Aaron's birthday

It's Birthday Week over here: Aaron today, Jordan Thursday. Then also Jordan has his Birthday Circle at school on Friday, with cake, and on Sunday, his birthday party at Matthews Beach, also of course with cake. That's four separate occasions for cake in one week - and that's not counting Suzanna Moss, whose birthday is Friday and who would like a cake too. Fortunately I just think there is nothing better than providing delightful birthday cakes for friends and family, especially those under ten.

For Aaron, the fun began at pickup time today from school. Aaron's teachers prefer no cake for the two-year-olds; apparently they have no idea whose birthday it is, they are so all about the cake. Instead, they invite parents to bring special music or a favorite book or something else to share. Dale and I thought, "What would be most Aaron?" and immediately said the same thing: Balls. So I brought a giant bag full of balls. The kids had a blast. They threw, they rolled, they did not catch, they laughed their heads off. And Aaron did a very good job of sharing, except for the big red ball, which is his new ball from Grandpa Hailey. That was his alone.




Aaron enjoyed the ball fest, but after fifteen minutes or so he was backing into a corner and saying "I ready to go Mommy." That made me glad we had planned a relatively calm birthday evening: just Grandma and Bill over for dinner, with cake and ice cream and presents. Really, that was plenty of excitement.

For Aaron I made a strawberry cake, because he is crazy about any kind of berries. Jordan and Aaron helped decorate it.



Tell me this is not the quintessential birthday photo! I am slain!



He went right for the candles, just like he knew what he was doing... except he licked the wrong end.



Aaron got a lovely quantity of presents (but not too many). Bath toys were a theme and they were a huge, huge hit, even with no bath.



Mommy and Daddy got Aaron this inflatable riding horsie, which seems pretty great.



Jordan fulfilled his big-brother duties perfectly, helping Aaron open the presents and demonstrating how to play with them. He was really wonderful today. I think it would be easy to resent your little brother's birthday coming two days before your own, and Jordan was a peach. He picked out these linking boats for Aaron, and the swimming monkey on the floor.



He also decided on his own initiative that he needed to make Aaron a birthday card, and I tell you what, it is a masterpiece in my opinion. Designed and executed with no adult assistance at all. Jordan explains: "There is a J for Jordan and an A for Aaron, and it says 'Love Aaron' on the bottom. And we are hugging! I am hugging Aaron's head and he is hugging my legs because he is shorter. And we are naked!" See? Zoom in if you need to.

June garden

We just harvested these strawberries, all at once! And here are some of the plants that yielded them. These were left in the yard by the sellers and they seem terrific - productive and tasty.



The garden is going great guns in general right now. Compare June 3 to June 11, eight days of beautiful hot weather. (Chard and collards, or is that cabbage? and tomatoes, basil, etc on the deck.)



Delicata squash; potatoes, with cucumbers and summer squash in the boxes. The boxes are taped with copper tape to ward off the slugs while the plants are small.



Beautiful clematis, one of two, also left by the sellers. Pretty little volunteer flowers. Roses climbing the deck. Back bed overview, now that we've seriously hacked back the bushes -- more sun for the veggies, please.



Lacinato kale in one of the raised beds; bolting cilantro on the left, more chard, onions. There's a steady supply of tasty leafy greens, the cooking kind, which are the best anyway if you ask me. Lettuce is slug bait around here.



We have a worm bin now, which seems to be doing fine, and which will eventually provide us with a steady supply of garden gold. (worm castings.) I made it with two nested opaque bins, ventilation holes in the top one. Full instructions are googleable. Here's the outside view, and the inside! Both boys are totally enchanted by the worms and love to observe them. Aaron says "Wormy, wormy! Want to see the wormy!" whenever we go outdoors.



He also loves to help with the digging.



Grandma and the boys enjoying the exterior living room.