Pappy

My Dad does not understand the word "small." He decided to start a vegetable garden this year, and proceeded to till up 2 quite large portions of his two acre lawn. He has planted tomatoes, squash, corn, okra, black beans, sweet peas, peppers, basil and various other herbs and vegetables. He is now planning his winter garden and tilled up even more land. Bless his tremendously patient wife, Libby (or Bibby as she is more commonly known by their 7 grandkids). I am reaping the benefits of all this organically-grown bounty, and have frozen corn, squash, tomatoes, and basil pesto. Aaron is also enjoying some homemade baby food with plenty of vitamins, as the transport time is about 10 minutes from Pappy's house to mine.

Dad does not do anything small. When he decides to take on a new hobby, he learns all he can and dives right in. He gardens big and he loves big. Elliott's Bible verse this week is taken from Galatians 5:13, "Serve one another in love." We have been discussing how we can serve others, and Pappy sharing the bounty from his garden is definitely on the list. Thank you, Pappy, for sharing everything you have with us and loving us big. Thank you, Lord, for blessing my family with a great Pappy.

The mountain of basil I received for making my favorite pesto.
This is only half of what he harvested! And there is still plenty more growing.

Elliott to the Rescue

Elliott loves tools. This is how he emerged from his room after naptime today, complete with taped together goggles.

Aaron jams with Elmo, the most annoying toy guitar ever created.

Chaos is sleeping

I thought it might be worthwhile to share where the title of my blog originated. In an instant message to my adorable hubby after a particularly challenging morning, I told him that “chaos is sleeping.” He thought that was so funny that he chose that title when creating my blog. I saved the IM conversation that occurred over a 5 hour period beginning with Elliott kicking his brother in the head. Over the course of the next few hours, I cut Elliott’s hair after which he ran around the house naked for at least 30 minutes while I talked to my Grama on the phone and she gave me pointers on how to correctly cut his hair. I told her that it was kind of like hitting a moving target, but the lesson continued. During this time, Elliott dressed up in a purple lei, a daisy tote bag, and a little green suitcase…all while still completely unclothed. Here is an excerpt from the IM conversation, “I had 2 naked boys, 1 crying, 1 naked, phones ringing all over the place cause dad was beeping in, being criticized for my haircutting… so in my infinite wisdom and masochistic tendencies, I told her [Grama] they were welcome to by here on their way home from the bank.” After all this, Elliott strapped me to my desk chair with the cord of his radio-controlled bulldozer while I sent an email for Matt’s mom who forgot to do so before departing on a blissful vacation to Hawaii. And then to top it off, Elliott recounts (hopefully not a true story) that his teacher at Mother’s Day Out spanks lots of kids at school and spanked him because he peed on the floor. At some point, you just have to laugh…possibly a hysterical, I’m-about-to-have-a-nervous-breakdown kind of laugh. So that explains why I have never been more grateful for naptime than on that particular day when finally “chaos was sleeping.”

A few more pictures...

I kept my niece Savannah the week before kindergarten started. The kids had great fun making tents in our living room. Here is my sister with all of the kids hanging out in their fort.

Aaron starts crawling...and not an army crawl like Elliott, he actually gets up on his knees.

Sleeping Pretzel

Father and son at the last softball game. Elliott loved running the bases after the games this year. For a 3 year old boy, it's not a good day until your shoes are dirty!

Fun at the Beach

This year for our family vacation, we went to Fort Morgan, AL. There were 9 adults and 7 kids in our house, and more family right next door. Elliott enjoyed the water and digging in the sand. He and his cousin Savannah found some little-bitty shells one day and Elliott said they were seeds that he had to push down in the sand so they would grow. We have been learning about how things grow this summer, so I guess he's been paying attention. Aaron loved the water and splashed around in the little pools on the beach. Here are some pictures of our trip. Aunt Mandy has some more, but she has to take care of her paying clients first. She really needs to get her priorities straight! Hopefully I'll have them up soon!

Matt and Aaron chill in the shade

Pirates left some treasure for kids

I wonder what he's so excited about??

Beach bums

Aaron loves to get his picture taken

with my boys

Cutie Aaron

Aaron with his great-grampa (who celebrated his 82nd birthday at the beach)