My flowers

Strawberries - I planted these this spring and then had to pinch all the flowers until July 1. These are some of the first berries.

What remains of the lettuce. The amazon rainforest zuchinni and a bit of the tomatoes - which are also rather Amazon. All started from seed.

The hosta I divided and planted out front this spring after ripping out (with the truck) the yucky old evergreen bushes.

The view from the garage of the flower side of the driveway. Oatgrass, Zinnia, then a small wildflower patch, and some rose-of-sharon.

Wildflowers, day lilies, marigolds, pansies (I got 15 plants for $0.25 in a planter that looked pretty shabby - they are doing pretty well, all things considered), and daisies.

I love the colors in this picture - a pretty zinnia.

I grew some nasturtium from seed and planted them here - they are happy. Got the idea from a house on Jefferson St last summer - their sidewalk was lined with nasturtium - the colors are happy.

The red flowers are a perennial that my mom bought - can't remember the name right now. Pretty though.

Day lily.

Cosmos.

Ice Cream Cones

Ice cream cones. Yumm!! Isabele's first.

"Well of course I know what to do with it. The same thing I do with everything - put it in my mouth."

"It's not my fault I've got ice cream in my nose - they gave it to me."

When all other options for keeping sick kids happy fail, give them ice cream cones and let them make a mess. Hopefully their colds won't last too much longer.

"Daddy's Airport"

I had to go to the airport today to get Titus' carseat out of the Jag. The conversation between Titus and me went something like this:

Me: Titus, we are going to go get your other carseat at the airport.
Titus: Go get carseat at daddy's airport. See daddy's airplane.
Me: We might see daddy's airplane but daddy isn't there so we cannot touch it.
Titus: Daddy is in Texas.
Me: No, Daddy is in Arizona.
Titus: Might see airplane but can't touch it. Daddy is in Texas.

When we got to the hanger, 710 [one of the planes] was being worked on. The mechanic was pushing the running plane out of the hanger with the "tractor". Titus was not at all happy with the noise, which is understandable as I couldn't hear myself think due to the noise. We happened to show up right after Barry, Brian's boss, so we talked to him a minute and went in the side door as Titus wasn't going to go in the front door by the "very, very noisy plane".

Titus told Barry "Daddy is in Texas." Bob was inside and Titus told him about the "very, very noisy airplane." He thought the mechanic was Brian, "Oh, There's daddy!" [The pilots and mechanics all wear black pants and grey shirts, so they all look a bit like Daddy from a distance, at least to a 2 year old.]

We sucessfully found the car keys in Brian's desk, got the carseat and returned the keys. Titus said to Emily, the scheduler, on the way out, "The airplane is not very, very noisy now. Airplane is very, very quiet. Airplane went night night." [The plane was shut down as we left the hanger.]

We continued to talk about the airplane and where daddy was all the way to Wal-Mart.

Crawling?

I think Isabele went forward on her hands and knees today. She also figured out that cupboard doors open. Guess I'm back to the days of all the pots and pans on the floor any time we are in the kitchen. At least I'll have an excuse for the cupboards being a mess - the lower ones, that is. Now I just need a good excuse for the higher cupboards being messy.

Babies

Out of the blue today while eating lunch, Titus said, "Auntie Hannah has a baby in her tummy."
I said, "Yes, she does, but not for long. Pretty soon she'll have a baby like Isabele."
Titus thought for a minute, then said, "Auntie Hannah has a baby in her tummy. Pretty soon Auntie Hannah will have a baby like Ibele." He then pulled up his shirt, pointed at his bellybutton and said, "Titus has a baby in his tummy."

And that was the end of that conversation. No clue where it came from.

Isabele is mobile

She still hasn't actually gone forward on her hands and knees, but she is certainly mobile. Backwards on her belly, from sitting to on her belly and back again, scooting backward on her back by arching her back over and over, and the latest, this funky crawl type thing on one knee with the other leg half under her and half in a sitting position. She uses this one to be able to reach things and then go back to sitting. Maybe in the next couple days she'll figure out crawling. She loves to pull herself up onto her knees so she can reach higher.
And attitude - this girl has plenty already. It will be quite interesting to watch her personality continue to develop. She certainly lets us know when she isn't getting what she wants, be it food, toys, milk from a glass, or just picked up.

Titus the talking machine

Titus has really started talking in the last couple weeks. Today my dad asked him if he wanted to go take a nap with Grandpa. He said "Go take nap with Grandpa up ladder" [meaning in the chicken coop in the loft - the spot for random younger people who need a place to sleep for a night or two]. My mother said "Oh, in Hannah's room? Do you know where Auntie Hannah is?" Titus responded "Auntie Hannah in Las Vegas with Uncle Mike."

Later on, when asked "Where is your dad?" Titus responded "In Texas". [He is actually on his way to Arizona for 9 days to help his day with an airplane, but Texas is where he usually goes when he's going to be gone for several days].

We are actually starting to have conversations with Titus. It's so cool to watch things start to click in his head.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring.