A home in progress

I've been busily buying and planting new things in our yard lately to replace the dead or dying ones that were abandoned here before we bought the place. We had the house painted in August so that looks good. I am starting a ornamental grasses and perennial herb and butterfly garden on the side by the retaining wall and put in ground cover in front. We really need a barrier for all the people (i.e. middle school and high school kids) who cut through our front yard. Mr. Geek wanted juniper for this and that is just what I got. I also got some Point Reyes kinnickkinnick for me, which will be in front of the juniper as you stand at the front door. I'm not a fan of juniper. I also bought some new rosemary and lavender and planted it up on the retaining wall.

IN the back yard we have a new fig tree and a pomegranate tree. I'm really excited about these. I can't wait for some shade AND some fruit!!

Rob's Favorites at 7

We had our annual interview to find out all of Rob's favorites. Some of them haven't changed too much.

Favorite food: Pad Thai and Dirty Rice
Favorite drink: Strawberry Kiwi Juice
favorite veggie: peas
favorite toy: Lego beach house (he doesn't even own this)
favorite game: Shopping Spree money game from the book order
favorite place: grandma and grandad's
favorite holiday: Christmas
favorite season: winter
favorite color: green
favorite snack: apples
favorite dessert: apple crisp
favorite cookie: cowboy cookies
favorite book: Frog and Toad All Year
favorite school friend: Joshua, Lemar, and Moses

What do you want to be when you grow up?
5th grade teacher

Birthday weekend!

Mr. R turned 7 last Sunday, but we made a whole weekend celebration out of it because Grandma and Grandpa came to town. It was hot (of course!) but we started the weekend off with an ice cream sundae party for relatives and our new neighbors. Rob had a blast. You can see some of the toppings and food items made available at the party. Jokes were made about the jimmies. I made a dark chocolate hot fudge sauce out of Scharffenberger chocolate which was quite decadent, and a lovely homemade caramel sauce as well. It was not a good weekend for dieting, but we had a great time. We played several games of Blokus, a new game Rob got for his birthday. What an awesome game! If you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it. It's a great strategy and spatial relationship skills builder game, kind of like an anti-Tetris. Rob received a Millennium Falcon Transformer toy from our neighbor which he immediately told me was "the best toy he ever received." We went out for pizza that night per his request and then went to San Francisco for the day on Sunday, his actual birthday. He wanted to take the ferry, so we took the Alameda/SF boat and that was a total blast. It's a whole new way to see the bay and it was such a gloriously warm lovely day. We mostly walked around by the Ferry Building and a fishing pier as well as the trolley museum. There was some kind of crazy get out and exercise fair thing going on along the Embracadero which made things a little crazy. We met up with Jon, had some lunch and then ended up taking the ferry home rather than waiting around another 4 hours.

On Monday we went to Dow Wetlands to find the elusive river otters, but they were nowhere to be found (just their droppings!) but we saw lots of birds and other cool things. It's a nice discovery of places to go in our new home town. We have had so many home towns, but most of them seem to be near a river, which makes everything seem a little better. Grandma and Grandpa flew home on Monday evening.

The chickens have hit maturity!

Yes, the girls are really growing up. One laid a first egg on Labor Day, Sept. 1 and we've had one a day since. I think they are each laying once every other day, because the first and third eggs look the same, dark brown with speckles, and the other is just plain dark brown. They are such lovely eggs and we have eaten the first one...yum! It is so fun to have laying hens. I enjoy looking in the nest box for eggs each day. They have managed to lay the eggs in the right place despite not being able to keep the golf ball nest egg in the nest box.

In other news, the kids started up school again last week. Both seem to really like their teachers. The young one is in a combined K-1 class with 12 kids and took to it like a fish to water. He's already bossing the other kindergarteners around. :) My 2nd grader says he liked his class this year. I think the school is probably a better fit for him than the last, though the other had higher test scores and more prestige in the community. Test scores aren't everything.

Mr. R is now 7 years old too. We celebrated his birthday with a ice cream sundae party on Saturday and a trip to San Francisco on his "real" birthday so we could take the ferry from Alameda to SF. It's a great ride, though too short for my liking. The Embarcadero area was VERY crowded and crazy so we didn't stay as long as we planned, but it was still fun. The weather was quite warm as well.

I've posted a few new pics of the "girls", well, just Corsair actually (Ginger wouldn't cooperate) and their handiwork.

It's been eons- and Roo is 5

We've been really busy moving, celebrating Andy's 5th birthday, visiting with grandparents, and fixing up our new home. It's also been HOT, and the computer is in the hottest room upstairs. I hope to post again a little more regularly as we settle in.

The Roo is 5. He loved his cow party this year. HIs friend from school couldn't make it this year, but all of the relatives came. He eagerly ripped paper off his gifts (this is only the second year he has been interested in gifts). ON his actual birthday, he started summer school and stood sadly at the gate watching us leave, crying. That about tore my heart out. I circled back around 15 minutes later and he was still standing there in the same place. I had to fight the urge to run over and hug him and take him home with me, nobody should be so sad on their birthday. The second day he was fine and has been each day since. We only have one more week of summer school and then it's time for a month with no school, which will make the transition to kindergarten in the fall all the more challenging. He doesn't do as well when not in school for extended periods of time.

After the rough first day of school, I took the boys out for lunch at Carlos Ginger (aka Carl's Jr.) I love how Andy calls it Carlos Ginger; Carlos from the Magic School Bus and Ginger from Chicken Run (and the name of our favorite pullet). Andy had his fave chicken stars and "chips" and root beer. Man, I never let the kids eat so much junk generally!

We are liking our new home but regretting the purchase of a 2 story house for many reasons. The stairs are not one of the reasons. It's so hard to cool the air up there and is frequently over 90 up there, even with AC running. Needless to say, I have problems sleeping because it's so hot and stay up way too late and then am sleep deprived during the day. I can't WAIT until summer is over. I say this every year, but this year it's worse. It's been around 110 multiple days this week. UGH!!

I will post more soon, I hope!

I'm adding some pictures that Uncle Jon took at the party.

Life on an urban farm

Our chicks and veggies have really grown! As you can see from the pics, our squash have grown a lot in the few weeks since the last pic was taken. We have been having lots of of squash and cukes from the garden, it will be hard to leave it behind. I'm not sure the beans are going to actually have beans for us to eat before we move, despite the fact it has been plenty of time and they look tall enough. I'm not sure why they haven't flowered yet. It's so much fun to have a little bit of country here in suburbia.

Garden and Chicks

It is a time for growth here at our place! Not only are the kids growing, but our veggies are growing like crazy as are our chicks! It's amazing how fast they grow. They had their first time out of the coop last weekend, when these pictures were taken. They happily ran around devouring dandelions and pulling on grass and eating ants.

Rob had a field trip to a farm last week and brought home a tomato plant, despite the fact I didn't want to have to move more potted plants to our new home. Oh well.

Speaking of new homes, we closed escrow last week and it's OURS! We really like the neighborhood and the neighbors are so friendly and so happy to see a family move in, the place has been vacant for a year. We're a little nervous about it, but we are pretty sure that it will gain some value eventually. It will also mean a MUCH shorter commute for Mr. Geek and with gas at $4/gallon, that's saying something. We still can't get over how low the prices are right now.