August in the Garden

Forgive me if you couldn't get a hold of us the other day.

We were out at our front yard garden for most of the morning.

You see, a cicada had crawled out of its underground den,

and we couldn't wait to watch it hatch out of its shell.  

And wouldn't you know, 

it takes a long time for a cicada to find a good place hatch out of its shell,

and it takes even longer for it to hatch out.

So, here we have been for most of the day, watching the cicada hatch.

Life is so magical with these kids.

Tonight, the buzzing in the darkness will have a whole new meaning.

Happily Ever,
Queen B

Afternoon at the Arboretum

The Minnesota Arboretum is a truly gorgeous retreat.  Last weekend, we took GG with us to explore the Arboretum for a day.  We loved it so much, we left with a membership!

T took a picture of us all stopping by the fish pond to take in the gorgeous view:

What a relaxing place.

So serene.

The arboretum herb garden was filled with monarchs.

We were all so excited to have the chance to explore:

 At the Learning Center, J-Bear had a great time playing on the outdoor stage.  By the way, where is J-Bear?

Oh, THERE she is!

We also took time to explore the corn pit (a giant pit filled with corn kernels), the hedge maze and the three mile drive.  Afterwards, we stocked up on apples at the Apple House.  Yum!  We're set for fall.

Happily Ever,

Queen B

Weeding the garden

There are a lot of weeds in our garden.

Our little introduction to home owning has blessed us with the chance to maintain several little 

garden spaces.  I have been excited to try out my green thumb and take care of these spaces in hopes of making our home and backyard a beautiful, welcoming place for our family and neighbors.  

But the weeds, oh the weeds, how they crop up and constantly threaten to take over.

There are weeds in the grass,

weeds in the vegetable beds, 

weeds in the shade,

weeds in the sun,

weeds under weeds!

There are so many ways that gardening is similar to parenting.

During the summer, when we are all spending our days together, I more easily notice weeds creeping into our lives as well.  These weeds, too, are always threatening to take over, but they have different names than the weeds in my gardens.  They are:

selfishness,

ungratefulness,

pride,

envy,

disobedience, 

distain,

anger,

impatience.

Somedays, I see the mess of weeds outside and want to throw up my arms in despair.  Where will I find the time and energy to tackle the weeding?  As a parent, somedays I want to throw up my hands in despair over the weeds crowding our lives.  Is there hope for us?  Where will I ever get the time and energy to weed out these behaviors?

It takes a lot of time to weed the gardens, whether the gardens outside or the gardens of our souls.  But weeding is worth it.  At the end of a day of weeding, everything looks fresher, our flowers and vegetables are growing more vigorously.  We see the same rewards when we tackle our sinfulness  and help our children grow in holiness.  Our family life feels fresher, our lives grow more vigorous as weeds are replaced by virtue.

I am more and more aware, however, that no day of weeding is complete without examining the weeds in my own life at the end of each day.  A nightly and weekly examination of conscience is a powerful weeding tool.   Confession avails my soul to the merciful hands of the Perfect Gardener.  Christ is able to uproot even the most persistent, threatening weeds from my soul and fill up remaining holes with the rich, healing soil of His grace.

Indeed, this is hard, worthwhile work.

Our gardens are a beautiful, fruitful blessing this summer.

My Little Flowers are even more precious, and their souls are eternal.

May we all bear fruit that lasts and blesses.

June 2014 in Review

I can always tell when we've had a busy month because the number of blog posts dwindles.  This has been such a wonderful month, filled with wonderful adventures.

Week One: Chicago Land

Lincoln Park.  Yes, that is the John Hancock in the background.

We skipped G-Bear's last day of school to accompany T on the long drive to Chicago for a course he was teaching.  While he was busy in the labs, the kids and I ventured to the Lego Discovery Center (worthy of a post of its own) and built with Legos, 

First Lego car, and yes, Mom helped.

Legos,

Love that Millennium Falcon, E-Bear!

and more Legos in our hotel room.  

Surfs Up, with Legos, that is.

We also drank bottomless root beer with "Uncle" Tony at the Eleven City Diner and played with our friends at the Lincoln Park Zoo. We had a wonderful time. 

Weeks Two and Three: Swimming Lessons

Gertie the Guppie once again made an appearance in our lives for two weeks of swimming lessons.  Buddy Bear joined the Jellyfish group, E-Bear joined the Sunfish and G-Bear joined the Catfish.  The kids braved the 60 degree mornings like champions.  Everyone improved, both in following instructions and in their swimming skills.  I watched Buddy Bear come into his own singing to Gertie and even put his face into the water unprompted.  I watched E-Bear do under water bobs like a champ.  And I watched G-Bear backstroke across the pools and try a dive or two.   J-Bear spent her time toddling around the deck with me, holding my hand and trying her hardest to learn walk (thank goodness for those kneelers!).  She even learned the Gertie song too, and joined in by blowing bubbles with her lips just like the swimmers!

We celebrated at the end of the week by heading up to MoMo and Papa's cabin.  

MoMo was a champ and got the pontoon in the water.   

We all enjoyed our time on the water 

and in the forest. 

What a way to relax and revive.

