Apartment Gardening

As I mentioned earlier, Sophia has been asking for a house with a garden. Since we are most likely going to be in an apartment/condo for another three years (more on that later), we needed to find a compromise.

We had planned on two large round pots with a mixture of veggies and flowers in each. What happened was way cooler. My parents came on a visit this weekend and brought with them a garden planter that my dad had created for Sophia from lumber harvested from the Illinois timber my mom played in as a girl (right, Mom?). A pretty special development indeed.

Sophia was thrilled with the planter. I should have taken a picture of my dad, Sophia and the planter, but I was too focused on the task. That will happen another day. As it happened, my dad was taking pictures of us instead.

 

Sophia is intent on taking care of her garden, and I can only hope that she has more fortitude than I do when it comes to watering...

 

Today, we worked on the second round pot, but what fun is gardening without a song?

 

Right now, our pots are on two different levels of the stairs behind our apartment. The upper level, that Sophia's watering here, are plants that thrive in the sun.

 

The plants in Dad's planter are on the level next to our door and hold shady plants.

 

A gratuitous shot of my cute husband of almost ten years. Sigh.

 

And the happy gardener.

 

This whole planter situation was an adjustment to apartment living, but I love it! Even if we eventually land in a house, I may stick with pots for the majority of my "gardening." That is, if Sophia allows it.

I'll update you on the progress of our garden, but I'll warm you just like I warned Sophia. We have lots of city squirrels in this neighborhood. They're wily and brazen. We may not end up with much untouched...

First time bowling

Erick took the day off of work yesterday to spend a little extra time with us on Sophia's spring break. It was a really, really great day.

We bowled. It was Sophia's first time, and she loved it. Every time she sent the ball down the lane, she turned around to do a little dance and would usually say something like, "That is what you have to learn!" I didn't capture the phrase on video, but I did get a version of the dance.



I loved bowling with bumpers. My score was still awful, but once I started to use the bumpers for bank shots, I did have some good frames. I love knowing that I can't get a gutter ball. Can't wait to do that again.

Best Day Ever

That was what Sophia called our day today. She followed that up with, "Well, maybe not the very best, but it was a really really good day!" It's the middle of Sophia's Spring Break, so I was glad to hear that she's having fun.

Our morning was spent hanging out and completely relaxing with TV, books and the like. Then we got serious about the fun. We met our friends (and thousands of strangers) at the zoo. Look how much fun we had. Have I mentioned that Maurice finds Sophia hilarious? She loves that about him.

 

After they left, Sophia danced. Because she must, I suppose.

 

Then she posed.

 

We had worked up a sweat, and I noticed that Sophia was in a mood to climb around. So we headed down to the World's Fair Pavilion and fountains. Sophia got wet and climbed all over.

 

It was a great day. A few more days of break to go. Let's see if they can live up to the hype...

Dancing on the Edge

We have been enjoying the weather that's graced us in the Midwest lately. Windows open, spring clothes out and as much time in the outdoors as possible.

The other day, Sophia asked if we could go to the fountains in front of the Art Museum so she could do her "homework." She likes to practice being in Kindergarten.

While we were there, she couldn't stop herself from practicing some of her dance moves in the sunlight and fresh air. I had to stop the spin moves, but she still managed to have a good time.

Is it here?

We are certainly willing to believe that Spring has arrived. Sophia keeps insisting that it's not yet Spring. That's technically true of course, but I'm an optimist. Spring it is.

 

Spring doesn't start around here without a few wishes at the fountain. And this girl takes her wishes seriously.

 

 

Hey, look at that. My wish already came true.

Planning the Planting

I'm not much of a gardener. I typically plant some stuff and give up on it after the first full week that I forget to water it. Last year, I just put a few little pots together, but that isn't going to be the case this year.

Lately, Sophia has been saying that she wants to live in a house instead of an apartment, specifically so she can grow a garden. We're not moving to a house any time soon, so I have decided to see what we can manage on our back steps.

We spent our afternoon looking at plants online and deciding what we are going to plant. Now we are ready! I think. I really don't know, to be honest. I'm oddly excited but also very pessimistic. I don't mind when things get brown and crispy or when vegetable plants don't produce as much as I hoped. I don't think Sophia is going to be quite as understanding...

We are going to start planting over Spring Break. the 19th. Is that too early? I'm not sure how long I can hold her off. Then again, I won't spend the money twice. Help, please.

Education

With Kindergarten just around the corner, we've started all the registration and mental preparation that one can, especially with one's first I imagine.

Another thing has happened lately that I'm pretty excited about. Sophia has started getting interested in things like the Egyptian pyramids, other historical events and scientific facts. I did great in school, but I retained virtually nothing. Nada. Just the oddball stuff that the teachers and professors probably said by accident. Those are the kinds of things that stuck with me.

All that to say that I'm really excited about this phase because it's full of questions to which I don't know the answer. We're making lots of trips to the library and visits to the world wide web. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to learn.

March Picnic

 

On the way home from school today, Sophia and I had a very interesting conversation that I couldn't wait to blog about. Then we decided to go on a picnic at the park and I cannot, for the life of me, remember what we talked about. Sorry. You'll be happy to know that we had a great time picnicking, though.

I'll let you know if it comes back to me.