Life of a gardener

Slowly, very slowly I am learning about being a gardener.  Not a good one, of course, but little by little I am getting somewhere, hopefully.  You have to know, I have the brownest thumb in the world and no plants survive inside our house.  I kill them all, except this one orchid I got from Ehren because it just needs 3 ice cubes once a week and I can handle that.  So to go from that to trying to do something outside our house is pretty brave of me.  It was great when my mom was here because she absolutely loves everything about gardening and she would be out in the dirt all day every day if she could. So it was great for her to have the initiative to start up our place.  I like working along side someone like that because I don't need to know much, I just watch and do what I'm told.  But this year I am taking it in my hands and it is a new experience for me.  Of course, Ehren has quite a big input in what we do and we have a few "discussions" about what should go where but in the end it is up to me what will be planted.

Since I know that I really dislike gardening and working with plants, bugs crawling over me and the mosquitoes biting while I'm doing it I do everything on a pretty small scale.  My mom started a small vegetable garden in the tires last year and we had such great crops from that that I am doing that again.  We added 3 more tires and a small area where I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, peas, radish and lettuce.  I feel like it is better for me to go small and being able to handle it and mostly get ok results as trying to do a huge garden and get hardly anything because it is overwhelming and I wouldn't have time for it anyway.

So today was our gardening day and I can't believe how much work we got done in just one day.  We fixed up the corner in front of our house with some edging material, rearranged some of the plants in there and weeded the whole area.  Now we just need to put down the wood chips on top and for this year we're done with the corner.  I know it could look prettier with more variety of plants but it is fine for now.  We still have to do the whole right side in front of the house the same way, with a couple bushes or something to make it look nicer.  A sidewalk would be very nice too but we might wait for a good deal on some stepping stones or something.  Besides that corner I managed to plant almost all my vegetables.  I was really happy about all that being done and I so should have known something was going to happen.  A very quick and big storm was coming through just after we got done with everything and put stuff away in the garage.  Here is me thinking inside, this will be great for all my plants, some nice rain is just what they need.  That is until the rain came.  It started pouring and pouring harder and pretty soon it wasn't just pouring out but pea-size hail was falling everywhere.  On my plants!  I was just watching out the kitchen window in disbelief, watching the ground getting whiter and whiter.  Finally the storm passed and I rushed out the door to check on my poor plants.  I am thinking at this point, maybe I am getting to be a bit of a gardener, thinking of my plants as my kids or something. :)  The tomato, pepper and cucumber plants look ok but the tiny lettuce is all gone.  We have to wait and see how they do and I am just hoping I don't have to replace too many of them.  But I guess that is the life of a gardener or a farmer.  You never know what the weather will bring and you just have to embrace it for what it is and start over.  Yes, start over.

To be honest though, I sure am thankful that our family doesn't depend on the food from our crops.  This way if "stuff" happens we move on.  It doesn't affect us much, other than our mood I think or I should say my mood.  "All that work, time put in it and money to buy everything and it is all for nothing" is something I would be thinking and just getting mad at the situation.  But really, there is so much more to it than the end result of the vegetable or fruit garden.  There is the family time spent taking care of it, teaching children about how the plants grow and how we take care of them, just being outside together and taking care of what God gave us.  So I will try to be thankful for this day despite the hail ending of it and know that tomorrow is a whole new day and a new day to be able to garden or do whatever.  "This is the day that the God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" came to mind for some reason. :)

Hope you've had a blessed day wherever you are.

there are my tires

digging in the dirt and loving my new gardening gloves

the corner I wrote about, it still needs to be covered with the wood shavings

lettuce, peas, cucumber and carrots in the little dirt spot

I like it that I can weed while the kids are playing on the swing set

tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers

only the red flowers survived the hail.  Will have to expand this corner a bit

we are very excited to see the green grass after having dirt lawn for so long.
It will need a lot of weeding but  it's coming in nicely.

and the wood chips are done too.
Now the next job is doing this on the right side of the front door.

  

smoothies and shakes

The summer has kind of started (depending on the day) and so have our favorite summer treats.  All our kids and daycare kids love when I make smoothies and can't get enough of them, even one picky eater who normally doesn't like most fruits.  So it is usually our morning or afternoon snack on a warm day.  The other kind of drink they love is a "strawberry shake" and it is pretty much strawberry milk made in a new and yummy way.  Here is my recipes if you want to give it a try.  It is nice to have a good sturdy blender to make these though.

Yogurt smoothie:
 - 6 oz yogurt, flavored
 - plain yogurt to add
 - 1 banana
 - handful of any frozen fruit
 - any extra fresh fruit you have (haven't tried apples though)
 - a big handful of spinach leaves
 - fruit juice

Put all the ingredients into the blender and keep adding fruit juice until it is the right consistency.  I like mine pretty thick.  Your kids will not have any idea that spinach is in it because you can't taste it at all.  If you want to make it healthier skip the flavored yogurt and use only the plain one but it is not very sweet then and some kids may not like it that way.

Our strawberry milkshake:
- milk
- Nestle instant Strawberry powder ( it is a lot healthier choice than the syrups)
- ice cubes
- handful of frozen strawberries

Pour milk into the blender, add a couple spoons of the powder and ice.  Blend well and taste to see if it is sweet enough.  You don't want it to be bright pink or else it will be too sweet.  But I do add more powder as I keep blending because I usually put too little at first.  You can skip the frozen strawberries but if I have them I put them in because it makes it a little better.

