Stepping up the compost pile

We've been building a small compost pile in the back woods for some time now. It's been slow-going as I had only been adding the "greens" kitchen scraps mostly in the form of kitchen scraps. So it's been more like feeding the woodland creatures than it has been like building a compost pile. This summer we started taking it more seriously and I started adding the "browns" as well and the pile of scraps is finally starting to look like real compost.

One of my vacation projects was to build some real compost bins for our slow-cook compost piles. Of course I chose to enlist the help of Max to do some serious building. I dragged my circular saw out to the backyard and sliced up some old pallets I had collected for just this kind of project. Max brought his hammer and the nails, and we pounded together a nice double-wide compost bin with a removable front wall. The next day Lauren and I went to hardware store and picked up some some hook & eye latches to secure the front wall and she helped me screw them in place.

Here's a picture of Lauren modeling the finished product. As you can see we have transferred the existing pile into one bin and moved the garden-scraps container into the other. Next spring I'm going to sift out some serious compost for the garden. :-) I'll have to post a picture of the sliding compost sifter I built when the time comes to use it. Until then, the piles have a comfy place to cook!

Apple picking at home

Apple picking is a regular annual event for many New England families. We've taken our kids to Westford's town-owned orchard every year since we moved here. This year, however, we picked apples in our own yard for the first time. There are four young apple trees in our yard that had not been cared for and were not producing any worthwhile fruit. Well, last year I read up on how to properly prune the apple trees and I cut them back by about 30%, though they still need plenty more care. Well, this year we saw a huge difference in the fruit! Now that the branches have more room and more light, two of the trees started producing real apples. The kids and I went out this weekend with a stepladder and a basket and we harvested what I estimate to be about 50 apples! (We don't know what varieties we have, but all four appear to be red apples, and a friend says one of them looks like the "red delicious" variety.) It was good fun picking the apples, and even better that we harvested from our very own apples trees! Mom helped the kids make some applesauce that afternoon, and I'm sure there will be apple pie, apple crisp, and lots of other apple goodness coming from that harvest. This fall I'll work on recovering the trees a bit more and we'll start planning on what we'll do with next year's harvest!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

If only Max had been ready as early and Nemo. lol

Today, both Max and Lauren had their first day of school, Max, kindergarten, and Lauren, preschool. Lauren was really excited, and insisted on picking out her own clothes (though at least she did let me guide her a bit). Max was looking forward to it, but not in a get up early and get yourself dressed and go sit in the car waiting for Mom way. Max's was only a short day to get the kids used to the class, but Lauren's was the full half day. It was a bit crazy for me as I had to drop Max off, drop Lauren off, pick Max up, run an errand, then pick up Lauren. I was exhausted by 11:30. But, they both had nice days.

I tried to get pictures of both of them, but Max wasn't dressed until we were supposed to already be in the car, so none of him before, and when I tried to get some afterwards, he ran from the camera yelling "no pictures!" so I didnt' exactly get a stellar picture. Lauren was more cooperative, but I somehow lost the ones I took outside the school. The most unfortunate thing is that when Max and I picked Lauren up (something that will only happen very rarely if at all), he was so excited to see her and she, him and they ran to each other and gave each other a huge hug, and the camera was in the car. The whole group of parents and teachers awwwed at it. Oh well, I have it in my memory bank. :)

Tomorrow, Max starts his normal schedule. Hopefully I will have this down after a week or two.

Monkey

Lauren loves the story "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and also loves to jump on the bed. Go figure. I have gotten into the habit of just saying "Monkey, no jumping!" when she does it. Monkey is actually a pretty fitting nickname for her. She is still our climber. Last weekend, we took the kids to the Middlesex County 4H Fair. Max loves the big air bouncy things, so he dragged us over to them. We give the kids the choice of two activities that cost money, and that was the first thing he chose. Lauren wanted a pony ride, which she enjoyed, but when she saw the obstacle course, she wanted to do that, too (which was fine, activity number two). She is still pretty tiny, and I am not sure if I would have let her go in, but luckily for her, I was off watching an Owl show with Max (the next time you see him, ask him to do his owl calls. He loved that show.) and you know how daddies are. She more than held her own and loved it. A climbing wall and things to slide down... what's not to love!

