Garden Update

Lest you think our garden still consists of tiny seedlings planted and watered by Nathan and Evelyn, here is an update picture. Some days I really do feel like I can SEE the tomato plants getting taller! The cage thing is covering the tomatos with bird netting. We've had a lot of robins, cardinals, and blue jays eyeing the little green fruits. It's hard to show the scale here, but that tallest tomato plan is up to my shoulders at least.
Here's my smallcontribution to the family gardening experiment.
And mom, here's my new jasmine that I was telling you about! I love it and it smells beautiful!

Random Pictures

I haven't been as good about carrying our camera around lately so most of our pictures have been on Nathan's phone. I always forget to load them on to the computer when he's home, thus the long silence in blogging. :) Here are a few from Nathan's phone from the past several weeks.
The W&M Barnes and Noble was just completely redone. Part of the makeover was an escalator! This has dramatically increased the store's coolness factor for Evelyn. :) She and daddy took several rides on it last time we were in CW. :)

Evie likes to take books to bed with her so she can read when she wakes up. Sometimes she's so into reading her books that she doesn't want to get out of bed!
Our baby girl plays hard and sleeps hard! :)

Evelyn loves to sit on the counter and help us cook. Salt and pepper are her specialties (thankfully our pepper is a grinder that she hasn't figured out and our salt shaker closes :)). Cooking in Daddy's hat is even better! :)

The elaborate tea parties continue... :) This one was complete with books for her guests to read as well.

She recently learned how to plug her ears...
 
This is us at my last doctor's appt. She brought bear and penguin in with us and this is how we were all supposed to sit - lol.

Making sure Special Bear gets lunch too...
We're loving our life... but we miss our friend David!!!! We hope he's enjoying Denver!

First Ice Cream Cone

On Mother's Day I was very in the mood for ice cream. Since it was a nice hot day, we decided to check out a new ice cream place near us. The place we went has a deal that if you're under 40in, you get your own free cone. Not realizing how huge ours would be, we decided to get one for Evie and figured we'd help her eat it. Well, Evie LOVED it! And there was no sharing going on. Lol. She examined it for a second and then dove right in. You can see how seriously she took eating her cone. :)

As soon as she finished it she pointed back to the store and signed "more" and said "pease, pease, pease" repeatedly. We had to explain that one was more than enough. ;) She definitely went into a sugar coma after this, so I think we're set on ice cream for a while. ;)

1776

My book club just finished reading David McCullough's 1776 (don't worry, we're not always this scholarly ;)). We decided for our first meeting to discuss the book that we should really take advantage of where we live and meet at Yorktown! As locals we all get into the visitor center and reenactment area for free.

Margaret and Evie missed having David along, but really loved exploring the reenactment area of the visitor center. They were actually quite intrigued with the cannon demonstration...

Although they were a bit worried when they heard that they were actually going to set off the cannon...

So we went and explored other things for that part of the demonstration. ;)
I love this picture of Margaret... I tried to get Evie to hold it as well, but she wasn't interested... oh all the things that they plunder from their parents... ;)
The revolutionary farm exhibit (showing what it was like for the wives and families who stayed home) was also quite exciting with it's giant turkey's, baby ducklings, chickens and other exciting things to explore. :)

Lunch along the river at the Yorktown Pub to cap it all off was amazing as well (although the hostess was a little astonished at the ratio of adults to children at the table... ;)).

More Strawberries :)

We few weekends ago we went strawberry picking... again. :) The berries were just too delicious! This time, however, I was prepared when it came to dressing Evie. ;)
We headed across the ferry again, this time with Nathan and his parents. :) One of Nathan's coworkers was also on the ferry and had brought bread to feed to the seagulls. She shared some with us, much to Evie's delight.

Evie once again had a great time, but took after Sal in the number of berries she put into our basket vs. the number that she took out. :)
Eventually we all filled our baskets.
We made some delicious freezer jam with our berries this time (inspired my Mom Mortier :)). We're thoroughly enjoying it, but it won't last long at the rate we're going through it. :)
Evie and I can't wait to check out the farm's blueberry patch in a few more weeks!!

Backyard Fun

We love having a little fenced in back yard, and Evelyn loves it even more! We spend a lot of time back there every day playing in the rocks, watering flowers, blowing bubbles, playing ball - it's great.
Since we have a spot for a garden we really wanted to give one a try this year. I wasn't sure that this was the best summer for me to take on another project, so Nathan and Evie decided to make it something that the two of them would do together. :) Daddy's a great teacher and Evie loves doing anything with him. (The empty squares have seeds in them that we're waiting to come up! :))
She's learning how to water the plants! (and of course watering herself in the process :))  
Don't worry though about these little plants being drowned, her favorite spot to water is this back corner where nothing is even planted! Lol. This corner got several watering cans full all to itself. Maybe she's worried because there isn't anything there yet. ;)
Speaking of projects with daddy, she's also helping him refinish a bookshelf for the baby's room and turn it into a dollhouse bookshelf (here's a pic of what we're working towards: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/dollhouse-bookcase/). She likes everything except the loud sawing parts.

Because our yard is fenced in and not super big, Evie is able to go out by herself if we're sitting in the kitchen. On rainy days when she is dying to go out and Nathan and I want to stay in, this is quite handy. :) She was completely unphased by all the rain! Her buckets, rocks, and bubbles were still out there, so she should be too! :)

Richmond Botanical Gardens

The other weekend we headed to Richmond to *finally* get to meet our little friends, Rachel and Annie, and see Liz, Steve, and Sam again!!! It was so great spending time with the VanStempvoorts again and meeting their little girls. I have to say, those two babies are the happiest, chillest, sweetest little girls! I just love their little chubby cheeks and big eyes. :) It made us excited to have our baby girl with us soon too! :)
We decided to check out the botanical gardens since none of us had been there before. They were gorgeous! Evie and Sam loved running around and exploring everything. :)      
Pinwheel garden in the children's area. There were hundreds of pinwheels! Sam and Evie loved it. :)
Teaching Sam how to "snap" snap dragons. :)
Taking a rest :)
 
This was Rachel and Annie the whole time! Look at those sweet little faces!
Here's my feeble attempt at a picture of everyone in front of the conservatory . They're a bit too little to really see, but you get an idea of how beautiful the day and the park were.  
Inside the conservatory was the most amazing orchid display I've ever seen (Kjer, I thought of you ;)). Just check out this orchid archway!!

After checking out the gardens, we headed to the VanStemps for lunch and hanging out. Thanks, Liz, for an amazing lunch and thanks, Sam for so kindly sharing all your toys with Evie and even helping her collect a huge bouquet of clover flowers. ;)


And again... here is what Rachel and Annie did while we talked, played, and ate. :) I'd love it if Baby Girl Mortier took after these friends... :)