Sunday, June 27, 2010

Our Special Day Together

Sophia and I had our very first "girls day" out this weekend.  While the boys stayed home, we went to see Curious George LIVE !  and I took her out lunch afterwards.  We had a perfect day...couldn't resist posting the ice cream pictures !






Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Start climbing....



As I have mentioned...I am trying my hand at gardening this year.  Starting small, but starting nonetheless.  Learning to grow my own food is quite challenging.  The idea of being able to feed my family homegrown veggies, without pesticides, is very motivating.   Watching Sophia's face as she runs out to the garden each day...checking her bean plants...is priceless.  There are lessons in all of this for each one of us in our home. Even the little man is learning (he is learning that Mama doesn't appreciate when he pulls at the plants or "adds" things to the garden box).   Sophia still prays for God to "bless my beans and flowers so that they can grow and feed my family".  She is learning to rely on Him and finding out that we should not try to blindly go about life on our own.  She has succeeded in figuring out how to water things without DROWNING them (we had to buy a new watering bucket with a slower spout to aid in this lesson) and is already talking about planting more seeds for "more flowers".  She knows which plants are the tomatoes, which are the beans, and so on.  It's been a fun lesson in life - and even if I never grow an edible vegetable, this will all have been worth it !  

BUT with all that being said - we are planning on success !  Tonight we built our trellis. We are hoping to see things climbing upwards in no time !   We used the directions/idea from the Square Foot Gardening plan and it went pretty smooth !  The size of the trellis actually covered 2 more square feet than I had anticipated, so there might be some rearranging going on so that I can add another vertically climbing plant.  





Hopefully, the next time I post pictures of this little area there will be lots of green climbing up the netting !  

Duck.....Get 'em !

We enjoyed a day at the beach with my father and my 2 beautiful nieces !  Sophia was in her glory with "the girls" by her side, swimming in the water and building sand castles ! Demetri LOVES the water.  He starts heading for the shore and doesn't even look back to see if I am there.  He was up to his neck and wanted to keep going!

Sophia and my darling nieces



BUT his favorite thing to do was to chase the ducks (which were really seagulls)!  He had no fear and really believed he could catch them if he kept trying!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Daybook Entry

Outside my window

It's very early as I type, so only 75 degrees right now...but the last few days have been unbearably humid and high 90's.  Today will be more of the same.

I am thinking

about my koumbara, who has a son going away to college in a few days.   It is bittersweet.  Time does go so fast.  I can so vividly remember my parents making that long drive in a van and dropping me off...it seems like yesterday.   Which in turn, makes me know that my own children will approach that age faster than I would wish.

Currently reading

I am still trying to finish the final pages of The Gurus, the Young Man and Elder Paisios...

I am thankful

for an old friend who has reached back out to me...there are some people that just always have a place in your heart no matter how many years have passed or how many miles separate you.


I am wearing

Well, it is still early so I am still in my nightgown...but with regard to clothing finds this week:  I am always on the lookout for skirts that I can exercise in comfortably, specifically for running.  I like the "tennis skirt" because they usually have some sort of pockets so I can put my keys in, etc.  Many of the big name ones are so expensive that I can't justify them. I have found a few and keep wearing them over and over....but this week I actually found one at Ross for $6.99 !!!  It was cute and soooo comfy !  Celebrate the little things !

I am listening to

absolutely nothing !  I am not usually granted these few minutes in the morning before the kids get up.  They are both early risers !  My husband and I laugh...he could be awake and getting ready for work for an hour.  Showering, clicking around in his shoes, packing lunch, etc.  They sleep.  The minute I get up (and I don't make a PEEP), I hear "MAMA" from either bed.  I swear they "sense" me !!  If I get 2 sips of coffee in before "mama-mode" I'm in luck !

A few plans for the rest of the week

I am doing this post later in the week as it is....but we don't have all that many plans left for the remainder of the days.  We have been regularly going to the Y and we will go again tomorrow.  The humidity has been so bad that I have really been dreading running outside...doing it, but dreading it !

Sophia and I will be making her little Father's day gift for her Baba tomorrow.  I took her to Michael's so she could pick something out to make him.  She decided on one of those gardening stones that you personalize.  She is really looking forward to it and I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Around the house

We finally got a little more done in Sophia's room.  We purchased some of the Trofast items from IKEA for toy storage, etc.  We had originally gotten enough for her one wall, but after all was said and done...we needed one more !  (of course we did, it's an hour away)!  We finally got back there and got the last one to put under her  dollhouse, so now her little wooden table is able to be used for other things.  She keeps it pretty clean actually.  The biggest problem is Demetri likes to empty every SINGLE book and look through them.  We are trying to teach him to put things away...he knows how to SAY "away", does that count?  It is so easy now because everything actually has a space where it belongs and nothing is overcrowded!  Very kid-friendly!






Sophia

finished another year of catechism class at Church...