I had to drive to go to Boston today to pick up one of my stepfather's painting which was at an art gallery (Copley Society for the Arts) in Boston. My folks had a wedding this weekend so getting down here was going to be tough so I offerred. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but what I didn't realize was that it was the same weekend as the 4H Fair. I also didn't expect it to be one of the nicest weekends of the summer. So, I kind of put it off... to the last minute. I was going to take the train but Max and I had too nice a time at the Fair and stayed too long to make the last train that would get me there in time. So, I had to drive. No biggy. I have made this drive enough times (it is one exit after the hospital). I offerred to take Lauren so that she would be out of Josh's hair when he tried to mow the lawn, and Max really wanted to come along for some odd reason, so we got in the car and headed in. The drive went smoothly. Both kids fell asleep pretty quickly (which is why Max is still awake at 9, but oh well) so I had a nice quiet drive in. There was no traffic, and I made it in record time, about 45 minutes, just like Google Maps said, and I had no trouble finding the street. Parking was another matter. I was hoping for street parking but it was really busy. If I had been alone, I would have just driven around until I found parking, and I was tempted to do that anyway, but I decided that with both kids, plus a painting to carry, I would just suck it up and pay 10 bucks to park in the lot across the street from the gallery. Well, as it turns out, this was a good decision. I hopped out of the car at the parking booth, in front of the two parking guys, and opened Max's door, and then walked over to get Lauren. As I was putting on a carrier, I looked at Max's feet and said "where are your shoes?" with mild panic in my voice, but to be honest, I just figured he had kicked them off. Both kids have a habit of going barefoot while in the car. He said "down there" pointing to the ground so no worries. I put Lauren on my back, walk around, and he hasn't found the shoes (he was pretty groggy from his nap), so I look and then reality hits me. "Did you take them off in the house when we got back from the fair?" "Ummm, yes, I did." Argh! We were only home for maybe 10 minutes. I had checked to make sure Lauren had shoes, as Josh has been known to put her in the car without them, but never thought to look at his feet (he put himself in the car). Back around the car, Lauren off my back, around again, all 40something pounds of Max on my back. The parking lot attendants by this time are looking at me wide eyed. One of them says "Don't you have a stroller in there that you can put him in?" "No, I never use a stroller. It will be okay." and I take Lauren by the hand and say thanks and off we go, Max on my back, barefoot, me pregnant, holding to Lauren who tends to bolt for dear life down the very busy Boston street. I get to the light to cross, call Mom to double check that the gallery is where I think it is because they are doing roof construction or something and all the buildings are wrapped in white paper so nothing looks familiar. It really was just across the street, though, so it really wasn't a bit deal. One of the women at the gallery was nice enough to carry the painting to my car for me, which definitely made things easier. When I was leaving, not 10 minutes later, the parking lot attendant said "leaving already "and I responded "I told you it was only going to be about 5 minutes. This will be one of the most expensive per minute parking times that I have had but thank goodness it was close." and he chuckled and then handed me my credit card back, leaned over and pressed a button and told me that he didn't charge me. There are still good people in the world.

The drive back was uneventful and I made the whole trip in about 2 hours. My mother spent half of that laughing at me.

Max Grants Lauren's Wish (alt title Lauren Smiles, Mom Sobs)

Or, quiet children is rarely a good thing.

I should probably wait another day or two until I can really laugh about this before posting, but here goes anyway.

