in honor of birth days

some of our closest friends have a new addition to their family. joel, rebecca, and stella welcomed gabriel sebastian today.

our nephew nicolas turned one today. happy birthday little guy!

and i know of one other baby born today, another little boy who turned one yesterday, and an expectant mama with a due date today.

my man began a new year earlier this month. we finally celebrated on sunday. basically this consisted of me making him all of his favorite food on one day, ending with the classic banana cake and chocolate frosting. luca frosted it himself and gia was later found sitting on the table performing an inspection on his work. :)

as of last saturday

we have finished building the beds! jesse pretty much rocks.

this is a pretty accurate idea of the spacing. there will be three foot paths between the beds. the four large beds will be our main crop of annual herbs, vegetables, and flowers. we will have a four year crop rotation plan among them. the two beds being hugged by the large beds (or as luca puts it, "in the dragons' mouths") will house our strawberries and borage. the two large square beds in the center row will be reserved for perennial herbs and veggies. and the center bed will also have perennial herbs and veggies along with some giant sunflowers.

this coming weekend we need to finish leveling the plot, stake the beds in place (after carefully measuring and straightening the design) and fill the beds with compost and soil. if time allows, we will work on the fence (very unlikely). it is feeling like a slow process, but we have had so many rainy weekends. but see how far we have come! maybe i'll get some photos of our seedlings later this week.

home alone

but not really. jesse is gone again tonight. another trip to nashville. there are actually three others in my home right now though. but they all went to bed at 7:30. my dad came back to town today after an almost three month break. he is once again working here in champaign and we are gladly welcoming him as our houseguest. luca was so excited to see the truck pull up. "my grandpa is here!" so sweet. i spent some time getting my hands dirty in the garden, while they played t-ball and catch (and gia finished her nap.)

these last few weeks have been pretty intense. at the beginning of the month, i fell ill - i mean super ill - with a mean stomach flu. lasted over a week. probably the worst flu i have had as an adult - possibly in my life. jesse was an amazing superdad and some awesome moms from church stepped up to help as well. over a week later and i am still playing catch-up to housework and general life duties. it is crazy how not doing laundry for one week can bury you. i have resigned to spend each morning this week cleaning and such for several hours straight. not my idea of fun but pretty much a necessity to dig out of this hole.

those are a few of thoughts on this solitary wednesday evening. i might even give you a second post tonight about our potager progress or treat you to some cute luca and gia speak. we'll see. love, annalea

easter in pictures

mama's mascara

and you can't even see the shin guards

okay - how seriously cute is this boy? saturday was his first day of soccer clinic - teaching dribbling, passing, shooting and playing little scrimmages. this is his first team sport experience.

he has been counting down the weeks since january. he wore his shin guards all day friday in anticipation - you should see how adorable he looks when not bundled up for 40 degree weather.

he was nervous about going onto the field by himself and wanted one of us to stay nearby.

and when it came down to it, that is where he stayed the entire hour. on the sidelines, watching and getting comfortable with this whole idea. he did kick around a ball (behind the goal - not on the field).

i can't say we were surprised. luca is a pretty shy little boy and often needs time to adjust. we are hoping he will break out of his shell in the coming weeks. if not, there is always next year. :)

writer's block

i think it weird to have writer's block for this blog. i have plenty of things to share. but i have been so short on time and my mind isn't cooperating when i am available to post. i have been in a bit of a funk lately, emotionally and socially, and i guess that also applies here. maybe at some point this will change. i will keep posting plenty of photos and the occasional anecdote, but any in-depth, thought provoking, life analysis or soul searching will have to wait. love you all.

and yes, i did turn 30 last week. and in case you are wondering, none of my funk is related to that. feeling great about it, in fact. :)