Demetrios

is Mr. Independent !  He just wants to do everything by himself.  This is wonderful, it's encouraged and applauded - but BOY can he throw a temper tantrum when he is not allowed to do something ALL by himself.  For example?  Well, eating lentil soup.  Brushing his teeth.  Changing his diaper.


From the kitchen

We are in the middle of the Apostle's Fast, so things have been pretty simple in the kitchen.  Sophia and I have tried doing a little baking this week while Demetri napped.  She enjoys measuring, dumping and mixing.  Basically, making a mess!  She has learned the basics on how to measure flour and level it with the knife !  We enjoyed some lenten banana breakfast bread and garlic italian bread yesterday !

On my iPod


This week I borrowed a whole stack of cd's from my sister's closet.  I figured for every song I can import off of her cd's on to my iPod, I save myself a dollar !  I am getting tired of running to the same music every single day and I don't have too big of a collection of my own.

Beauty in the home

The title of this section these days should be "decluttering the home" for me.  That's my ongoing pursuit.  I try to pick a small area of the house and declutter it.  It seems to help.  This week it will be the cabinets in my bathroom.  How many of those products do I actually USE anyway??

In the Garden

I should start by saying our wildflower patches are not doing too well.  We didn't have any clear areas to put the seed so we tried clearing, weeding, prepping...to no avail.  The weeds were cropping up before the seeds sprouted.  We also have tons of squirrels and birds in the yard that were constantly back there eating away!  The kids were banging on the windows "hey birdies, stop eating mama's seeds" !

Our starter vegetable garden is underway, albeit a bit late.  We have SO many trees in our yard and lots and lots of shade.  We really only had one possible spot to put a garden on the side of the house.  My husband cleared some tree branches (that's a blog post in and of itself) and my father helped builded the square foot garden box.  I have been watching and it seems that even in this spot - the sunniest spot on the property - I think it only gets the sun for about 4 and 1/2 or 5 hours at the most.  I just hope that it is enough sun for the vegetables!  It's my first one so I really have no idea what to expect.  If it works, we will be expanding it as soon as possible !



One of my favorite things

listening to Sophia talk to her little brother in her "big girl - mother hen" voice.

A picture thought to share - This post is already a little picture-heavy...but I can't resist adding another -  a rare shot of my sister and I together


Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Seedlings and Sprouts !

As I began to make some gardening plans for the summer (which I now realize should have been done in the SPRING)...I thought it might be fun for Sophia to have a little gardening project of her own.  I have been trying to remember to take pictures of her progress, which has been going well.  She has really had SO much fun with this, I would recommend it for kids her age.  I wasn't sure if she would be old enough to grasp the concept, but it's been great !

We started with some pole beans, which sprout quite quickly for some quick gratification for an inpatient toddler!  We also planted some zinnia flower seeds and carrots too.  We used Jiffy seed starter and egg cartons.  I actually purchased the whole Jiffy greenhouse kit...but thought the egg crate would suffice for our first try at gardening !


The biggest problem was getting her to understand "water them gently" !!!  we had a few mudslides and do-overs, but other than that it went pretty smooth !  

She checked their progress every morning and watered them with me everyday, during her prayers she makes sure every single day that we ask the Lord to "bless our plants and flowers"... .... and then....we finally saw a SPROUT from the green beans !  Can you see it???  



Before you knew it, they started to look like THIS ! 



We haven't prepared our final area for the garden, so in the interim, we have had to plant the beans in some pots.... and here they are in all their glory ! 



Mama On The Run !



As you may (or may not) know, I regularly run/jog as one of my forms of exercise to try to stay healthy and stay in shape.  I am usually jogging behind my Bob Revolution Duallie...a GREAT double jogging stroller.  If you have to run with a stroller, the BOB is the way to go !  My kids love it, it's comfortable for them and easy to push for me !


My running partners


I started to think, "It might be fun to run in a race again".  I used to love to run in them with my dad when I was growing up....and it's been over 20 years since I ran my last race !  I started to ask around for some local races.  A friend I had met at the Y told me about an upcoming 5k....so I registered !!  

I was so excited the morning of the race, just wanting to cross the finish line.  My dad came with me to the race, which made the day all the more special and nostalgic !  As I came out into the homestretch, there he was....and I saw him looking at his watch ! I had finished slightly faster than I had anticipated and he wasn't expecting me so soon !  (or so he told me after the race).  



The final stretch !

We had a great day !  I'll add one final picture .....here we are after the race !


See the medals?  We took 1st and 2nd place (in our division) !!

Exercising and trying to stay healthy is sometimes a lot of work.  Running can get very boring and repetitive so it is nice to set goals and have something like a race to look forward to in the near future.  Most of the races out there benefit some sort of charity or organization and they are a great way of bringing the community together.  They are also just FUN to do !  I am already registered to run in another 5k in 2 weeks !  

I have decided to set a somewhat long-term goal for myself (and my running).  God willing, I would like to run in a half-marathon.  THIS Women's Half Marathon is scheduled for November 21st, so I have some time to prepare.  Now....if I can only get my sister to run it with me !  That would make for some great memories !