Much calmer now after yesterday's storm...
During the middle of my appointment with my midwife, I recieved a phone call from David saying that a tornado just touched down in Lake George! When I got home two hours later there was still hail all over the ground. Some of the hail nuggets were the size of a quarter... wonder how big they were 2 hours prior! Glad I had the truck in town... it would have been hammered.
Today is sunny, warm and a typical glorious august day in the Rocky Mountains.
David is out today documenting the carnage left in forested areas.

The little girl in the video is too cute to not share... and this topic is pertinent these days as we, apparently, have been having monster and ghost invasions in the middle of the night. With the advice of some wise, experienced mothers (including my own) Sophie and I mixed up a special concoction to deter the pest of the monster variety. We are still working on something that will deter ghosts.

Sophie thinks a new and different spray might work. I guess we will try that. Pixie dust hasn't worked yet.

Oh yes, the update from the midwife appt; I have gained approximately 20-25 pounds so far, all measurements are on track and the heartbeat is strong and healthy (Old Wives tales predict boy according to the heartbeat rate).  I did have blood  drawn this time but do not expect that there will be anything strange about it. I have been feeling pretty good. Been taking more vitamins lately, especially calcium because it helps my hips from hurting when I sleep. I have a concoction figured out that has worked three nights in a row so far... I first drink an emergenC vitamin drink, then have a tablespoon of liquid calcium in juice. As well as a prenatal vitamin. It seems like a lot, but most of that stuff doesn't store in the body and just gets peed out if I don't need or cannot absorb it all.
Other than that, i need to eat just about every 2 hours or so, and take a nap if I can in the afternoon. Naps only happen about half the time, but I'm hanging in there.  I know, I know, I need to update my belly photos. I haven't done a photo for a while. I'll try to get one soon.

Tomorrow is an end of summer gathering with a bunch of homeschooling families. Some of whom are in Sophie's cottage school program, others are just people we know whom homeschool. Should be fun. I'll be bringing a chair to sit in :0)
I'll take photos!!
Xo

Life has been hectic and I have let things in my cyber nest ferment... I mean, age, like a good wine ;0)
I have been feeling guilty about it, however, and came up with a tentative plan. I'm not going to explain it here, because that is boring. Instead, I'll just start!

OK, so this summer has been quite a whirlwind. Pregnancy leaves my brain foggy a lot of the time anyway, and adding to that all of the activities that the calendar can accommodate makes it tough to keep up at times! We are hanging in there nonetheless.

We are gardening and doing quite well this year.

Some items we are trying as an experiment, others are tried and true and haven't ever failed us!

We have one greenhouse (a portable, pop-up tent-like house) that is full (and I mean FULL) of tomatoes. 15-20 plants, I can't remember how many exactly. That is David's pet project. He's doing really well with them and the rewards are starting to come in. We have had maters at dinner three nights in a row now! Yummm!

The other greenhouse has broccoli, scallopini squash, zucchini, cucumber, habaneros & cayennes. As well as a bean plant. We are trying bean plants inside the house and on the deck to see which will produce, if either. We have never really gotten any edible sized beans up here, but that doesn't stop me from trying... mostly in vain.

The tried and true are the greens. They never fail us. I have to have a salad a day (sometimes 2) just to keep up and I don't think I'm keeping up because the lettuce is growing so fast! We are getting big heads and spicy mustard greens. So many varieties and all are delicious. Very tender. I love my salad time! All this thinking about those salads is making me want to go make one right now!! (I think I will in just a minute!)

Some of our other "crops" are potatoes, onions, carrots and a variety of herbs.

This year I planted very little within reach of deer/rabbits, etc. I did however try poppies! They are a big success! And so lovely! They mostly turned out white, but we do have a few surprise purples... We are collecting the seeds and definitely expanding our poppy collection next year!

Well, that salad is calling, as is the laundry, so I best get on my way...

I have loads of photos to upload so keep an eye out for those in my flickr... I'll post a few here as well.

Including the gorgeous purple poppy & the twin fawn that run around here (so adorable!!)

I'm going to update the baby page and then call it a day for blogging.

xo