{p,f,h,r} Post-vacation edition

What's the quickest way to kill your router? Get a phone plan that relies on Wi-Fi for your data (I love it otherwise, though!). It means my computer time has been spent on catching up with what others are sharing, rather than writing myself. But until we get things up and running, here's a little picture dump for you!

{pretty}

The house is far from pretty after two weeks of vacation, but these are all straight from my garden, so I just go and stare at them instead of the laundry. The gladiolas are almost as big as my hand!

{funny} 

Every couple of years, our hen-and-chicks attempt to contact the mothership.

Bean tells me this is his, "Hey, this tea is not sweet!" face. Welcome back to the North, kid.

{happy} 

We recently had this clock passed down to us from my husband's family. Having the hours chimed reminds me of being back at Notre Dame where the Basilica bells were always in earshot. Time to teach the troops the Angelus!

It's amazing what two weeks of neglect will do for a garden

This pumpkin plant was maybe a foot across when we left; yesterday I had to pull over a foot of it out of the lawn and back into the garden!

{real}

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, as they say, so the weed situation is getting more than a little out of hand. Not pictured: any interior shots. Those are a little too real right now.

Pictured: Not something I planted, standing next to a good-sized pepper.

Find more {p,f,h,r} posts at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{p,f,h,r} That Little Bit of Summer Before I Wilt Edition

{pretty}

The "peony plumps", as Bean calls them, have finally burst into bloom, and the first two flowers were lying on the ground, so I felt no compunction about cutting them and bringing them inside. The bushes are a literal heirloom variety, having been taken from my grandmother's.

{happy}

Coffee ice cream. I'd been making mostly Jeni's Splendid recipes, and I'd kind of forgotten the wonders of custard. Now I just need a friend on a diet to pawn off all these egg whites on.

Sighting in the new definitely-not-a-toy, which a friend managed to snag for Bean. Looking forward to a night clear enough to see Saturn!

{funny}

 When Mom won't set up the 'scope inside, you improvise.

Two Thanksgivings ago, we planted a bag of tulip bulbs from Aldi. These were stowaways. None of the tulips came back for a second year, but these are going crazy. I'll take it.

{real}

This was growing not only next to the house, but actually up under the siding. Add to that the mushrooms and wasps, and you'll forgive me if it seems the yard is out to get us this year.

Find more {p,f,h,r} posts at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

7qt: Car Sadness and Taco Happiness

(1)

This is what happens when some teenager fails to verify that he has a green arrow instead of a plain ol'green light before turning. Yay for not being at fault, I guess, but boo to not having a particularly drive-able car (the driver's seat belt is locked up) while everything gets sorted out.

(2)

My plan for tomorrow was to go to the farmer's market to get plants for my garden, and then take the boys to Free Comic Book Day (there will be Stormtroopers at our store!), but the other car is occupied, so I guess I'll stay home and sort through stuff for next weekend's garage sale, instead.

Anybody want a bunch of '90s era Praise and Worship CDs?

(3)

In my purging mood, I also hid pretty much every toy with over a half-dozen pieces. I don't want to get rid of the puzzles and blocks entirely, but the fact that they are no longer getting dumped and abandoned has increased my sanity sevenfold, even as the hallways fill with boxes as I hunt for things to sell off.

(4)

Bean's bedtime book for the past few weeks has been "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner". For a wonderful exposition of why you simply must read the books, see Kathryn's wonderful post. Meanwhile, I've been reading Milne's poetry to the boys on-and-off during the day. If you have yet to discover When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, do pick them up. There's a bit of Winnie-the-Pooh, but lots of other fun imaginitive tales and musings from Christopher Robin's nursery, along with doses of those tiny delightful naughtinesses that every child needs from time to time. ("If only I were King of Spain,/I'd take my hat off in the rain./If only I were King of France,/I wouldn't brush my hair for aunts.") Milne just got kids, man.

(5)

Next on the docket is Charlotte's Web, presuming it arrives. The tracking info looks something like this. But at least it's finally admit it was missent, so... progress!

(6)

Is anyone else's garden on a super late schedule this year? Because I'm starting to think that last year's tulips just decided not to be perennials. At least it's going to be a good year for the lilacs.

Also for the dandelions...

