ramblings...

it is quiet.
the windows are open to the blissful breeze.
elijah is sleeping.
i'm listening to new music.
and i'm thankful.

hot.
it has been hot.
unbearably so.
i wish there was another adjective for it...
but really...the only word that does it justice is hot.
suffocating.
sweltering.
oppressive.
mood-altering.
hot.

we did the best we could.
sprinklers, pools and popsicles were the essentials...
along with the ever-present air conditioning.
so thankful that the heat wave has passed and that there are clouds in the sky today.
elijah did so well with the heat...he really didn't seem to mind it...
though he was more sleepy than normal and couldn't get enough of the sprinklers.

my garden didn't fare as well as elijah did though.
most of the vegetables that are planted out there just weren't meant to live through triple digits.
we'll see if they are revived by the cooler temperatures ahead.
also...the bugs found the garden before i found the bugs...
so most of the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower had to go.
they were just too infested to save.
however, i did get some "organic" bug spray.
the rest of the garden should be better off with the help of that.
my tomatoes are coming along nicely...
i'm going to have more tomatoes than i know what to do with.
john's mom and i have plans to can some...but really...you can only have so many jars of canned tomatoes. especially when my husband will only eat prego spaghetti sauce.

total tangent here but about john's obsession with prego spaghetti sauce...that's not the only "food thing" he's picky about. he only likes the following: french's mustard, kraft mac 'n' cheese, oscar meyer bologna and a particular kind of pickled jalapenos. seriously. what is wrong with this boy?

anyways. just something i've come across in the past couple weeks that i found interesting.
moving on to other topics...
elijah has become a little chatterbox!
so many new words all the time.
just one example:
yesterday, after lunch, i was cleaning up the floor surrounding e's high chair. he walked up to me and said in his sweet little voice, "anmals?". i was a bit confused because though i recognized that he was trying to say animals, he'd never said that word before nor had we ever really talked about them. i repeated it back to him in question form while he nodded and said it again. so i asked him, "do you want to play with your animals?". this produced vigorous head nods and happy shouts of "anmals, anmals anmals!" i really wasn't sure what animals he was referring to but since he has a small collection of wooden animals, i walked with him over to the bin and got them out. he was estatic...which tells me that those particular animals were the ones he was looking for. what smart little dude. i'd never collectively called them animals, i'd only ever called them by their individual names or noises. but somehow, he figured out that as a whole, they were called animals. pretty exciting developmental stuff in the life of elijah. it's so incredible to witness.
another funny story...this morning we were outside enjoying the cooler weather. i found several snails hiding in the front yard so i got them out and put them on the sidewalk. elijah and i proceeded to line them up (there were about eight) for snail races. he quickly lost interest and found something else to occupy his hands in the garage but when john came out to see what we were up to, elijah ran over to john and pointed back to the snails, shouting, "'nails, dada, 'nails!" seriously...so cute.

i've been keeping busy lately with lots of fun little knitty projects. i've got two on the needles right now (well, one's on needles, the other is being crochetted...therefore, no needles. a hook, rather.) that i've almost finished. a bunch of other fun projects are lined up pending completion of my current projects. i'll post pictures of the completed goodies when i get a chance.

today, we're off to go meet the newest member of our group of friends. little hefti earl brunold the FOURTH was born on saturday. sososo excited to meet the little dude. he has been greatly anticipated! i will definitely have pictures soon. i just can't get enough of babies these days. they're popping up in every nook and cranny, filling the world with so much possibility and promise. oh my, babies are a grand thing. can't wait to have another one of my own...hopefully soon. ;-D