This summer, in the strip of yard where we grew pumpkins last year, we planted watermelons. We decided on a watermelon because when I left to go pick up a few seedlings, Thomas shouted, “I want watermelon!” Certain that what he meant wasn’t “I want watermelon NOW,” but instead, “I want to plant a watermelon
How’s you’re vegetable garden doing these days? It’s late September, hot, muggy, and how my garden’s doing can be summed up by, “I forgot about my garden.” Every year, every single year, in the springtime I am positively giddy about planting a garden. Then after three crippling months of heat and humidity and weeds and vine borers,
We’ve had this thing for three summers and no baby has ever really used it. Every now and then someone comes over and their baby tolerates it for a bit, but it never lasts too long. Usually they put the baby in, it’s happy for a few minutes, then it realizes it’s been tricked! It’s parents are
While on a walk a few weeks ago David noticed a bramble of blackberry bushes. The berries weren’t ready, the branches were covered in white flowers and tightly-packed clusters of green and pink, so we promised to come back in a few weeks. When we did, we found the bushes heavy with black, shiny berries.
On the first day of summer break we shared a big bowl of watermelon on the porch, then kids made a mud pit in the back yard while Anna and I sat on a blanket at a safe distance. When we got too hot and dirty, we all jumped in the pool. Before nap time,
If I could describe myself for the past few months, I’d say that I feel like I’ve been walking around like that kid Pig Pen in Charlie Brown. Except that, instead of a cloud of filth (or maybe, in addition to a cloud of filth), I have a haze of all the things I need
This is Mary’s new iPhone. My niece made it, and it’s easily the most coveted item in our house. Everyone wants it but no one can touch it. After all, Mary has a data plan to consider. Mary uses it like a fully functional phone — she takes pictures, she texts, she FaceTimes my mom.
Mary Virginia, talking to herself while playing with a mound of freshly-picked Azalea blossoms: “Flowers are so wonderful! They tell us, ‘God is good! God is great! God loves us! … They’re also nice for weddings!”
A few weeks ago I bought this little patio set for our back deck. I love the design, and as it’s (finally) warming up, I’m looking forward to spending more time outside. In the summer I eat breakfast on the porch almost every morning, and the deck is home base for so much of the kids’
Two weeks ago we found a turtle. Or, rather, it found us. Judging by the way it swam right up to where we were standing on the bank, and by the way it fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, we immediately knew we were destined to keep this turtle. When my kids ask