Eric returns!

He made it all the way back and brought some crazy foreign money with him. I will make him post his pictures soon, in the meantime here are the exciting things in the garden right now.  The sweet pea and climbing rose are out of control, the lily party is just getting started, and there are secret blue firecracker alliums hiding under another exuberant rose.

Eric returns tomorrow!

We couldn't be happier. Yesterday John needed to wear a dress, so I gave him Oscar's shirt. This made Oscar furious, until I told him he could wear one of his dad's shirts. They looked very nice in their dresses. 

Our cherries are almost ripe and so the tree is bursting with birds. Every time I get Oscar out of the car he runs to the tree and says "Get out you stupid birds! Those are my cherries!" Soon I'll have him saying "I hate all birds."

In the meantime we collected many of our tiny grapes aka currants today. Oscar picked the red ones and Okko picked the green ones. Red currant jam, anyone?

And in the last few days John has started babbling very nicely.

Such lovely children...

This is what happened at dinner tonight:

That is Oscar crossing his eyes, in case it isn't clear.

happy anniversary to us!

To celebrate, here is a video of John doing what he does at every meal... later I will post the harmonica song Oscar demanded to record. What a lovely pair of noisemakers we have!

some old pics

Just from a few weeks ago. It gets confusing to manage all the different devices! Oscar helped Eric build the grape trellis (which they have already totally overwhelmed, even though [or maybe because] they started from the ground this year). Oscar also took the pictures of me and Eric drinking our coffee and tea on the patio. It is very sunny out there in the morning!

We've made it through the first weekend, thanks to Eric's and Baba Yaga's care packages. John has the same number of bumps on his face as he gets every weekend, so everything went pretty well. Oscar even took a nap today, which really cut down on the crazies before bedtime. Usually Oscar, Okko, and Honey have a debate about whether they will read books first or pee on the potty first or brush their teeth first... Honey and Okko are the wicked ones, of course, and Honey is by far the wickedest. We don't hear too much from her, thank goodness! (Oscar saw himself in a mirror at Target today and said, "There are two of us!)

Eric made it to Prague just fine, and it sounds like it's a normal conference in a fantastic spot. There's plenty of excellent beer to be had for cheap, so it can't be too bad! He wrote Oscar a letter for each day he is gone, which Oscar is really enjoying opening and hearing many times a day. Next Monday he'll be home!

thrillseeking

Eric leaves for Prague tomorrow! He is going to the International Weed Conference (quit laughing, it's a real thing) and he will be back on the 27th. He got me a gigantic tub for the kids to play in and filled it with goodies like a sweetie.

Meantime, John is learning how to be a total badass. I did not include the video of him falling off the slide. There is too much of "Why are you taking a video while your child is endangering himself?" about it. But he does that too, dailyly.


This one is long - he makes it at the end! - but it is impressive for how very long he thinks about it.


He quickly reconsiders.

Hello!

Here's an inspirational video for everyone.

Now they are 5!

Happy birthday M&D! Here is a tour for you!

Oscar is playing "fish games" on Eric's birthday present to himself, this absurd (but satisfying) tv aka computer monitor.

The tiny allium mix is starting to flower! I can't wait to see where I planted the drumstick alliums (I have an idea but there are little onion-looking guys coming up all over, so it will be a surprise).

 The copper rose is just covered with flowers right now. Each flower lasts only a day or so, so the petal output is also tremendous. It smells like lemon Pez.

The view into our now-enclosed side yard. The tree makes it slightly difficult to access, but I like the tree. We're trying to negotiate a solution...

The original rose in the side yard. These flowers last a long time and smell just like roses should.

Last fall when I was making this garden Eric surprised me with three hostas. Since it was fall, they all looked like dead sticks. But no! Here they are, so happy and variegated.

The apple tree, for the first time ever, is covered in apples. The peach tree, sadly, has peach borer and will die soon, and also has no peaches. Applesauce anyone? Or maybe some cider? There is no Poppins to chomp all the green apples, but I bet John will oblige.

 The paramecium is full of things! See if you can spot them all!
- a pink peony (present from Eric - he gets the best presents for me!)
- a red but unsmelly rose
- perennial batchelor's button
- crocosmia
- hibiscus
- (drumstick?) allium
- yarrow
- white peony (also from Eric) (both peonies also looked like sticks when I planted them. Dormancy is amazing!)
- pink peony (present from Great-Gramma)
- giant peony (from Wayside Gardens)
- pansies
- crazy hellebore
- old grape hyacinths
- everything else is weeds and doesn't count.

The fence garden is humming along, thanks to the gardener at the nursery who suggested plants that might actually make it. The brunnera just finished blooming (sorry dad).

Eric is setting up his first grilling experience on the smokey joe - his birthday present from me. And Oscar is "making a volcano".

The woodland paradise now has snapdragons and alyssum (and some annual bachelor's buttons that haven't died yet!)

 We set up ol' Drooley today. Oscar was very excited to see him again and John, true to form, tried to climb into the basin. In the foreground you may notice some seedlings - these are from some of the infinite marigold seeds Oscar helped me plant.

 And in the very corner are the lovely violets. It feels so extravagant to have multiples of one kind of plant, next to each other! And they smell very good. John really likes picking these flowers.

 Looking the other way, the grapes are waking up rapidly and are very happy on the trellis Eric made for them. He got to use the air compressor and the staple gun, and only had to go to Home Depot once!

Cute garden troll. So clean, so quiet. Five stars.

The transplant of the side-yard rose is also very happy right now. John also likes to pick these flowers - I think chance has prevented him from learning about roses so far.

Closer to the house, things aren't as exciting, but the irises are bomb and the sweet pea is starting to figure out vertical growth (being tied to the trellis helped convince it a little).

A bee! The raspberries were covered with them. And out front the yucca is blooming, and is also aswarm. There is a little hope, perhaps.

Oscar moved on to making much grander volcanoes. He even allowed John to help.

The grilled dinner was excellent, soon Eric will be a grill master too. I hope you liked the tour!