Radishes!

The radishes were a definite success this year.

We've been having some issues with kids who like to pick things. One who likes to pick anything that is ripe, whether we are planning on using it or not. The other who likes to pick anything, especially green strawberries and any fruit that is within reach, ripe or not.

Samuel picked twice as many radishes as you see here one day, and two days later decided to pick another bunch just as big. Using up the radishes was a cinch since we love them in salad, but those greens, oy. I did manage to use them up, first in a strawberry and radish green salad which we shared with our neighbors at a barbecue on the 4th of July, and the rest went into strawberry/yogurt popscicles that Samuel and Shira sucked down, as usual.

Wrecking Ball

Pine cone (picked up while bus/walking to Daddy's office) + string (from CSA shade) = WRECKING BALL

Pre Haircut Hairdo

Samuel had enough of Shira getting all the fun hairdos and requested 4 pigtails today. He wore them this way to Torah for Tots and a couple of hours later got a "short cut" as he calls it.

More Bikes

Shira loves riding in the Ibert on the front of my bike, but she also really wants to ride her own bike too. She is now big enough to walk on the scoot bike, and wishes that she was big enough to ride the trikes.

The New Garden

The garden is a work in progress, but the big stuff is mostly done. We still want to add an arbor over the entrance, and plant flowers along the walkway, arbor and swingset, but we're mostly maintaining and watching things grow. (Note the witch scarecrow, courtesy of, you guessed it, Bubbie).

The radishes Samuel and Bubbie planted from seed.

The pumpkins, also from seed.

To date, we have gotten one yellow raspberry, four blueberries, the cherry tomato plant is producing, the radishes have gone crazy, I've harvested the basil three times, and the artichokes produce more every couple of weeks. It's amazing what happens when you actually water your plants. The cara cara orange, lemon, and kumquat trees are all sprouting new growth everywhere. I even have some hope that we can revive the tangelo tree, but I'm not holding my breath.

Language Explosion and Space Excitement

Shira has had a language explosion in the last two weeks. About two weeks ago, she went from a decent vocabulary, with a short list of two word phrases, to adding multiple words a day to her repertoire, and now within the last week she has gone from occasional two word phrases, to multiple word sentences.

She can now express just about everything that is going on in her head, not just necessities. There is no question that we have another little person who likes to explain exactly what they are thinking and doing in extreme detail on our hands. Taking a page from her brother's play book, she also likes to detail to me exactly what she wants to eat, which condiments I should include, whether it should be on a plate or in a bowl, which plate or bowl I should use, and whether she wants a fork or spoon. She also lets me know if I should be the one to add something to plate, or if she is the one who is going to do it. If it's me, she will explain to me that she doesn't want "much" on. Oy.

Samuel has suddenly become very interested in space, NASA, space shuttles, the moon, and just about everything else space related. Steve and he took an emergency trip to the library on Sunday to feed the habit. And Samuel is already schooling me on the details. We may have Laszlo to thank for this new hobby.

Three next

When asked how old she is, Shira insists that she is three. Steve has convinced her to say "three next." She definitely comports herself like an almost three year old. Now that we have celebrated her 2nd birthday three times, I guess she is entitled to "three next."

For her actual birthday on the 22nd, we made what I guessed would be a favorite dinner, if Shira could tell us what she wanted - lamb chops and cauliflower. It was most definitely a hit with both the kids.

The meal gave Shira the opportunity to behave like a puppy dog.

And blueberries with whipped cream for dessert. Lucky for Shira, she has a big brother who is happy to demonstrate how to blow out birthday candles. (What's a birthday without blowing out your candles in your birthday suit?)

Two days later we celebrated Shira's birthday with a small get together composed around Teacher Joe's music class.

Looks like Shira's not the only one excited about Teacher Joe coming to our house. I believe Steve's exact words were, "When Samuel sees Teacher Joe at our house, I think his head might explode."

And more blueberries and whipped cream

And one last b-day celebration, this one with the Silberman clan.

And since you can only have so many blueberries and whipped cream, let's stick a candle in watermelon this time...