Summer randoms

I haven't posted in a long time but I have a bunch of cool pictures and facts I want to keep a record of so this post will be a little scattered.

First and foremost, I give you my pride, my very own garden, my deliciousness and abundance of veggie that I'm really proud to say I started all from seeds! I did not expect such an abundant crop after last year's failure. But it seems my efforts were rewarded this year. I planted tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, swiss chard, lettuce, broccoli, basil and green beans and everything except for the broccoli thrived beyond measure. We also had some strawberry plants left from the previous gardener and they did great.

Between our garden and the veggies we've been getting weekly from the farm (Andrew's farm a CSA we signed up for with our friends the Conkeys), we have been eating healthier than ever.
Stuffed flying saucer squash, caramelized turnip and apple, green beans and cherry tomato salad, roasted eggplant, every recipe of zucchini you could imagine (seriously- brownie-d, cookie-d, bread-d, lasagna-d, fried, grilled zucchini), mountains of tabouleh, salsa, gazpacho, homemade spaghetti sauce. The only low point is I've been spending hours everyday cleaning and preparing veggies in the kitchen, and I can clap my hands in the kitchen and kill 10 fruit flies at once (not really... but they're driving me nuts).

While I was cleaning and cooking veggies the boys were busy playing with their favorite toys (legos and duplos). I love to help them create their master pieces following their precise instructions. Josh always has the greatest ideas. It usually revolves around the story of the 3 little pigs. On one particular day, we built 3 different houses (a house made of straw-with wooden blocks, a house of sticks-with William's duplos and a house of bricks-with his legos). Josh then added a fence around the house, a garden, outdoor furniture and vegetation, ducks and a pond, and my favorite part: stairs leading to the chimney. He then played the 3 little pigs story and added a lego fire truck to put out the fire at the end of the story so the big bad wolf wouldn't be too hurt (William loved to participate in destroying the houses after the big bad wolf's blowing). I loved all the details.

We had playdates and dinners and lots of outdoor play too. Sadly we had to say goodbye to 2 more family friends this month and we already feel the emptiness of their absence. About a week before our friends the Neyenhuis left we invited their children for an afternoon and I had a lot of fun watching them interact with each other. Lately whenever we have little girls come over to play, Josh's favorite activity is to play Mommy and Daddy and pretend to sleep. Go figure. William tags along of course, and I'm pretty pleased when he shows tenderness rather than his usual growling/teasing.



Our friends the Petersen's moved last Friday too and we miss them already. They lived right across from our apartment and we literally couldn't spend a day without seeing them. Josh and Brayden were the most dynamic duo of 3 year olds. They both have very strong personalities and managed to take turns leading each other in some energetic adventure (most of the time).
A few weeks before they moved we had a cheese sampling dinner. It was amazing! Jesse and Deanna brought 2 different types of goat cheeses (one hard and one soft) from the farmers market along with some fresh bread and tapenade, and we bought a Petit Basque, Cambozola (tastes just like Bresse Bleu in my opinion) , Gruyere and a baguette. Accompanied with a strawberry, bleu cheese and almond salad, it was the best dinner ever. Deanna is a chocolate connoisseur and she shared some of her delicious Askinosie chocolate for dinner. I thought I was a chocolate snob but boy was I wrong! Deanna has me beat hands down. I'll think about her every time I eat some good dark chocolate.

A couple of weeks ago we signed Joshua up for his first race, The Pearl Street Mile (actually 1/2 mile for kids). Our friends Emily and Sam (Josh's best buddy) were supposed to run with us but they both got sick a few days before the race. Josh was so excited about it we decided to go ahead and do it anyways, even though we pretty much suck as runners. Growing up in Boulder he has seen several races, and is totally into the "racing" gig.
I can not really explain what happened but it turned out to be a complete fiasco.
Joshua's enthusiasm vanished as soon as we hit Pearl Street. He'd been talking our heads off about how he was going to run so fast, nobody would be faster than him and he was going to win the race, but before even reaching the start line he started tantruming and throwing a fit for everything we asked (didn't want to put his race shirt on, didn't want to walk, didn't want to put the timing device on his shoe...) He brightened up when he saw his favorite mascot, Chip, preparing to race, so we followed Chip with enthusiasm and tried to find him to give him a high five. We didn't realize the kids race was starting right after the mascot race so we didn't hurry and all of a sudden we were 10-20 feet behind everybody and I hear "Ready, set...." I try to hurry Josh to the start line but it was too late, the crowd had taken off in seconds and Josh and I were running 20 feet behind. He was so hurt and frustrated he started crying and crying and refused to run to catch up. He was a complete mess of mixed feelings and disappointment. It was pretty sad.

 Josh before the race

                                            

 Still before the race

                                   

Still pre-race grumpiness...

                                   

 and Josh just after the take off. He insisted he didn't want to run to catch up so I was taking him to the side but that triggered even more emotion.

I didn't want Josh to leave with such a feeling of failure so we stayed a little bit to see the kids finish the race and gladly the girls at the finish line were super nice and gave Josh a banner and an ice cream.

                                    

                                    

 kinda happy post-race Josh

Since then, he's talked about it a lot and insists on wearing his tee-shirt. He doesn't seem traumatized but we'll see how he does if we ever sign him up for a race.

And lastly, Joshua started pre-school a week ago. It is his first official year of pre-school since his birthday is in December and they wouldn't let him start last year. But with our little preschool co-op and his 2 mornings at the Children Center he's already done pretty much an entire year of preschool. He goes to Creekside this year, which is a preschool combined with an elementary school so it's much bigger than what he was used to, but he's in love with it. His teacher Miss Stacey is very nice and competent. He didn't have any trouble saying good bye and asks to go every day (he goes almost 3hrs a day Tuesday through Friday). William would want to stay too, but he won't be able to start until next year. He's gone 5 times already and has told me a lot of stories about Fire trucks, Monkeys, astronauts and dancing.