our crop

We are starting to benefit from all of Jamie's hard work in our community garden. Jamie spent this past weekend canning dill pickles, his first canning experience. We have to wait eight weeks to try them, but since our house smelled like a dill pickle factory, I am sure they will be delicious! We have eaten yellow and green beans, peas, lettuce, a few onions, a few tomatoes and cucumbers so far. It is fun to watch the girls try all of the fresh vegetables. Violet LOVES the tomatoes. We've only had a few red ones so far, but I think she would eat a whole tomato if we would let her: just plain, with nothing on it!

Olivia and Violet both enjoy helping pick the veggies out of the garden. Daddy helps them find the ripe veggies to pick, and they each carry their own bucket to put the veggies in. They have trampled a few plants in the process, but we think it's worth it to teach them about the plants and vegetables.

An overall view of the community garden: Our plot in the garden:

out of the mouths of babes

Jamie recently pointed out to me that I haven't updated the blog for a very long time, so I figured that it's time I post an update. The girls have been very spunky lately, and have been coming up with some pretty funny things to say. For example:

Mommy (driving home in the car after picking them up from daycare): "Olivia, how was your day?" Olivia: "I don't want to talk to you right now." Violet: "Mommy, I'll talk to you right now!"

Mommy (comforting Violet when she was crying at bedtime): "Violet, what's wrong?" Violet: "I--sob-sob--just--want to beeee---sob---whiny!"

They are also copying each other like crazy. Mealtimes are usually a challenge, and go something like this.

Daddy: "Olivia, please don't swish your spoon in your cup of milk."
Olivia: "Can I swish it in my chicken?"
Daddy: "No."
Olivia: "Can I swish it in my apples?"
Daddy: "No."
Olivia: "Can I swish it in my veggies?"
Daddy: "No."
(You get the point.) Then we repeat the exact same coversation with Violet because she starts sticking her spoon in her milk.

We feel like we spend half of our days in the bathroom. One of them usually has to go, followed by the other, and then repeat every 15 minutes (yes, they inherited small Thronson bladders).

It is fun to watch them play together though. They have figured out that they can reach their bedroom light switch now, so at bedtime after Daddy and I leave the room they turn on the light and sit on one bed together and look at books. We hear them clunking around in their room for an hour after "bedtime." We don't really mind it much as long as they stay in their room.

They are both in the preschool room at daycare pretty much full time now. They both went on a park walk last week with the preschool kids. Twice a week in the summer, the preschool kids walk to a park in the area. There is a long rope with rings on it, and all of the kids line up and hold onto a ring. I guess they both did really well, except there was a concrete truck by the park that scared Olivia a little bit. One of the older boys in the class took her hand and played with her. They are still trying to fully get the potty training down, although they no longer wear pull ups at all in the preschool room they still have a few accidents here and there.

I have been trying to follow the advice I received lately: "Just enjoy your kids. Every age brings its challenges, but someday you will wish you had these days back." I know this is a pretty common piece of advice, but I think it easily gets lost in the daily grind of things. I've been trying to take a deep breath and give the girls some extra patience, and then give them a great big hug and kiss. They are two-year-olds after all, and who can expect them to be perfect?

miss independents

The girls' new favorite phrases are "I want to do it myself" and "I want to pick." They are becoming very independent (or at least they think so). They had a lot of fun with my family on Saturday, July 3rd. We spent the day at my parent's farm. We attempted to take our annual cousins picture by lining them up in age order; however it didn't quite go the easiest trying to get 8 kids to stand still. Here is the best picture we ended up with:

Maya (7), Emma (4), Alex (4), Evan (3), Olivia (2), Violet (2), William (1), Owen (1):

The kids all played in the pool and ran around the yard, and then we all went on a hayride and had a bonfire. Olivia and Violet even took a turn with riding on the tractor with Grandpa while we were on the hayride. They have been pretty scared of noisy things lately, so I was very proud that they rode on the tractor. Grandpa even let them steer a little bit! Here are some pictures from the farm:

We celebrated July 4th in my hometown of Evansville. We took the girls to the parade. Violet LOVED it. She was waving her little flag around like crazy, and enjoyed running out into the street to pick up candy. Each time she would pick up a piece of candy, she would hold it straight up in the air like it was a huge prize. Olivia was content to sit and watch, although she did warm up after awhile and picked up a few pieces of candy. We watched the parade with two of my sisters and their families, Grandma Suchy, and cousin Chelsey. My dad and my brother-in-law Aaron both headed the parade by marching in the color guard and watched the end of the parade with us after they were done. After the parade, we went down to the park where there were several activities going on. The girls both went on a pony ride and had a lot of fun.

Violet & Olivia in their red, white and blue:

Violet and cousin Emma waving their flags:

Cousins waiting for the parade to start:

Violet, cousin Chelsey, Grandma Suchy, Olivia:

Grandpa Thronson (center with blue flag) and Uncle Aaron (by Grandpa with striped flag): Olivia, Mommy and Violet:

Waving to the clown riding a cow, the hit float of the parade:

Violet holding up her candy:

Grandpa Thronson with Alex, Evan, Maya, Violet, Olivia & Emma:

Olivia riding a pony with Chelsey:

Violet riding a pony with Grandpa:

After we left Evansville, we went to Jamie's parent's farm. Olivia and Violet fed chickens and chased after the kittens. We also played some bean bag toss, and Joey shot off some fireworks. We had a really nice time and enjoyed spending time with everyone.