Into the World....

How can it be that my girl is going to kindergarten in just over an hour? I cried last night...big, sobbing, alligator tears. I wondered if I had prepared her enough, if I had taught her enough. Mostly, I wondered how our five years together went by so quickly. It seems like she was just born, just smiling at me with her toothless grin, just waddling her first steps across the floor, just saying "mamamamamama" for the first time. And now she's heading out into the world. My heart is breaking. And today I am praying that the world will love my sweet Kate just as much as I do.
Now go get 'em, girlfriend. The world is out there waiting for you (and your mama will be just a few steps behind, cheering you on all the way)!

Sneak Peak for Lori and Wayne

Do you know what's better than owning a beach house?
Having good friends who own a beach house!
Thanks Lori and Wayne...we had a great time.
Here's a quick sneak peak -more photos to come!

1 in 565...

Out of 565 vacation pictures, I think this one is my favorite. Stay tuned...there's more to come!

MIA...and Sneak Peak for Sara

Did you miss me this week? I missed you...briefly. But instead of dwelling on the fact that our beach house did not have wireless internet and I had no way of checking in (since my cell phone is circa 2000 or thereabouts and does not have any fancy doodads), I decided to immerse myself in vacation...unplug from the rest of the world for seven whole days. No TV for the kids. No computer for me. And we survived. I can't wait to fill you in on our vacation, because it could possibly be one of my best ever (except for one very unruly three-year-old who was lacking sleep and oozing sugar from her pores, but I'm trying to overlook that).

For now, the vacation recap will have to wait, because I have some super important photos to share with you of my friend Sara's family. I am so, super excited about these photos that it's nearly midnight and I cannot stop looking at them.

Did I not tell you??? Those eyes are just so amazing (and I did nothing to them in photoshop...honestly, they just looked like that).

Sara and I have known each other forever (since birth...her birth, because I was born 4 months before her). She knows me so well that she even brought deodorant so I could reapply mid-shoot. What can I say? I get nervous before every photoshoot, and I sweat profusely. But Sara's always got my back (I've been borrowing deodorant from her since middle school, and she is well aware of my stinky pits). Now that is a good friend, don't you agree?

Here's Sneak Peak #1 from Sara's photoshoot. I have a feeling there will be more, because I got some really cute (and possibly a little embarrassing?) photos of Sara, practicing for a Pantene commercial, and I cannot keep those to myself. So stay tuned for that! But for now, check out this beautiful family....

Roy G. Biv (special focus on the G)

Are you sitting down? No? You're standing up and looking at the computer? Weird. Are you in the kitchen, standing at the island, searching for a recipe? That's about the only reason I can think of to be standing while on the computer. It doesn't matter...if you're standing, grab a seat. I have some News from the Farmstead. Are you sitting? Okay...this week on the Farmstead, I have learned:

If you plant it and care for it and love it and blow kisses to it and pray for it and photograph it and wait patiently for it, and finally, pick it...

She will eat it!

I'm afraid to type this, for fear that I may jinx it and she'll never eat a green veggie again, but this little girl ate lots of steamed green beans this week. GREEN BEANS. Do you hear the complete and utter shock coming straight through the computer? She ate them (and I'm not even concerned that they were dipped drowned in ranch dressing). I'm focusing on the fact that they were green. beans. Did I mention that they were green. beans? Green. Hooray for the G in between the Roy and the Biv.

There's another little girl in this house who has not caught on yet, but I'm not giving up hope.

There's still tomatoes and peppers and sweet potatoes and carrots and broccoli to pick. She's bound to eat something, right? But I'm not focusing on that right now. Because one little girl in this house ate green. beans.

Today, there is much rejoicing on the Farmstead. Green has become one of my new, favorite colors! Yay for green beans!


Check out other colors of the rainbow on the Week 13 KinderGardens Round Up. Or, you could read the Week 14 KinderGardens updates (I'm late, as usual)!

A promise kept...sort of.

We promised the girls a backyard campout, complete with a fire and smores. Seems like a simple promise to keep, right? Except who knew that on the very day we had planned said backyard campout, that it was going to be the hottest day of the entire year. We're talking capital H-O-T, triple digits, stinky, sweaty hot. But a promise is a promise and the girls had been counting down the days until the backyard campout. So we complied. Sort of.

Steve made a super small fire. We roasted approximately 15 marshmallows. I ate ten of them. The girls shared the other five.

At one point, Steve and I were quietly turning the skewers, in pursuit of the perfect, golden, gooey, toasted marshmallow, when I said, "It doesn't quite feel like we're camping." He just looked at me, wiped his brow and replied, "What? Is it the sweat running down your butt crack?" And then we both started laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing...roasting marshmallows by a fire in 90+ degree weather.

A few minutes later, Kate told me she had to get off the swing because her butt was wet from all the sweat. Yeah...there was lots of sweat. But we kept our promise and the girls had a blast.



We set up the tent in the family room. I tried to convince Steve that he should sleep there with the girls while I lounged in bed and watched a Hallmark movie. Unfortunely, he talked his way out of that one and took his sweaty butt to our comfy bed, leaving me to sleep on the floor between two chatty, giggly, goofy girls. It took them forever to fall asleep and I was about to give up when all of the sudden everything got quiet.

And then out of the quiet darkness, one little three-year-old girl whispered in a sleepy voice, "Guess what, Mama? I love you." And everyone fell asleep.

It is one of those perfect moments that I hope I will remember, even when I'm old and gray. And to think that I almost missed it, in favor of a comfy bed and Hallmark movie. I'm so glad Steve took his sweaty butt to bed and left me between those two giggly girls.

Around 1:30 a.m., I made two trips up the steps, carrying little girls off to their comfy beds before curling up in mine. Because the fun part is falling asleep in the tent. Who needs to wake up there? Now that is my kind of camping!