So yes we are alive. We went on an awesome vacay to IF and I will post about that later. We also had strep and other sicknesses, we set up bubs to get tubes placed in his ears after the 9th ear infection this season and we planted a garden. So here is my garden story;
A while back our Stake leaders (can't remember if it was the president or the counsilor) told us that we should plant a garden regardless of where we live. We could do a little porch garden or Denver offers garden plots for rent through the denver urban gardens. This leader said that we could use this as a great tool in teaching our kids and helping them learn valuable lessons about the gospel and other such topics. I thought it sounded nice, but Drew was totally on board! The next day we emailed the garden rep and reserved a plot. Has anyone ever tried to garden with a 2 year old and an 11 month old? I wonder if this leader was thinking about families with older children when he gave the directive. I must have said to Drew at least 400 times in the last month, "this is not working". Let me explain. Over three days (not consecutive for sanity sake) we logged about 10 hours working on our garden plot just to get the soil ready. It was really hard clay and we had to do a lot. This already looks like a great lesson right? I can recite the parable of the sower and the seeds to my children, or tell them about how hard work can pay off, and relate it to how when they are on missions some people need more "prepping" than others, and that every little contact they make helps someone become prepared for the seed of the gospel. Oh, ya, I had some awesome lessons on the back burner. INSTEAD this is how it really went down. "Brooklyn get back here, we will play with the toys later, it is garden time" "No its not time to leave we just got here" "I thought YOU were watching him! Crap" "Get that out of your mouth, yucky" "Do you think organic means the same thing as non-toxic?" "If you run away one more time I swear..." "ug, lets just go home" " how much do you think a pre-made garden costs?" "I hate you clay" "fine, fine, lets just go home and forget the whole thing". And that was just the first 30 minutes. Drew however was faithful and patient with ALL of us (including me) and we finally got the whole thing prepped and planted. He keeps reassuring me that this is good for the kids and that they are learning through our example (which based on what I just described to you may not be a good thing). I will admit though, that when we went to water last evening. It was beautiful and Brookie really seemed to enjoy the hose and she only impulse stomped on the flowers once! So heres to the garden and to lessons learned. Maybe the lesson they will take with them is that it is truly a miracle when a family plants a garden together and is still talking to eachother at the end of the day :).
2 comments:
Gardening with a 2 year-old and a 2 month old are very similar ... plug in pacifier while I'm telling Carston, "Don't step on that!" Five minutes later, plug in pacifier again while telling Carston, "We'll go to the play ground in a little bit." Plug in the pacifier 5 minutes later (always with dirty hands, mind you) while saying, "No, no, no ... that's poisonous, if you eat it, you'll DIE!" While Adam calmly says, "A 2 year-old doesn't understand the concept of death. Perhaps if you tell him that, "It will hurt," he'll understand." But yes, the rewards of seeing a luscious green garden are SO nice.
hilarious. good work sticking to it. i remember growing up with a big fat garden. i hated every stinking second of weeding, planting! but hey, the food harvested was delish. :) good luck with the rest of the summer!
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