love, friday : 500

1. Jackson is potty-trained. It's taken a little while, but we finally reached the point of "I can open the screen door, go upstairs, go potty, pull up my pants again, flush, wash my hands and come back down before Mommy even knew I was not in the garden." WOW.
2. The garden is totally taking shape this year. Square-foot gardening all the way. I'm loving this new-to-me method of taking care of the garden in small sections. It just jives with the way I think and I've already felt more relaxed about gardening this year.
3. Amelia crawls. And now Amelia pulls herself up on everything too. She apparently doesn't have a long transition period between crawling and walking in mind. (She even tried to pull herself up on the cat, but that didn't go so well.)
4. I made strawberry-rhubarb crisp last week and it was like eating summer on a spoon.
5. Eden's wedding shawl is bee-you-tee-full but I don't think I can share photos of it here since the groom is a reader. Trust me, it's gorgeous and I'm addicted to knitting it, even if it is a charted lace pattern with yarn as fine as dental floss.
6. Vegetarian BLT's. That's all I'm gonna say about that.7. I met Michael Pollan at a book-signing event this week, thanks to my awesome husband for finding out about it the day-of and telling me he'd watch the kids so I could go. I've been reading his books for almost 15 years, so I'm definitely the "choir" but it was so, so cool to hear him in person and be reminded of why I like him so much. Now when I prepare food I think, "What would Michael Pollan eat?" (WWMPE?)
8. My son won't allow himself to be photographed lately, since, you know, he's THREE. This photo was a fluke, I think, because of the sunglasses. I think his vision was so compromised that he didn't know what I was doing and didn't have a chance to run. (Blue hands because you're supposed to stick your hands in the stamp pad when you're stamping, right?)
9. My daughter LOVES being photographed and so she's my subject of choice lately. I could fill an entire web site with her cuteness. (Or just an entire blog post, since this one needs some extra cuteness around the edges.)

10. I feel so lucky to have good friends who are also moms and who also like to go hiking with their kids. We've made a "hiking kids" group for weekly hiking trips at local state parks and other trails this summer and have already had so much fun. Tomorrow we're heading out for another hike. I love getting out of town with just the kids, a backpack for the Baby Girl and a picnic lunch.
11. Jackson has his own bedroom now, which means that my craft cabinet and other crafty supplies either live in the hall closet (with toilet paper stacked on top) or are scattered about the house. ...sigh... At least I was able to sort through and purge a bunch of stuff. And at least he adores his new bed and bedroom. (Who wouldn't love sleeping under a tent with stars over your bed?)
12. I'm on another project binge lately and tend to move like lightning around the house getting things done. Maybe this is why I haven't stopped to blog recently?
13. I spend way too much time on Facebook still though. It's like "lazy blogging." No time to blog, must report, go to FB, update status, read funny comments, give thumbs-up to friends, move on... Sorry, I still love you, y&g, just busy lately.
14. I am just excited, excited, excited about all of the good things ahead in 2009 and am trying to soak up every minute completely without barreling through it to get to the next. Honestly, I think I'm just so, so, SO happy to not be pregnant this summer (like last year) that it all feels new to me. Biking, walking, hiking, gardening, even just being able to move furniture around and mow the lawn. From the little things like this to the big things like a trip to California in October (!), life is good.
15. This is my 500th blog post. (Bet you thought I was going to make a list of 500 random things, right? Points for reading this far!) I love my blog. I didn't really know what it was going to be when I started it (do any of us?) but am so happy with what it's become, the doors it's opened up and people I've met because of it. I think you're cool. Thanks for reading my blog.

love, friday : 500