Yesterday, Lauren came to me with the kids' scissors and said she wanted a hair cut. I told her that scissors were for cutting paper, not hair and she repeated that she wanted a hair cut and I asked if she really wanted one and she said yes, and I told her, okay, the next time she went with Daddy to get his cut, she could get hers cut, too, and she said okay and got some paper and happily started cutting. Max was in his room when we had this conversation (we were in mine). All seemed good. I should have known better. I went off to do some laundry. I thought Max was getting ready to go to the park. When I came back up, I called to Max to ask him if he was ready to go and he said, happily "No, I am giving Lauren a haircut." NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I run in and find her happily sitting there, surrounded by what had been her beautiful, waist length hair. "I getting hair cut Mommy!" said Lauren. I started crying. Max explained to me (after I had calmed down a bit) that Lauren had asked him to cut her hair. "I was granting Lauren's wish." I actually believe him. It didn't make me happier, though.

After leaving a sobbing message on my hairdresser's machine ("I know you are closed today but can you possibly fit us in tomorrow. Please call me when you are open again.") we went to the park and I felt a bit better. Josh was surprisingly amused by the whole thing for a guy who has been saying over his dead body would we be cutting her hair. He thinks she looks cute, and she does. I was actually pretty surprised by my reaction, but realized that I never managed to grow my own hair that long, and people always commented on how pretty her hair was. But, it is only hair. There are many worse things in life.

I took her to get it cleaned up this afternoon and it looks much better now. Max and I had a long talk while it was being cut. I explained that the woman cutting it had special tools and had gone to school to learn to cut hair. He asked "Can I take that class?" He also told her that "I started it for you."

The scissors are going to be locked up until he is old enough to drive.

I realize that the real impact of this can't be felt without a before picture (though the pile is pretty big), so I am adding a picture of her hair a few months before it was cut.

Max turns fives years old

Max turned five this year. We had a small party for him. Very small. Like one other couple and their two kids kind of small. We hadn't planned it that way though, and he certainly wasn't lacking for celebrations. Sometimes small parties are very nice too.

You see, just as we were starting to make the invitation rounds for his birthday weekend, we got invited to spend the day at my sister's lake house that same weekend. She had planned a BBQ with my immediate family and my aunts from our of town. We haven't had many chances to visit with my family at large and my aunts were only around for that one week, so this was going to be a significant day. Max's party got rescheduled at the last minute and almost all of his & our friends already had plans for the new date.

Now, going to the BBQ at my sister's house was great fun for all of us. It was wonderful to see everyone together of course, and there was no shortage of food or fun to be had. Max had requested chocolate cake for his birthday, and one of the many desert-type items were homemade chocolate mini cupcakes. Not wanting to disappoint the boy in any way we agreed to pass the cupcakes off as "birthday cupcakes." Max (and Lauren) also had a great time playing with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. They played games, blew bubbles, and went swimming just before a giant thunderstorm rolled over the lake. In addition, my father's birthday is a few days after Max's, and this party fell right between the two. They each got birthday wishes and a few presents to honor the day.





The following weekend we had Max's "official" birthday celebration. Our friend Joy and her family were able to join us for the event. They have one daughter around Max's age and another who is an infant, so the kids had someone to play with and someone to coddle over as well. The kids worked together to "help" Dorothy decorate Max's birthday cake. The party was loosely a "firehouse" theme and the cake mold was in the shape of a fire truck. (Although the decorations from the kids... very much not like a fire truck.) Of course there was also lots of running and yelling and acting like children both in and out of the pool and sprinkler. We BBQ'd up a bunch of food, ate a lot of the firetruck cake, and then the parents relaxed while the kids ran and yelled some more. I think everyone had a good time, and our small little party was just lovely.






One the funny things about spreading out Max's birthday celebration(s) is that he thought you got a year older each time you had a party. (Although I must admit, when we're chasing all these kids around, sometimes I feel that way too!) He had mentioned while decorating his cake that he was six now. When we corrected him that he was only five he stated "No Mommy, I was five last week. First you're four then you're five then you're six!" I think we've got him straightened out on that little detail now. So yep, Max is five years old and he's doing great!

-Josh

Trip to Baltimore

We've been behind in posting lately so this news is about a month old now. We took a family trip to Baltimore last month to visit "Uncle Greg" (Dorothy's brother) and see his new home. It was the four of us with Grandma and Grampa Rich and we all flew down together. Greg's place is a nice little row home and he and his fiance' Jenny have done a great job with some renovations. It's also within walking distance of a nice park and Baltimore's "inner harbor".

