Sand

Not any news to post, just wanted to show off my completely wonderful NASA firefighter! The test facility had a 50th anniversary day a few weeks ago and the 'boys' got to play around with new equipment. How many people do you know that get to tinker with million dollar space suits? I was jealous! And speaking of people with connections, we're going to have a private little tour of the non-public areas of White Sands Missile Range. Dustin and Tom both have access and we're going to go play around in the "Transformers" movie set. Hopefully I'll get some pics to share--I'm a little nervous having the ole' camera around all that sand!

Warm

This late February weather has been absolutely wonderful, and boy are we living it up! Lots of play, play, play for the kiddos and for Daddy and Mommy in Hartland. Tom had been a little under the weather from a freak back injury, but is 98% better now. Thank goodness, it's never easy to have someone in your household down and out (literally!) He's been doing a little tinkering in the garage and playing with a new toy. More to come on that.

I found a couple of nice fruit trees on sale this week and came home with a Bartlett and Moonglow pear. My Dad also donated to my mini orchard with a Gala apple tree. Thanks Pops, love you! I've also got a couple of peach trees that are just about to blossom! As you can see, the tomato seedlings are springing up and looking fantastic. The girls love to peek at them every day to check progress and count numbers with me! None of my peppers have emerged yet. I'm giving them another week and then trying different seeds, perhaps the ones from last season just aren't gonna cut it.

My little garden helpers have been busy turning soil for me in the big raised bed. Too bad the weather isn't just a tad warmer and I could hose them off outside!
We're living up this gardening weather before our Hartland ghastly March winds make their appearance. Ugh, not looking forward to that!

Waiting

My sweet big girl rode the school bus for the very first time yesterday! This was MUCH harder for me than having her start preschool! Here are a couple of pictures of our big first day--waiting for the school bus and then getting settled in! I was a wreck (and her Daddy too, though he won't readily admit it!) She did great! Since we live a little ways out, she's the first on and the last off the bus.

School is going wonderfully, her teachers and speech pathologist are very amazing. Have I mentioned that Z is allergic to red dye? All we needed was a note from our pediatrician and the whole school changed their food menu to accomodate us. AWESOME! Kindergarten is going to be a breeze for us this Fall!

Planting

The tomato seeds are officially planted! My fantastic little helper Zoey and I made 70 little newspaper pots and filled each one. I can't wait until we see the little green seedlings popping up! Zoey also made some little pots all herself and decided to plant sunflower and cosmo seeds. She really got into it this year...Yay for my little gardener! In the next couple of days I'll be planting my different pepper varieties as well. Our tomato varieties this year include: Brandywine, San Marzano, Costoluto Genovese, Sweet 100 Cherry, Roma, Purple Cherokee and Rinaldo. MMMmm can't wait for saucing season!

H.V.D.

Happy Valentine's Day from Hartland everyone! I just wanted to share a few pictures from this past week of my three very special Valentines. Here are the girls, doing what they have the most fun doing: playing dress up. Cams has fun, but hasn't quite mastered the art of being a fashionista like her sister. Doesn't Zoey look like she belongs in a children's fashion magazine?! She mixes and matches all herself! Oh how I love my little ladybugs! The last picture is of the girls loving on their Daddy. Hope that you all had a wonderful day, surrounded by people you love!

Dirt

So I came across this article by way of a website that I frequent quite often and wanted to share. 'American children’s overly sterile surroundings and overprotective parents may pose dangers to their health'. Thank you pathtofreedom.com for the link to this article! Here's the link: http://newsletter.vitalchoice.com/e_article001334309.cfm?x=b8drcdL,b5PRNLJ0,w

Give a look, it's worth reading. And it's not just the researcher coming out in me either! And of course, after reading it you'll know why I have the healthiest kiddos in Hartland! Here is Camryn last summer helping Mommy in the garden. We're getting ready to get seeds started in the next couple of weeks and both girls are excited to help. And of course I'm loving that they're getting their hands dirty right along side of me.

Twirling

Just in case you were wondering, yes, we are all girl in this household. Poor Tom doesn't stand a chance against all the dress up, tea parties and artistic dance! For quite a while we thought that Cams would be our little rough houser of the bunch, but she too is blossoming into a little princess. Zoey is ecstatic. If we ever decide to add another little addition to Hartland, I don't want to say it's just to try for a boy. But could this house handle any more estrogen? According to Zoey: YES and her name will be Ariel :)

Artist

There's a little artist shuffling around in Hartland...The girls and I were home and I was doing little projects and cleaning up around the house. The girls were playing in their bedroom, or so I thought. I walked into my bedroom and saw a little white plastic cap lying on the floor. Hmmm, what's this? I was on my way to throw it in the trash when I realized that my bathroom door knob was gooey. And that my bathroom door was gooey. And that my entire bathroom from three foot down was gooey. What in the world? Then more evidence... A crumpled tube of minty fresh toothpaste next to the toilet. Ah man! It was a complete mess, and of course neither of my innocent little angels were claiming anything. Pleading the 5th...Smarties! I got everything cleaned up and pretty much forgot about it. Later that afternoon I ran across a little paste-y hand print on our bed. It's so cute that I've left it on for the past few days (besides, it's on Tom's side of the bed!!) Our little artist, Camryn.