Fire Pit! (Bridget)

Lonny's Father's Day weekend project was constructing a fire pit on one side of our house. I admit I was skeptical about it but I love the way it looks! It's a big improvement over the half grassy, half gravelly area it used to be. The rocks around the pipe came from our neighbors who happened to be tearing out their fireplace at the time - luckily for us. The kids all pitched in and helped, knowing that a hot dog roast and s'mores would be their reward. The project was complete by Sunday night, June 16, and we christened it with, of course, hot dogs and s'mores and invited all our neighbors over. A good time was had by all. This weekend we'll hopefully get some more logs for the rest of the perimeter and some really big logs for benches inside so we won't have to bring chairs out and take them in every time.

Next project: reseeding the lawn!

Our little "Ether Bunny" (Bridget)

Here is a recent picture of Ethan. He'll be 8 months on June 15. He's a very happy and affectionate little guy and gives lots of kisses, especially to Matthew! He has 4 teeth and is working on two more. He really keeps us on our toes as he is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on anything he can and cruising. Some of his favorite things to do include playing in the dogs' water, dumping everything off the coffee table, getting into the papers in the computer desk and the DVDs in the entertainment center and destroying any Lego creations the boys are unlucky enough to leave within his reach. He loves dogs and other kids, pictures of people, especially babies. He gets very excited by vacuum cleaners and Daniel's old stick horse, "Hank." He likes to imitate us so we often have fake-coughing and squealing contests with him. He is sometimes content in his playpen or jumper and he loves being in the backpack or stroller. If I feel like gardening without him on my back, all I need to do is put him in the stroller and pretty soon he's besieged by neighborhood girls begging to take him for a ride. Pretty sneaky, huh? :)

Long Time! (Bridget)

Okay, I know it's been a long time since we've updated this blog but there were gardens to plant, leaves to rake, sunshine to enjoy.... I've really been enjoying outdoor work. The chokecherry trees in the back yard are in full bloom and the air is perfumed with their lovely scent. As soon as Ethan goes down for his nap, I'm outside planting, weeding, starting a compost pile, digging a new flower bed, hanging out clothes, anything to be outside in the sun! Now it's cooler and overcast with a forecast of rain for the next week and a half so I can get indoor stuff done.
I planted my first real garden this year. For the past couple of years, I've only done containers but I've been really wanting more of a harvest so this year I dug out one of my big rhubarb plants to give to a friend and transplanted all the delphiniums which were hogging garden space and planted lettuce, beans, radishes and carrots. The lettuce and radishes are already up. I also planted peas and beans in containers. Hopefully by next year I'll have another small raised bed to work with. In the meantime, it's nice to start small until I really know what I'm doing.
I got some really disappointing news last week - my dad and sister are not going to be visiting this month after all. My dad is having some health problems and the trip would just be too much. I didn't realize how much I was looking forward to some of my family visiting, for once, until the visit was canceled. Next year though, my whole family will be getting together in VT and we will be there, by hook or by crook!