(7)

Sangria not optional

It's grilling season, and pork was $1.39/lb at Sam's, so it we made the family favorite Tacos al Pastor this week. If you use the guajillo chilis, they really aren't spicy at all, so it's a great family recipe, especially with the pineapple (except both my kids refused to eat the pineapple. Weirdos.) The epiphany I had this time was that the sauce is only enough to braise 3 lbs of meat at a time, but you can do as much as you want in batches (You'll probably want to skim some fat at the end, though). So there's another batch in the freezer for a day when it's too hot to simmer anything for two hours, but perfect weather for a quick sear on the grill. Yum!

Find more Quick Takes here!

Learning Notes: Week of 9/22

This is my first post for the linkup (note: Oops! That linkup closed while I was typing. Hopefully, the "Guilt-free" part includes getting notes in late!), and I'm really excited to have this little push to blog what we've learned for the week! I think a few of these might be from the week before, but I'll keep better track now that I have a reason to.

A bit about us: since The Bean is just going-on-four, our learning is still pretty informal, but this fall I've been trying to move our learning in a slightly more intentional direction. Peanut is just 9 months, and a lot more adventurous than his brother, so the emphasis is on "slightly" for the moment.

On to the notes:

After Dad got home, it became a train derrick.

I finally canned something this summer, for the first time since learning that you no longer have to simmer the lids before you use them. Which means you don't have to fish them out of hot water, which means that the magnetic wand I used to use to do so got bequeathed to Bean. He was excited to have the chance to do a real, live "'speriment," as we gathered together all sorts of things to see if they were magnetic or not. Bean's spoon: yes. Mama's spoons: nope. Gave a preschool version of the scientific method.

Also in science, DH had to drive some people around for work, and thus cleaned out his car for the first time in ... a while, and we found a pair of binoculars in there. Great excitement. Talked about lenses and telescopes and such. For the moment, he prefers to use them backwards to make things small.

He was demanding I read "The Ink Garden" to him at least once a day, so I dug up an illuminated letter online (now linked in my review) and he watercolored away, "painting letters just like da Deeaphane!" He also traced the lines on this constellation sheet, while we talked about the names of the constellations (Note to self: Pull out D'Aulaires' and read some of the stories behind those names).

Tuesday was his onomastico, so his dad got him a book about the popes. Definitely recommended, though I wonder if it's more intended for kids who can read it to themselves than as a read-aloud. The sentences are just a tad stilted at times, so I find myself editing on the fly for a better flow. He really wanted to color "pope stuff" after several read-throughs. So, I put this and this on one page in Publisher and let him have at it. It's all red now, of course, because that's the only color. (PS - I just ran across this very nice Sts. Peter and Paul page, too.)

Wednesday was a bit of a loss. I ran off this number-tracing worksheet (registration required) but his inner perfectionist kicked in and he went on strike unless "Mama can help" (i.e., hold his hand and do it for him). Since he's done similar sheets successfully in the past, I respectfully declined, and it went undone. I did occupy him for a while by getting him sorting tiny pompoms onto these color cards. With tongs from his kitchen toys, even, so it took up a decent amount of time (yay!)

 Thursday: Our very sad garden actually produced something! So, we harvested broccoli and talked about different parts of the plant and what kinds of food come from each. None of this persuaded him to actually eat the broccoli, alas. Food-related learning was not a total loss, though, as he did show us over dessert that he's paying attention to a geography:

Seven Quick Gardening Takes

My garden exists to make you feel better about your garden.

1) Don't these look pretty? I took this on Tuesday, um, when I brought them home from the greenhouse.

25% off, and 25% rootbound.

2) I think it's safe to say that I care more about the bee's opinion of my lawn than the homeowner's association.  

But seriously, it smells awesome.

3) I think my plants are trying to contact the mothership. Possibly in hopes of escaping from my garden.

Bean's just excited that the hen and chicks likes building towers, too.

4) Role reversal:

Clover is a good first food, right?

5) The most exciting thing I found in the vegetable garden after coming back from Fourth of July week was this weed:

My trusty Audubon Field Guide says it's known as a piemaker, because the pods have crimped edges like a pie crust.

6) I can say that the front garden looks better than before the daffodils were ready to be pulled up. No one actually needed to use that sidewalk, right?

"Crop circle" gardening is very in this year.

7) But hey, at least I can take solace in my mad nature photography skills, right?

ProTip: It may take several minutes of waiting, but letting the fly land is crucial for the shot.

See more quick takes at Jen's!