Adventures in Mommyhood

Tonight we ate the first fruits of my garden- marinated cucumbers. This is the second year I've had a garden. It isn't much to speak of... but it makes me really happy. I love being able to walk out my back door and pick some herbs for my spaghetti sauce, tomatoes for lunchtime BLTs, or a cucumber for my salad. One of my favorite memories from last year was watching Fisher and Claire dig out all of our carrots. One thing I realized through having a garden, was that my little back yard houses so much energy. I could use that energy to grow some lovely grass, beautiful hostas and shrubs, or I could harness it to grow plants that would produce FOOD! Recently I have been reading about the Victory Gardens that were planted during WWII. The US government asked the American people to do their part to help the troops by planting fruit and vegetable gardens. In doing so, they were able to save the commercially canned produce for the troops. The response was great, and people converted t

When I was a little girl, we had a cherry tree in our yard. I have some vauge memories of my dad up in that tree picking all the cherries. I am sure my mom used the them to make many wonderful pies and crisps, but I mostly remember picking those small sour things off the tree and popping them right in my mouth. Sadly, sometime during grade school the tree died, and my dad took his chain saw and cut it down. Seven years ago, I was walking our dog on a small college campus in town, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a cherry tree- heavy with fruit right in the middle of my path! I ran home, called the campus groundskeeping office, and gained permission to pick as many cherries as I wanted! Hours later I was happily baking a fresh cherry pie, and freezing 10 bags of the beautiful things for enjoyment all year round. I've picked the cherries every year since then, except the year I had Fisher. Claire and I went and picked this weekend, and I think it was the biggest crop y

Figuring out Claire's napping needs has been a challenge. If she naps, she is impossible to get to bed on time, and if she does not take a nap, at about 4 o'clockish, I have been finding her zonked out in the most interesting places, such as.... Sleeping in Holland's Crib Looking at Books Watching TV Swinging And the most recent find- flat on her face while playing in the sandbox. She slept like this for about a 1/2 hour, and could barely be woken up after that!

Claire became "Claire Bear" within hours of being born. It just seemed to roll off my tongue and proved to be a pretty catchy nick-name for our little girl. When she was just learning to how to tell people her name, she would say it was "Claire Bear." Even when Fisher is angry with her for some reason, he will yell out "CLAIRE BEAR!!!!" She turned 4 this week. She has seemed to be older than 3 for some time now, but it is always a little sad when your baby turns 4. You can't even pretend they are still a toddler when they are four. Here is a little bit about Claire as she is living her life as of late: -Pink has replaced purple as her favorite color. I am a bit sad about this, as her skin tone is so much more suitable for purple... -One of her favorite things to do is to get an enormous pile of books, and flip through them all by herself on the couch. She will rarely sit still while I read her a book... she is usually looking at another one, or