January through March

It's ironic that the first post after three and a half months of blog absence is a video of Ty watching TV. We are having a sort of media fast around here, so our TV stays off about 99% of the time now. We have movie night on Fridays now, and that is about it. But this morning Ty was carrying around his Thomas the Train book and wanting me to read it. I thought it would be fun to video him watching it on TV for the first time.

To update on our last few months:

I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Serve God, Save the Planet about the time Kentucky began to flirt with Spring. I always have grand ideas about growing a garden, but I usually end the summer with a few rather dry tomato plants, lots of herbs, and a grocery bill that reflects whatever fruits and veggies were on sale throughout the month. Between reading those books and praying about what it means to be a good steward of our resources (money, home, land, etc.), this year I am approaching gardening with much more conviction. I want my children to appreciate natural cycles and food seasons, and that's not easy in a culture where we can buy anything we want, anytime we want it. I want them to understand that food is grown on farms by hardworking people; it doesn't just appear in the grocery store. I want them to develop a taste for fresh, healthy food. We are working on a modest garden at home so that the kids can watch seeds that we plant become food that we eat, but this year we will support the local farmers by buying their produce at the farmer's market. My goal is visit the grocery for milk and flour and a few other staples, but to let local farms determine the rest of the food we eat this summer.

So far it has been difficult to go local because almost nothing is presently in season. I've been baking a lot of bread as we wait for the vegetable bounty. On Sunday I made fresh hummus and pita bread... Ty loved it.

We're healthy around here, but I'm not hardcore by any means. (We usually have a stash of chocolate and jelly beans in the cabinet). Below is a picture of Riley and Lauren Clay with some cupcakes they decorated a few weeks ago. Lauren Clay chose the slumber party cupcake out of the book Hello Cupcake. I think next time we will make aliens.



Look at this cute dress-up outfit Lauren Clay put on recently: (She still loves those Mini Mouse shoes. Her Halloween costume has proven to be an excellent investment).
We've spent most of the past few months turning this:

Into this:

The bathroom is actually more finished than these shots indicate. Once we apply another coat of paint and hang a shelf, I'll upload the true after pictures.