The Benefits to Waking Up Before 6:00 a.m.

Tali and Eli playing with "Aunt Cara's blocks" in the kitchen while I cleaned.

This morning, Tali and Eli woke up at 5:50 a.m. Yes, that's early for us. About an hour and a half early. But, I got so much more done today because of it.

Before school I:

fed the kids breakfast
did a load of laundry
got the kids dressed (and myself)
taught Tali how to make our bed
cleaned the kitchen
made a grocery list and most of our weekly menu
took Jackson on a walk

And, we still made it to school on time. Amazing! Not that I'm hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow, but it was nice to have one day of numerous accomplishments before 9:00 a.m.

Our First Vegetable Garden

We recently did some more landscaping in our backyard and decided to include a 7-bed vegetable garden. We hope this will be a fun thing for the kids as they grow up. As I've never gardened before, it's going to be a great learning experience for me. I'm starting a bit late in the game this year so we'll what grows. I don't have high expectations for my first year. It'll take a few years before I really know what I'm doing.

Today, I decided a fun activity would be to start planting the seeds with Tali. Ha! I sometimes forget that she's three and likes to make a mess. I also forget how chaotic it can be to try and get something done with her. Throw in a furniture delivery and it was all out chaos. But, Tali had a great time.


I had about ten seed packets and Tali really wanted to plant carrots. With everything going on, I didn't read the package. These are supposed to go directly into the ground so that the roots are straight. Oh well. If they grow, we'll enjoy some crooked carrots. A fun reminder of our very first gardening experience together.

Ha!

I quickly ran down to our boiler room to get some information off of our well and when I came back upstairs, this is what I found. (He was fully dressed, with a bib, when I left him.) I must've been gone for no more than a minute!

PS Yes, I know I need to write more. A lot more. It's just still so crazy here that I can never seem to find the time. When my kids get older, someone please tell them that I loved them and they were cared for at this age. I was just too busy to record it.