Five?  Really?  It seems crazy to think that I have a kid that old.  I mean, it's not really old, but the fact that 5 years has gone so quickly is kind of scary.  We celebrated early in the day with Alice's first gift--a bike.  Of course, Roxie wanted to try the bike out first and when she didn't get her way she threw herself onto the sidewalk.  Like a good mother, I took pictures.  I have zero patience for tantrums.  Besides, it wasn't her birthday--back to Alice, the girl of the day.  No more than one minute after hopping on, Alice crashed and burned.  She got a little too cozy with the sloped curb and toppled over--it was pretty bad.  I was holding Roxie so I didn't have any hands to grab her bike before she went down.  Both knees were pretty scraped as well as her wrist.  No tears--she's a tough one.  She was ready to get right back on so she rode the bike back to the house to get her wounds cleaned up.  After that, it was straight back to riding.  She chose to go out to dinner at Red Robin for her birthday.  I'm not sure what attracts her to that establishment.  Near the end of dinner, Alice asked to be taken to the restroom.  On our way back to the table, we could hear clapping.  As I peered across the restaurant, I could see the Red Robin staff gathering around our table, gearing up for the birthday song.  As the folks at our table informed them that Alice wasn't there, I overheard one waiter say, "Well, that was embarrassing!"  When we got back to the table, they came back to sing and give her a sundae.  Good times.  As dinner was wrapping up, Shannon was able to secure our table a free milkshake.  All it took was a coaster, a nice waiter, and a couple of hassling questions, and viola!  The manager gives her a shake on the house.  She has a gift, that woman.  It was a memorable day.  We are so glad to have Alice in our family and couldn't imagine life without her--anyone who knows her might agree that it would be rather dull.  She's a good kid, amazing even.

A lot has been going on lately, but I have been pretty lazy about writing it down.  Where to begin…

 

First off, our garden is out of control.  This year we took the plunge and planted a garden at our friends’ farm—Christmas tree farm.  There are 5 or 6 families combining efforts.  We each get a large row to ourselves and then we share the rest—like the pea patch, corn field, beans, etc.  So far we love it.  The first thing we harvested was Jake’s radishes.  We left some in the ground a really long time and they looked pretty gross.  Our lettuce is going crazy, carrots are coming along, and the cilantro is ready and waiting.  I have a great dip that I will use that in next weekend.  We purchased some large pots for out patio this year in hopes of getting some tomatoes.  Last year was completely unsuccessful—didn’t know tomatoes needed lots of root space—and I only got 1 tomato which was picked off prematurely by my 3 year old nephew.  This year, my potted tomatoes are thriving and there are actual tomatoes starting to grow!  Who knew I could grow stuff?  Not me…

 

Alice and Roxie are nuts.  Jake and I have crossed over into that territory of not being able to communicate to each other by spelling.  When you don’t want small ears to hear things, spelling is the way to go.  That is, until the little stinker figures out what you are spelling.  Roxie is a pretty fun kid, but has recently gone through a biting phase—which we hope is over.  Twice Roxie chomped Alice on the head—once on her forehead (how does that happen?) and the once on her cheek.  She leaves pretty serious damage. 

 

Last week I made freezer jam with my mom and Shannon.  Good times, good times.  We purchased the strawberry slicers this year to save time and I can say that it definitely did that.  We have more jam than we can possibly eat—considering we dug a bunch of older containers out of Shannon’s freezer that we had left over from the last time we made jam.  It tastes so good though.  Nothing beats it.

 

I am gearing up for a service auction for the ladies at church.  It is going to be lots of work, but also lots of fun.  The whole idea is to give/receive service.  We are asking everyone to bring a handmade item or donate some kind of service.  At the auction, we will give out candy money that will be used for bidding.  It should be amazingly fun and bring the ladies closer together.  Helping each other is what it is all about.  We are calling it the “Scatter Sunshine Service Auction”.  So, get out there and scatter sunshine—help someone today.  Or just donate something for the auction.

I did it.  I made matching skirts for the girls using this tutorial.  Thank heavens for tutorials, you know?  I can't think these things up on my own.  I came across a couple more tutorials so more skirts are in the works.  A word to the wise for anyone thinking about sewing one of these up--they ended up longer than I had originally measured for.  I had wanted them to be knee length, but they ended up a little longer--more like hippy-style.  Since it would take some work to shorten them, they will stay as-is for now.