Watching our garden grow

This is the best picture I could get if our garden. I didn't really think our garden was big, until I tried taking a picture and couldn't get it all in!

Our garden contains: multiple types of peppers, variety of tomatoes (about 15 plants), cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries, herbs, squash, and zucchini. It had eggplants until Mr. Rabbit came to dine!

Watermelon sorbet

Simple. Refreshing. Cold.

Plus just 3 simple ingredients:
4 cups watermelon
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

In a saucepan combine sugar and water, stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool for about 5 min.

Put watermelon in blender and add the sugar water. Blend until smooth. Pour into a 9x13 pan and freeze. Not sure how long it needs to freeze since I made it in the morning and served it after dinner.


When its time to serve, I found it helpful to let it stand before attempting to chisel this block of watermelon ice! It's delicious and the kiddos loved it! I have heard of adding a bit of vodka to help it not freeze so hard, but people frown upon giving kids alcohol...so, let it sit and it gets all slushy like.


Happy summer y'all!

Back in the lanes

Walk out of the locker room and the smell of chlorine hits you in the face. Ahhhh....I love that smell. Call me crazy, but I guess its because it brings back so many memories of my BC (before children) life. I loved racing in triathlons and was pretty decent at it. My first triathlon, an Olympic distance (0.93 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run) I came seconds (literally)  from breaking three hours. My time 3:00:01 all because some gels fell out of my racing shirt pocket during the run and I went back for them! agghh! 


Anyhow, I went swimming today at the YMCA. Just getting the kids from the car into the gym was a workout. I put Andrew in the sling (plus carried the diaper bag and gym bag), Meredith in the umbrella stroller and Benjamin helped push the stroller. Of course there weren't any close parking spots (I firmly before that next to the handicap spots, should be parent parking for small children. Seriously, try to get 3 kids under 3 inside a building!) so it took us about 10-15 minutes to actually get inside the gym. Took Meredith and Andrew to the Infant room...Meredith begins to scream, Benjamin looks suspicious, like he knows whats going on. Benjamin put the death grip on my finger and we walk down the hall to the toddler room. His eyes big, my finger now completely white. We say hello to the teacher and the hand off goes very smoothly, no tears. I stood back and watched as he quickly got interested in all the toys. I dart out of site and get changed to go swim. 


swim suit - check
swim cap - check
goggles - check
kick board - check


I think I remember how to do this! The water felt great and my technique...not too shabby for not being able to swim, in forever. I swam 1,300 meters and even remembered some drills to work on. I could have kept swimming all day, but little babies have a 2 hour time limit that they can be in the childcare. And since it took me approximately 20 minutes just to get them to their room and I still had to shower, my time was closing in. 


As I was trying to remember the combination to my lock, a lady stopped and asked, "are you on a swim team?" I thought, really lady I am so out of shape, you think I'm on a swim team???


I told her no and she asked if I was a good swimmer. "I'm ok, I used to be much better."
"Oh, then maybe you can help me." Is she really asking me for advice?  


She proceeds to tell me how she gets out of breath when beginning her swim, but after awhile she breaths fine.

"Oh yeah, I felt that way today; it's my first day back in the water after having a baby. It's like running a race, you start out too fast because of the adrenaline pumping. Just tell yourself to slow down."

She said she never thought of it that way, but I was probably right. She told me she was getting ready to do her first triathlon. And asked if I had any advice for race day.

I said, "have fun."

We talked 'triathlon talk' for awhile. It was so good to talk to another adult, and even better that the conversation didn't revolve around diapers, milk supply, teething, time outs, toddler beds, etc.

Who knows, maybe I'll go dig up some of those ole' triathlon racing plans and "have fun"

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In other news: yesterday this little charmer turned four months:

Not really sure where the time has gone, but it's quickly flying by.

Spreading our roots

As crazy as it is, Benjamin will be three years old this year! I swear it was just yesterday that labor began after Thanksgiving dinner! How time is quickly flying. As he turns three this year, we are quickly realizing that he will need to go to school. As much as I want my baby boy to stay home with me forever, I know he needs to spread those little wings and enter the big scary world of kindergarten when he turns five. Which, hello is two years away!!!  Que panic attack!

We have two choices for schools, public or private. There are positives and negatives to each. The reality, we cannot afford private schools. So that leaves us with public schools. The schools system in Jefferson County has 'good' schools and not so good schools. To get into those 'good' schools you have to live in the area of that school. I've known people who move each time their son/daughter goes onto elementary, middle and high schools so that they can get into that 'good' school. I'm not sure I'm up for that much moving around. 

And it's not just about the schools, though, it is what is getting us thinking. We also want some room to stretch out. Granted we have a nice size back yard, a perfect little house, and awesome neighbors, but a little breathing room would be nice too. An acre or two, a small home similar to ours now, Alan would die for a garage with a workshop, and I would love to have a large garden where we can grow enough food to freeze/can for winter. Because lets face it, these Vaesa kids LOVE to eat. And the grocery bill is getting more and more expensive! We are obviously in the 'looking' phase of this process, and looking at Oldham or Nelson County. So if you live in either of those counties, please let me know what you like and don't like about where you are.

Backyard provides hours of swinging for the little Lady

Our backyard to great for riding a scooter down the big hill!

So begins the search of our next home...I really can't imagine leaving here, our first home, where we remodeled pretty much every room, where babies were brought home to, where babies learned to walk, run, and begun to ride bikes. All in three short years. But I've gotten quite attached.