Happiness is ... a visit from Grandma

My mom came to visit us in June. It was SO great to have in-person hugs and for Natalie to have a chance to bond with her Grandma Carlson (the chocolate-covered raisins from Grandma sped that along nicely). Here are just a few photos from our week together. Lots of the week was spent with my mom watching Natalie while Dave & I fixed things up around the house and packed extra stuff (which we have a lot of) into a storage unit.

Where have I been?!?

Wow, over a month and no posts! I have been missing blogging a lot lately--we've been busy getting our condo ready to put on the market. But lots of fun stuff has happened too! So now I'll take some time to chronicle a few of our recent adventures and the photos to go with them. Enjoy!

Beloved

I just finished reading this book, and I can't stop thinking about it, so I thought I'd blog about it.
Beloved by Toni Morrison

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was an emotionally difficult book to read, but I felt that it was important for me to read it, and I am glad I did. Before reading this book I believed I already understood the injustice of slavery, but this book made me think about slavery, particularly its after-effects, in a way that hit home much more than any textbook or classroom discussion ever has. This book puts a human face on the struggles that are otherwise too easily forgotten. What touched me the most was the plight of a mother to protect her children from slavery, which she knew to be a fate worse than death.

Make yourself a dang quesadilla!

Natalie's lunch of choice (well, I guess it's my choice) is the quesadilla. Simple and easy, and I just discovered how amazing they turn out when I heat them in a cast-iron skillet! Lately, Natalie enjoys peeling her quesadilla wedges apart. She always eats the cheese, and only sometimes eats the tortilla. Perhaps she's intent on living a low-carb lifestyle. That would explain why she licks the butter off her slices of bread, or tries to bite the bread in such a way that she maximizes butter and minimizes bread intake.
But back to the repetitive lunches. Do any of you seasoned lunch makers or lunch eaters have ideas for a toddler lunch food besides the magic quesadilla? We're trying to avoid giving her peanut butter until she's 2; otherwise PB&J would be my preference.

Jeans quilt--finished!

Hooray! My bluejean quilt is done. We've used it a few times and I love it! I made it really big so we can use it for picnics and have lots of space. I'm glad I didn't make it any bigger than it is, because it weighs a ton! I've included a photo of the quilt in progress--the squares are sewn into strips. (I'm on the blanket to show its size and to show how nicely my pants blend into the blanket!) The other one is the finished product.

How will our garden grow?

We planted our garden last Friday! We've got grape tomatoes, various peppers, squash, zucchini, and cucumber. And we have some big tomatoes we still need to plant. Mysteriously, one of the cucumber plants has vanished. Only a string is left. It was pretty sickly just after we planted it, so I guess it's not a big loss. I'm hoping to replace it with an eggplant, but our local garden center is sold out. We also have dill, a few plants I'm growing from seeds, and strawberries a friend gave us. Here's photos of our little plants. Hopefully this post isn't too boring; I just think it's so fun to see these things growing! Last year we were amazed by how our tomatoes took off, so we expanded things this year, and I'm dreaming of the fresh veggies to come.... I added a photo of Natalie filching tulip bulbs. I thought only rabbits did that!

Recovery time

Natalie's under the weather. Yesterday she finished lunch and then snuggled in my lap all afternoon, sleeping off and on. I knew something was up because usually this is her prime time of day for being busy, thirsty, or cranky, but never snuggly. Sure enough, she had a temperature. Thankfully it's not anything serious. So I am enjoying the snuggle time while it lasts.