Fall Harvest

Our fall/winter garden yield is quite low... So far we have 1 radish and a handful of yellow pear tomatoes. Better luck next time :)

In the Garden and Around the Yard

Prepping and planting of the seeds for a fall/winter garden.

Lauren cutting some burlap to protect our cactus from the blazing sun.

Oops, too late. And yes, a cactus can actually die.

But never fear, a replacement has arrived.

One of our garden visitors, a tomato hornworm.

And a visitor in waiting - look closely.

Right Now | Aug 2013

Lauren (age 6): Prefers cartwheels over walking. Is a tad feisty. Earned a yellow belt in Karate. Loves a long shower. Is addicted to reading. Likes avocados, and apples.

Cole (age 4): Loves to swim. Can tie his shoelace. Enjoys singing 'God Bless the USA'. Is learning to read. Always asks "Where's Lauren?" Still loves cars, trucks, and trains....

In the Kitchen

Tried 2 new recipes plus one old favorite this weekend. Cole was my sous chef for the baking activities; he did all right :)

First up was the old favorite, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, based on this EF recipe with substitutions to make dairy and egg-free. They were a tad on the crispy side (maybe because of the substitutions?), so need to make a note to decrease the baking time.

Next was the first attempt to recreate Pita Jungle's hummus :) I used this recipe, adding cilantro to half of the batch (yum!). It was very tasty, and pretty straight-forward. Although I think I'll aim for a little thinner consistency next time.

And finally, tried a new vegan banana bread recipe - it smells delicious, but we won't have our first taste until breakfast tomorrow.

Fresh and Delicious

Pita Jungle in Ahwatukee, is my new favorite restaurant. Love the $1 Happy Hour tapas, hummus trios, margaritas/sangria, 'choose your own' kids meals, and the large variety of entree options.

My entree of choice is the wood-fired salmon salad, or over potatoes and sauteed spinach (shown).

And I love the restaurant's nice open space, and eclectic decor. Seems they also do a large take-out business - we tried that this past weekend. Yum.

They're Back

It's that time of the year again.... Their high-pitched buzz, and molted skins are telltale signs. No cicada artwork from Lauren this year, but she did collect a nice pile of their skins from the tree bark at a local park.

Garden Pests

Last week, Cole and I went out to check on our tomato plant and noticed the leaves were missing on several of the branches. Upon closer inspection we discovered.... the tobacco hornworm! And not just one, but ten! The kids picked them off one by one, and dropped them into a bucket of soapy water. A few more days and that tomato plant would have been no more.

Sneak Peek

Final installation of the mirrors/art is scheduled for tomorrow, yay! After that, the only remaining item will be for Stew to wall-mount the TV. Almost done!

Bookworm

Lauren can't stop reading these days. Thanks for the Nancy Clancy book, Emily & Amy! We just checked out a fresh batch of books at the library. And Lauren has one book 'in progress' in each of our cars, for reading during the 5-minute trip to/from school :)

Just Peachy

Skipped the frozen berries in this smoothie... :) Just frozen peaches, some frozen mango, orange juice, coconut milk, and a bit of fresh grated ginger. The texture was very Jamba Juice-like.

Nature Walk

We've been taking a few evening 'nature walks', while the weather is still cool enough. Lauren likes to look for interesting items to pick up - flower petals, seeds, etc. Cole wants to walk up everyone's driveway....

Sunday Fun

The kids have been asking to go swimming at the YCMA, and we finally went. It was a little chilly (83F) but no matter. They had a blast tossing and diving for the assortment of diving sticks, rings, and toy boats.

In the afternoon we redeemed the kids' free bowling game coupons that we received at Lauren's party. The cashier even waived the fee for Stew and my shoe rentals :)

'You're It!'

The cousins (and Stew) starting up a game of freeze tag, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.