end of our journey, we found ourselves standing in the buddha caves of pak ou. to learn that we only have one pack of matches. to understand that we have to be in the best possible place when we light each one. to know that we must make each brief combustion a bright, shining moment that pierces the darkness and illuminates a thousand gods."

finished up a great book called one year off about a family that sells everything and travels for a year+ with their 3 kids. the entire book spoke to me but in the last few pages of the last chapter this paragraph practically leapt off the page.

sigh! i can't wait to travel the world. we just have to get things in order and start saving...the one thing i have the most problems with. i can pay my bills on time and stay above board with purchases but i just don't seem to ever have any extra each month that i want to put away. want being the optimal word. i know their are things i want to do in the future but there are so many things i want to do in the present. for me the present always beats out the future.

catch-22...or maybe hindsight is 20/20

i'm doubting myself. did i make the right choice? now that i'm playing florence and the machine's lungs lp on my record player i am feeling very sure i should have come home with that outkast album. curse budgets and curse choices!