A Pile 'O Books

We've got lots of great autumn books. Mr J is OBSESSED with pumpkins again. We have lots and lots of books about pumpkins to satisfy his pumpkin needs. Aside from pumpkin books, we have three that he's been really enjoying.

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked
This is a beautiful simple book that Joey loves.

Pumpkin Moonshine

Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic
This book is lovely. Each illustration is sweet and detailed.


I love seasonal books and fall is the best for books that Joey loves!

The Artist in Residence

"Color with me!"

From the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep, the littlest artist demands a viewing audience. Colored pencils, crayons square and round, and scissors are laying in piles under the table and on the furniture.  

We paint, we sculpt, we make a colorful mess. He's happy. We're happy. And we're learning how to get all sorts of colors off the floor and furniture.

Every Thursday morning, he takes an art class with his Nana. He loves his art school. There are lots of great books and websites about art with kids. These are a few of our favorites:

The Artful Parent

Stubby Pencil Studio

Scenes from a Weekend

If you show a boy a giant bug...

He's going to need a muffin the size of his head...

and then he might need to assemble 4 puzzles.

Hoping you had a lovely weekend.

School Garden

For about a year,  I have been working on creating a school garden with a few other dedicated teachers at my school.  It is fun work, but keeps us busy.  We have transformed an unused balcony located off of the Kindergarten classes into a real gym.  Here are a few pictures of the garden from early on.

We are currently growing cabbage, radish, pumpkin, tomato, broccoli, mint, basil, rosemary, lemon, and a few other goodies that are escaping me.

It's raining hens

What do you do with a toddler when it rains all weekend? 

Dance in the rain.

Tiiiiiime is on my side

Not really. We are in very short supply of time around here lately. My school work has really kicked off.  I'm also launching on reading about a new subject that keeping me awake at night thinking. Fun, exciting, exactly what I wanted, but no time. 

I'm doing my very best not to be too caught up in my own head. We have lots of fun projects around the yard with Mr. J. Last weekend we planted broccoli and Mr. J demanded that we plant flowers. We also had Joey make the garden markers for the Fall. Good projects all around.

The Spirit Level - A Puppet Show

{This Moment}

{this moment} from Soulemama - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

The family at work. 

Plants in Boxes

Best little gardener in Texas

Current Garden Score: Squirrels - 150 Team Human/Dogs - 0. Back to the drawing board. 

The big fancy coop Chuck built for the chickens was essentially a six foot tall 12x12 box. It was simple to build and I thought it would be perfect for protecting our fruiting produce. We plan to put all veggies that the squirrels would want inside the netting and use the outside planter boxes for herbs and less "at risk" veggies. We can add a large 4x16 box on the back edge next Spring if we decide we need more garden space. Right now, we have 128 sq. ft. of gardening space. This is not near enough for our long term plans, but I'm trying to tamp down my over ambitious nature and move slowly to expand the garden over several years. 

Pondering

Chuck and my Dad built the frame and planter boxes on Saturday morning. Not bad. 

We planted two late season tomato plants and several herbs. We planted bush beans, kale, pumpkins, and various squash from seed. Joey was really into pumpkins last October. He was so excited to plant the seed that he was shaking with joy.

We're late in the season to plant pumpkins, but we figured we'd give it a try. We've never planted veggies from seed before and a tropical storm blew through on the Tuesday after we planted everything. I'm not sure if all the seeds drowned or if they with thrive with all the extra rain. If the seeds don't grow, we'll just plant lettuce or spinach in that planter box.

Laboring for Labor Day Weekend

In honor of labor day, we spent the day in the San Antonio heat building a new vegetable garden.  And it all started with 4 cubic yards of dirt...

Jenny came up with the overall design of the garden and I figured out how to build the planter boxes.

The inner portion is within a six foot enclosure measuring 12x12.  The inner planter boxes are protected from squirrels, birds, and other pests by the netting.  On two sides there are 2x12 planter boxes for heartier plants.

Mr J was extremely helpful in building the structure.  Here is a photo of him with some of his favorite tools.

SUPPLY LIST
1   2x12x16 (for back board)
7   2x12x12 (for planter boxes)
10    2x4x12 (for enclosure)
1 6ft scrap board (for enclosure door)
bed liner (under planters)
lightweight netting (for enclosure)
staples for staple gun (for netting)
1 bazillion screws

And we're done.

Well. That was a week that doesn't need to be repeated. A brief moment of peace and coloring. 

Tomorrow, a dump truck with 4 cubic yards of dirt arrives in our yard. Joey is jazzed.