Delight in the Sunshine

After such a long and harsh winter we have relished these Spring days. Some mornings it is all Lil'Bug can do to snarf down her cheerios and bolt for the back door. Out she goes! Last fall we got a free swing set from another homeschool family. Thank goodness! She lives on her "pirate ship" and now with the addition of the Pooh Bear themed superhero cape she is "Larry Boy, the hero pirate!".....????.....Veggie Tales does have a pirate movie, but she has never seen it. Behind her is her pet pig who sails the open sea with her and only eats "wishing" flowers mixed with sand.

We had a great child labor thing going for a while. It was her job to pick and gather all the dandelions and bury them in a hole by the back fence. Then....someone showed her that, un-picked, those pesky weeds turn into wishing flowers. Sigh. She has made thousands of wishes that her sister would hurry up and be born. Thousands.

The innocence of childhood. Cape, t-shirt, denim shorts, and....black patten leather princess shoes? My sweet days.

Garden Update, Spring Progress

Broccoli! These are doing awesome. The strange absence of bugs this year also includes cabbage moths and such so maybe we won't have a huge problem with them this year. I plan on harvesting and freezing these in June and another rotation in the fall. Yum. Also, Lil'Bug says we will find June Bug in the broccoli bed and that will be her birth day- just like we found her in the pumpkin patch 4 years ago, in Narnia, in Heaven. Ah, the creation story of a wee babe.

Yum. Spinach. I will have my first garden fresh spinach salad tomorrow and then use some for lasagnas to freeze for the first week June Bug babe is home.

The other part of my salad mix: lettuce and various greens. So tender are they when fresh and young. Drool....

Strawberriest blossoms. Two different kinds. Lovely with morning dew......or wait...no Lil'Bug do not spray Mama with the hose while I have the camera out here! AGH!

And last....we planted blueberries. Again. We are the gardeners of ever innocent hopefulness. Every blueberry plant we have ever planted has died. This one has blossoms! Ok, to be fair, it came with the the blossom buds, but still!

Diapers and Such

I got my pocket diapers this week and a Moby Wrap on clearance. I have two ring slings, but I wanted another style to play with.

But first, the diapers. This time we are going cloth. Why? Have you ever felt a disposable? Very plastic-y. A contrast to the softness of a wee babe's skin. PLUS- Disposables are really expensive. The off-brands gave Lil'Bug hideous, bloody rashes, so we always had to buy the super expensive kind, even in bulk, it adds up. We are trying to cut costs where we can. The initial investment is offset by the fact that we are not replacing some of the plastic mainstream items and that we kept what we did use (swing, exersaucer, highchair). Also, the initial investment is nothing compared to what we paid in diapers the first 6 months with Lil'Bug. Goodness, could that little baby poop!

Pocket diapers are funny little things. They have an outside, breathable, waterproof cover, fleece inside and then a pocket between the two. In that pocket goes an absorbent insert. Why not just sew the insert in? Well, if left in (called an All In One Diaper) it takes a really long time to dry after washing and only one option for absorbency. So with the removable insert, faster dry times and you can upgrade the stuffer if the babe is a heavy wetter. Very cool.

Aren't they pretty? :) I am excited to use them. The style we got adjusts with the size of the baby, so one batch is all we'll need until potty training- newborn through 35 pounds. At 16$ a piece, that's not so bad! That's why we went with this model over others, the cost savings in sizes. I wanted to buy handmade from a local WAHM, but the size flexibility made this investment doable for us. However, I did buy 12 traditional prefolds with a fleece cover as a back up diapering option from her. There may come a time we need such back ups! LOL. Also, prefolds are really versatile as changing pads, burp clothes, etc.

Ah, the memories....

I had to pay for my own Senior Pictures. That was fine with me since it meant that I would have creative control. I think my family assumed (they didn't know me very well) that I would go to one of those traditional photo places and spend hundreds of dollars and pose and look normal.

Right. No. I was following my own drummer by that point. (Which is funny, since Dearest Husband is in fact a drummer.......)

A good friend of mine offered to take the pictures and liked my ideas for settings. He had a couple of his own to add to the portfolio as well. Some worked out, some didn't. There was a neat one by the blood bank sign, another on an Interstate bridge, and several in a historic cemetery. This one is by a train that is/was? parked downtown. They were taken just after an April snowstorm, so yes, I was freezing!

This, a scanned in wallet size photo, is the only picture that survived. Even the negatives were destroyed by a very unhappy family member. A shame really. Aunt Bee hid it away and held on to it. She at least liked it! :)

You know what? I love this photo and all it represents.