Planting Carrots

The kids got one square foot. They each planted a row, Jesse got one too. It's been a week or so, we're still waiting for them to pop up. Half of them are "amarillo", so I'm excited to see how they look and taste.

New Garden

We replaced all of our clay dirt with new garden mix. It's made of 1/3 each vermiculite, peat moss and compost. I have high hopes for many fruitful harvests. George did an amazing job with the heavy lifting, getting the old dirt out and the new stuff in. It was a lot of work. Hopefully the new "Square Foot Garden" will pay off.
Gavin worked hard on the new garden too while the other kids and neighbors jumped. They all did a little hauling with their Tonka dump trucks.

St. Patrick's Day

We made our first Leprechaun trap this year. It almost worked. Daniel wrote this note trying to trick him. He left behind a trail of gold dust.


We intended to go to the pancake breakfast at the firehouse, but seeing the line was all the way to the corner, we took the scenic route to the parade and got a great spot. It was supposed to rain, but the show went on and the weather was fine.

We got home to find that a Leprechaun had used our toilet.

My little nephew Travis is so sweet. It's so easy to get a huge smile from this guy.

Karate

We tried our first karate class last week. Vincent was the lone, brave soul that gave it a go. He did awesome. Daniel will try it this week...I hope. I think they will both love it. When we first told them about it, they got very concerned. Vincent cried, "But I don't know how to do Karate!" He thought he was going to have to fight someone right off the bat. Daniel was too shy, his complaint was that he didn't know anyone there. Our friend Gabe is also signed up to try karate for the first time. His fear was that he would get splinters from having to split planks of wood. Funny how they all had their preconceived ideas of what karate class would be like. So we had Gabe over for a sample karate lesson. They were so focused on it. We'll have black belts around here pretty soon.

Cabin in Arnold

Megan and Brian invited us to spend the night at a cabin in Arnold. It's been three years since we went the last/first time when Gavin and Dominic were newborn babies. It's amazing how the time has flown and our boys have grown. Gavin and Dominic took turns pulling each other in a sled around the deck before heading down to the driveway which turned into a decent sledding hill.
Travis is such a good little baby. He smiled and laughed on the floor of in his jumper when he wasn't napping or eating.


Five little boys made for a lively cabin. We tried letting the older four all sleep in the same room. But they discovered a box full of toys in the closet and sleep was not forthcoming.
At one point, Daniel tried pulling rank and getting everyone to lay down quietly. Gav and Dom kept playing. So Daniel walked out to let the grown-ups know. We heard Gavin's voice from the living room:
"Don't tell on me, Daniel"
"Ok, I won't" was Daniel's reply.
Our boys are now conspiring with each other, against their parents. It's no longer each man for themselves. It's no longer innocent little kids always just telling it like it is. Oh no! At least they're on the same team.

Look back at this post from three years ago.

The Duck Hunt guns were popular with the boys, as was Super Mario Brothers which they played amazingly well.
Arnold is only a couple hours away. We drove the truck which we haven't driven anywhere more than just around town since we got the RV. The boys were super excited about driving the truck somewhere like it was some cool new adventure. What?

Food for Thought

My friend recently sent me a link to a video with some pretty powerful and disturbing information on our food. Have you wondered why there are so many food allergies with kids lately? There is a reason. Click this link to see what this mom has learned.

All this info has me even more excited about re-doing my garden this year. I've had a veggie garden for the past 10 years, starting down in Costa Mesa with our huge backyard and continuing up north with raised garden beds that George built for me.

This year, we're digging out all of the weedy, clay dirt from those boxes and starting with a clean slate. Watch the video below to learn about the "Square Foot Garden". I'm hoping I'll get a lot more fresh, organic veggies this year. I'm most excited about growing potatoes for the first time!

Oopsie, poopie!

As we walked along the water, looking at boats in the marina, tummies full from a delicious crab lunch in Bodega Bay, enjoying the beautiful day...we heard a cry. Vincent tripped and fell right into a fresh pile of mushy dog poo. His shirt and hand were covered.
We cut the shirt off and hosed him down with the outdoor shower on the side of the motor home. That was the end of our trip several weeks ago. It's taken me a little while to be able to look back on this incident and be able to write about it. It was pretty traumatic for all of us.

Preschool

Vincent absolutely loves preschool. Gavin loves it too. He sits next to Vincent for snack time when I volunteer in class. Gav is all signed up for preschool next year. Vincent will get registered for kindergarten next week!
Gavin usually eats his meals just like this, on his toes. He must have strong toes. It puts him at the perfect level for the table. Who needs boosters!

More Sledding

These guys rode straight off a cliff, no sled, banzai!