Busted

Our irrigation busted. Leaking under the front porch, pouring out water, threatening to flood the basement busted... on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm. Great timing! The guys at the city were thrilled, I'm sure, when we called them to come over and get the irrigation turned off. However, they were quick to action, super helpful, and we got the flowing water stopped.

From there, handy dandy hubby (aka Eric) got a DitchWitch, some pvc, a few valves, and other supplies I am not familiar with and got to work.

Aren't they a lovely photo?

Notice Bitty in the background - filling her pocket with dirt!

Look! Dirt, dirt, dirty dirt, dirt Mama! She was displeased when I shortly hereafter made her strip, dump out her dirty dirt, washed her down, and made her nap. Apparently, I ruin all the fun stuff.

"Helping" Dad... it takes about 400 years longer to do just about anything when they are helping, but how else do the kiddos learn?

LindyJean discovered the HUGEST worm I've seen in a long time. She leaned over, looked in the trench, and then practically jumped in after something and up she came with this guy. She was content to pass him between her hands and giggle for about 10 minutes, but then...

This is directly after she tore it in two and stuffed one half in her mouth. So very disgusting LindyJean.

Here's a photo of me. I am HUGE already. This is going to be a fat all over, whale of a pregnancy. I shrunk this sweater and was mad, then I realized it served very well as a pregnancy yard work shrug of sorts. Keeps you warm but does not interfere with the belly. Eric asked me if I got it half price, since I only got half a sweater.

You are suppose to pay attention...

What happens when you should be supervising them and you are diverted for anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes...

Cheap entertainment a la Dad.

Where are we going to put the third one?

This is a later photo of supervised Bitty crawling up the ladder. She did this when I was not looking and then hollers out "Hey Mama look at me! I am tall and you are small, so now I AM THE BOSS!" I about had a heart attack.

Mama, "What are you doing Bitty?" Bitty, "Having cocktails with Daddy, Cheers!"

LindyJean crawls all over the place. I take my eyes off of her and she wiggles behind the chair and finds the missing buttons out of her sister's button collection and tries to eat them...

Crush & Sunshine

Alex is 8, Bitty adores Alex, Alex dutifully entertains her and abides her puppy dog, tag-along, 5,000 questions with absolute grace. He is my midwife's son. If we have a son ever, I hope he can be as charming, clever, and well-behaved as this young man. Kristin had a family emergency and so I had Alex all day and he was perfectly agreeable. Bitty refused to nap, she laid in bed, doing I don't know what for an hour and a half, until I let her out to pester Alex again.

It was the first real sunny and warm day of the year. LindyJean was most pleased to be set in the grass to watch the rest of us. Notice Atila, the sunbather.

Too cute.

The Eldest

I do possess the title of "The Eldest." Being the eldest sibling and the eldest grandchild in the Boufford clan (maternal side of the family), I maintain the distinction by being your average type A, run of the mill overachieving, bossy pants, know-it-all firstborn. But, I digress... I have achieved an elderly milestone, THIRTY. Mind you, 30 is good. 30 is old enough for people to begin to take you serious, but no one can call you decrepit or make old jokes yet.

I think I had hoped for some giant bash, replete with lots of fabulous food and possibly excessive drinking. However my husband has thoughtlessly knocked me up again, and so I spent my third birthday in the last four quietly enjoying a nice meal out and sipping water. Thank the Lord Aunty Staci showed up with an amazing cake and my neighbors offered to take us all out to dinner at quaint and delicious local establishment.

It was a lovely evening and I sincerely want to express my gratitude to Eric, Staci, Boss, Brian & Lisa for making it so!

Taking a break from supervising Aunty Staci's assembly of the rainbow cake (which included commentary such as, "you need to do it PROPERLY Staci" to "Ooooo, you missed a spot!!!") in order to make a quick iPhone video.

Bitty & Boss reading "SkippyJon Jones." Which is a really great children's book. We highly reccomend anything SkippyJon, particularly when your daddy or uncle are seriously gringo and hilariously struggle with the Spanish/Spanglish in reading these tales. However, kudos to Boss as he is always ready to read a book or two and we really like that!

Birthday dinner feast at Wine O'Clock, a local winery/restaurant that is quite excellent and child friendly... see below.

Miss LindyJean, modicum of table manners, mowing down an entire piece of pesto, eggplant, and portobello pizza. She ate nearly the entire slice, among other things she devoured.

Aunty Staci and Bitty, with Boss enjoying his aged cheddar, bacon, & pear pizza!

We adjourned from the restaurant to our house for Aunty Staci's delectable and delightful rainbow cake. It was oh-so-yummy.

LindyJean - 10 months

Here's how she has been napping as of late. How could that possibly be comfortable? She is a future contortionist. She regularly assumes any number of odd, Gumby positions in an attempt to scoot/crawl.

Here's what happens when you feed the world's sloppiest eater blackberry pancakes for breakfast. I literally had to bathe her to get it all off.

Yes, it's blurry. But demonstrates how she smeared it everywhere? Are there some skin balancing blackberry secrets I don't know of that LindyJean does... is that why it is so carefully applied to her face, neck, and decolletage?

She likes Bitty best, giggles a lot, sleeps like a champ, eats like a piglet, puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and makes me quite happy. Thank you Lord for such an adorable little person. Can't wait to see what He has in store for us with baby number 3.

El Jardin 2011

Oh the grandiose plans I'd made for my garden and yard this year... then I got knocked up again. Hmmmppfffffff!

In order to stay sane, well rested, and maintained a garden & yard well-tended I've decided to focus my efforts on my food garden, Eric can take care of the grass, and the flowers will be of little concern (boo!).

Note the lovely blue skies... gardening season has arrived! LindyJean looks real impressed with me.

Eric decided that to optimize sun exposure on each row we should go at a diagonal this year. It looks pretty good to boot.

Here's the whole of it. Chives are thriving!

Ma was kind enough to do a bunch of starts and here is a lug of broccoli, cauliflower, greens, cabbages, brussel sprout, herbs, and tomatoes.

Bitty, ever ready gardener, is "planting grass."

... The rest of the story.

Finally, Nana has found someone to share her passion (obsession) with! Adelaide needs a sticker that says, "I'd rather be with Nana & Ernie."

Everytime we go up to Ma & Pa's I think my mother must be so very glad to see us go when the time comes because Bitty keeps tabs on her like a deathrow inmate's personally assigned guard. She NEVER lets her out of sight or earshot and incessantly bugs her to go see Ernie, ride Ernie, give Ernie cookies, pet Ernie, clean Ernie's stall, take off Ernie's pajamas... the list is longer still! Either way, somebody - be it Daddy or Nana - is going to have to pony up for a horse for this girl someday soon.

I am not quite sure why I got this screwball face, but she is wildly excited about and completely in love with Mr. Ernie.

Coors Banquet Beer... could there possibly exist something more refreshing? No way, just ask Ernie!

Giddy up Nana!