The Garden of Love (With a last name like Love, I just can't help myself)

We have had so so luck with gardens in the past but Troy is a trooper and he doesn't give up. Here is a look at our garden this year. It appears our thumbs are turning greener.

 Eggplants! Who woulda guessed? We made delicious Eggplant Parmesan - gluten free - DELISH!

 We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes. I can go out every day and pick about 4-5 ripe tomatoes. Troy has been perfecting his salsa making this summer as we have also grown jalapenos.

Watermelon. Haven't tried it yet. How do you know when it is finished growing?

Some rogue corn stalks started growing. I was all for weeding them out but Troy wants to see what will happen.

 In this picture, from left to right: green beans (we need to plant those earlier next year - they didn't like the heat at all!), zucchini, eggplants, sunflowers, onions, watermelon and a couple of strawberry plants that have produced about 5 strawberries. Luckily Ben and Lizzy got to them before the birds did.

Here are the sunflowers starting to bloom.

The tallest sunflower grew to almost 10 feet tall! Now when I look at sunflower seeds I wonder how that tiny seed can grow to such great heights. Amazing!

Ben and Lizzy have loved watching the plants grow - so have I. I actually can't wait to see what we plant next!

Troy's Harry Potter Father's Day

I have a hard time buying gifts for Troy. He is probably like most men, the presents he wants are all waaaaaayyyy out of our budget. It has become easier to think of presents if I choose a theme. The kids and I sat down to figure out a theme for Father's Day. Our plans evolved from sending Troy on a treasure hunt for his gifts, to doing a Pirate theme to a full fledged Harry Potter Father's Day complete with a Maurader's Map treasure hunt, pumpkin juice, a sorting hat, Quidditch robes, butter beer and two cute house elves giggling as they went in to wake-up Troy for the festivities.

Troy searched high and low for his gifts using a Maurader's map. He found some of his presents in the Herbology classroom gardens. Yes, Troy is wearing a Quidditch robe Lizzy proudly handed to him as she woke him up that morning. (We did let him sleep in until about 9 - just so you all know)

 This is such a terrible picture but it is the only one I have. :( My friend Becky Crookston has created a "Harry Potter Party In A Box" which she willingly let me borrow. You can barely see the decorations on the table. But you can see the easy schmeasy floating candles Becky made out of paper and fishing line. (they are still,  7-18-2011,  hanging above our table.)

One of the presents the kids and I bought for Troy was this book called "Geek Dad" (How appropriate for a Harry Potter Father's Day! Hee! Hee!) It is full of fun science projects dad's can do with their kids. They have already had a lot of fun with the activities suggested in this book.

The most fun of all this day was how excited the kids were. Troy wouldn't have minded a bit if his only present was sleeping in but Ben and Lizzy had a blast. We created fun memories and the two little hosue elves showed their Harry Potter loving dad how much they love him.

A Quiet Mother's Day

Mother's Day was just how I like things...quiet. My favorite activities were the delicious breakfast Troy and the kids made for me and just playing games together as a family.

I hinted to Troy how fun I thought it would be for Lizzy to also receive a Mother's Day corsage because she is a future mother. Besides, she mothers others every day.  

A million points for Troy. He picked up on the hint!!! Lizzy was soooo excited when daddy pinned the corsage on her dress. How fun!!

His reward! :)

The Beach Bum Loves

A couple of years ago, on a hot September morning, I decided on a whim to pack things up and head to the beach. (click here to read that fun adventure)Since then, Ben and Lizzy think the beach is the greatest. Although Troy's schedule is booked solid, he was able to move some things around so that we could take off for a quick little family trip during Lizzy's spring break.

We left early Friday morning and headed to Moonlight Beach in Escondido, CA (near San Diego). We played and played and laughed and played.

Lizzy was brave only if I was with her. She wanted me to hold onto her as we walked out further and further into the ocean. The waves were so much fun!

Ben was brave enough this time to try the waves a bit but I could never get him to look at the camera. This is the best I could do.

Of course, what trip to the beach would be complete without some digging in the sand. We brought our sand toys along and had some fun.

Ben didn't just want to be buried in the sand, he wanted a castle built on top of him. Troy was happy to oblige.

Ben was pretty excited to get daddy all covered up with sand.

The sand fortress of Love

 

Ben joined some locals as they created a "hot tub". They all got a kick out of him.

Troy does a three day retreat with a group of his therapy clients. They rent a beach house in California. We wanted to see the house so after dinner we headed up to watch the sunset by this gorgeous beach house. The steps in the back lead directly to the beach.