Week Four: Catholic Kids Camp (Vacation Bible School)

When we got back, it was time for Catholic Kids Camp!  We all got to participate this year, G-Bear and E-Bear as campers, and Buddy Bear and J-Bear as un-official campers in a childcare class with me.  We did crafts, sang songs, enjoyed circle time and Bible stories and playground time each day.  All the kids were so proud of their hard work and had so much fun praising God with their friends.  Proud smiles abounded at the sing along at the end of the week.

I really must recommend Lacy Rabideau's Catholic Preschool Curriculum from Catholic Icing.  I used many of her ideas for Circle Time and for our crafts, all of which worked really well for our group of 1-4 year olds.  

In Between:  

In between our big events, we have had plenty of other little adventures.

We visit the visiting Handmaids nearly every evening. 

We even got to treat them to ice cream one evening.

We've played plenty of catch and ball.

We can't stay off our bikes. 

E-Bear asks to ride his two-wheeler every afternoon.

Day by day, we're growing a green, green garden,

From the front yard.

Our bouquet of front yard flowers.

The bouquet E-Bear picked for me.

and a new boulevard of green, green grass.

The kids have been a huge help to T, who reseeded our boulevard.  

It is hard to believe that only a few weeks ago it looked like a scraggly weed garden.

Everyday we make time for learning time, playtime and piano practice.

And each weekend you can still find us with MoMo, Papa and GG on the patio for brunch. 

These are sweet and wonderful summer days.  

Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful June!

Jumping for leaves

This past weekend we managed to collect the remaining leaves in our yard before the first snow of the season.  We raked a humongous pile.

E-Bear and G-Bear set to work doing what kids do best: jumping in the leaves.

We couldn't contain our giggles.

The dives where worthy of perfect "10's"!

Oh my, what fun!  Just don't tell Buddy Bear, the poor guy was napping the whole time.  

After our jumping escapades, it was time to fill up our leaf bags and visit the compost pile.  The mountain of leaves at the compost was legendary.  Seriously, it was a nirvana for leaf lovers.  

E-Bear and G-Bear helped unload the leaf bags.

Great job, team!

Our tree worked so hard to make those leaves all summer, and now the last are raked and gone! *Sigh*.  I would be sad, except that it snowed today, and the kids were just so excited.  Colder days are ahead of us, and we'll surely enjoy them too.

Happily Ever,
Queen B

Preparing to say goodbye to the garden

Outside my window, I am savoring the final days of our bountiful garden.  After a decade of moving and living in mostly rental homes, this summer was our first with a garden. I still remember when we all piled in the car last May to travel to a local plant sale.  J-Bear was only days old and it snowed light flakes as we arrived at the sale.  The weather stayed so cold for so many days that our purchased plants lived in our dining room for over a week before I could plant them!  Eventually, though, each one of those precious plants found a loving home at our house.  There were many late nights during the summer when I stayed up late watering the garden after sundown.  Many afternoons passed while I weeded the garden as our kids played in the yard.  Now that October has arrived, we are have seen many fruits of our labors: spring lettuces long since gone to seed, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, peppers, heirloom tomatoes, basil, sage, mint and even pumpkins!  What a treat!  

As the weather turns chillier in the evenings, I find myself feeling nostalgic and wistful at the idea of saying goodbye to our fruitful plants.  I am hoping to save the strawberry plants and our jasmine vine inside this winter, perhaps even keep the geranium that is a graft off of my dad's prized plant.  I suddenly understand my father's perennial autumn pacing between his garden and garage, covering and carrying plants to safety to help them survive the first few frosty nights of fall.  Until the hard freeze arrived, he could never quite say goodbye to his carefully crafted garden.  I now understand, because neither can I.

p.s. Thanks, as always, to the Simple Woman's Daybook for the inspiration for Daybook entries.  This time around, my Daybook will be more of a weekbook, hopefully one entry one day at a time.

Getting pretty crunchy around here...

Queen Butterfly:

"Daddy, can I cut the grass?"

T:

"Why, yes you can." 

Last week, we finally joined the ranks of lawn mower owners.  The beautiful lawn of our rental house was getting a bit shaggy.  So, we splurged at Menards for a push mower that was on sale.  T finished his first pass across the yard and we were pretty impressed with our purchase.  Sure, there were a few tall stragglers here and there, but all in all, it did a great job.    

Seeing the delight in my eyes, T commented:

"We're getting pretty crunchy around here, Queen B."

The next day, T had several helpers in the yard.

You may notice that it was a face painting afternoon at our house.
Behold, garden angels 'Queen Butterfly' and 'Super Hero Dude!'

G-Bear helped to trim tall stragglers with her scissors,

while E-Bear used his shovel to empty mower clippings into the compost bag.

As I watched the action, I almost bubbled over with delight.  

 No need for oil, gas or electric with our intrepid crew!

Happy Memorial Day from the Happily Ever Johnsons!  

We are so thankful for our country, this land that we love!  

May this summer be full of green and lots of time outdoors.

Signs of Spring

The surest sign that spring has finally sprung here in Minnesota.....

....are the bears seen in Papa's garden.

They are all hard at work.

The frost is gone,

and finally,

May flowers have come.