26 feet and 72 square feet

26 feet = the number of feet (big and little) at Sunday morning's playdate

72 square feet = the size of our garden

This weekend was full of stuff. It's amazing how much there is to do each weekend - fun and chores. Saturday morning the boys & I went to the Y and then Eli & I worked on the grid for our square foot garden. He was such a good helper.

Sunday morning we went to Noah's house for a playdate. It turned out to be a big fun play date with 26 feet there: toddlers, siblings and Moms - Eli (with me & Cole), Noah (with Robin & Kylie), Stella Dot (with Amy), Maddie (with Janet and Mason) and Savannah (with Andrea). Unfortunately Savannah had to leave early but the rest of the toddler gang had a lot of fun. It was a little chaotic but everyone seemed to have fun. The big adventure was bike riding. They enjoyed riding in the street in front of Noah's house and then the boys, Eli & Noah, found a magnificent mud puddle. I convinced Robin to just let them play - boys will be boys - even though Noah was wearing a brand new white shirt. There's nothing more that I love than boys just being boys. =) The girls were worried and Stella Dot and Maddie were charged with trying to get the boys back on their bikes and out of the mud. It took a while but they all rallied back at the driveway and then it was time to clean up. The dirty ones stripped down and got hosed off - we had to borrow clothes from Noah to stayed clothed. The toddlers then went to Noah's room to play and every once in a while we'd hear a "Mommy" or a cry or something and then someone would run up to check things out. I think the Moms did a great job of Group parenting and letting the kids work some things out on their own. A yummy lunch and some backyard play time later, we took the chaos away from Noah's house. (Thanks for lunch Robin & Amy!!)

The bicycle gang - (L-R) Maddie, Stella Dot, Noah, Eli

Oooooh, mud

So much fun to play in

Moms and Babes - (L-R) Robin & Kylie, me & Cole, Janet & Mason

The standoff between girls and boys over the mud puddle

Eventually the boys rode away

Happy dirty

getting clean

The hose was a fun treat for the boys

How many monkeys jumping on the bed?

This was our "car" driving to the beach. We pretended we were going and talked about what we would do when we got there.

Lunch - could not get one single shot of them all looking in the same direction.

Just a few minutes from Noah's house, Eli was OUT

and so was Baby Cole

Last night (Monday), Eli & I finished up the grid for our garden - we had run out of lath strips. Tonight we worked on planting. We transplanted peppers, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Then we planted some seeds: onions, green beans, lima beans, carrots, corn and lettuce. In two weeks, we'll do another planting so things are staggered and not ready to harvest all at once. We have 72 square feet - not all planted yet - that we hope will yield lots of yummy food. Stay tuned!!

Tonight's planting - I think this was lima beans.

Thursday night pizza night

Thursday night is pizza night at our house and tonight, for the first time, Baby Cole joined in!

Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

Eli looks like he is worried that Cole will get his pizza.

Our weekend - farm, family and friends

This past weekend, we traveled down to the farm to spend some time with family and also go to the wedding of one of our friends. We left out about 8pm Friday and it was an ok drive down however, once we arrived both boys were ready to go and we had a hard time getting them back to sleep.

Saturday morning started outside - of course, what else do you do on the farm?! Eli wanted to go visit the animals as he had been talking about what he'd see. Mid-morning, we went to visit my Grandmother (Huggie Grandma as she is affectionately known) and had lunch at her house. Then it was back to the farm for a nap attempt. Well, Eli was having none of it and only wanted to run around. Grandma & Grandpa, of course, were up for the playing so they had a great time. Tim & Cole took a little nap while I showered and got ready for the wedding. Tim & I - dressed up and all! - left out about 4:20pm for the wedding. We wished my parents good luck, figuring Eli would fall apart with no nap, and headed out. The wedding was beautiful. Joel, the groom, used to work for me up here and is like a little brother to me. He & Lauren are such a great couple and it was wonderful to be part of their special day. We got home about 10:30pm and the Grandparents SAID the boys were great - I think the Grandparent perspective can sometimes be skewed - and everyone survived unscathed. Saturday pictures:

Early morning on the farm

Hanging with Grandma & Grandpa

Going to check for eggs

Belle loves being down on the farm - brings out the puppy in her

Watering the animals with Grandpa

My sweet little farm boy. He was outside before we could change out of pjs.

Saturday morning also brought some goodie bags from Uncle Billy and Miss Niki.

Cole had fun playing with tractors

and tricycles

and irons. He especially loved these.

Another tractor - Cole had so much fun.

Saturday afternoon Eli played with this fire truck - this was my little brother's! It is probably 20 years old and Eli loved it.

Eli also helped Grandma plant flowers. I wasn't around for this but LOVE how much of a helper he was. He looks so big.

Dumping out soil to plant.....

a little bit more......

digging a hole....

planting flower....

how pretty!

While Eli played with the fire truck more, Cole took a little snooze on Grandpa.

All snuggled up with Grandpa. So peaceful.

Cole with his Great Grandma - the huggie one!

Eli the tractor driving toddler.

He had so much fun driving it.

I think Grandpa had fun too.

Throwing rocks with Grandma. Eli had a BLAST throwing rocks all weekend. He wore himself out hunting for rocks and throwing them.

Uncle Billy & Miss Niki

Mommy & Daddy - dressed up and ready to go.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Me & Joel

Joel and Lauren

Sunday morning started off the same at Saturday. Eli wanted to go outside and check things out. We hung out for a bit with my folks and then headed to my other Grandparents to visit before heading home. We enjoyed some time with them and hit the road. The drive back was not as easy as the one down - the boys were awake most of it and Cole is a pretty demanding traveler. Travel woes and all, it was completely worth it to see our family and see our friends get married. Sunday pictures:

New farm addition - Lucy the donkey had a baby, affectionately named Ethel

other Great Grandma

with both boys - Eli's got some BIG eyes.

Eli discovered a big bag of popcorn and brought it to me sweetly asking to eat some.

The boys, me and their Great Grandparents.

My sweet Grandparents. They've been married 62 years!

Cute cookie lollipop from his goodie bag - good travel snack.

Sorry for all the pictures - I even TRIED to narrow them down. You should see all the ones still on my computer!