The silly Love family love to spend  time together!

No overnight trip with the Loves would be complete without a picture of Lizzy in our hotel room. She LOVES hotels. Troy is so good to find FANTASTIC hotels with FANTASTIC prices on Priceline.com (I think I should get some commission for that advertisement)

Our Life (according to my camera)

Life has this way of happening every single second of every single day. Funny how that works. I try to always have my camera near by so I can snap pictures when I see something notable. I most definitely take too many pictures! :) What's a mom to do? I want a  microphone around Lizzy's and Ben's neck at all times to record all of the cute, silly, profound, thoughtful and surprising words that come from their lips. I want to video tape every cute face, every funny dance, every courageous action, every moment that reminds me that they are getting older. 

That isn't going to happen so for now I'll just have to make sure to add some more pics to the blog of random moments of joy...

Okay, so this wasn't a moment of joy but I had to take a picture of Troy and Lizzy sick on the same day. This was back in February. Lots of people were sick with stomach, throat, head, nose yuck. Somehow Ben and I escaped the illness but Troy and Lizzy were pretty sick for about three days. Troy NEVER gets sick so I had to take a picture. Ben and I nursed our two sickos back to health with love and care. :)

The beginning of March was still too cold to swim. Ben and Lizzy didn't let that stop them. They found their own pool. I heard hysterical laughing coming from the bathroom and I knew something out of the ordinary was going on. I had the clarity of thought to grab the camera before I peeked in. Look at those cute faces having the time of their lives in little bathroom sink. I love those two!

Lizzy insisted I take this picture of her back in February. She was pretty proud of herself as she read this entire book without a single bit of help from me.Way to go smartypants!!

Both Ben and Lizzy received new bikes for their birthdays. We have lugged those bikes to the park a few times so that the kids could ride as far and as fast as they like without their mother constantly yelling, "watch out for the cars!"

Ben ADORES his father. On Saturday mornings, Troy and Ben spend most of the morning together doing "guy stuff". This is not the first time Troy has put Ben on his shoulders while mowing the lawn. It isn't easy but he gets a good workout and Ben is in HEAVEN!!

 Ben is wearing the Spiderman cape I made for his birthday. Yes, you read that correctly, I, little old me who is terrified of sewing machines, made Ben a superhero cape. My friend Becky Crookston patiently sat beside me during the whole process. I didn't have to unpick a single stitch!! Ben loves his cape. Yay!!!

So, those are just some little snippets from our life recently.

Life is good! :)

Jedi Training Camp

So, I've established several times that my boys (Troy and Ben) love Star Wars. (I love it too but not as much as they do) When Ben was asked what kind of a birthday party he wanted he repeatedly replied, "Darth Vader".

Well, Benjamin Thomas Love, you asked for it...

Ben and his fellow Padowan learners (dressed as any character able to defeat Darth Vader because I know not everyone has Star Wars costumes) were instructed in combat techniques by none other than Jedi Master Trainer Daddy

Little did the young Padowans know that evil lurked just around the corner for just as their training concluded they were forced to put their new skills to the test. Da da dum.

The evil Darth Vader had discovered the strength of our trainees and tried to use his wicked force to stop their tremendous progress. But the force was strong with our young Jedi's as displayed by Princess Lea (a.k.a Lizzy Love).

Darth Vader was no match to her Jedi skills.

Soon, after each Padowan had proven their great powers, Darth Vader was forced to flee our training camp.

Until next time Darth Vader!

In celebration of the our defeat of Darth Vader, a special cake was presented to the young Jedi's.

Our Birthday Padowan was granted the honor of blowing the candles out and everyone enjoyed the taste of victory!!

May the force always be with you all!

Okay, what really happened...I was thinking out loud the other day about how fun it would be to have someone show up to Ben's party dressed as Darth Vader and challenge all of the kids with their light sabers. Troy heard my ramblings and put a plan in motion. Somewhere he found an affordable costume and asked my sister's husband Sam to dress up and surprise the little padowans. Sam was all to eager to fulfill a childhood dream. I found out about this the night before the party, but Ben and Lizzy had no idea.

When Sam cam whisking out in his vader robes the kids mouths dropped open. Some were very eager to fight the big bad guy. Only two boys just wanted to watch. Guess who was one of the boys...Yes...Ben! He just stood at the back door and watched through the window - wearing his Darth Vader costume!

He still had so much fun and wants to do it again for his next birthday - like tomorrow.

The party was so fun and after everyone left, we breathed a sigh of relief.