Each day of our long weekend involved at least one big trip up to the park and beyond. The kids loved the park, of course, and spent plenty of time running and swinging and hiding and laughing. From the park there is a great overlook of the entire "inner harbor" and all the landmark buildings. It was a good opportunity to plan out what other cool things we might like to go visit.

On our first trip to the harbor Max and Uncle Greg and I went out in one of the paddle boats. Max steered, Greg peddled, and I sat in the back taking photos of the landmarks and the big "dragon boats". We had a good time checking out the public displays, and Max and I went on the old merry-go-round while the adults checked out a car show in front of the science center.

Another journey involved visiting Baltimore's National Aquarium. This is a fabulous aquarium and we had a great time there. They have some amazing displays built up here, including a glass-enclosed rain forest and a display of Australia wildlife. We also got to see the live dolphin show, and we saw a short movie in the "4-D immersion theater." I tried to get some good pictures at all of these installations, but in the end this one of Max in the 3D glasses was my favorite. It was a shame that the fourth dimension scared him out of the theater. All in all we really had a good time at the aquarium.

On our third day there I took Max to tour a old WWII submarine, the USS Torsk, that is on display in the harbor. It was fascinating, for me at least, to see this old vessel and all the stuff that is crammed into such a small space. Max mostly wanted to run from room to room and play with anything that didn't look too foreboding. In the end he said he enjoyed the submarine but that "Daddy took way too many pictures." Not an easy task, mind you, as I also had Lauren in a carrier on my back. Ducking through the portals meant ducking for two and staying ducked longer. Still, the kids and I had a good time checking out this honorable old machine.

Later this day the kids and I came back with Dorothy and we explored the Seven Foot Knoll Light. It's one of the smallest lighthouses I've ever seen, and the first of this "screw pile" type lighthouse. It has been relocated to the shore of the inner harbor and restored as part of the nautical museum. I love all things old, and the kids love anything they can run in, so this was a stop worth making as well.

Now, I can't close this post without saying how nice it was for Greg and his fiance to put us all up for the weekend and to show us around their little town. Everyone had a nice trip and we have a lot of nice memories take back with us. We'll all looking forward to next trip down, which it looking like it will be for their wedding in September. Thanks guys, see you soon!

Daddy, You Look Good in That Shirt

Daddy, You Look Good in That Shirt

We were getting ready to take an evening bike ride with Max on his trailer-bike behind mine. I had informed him that I would be changing into my bike shorts as riding in loose torn denim jeans was less than comfortable for me. Before I could even get out of said jeans he had rummaged through my shirt drawer and picked out a bike jersey for me as well. He was right, of course, that this would be more comfortable than the t-shirt I was wearing too. As soon as I had the shirt on he complimented me and announced he was going to get the camera to take a picture. He took only one photo, but it came out pretty well. (He's getting really good with the cameras, even the big DSLR. The only post-processing I've done is to crop it as a portrait instead of a landscape.) During our ride he told me that this picture would be a poster for me so I could remember this ride we had together. He's such a sweet kid sometimes!

On recycling the peanut butter jar...

OK, so I've been recycling for years and I'm a huge supporter. I even break down my items and sort everything out according to the town's instructions. Anything I can do to help maintain (or even better) the environment I'm all for it. There is, however, one item of recycling that always causes me inner turmoil. The peanut butter jar. One one hand, I don't want to put any food wastes into the recycling, so everything gets rinsed out before going in the bin. On the other hand, I expend so much effort and hot water trying to get the last of the peanut butter out of the jar that I feel like I'm wasting far more than I'm saving. At what point does it become not worth the effort? Should I just toss the nearly-empty jar into the trash and let it take up space? Should I casually leave the jar open and within reach of the dog, and then just recycle whatever parts of it he fails to digest? The town's instruction booklet doesn't offer me any help on this one...