backyard news

Sophia has learned to pump on the swing, which is amazing and beautiful and fabulous, but now I am doubly on swing duty with Stella because Sophia is always jumping onto her swing and flying high in the air and Stella wants to do that too. Stella can get on all by herself, but that's about it.

The garden is slowly growing. The peas are happiest. Can't wait to put in tomatoes soon.

It's so nice and quiet out here (on the laptop on the deck right now as the kids play in the sandbox - Jeff installed outlets out here too!), even with the occasional sea plane overhead. I just love this space - very amazing that we have it in the city. I almost never see our neighbors across the alley and I hardly ever see our neighbors on the side (plus I really like them). I just wish that our house was more backyard accessible. This is my dream. An addition with a dining room with french doors or sliding patio doors onto the deck, and LARGE windows that open so we can both see the back yard and smell it. Right now our one kitchen window that looks out doesn't open, and the 2nd window is from the bathtub, and the third is the girls' room - and only the top third of the window tilts out. Pretty sad.

We've got carpenter bees in the siding of the house - which my research has shown is not a big deal, but since the other people in my family all freak out about bugs it makes for a lot of fuss. I suppose I could buy a carpenter bee house and install it somewhere in the far back to encourage them to be elsewhere. I think it would be cool to install a bat house in the 'way back', but that will have to wait.

Sophia's big request for the day was to not only cook outside tonight but also eat outside. It's NOT warm enough for this, and Jeff is out tonight - grilling requires 2 adults (one to make sure kids never ever get near grill while the other is cooking and getting things ready).

They're singing happy birthday in the sandbox now.