Grapes

Just in case you are wondering, "What's with all the grapes??", I thought I'd explain. Luis's name (Parra) means grapevine, so there you go. I have decided that when we actually get around to building our house, I am going to incorporate the grapes/grapevine theme into our decorating.

Milestones

Some of the greatest milestones come in the tiniest of packages...like Josh's itsy bitsy tooth that came out today. It's his first tooth to fall out, and I think you can tell by the smile, he's pretty excited! I know I'm a little bias...but what a CUTIE!!

The Dog (aka Buddy, Paco, etc) came...and went....

We lived with Buddy for two weeks, and that's as much as we could stand. I'm sure Buddy is a great dog, and will be a great pet...to someone else. He successfully chewed through two collars, one leash, two plastic cups, a water dish, and almost destroyed our garden. Buddy needs to be on a sheep farm...somewhere in England. It's no secret that I was against the dog from the get go. Miraculously, it only took two weeks for my husband and both children to get on board. By the second weekend, Luis was pacing the yard, trying to figure out where we could send the beast, and the boys were being held hostage in the front porch, as we couldn't seem to find a device to restrain the dog effectively. Yesterday, the boys actually told me that they "hated that dog". Luis walked down to the neighbor's house, who was thrilled to take him off our hands. Good bye Buddy...and good riddance!

I Wish I May...

Tonight Josh had his first baseball practice of the season, and Jonathan came along with me. As often is the case, Jonathan becomes bored rather quickly just sitting and watching the practices (and even games, for that matter), but tonight, he managed to keep himself happy with the hundreds of dandelions that had gone to seed. Somewhere along the way, he learned that before you blow the seeds, you have to make a wish, so he was entertaining me and the other parents around with his interesting wish requests...he started out with "I wish I was a girl like Karlita" (one of the girls from church), and it deteriorated rather quickly. With each new flower that he brought to me, I cringed at the thought of what the next wish would be. Thankfully nothing was too embarrassing, and mostly it was about having lots of candy or going to the playground. At the perfect time, Aunt Marybeth came and he switched his attention to her, and all dignity was saved...this time.

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

It has been raining a lot lately, but I am so glad. We have been really busy, and sometimes watering the garden falls by the way-side...(Thanks for the help, God!)Today, the weather broke for a few minutes, so the boys and I took a walk out back to the garden. They ran from row to row, looking to see if there is any new life in their section of the garden. Today, we discovered that the pumpkins, watermelon, broccoli and onions are growing!! I have to admit, it gives me great pleasure to see plants sprouting up, because the only time I have ever attempted a garden of any kind was when Luis and I were first married. We lived in a little (lop-sided) house in Port Royal, South Carolina. It was a quaint, one bedroom house, that couldn't have been more than 600 square feet. I tried my hand at planting tomatoes on the side of the house. I must have planted about 15 plants. I was faithful to water every day. Luis brought me some miracle grow, so I thought...hey, if a little is good, A LOT must be better! So I added some to each plant, and eagerly waited for our luscious tomatoes to grow. Well, our plants grew....and grew...and GREW! The plants almost reached the roof eaves, they were the largest, greenest most beautiful plants I had ever seen...unfortunately, we never picked a single tomato. I guess too much of a good thing isn't really good at all...must be why they say, "all things in moderation"...and why they put directions on the packages!