Serve in big glasses with straws and enjoy!

strawberry-banana-blackberry-kiwi smoothie

Kason is 3

Kason turned 3 while me and Ani were in Slovakia so we celebrated his birthday with the family this weekend.  He was so excited to have a party for him and a birthday cake.  It is a bit sad to see our baby growing up, we are for sure beyond the infant/toddler stage at our house now.  Kason is becoming such a fun, loving little boy.  He is talking more and more and you can reason with him most of the time (unless it is his birthday and other kids want to play with his new toys).  He still loves to be held, Ehren said he wasn't like that much while I was gone but now he is back to wanting to cuddle with me and Ehren.  Kason is also very curious about life, wants to know what is going on and wants to know names of everything and he won't stop asking what something is until I tell him.  I think that is how he learned the names of all those shapes so quick because he wants to know the names for things. :)  One cute thing he does is that when he meets a new person he comes right up and says "I am Kason Martin Hanson and this is my friend so and so."  He is definitely the least shy of our kids and is not afraid to come up to anybody.  He is just fun to watch especially now that I've been away from him for almost 3 weeks.  He and Ani missed each other a lot because they are pretty good playing buddies so it is cute to see them play together again.  But really all 3 of them have been having a great time together this weekend, our family is all together again.

I made a monster truck birthday cake for Kason and he was very excited about it but mostly he couldn't wait to blow off his candles.  Ehren's parents, great aunt and brother's family came to celebrate the occasion with us and it was great to see them all after a while.

Kason's new haircut

the family

monster truck cake

Kason watching the cake and getting ready to blow

Ani and Emily enjoying the cake

all those presents

he got a new train an was very excited about it

and he got a truck for outside from nana and papa

The Long Way Home

I just had to write about our eventful way home because it is all pretty funny now in retrospect.  You would totally think I am flying for the first time and being a mom for the first time.  First, our Ani still has potty accidents at night so we usually put a diaper on but she never has an accident during the day.  I know I should probably bring her in to see if it is something to be concerned about, it's like if she is in deep sleep she doesn't wake up for having to go to the bathroom.

Anyway, on the way to Slovakia she only slept about 2 hours the whole time and so she never got to sleep so hard that she would have an accident.  I thought about putting a diaper on for the way home but for some reason I didn't.  I had plenty of extra clothes and stuff in my carry on bag, which was confiscated in Budapest saying it is too heavy to take on the plane and I had to check it in.  I was quick trying to figure out what one or 2 things I could take out of there that we would need for the trip but then I just couldn't think straight on the spot like that and didn't think of some extra clothes.  Our first airplane ride was great and uneventful and we were soon getting on our "big" plane, that was flying from Munich to Chicago and the whole flight took about 9 hours.  We had to get up early again that day to get to the airport in time so Ani was pretty tired and soon after take off she was fast asleep.  After almost an hour into her nap, as I am trying to catch 20 minutes of snooze here and there, I notice a certain smell.  For a while I didn't think anything of it and then it hit me - Anika.  I quick feel her butt and just as I thought that certain smell was Anika having an accident.  Not only her underwear and pants were soaked but her sweatshirt and the seat she was on.  If we didn't go 10 times to the bathroom before we got on the plane, but "come on" I thought.  My mind started racing what in the world can I do, stranded on this huge plane with absolutely nothing to change Ani into.  I quick started looking through the plane to hopefully see a mom with a child about Ani's age but I only knew of 2 or 3 moms with little babies.  There was no hope. :)  I wrapped her mid section into 2 blankets that they gave us for the trip and took her to the bathroom.  Poor Ani wanted to sleep so bad and when she found out she was all wet she felt really bad.  So that was all within the first hour of the 9 hour plane ride.  I asked a flight attendant if they had anything I could use but she just laughed at me.  So the only option was to grab as many paper towels as I could get in the bathroom and stick it all around Ani's belly, under her pants.  I still wrapped her in those blankets and that's how she sat for the rest of the time.  We still got up about 5 times to go to the bathroom and I was relieved that by the end she was almost totally dry and the smell was not as noticeable unless you smelled her by her clothes. :)

I was relieved about it again when we entered the Chicago airport because somehow too many planes landed at the same time or something but the customs were packed with people and we waited a couple hours in an overcrowded hallway to wait out turn.  Anika was so tired at this point as it was getting close to the middle of the night in Slovakia and she just sat on the ground and either walked when we moved or just scooted on the ground.  I didn't even care anymore, I myself was almost too tired to stand up and I couldn't hold her in my arms.  Well, we finally got our turn and I have never been more excited to get our bags to go through customs because I could finally get a diaper and change of clothes for Ani.  Of course, if I was smart I would have taken a bit more stuff out of that bag as we had to stay in Chicago overnight, which I didn't know about at that time.

That is my dumb moment number 2.  So I have my boarding pass all ready to fly from Chicago to Fargo, our final destination and I was so happy we had enough time to get to our plane because most people flying with us missed their connecting flights because of the customs situation.  Anyway, there were no boards with flight info, just a train to get on and I ask a lady by the train where I should go.  She asked what airlines and I said United to which she points me to the train and said I needed to go there.  We got off at a terminal with a big board of flight info there and I check for Fargo - 8:15, just like my boarding pass so all I had to find was a gate number.  I got it and we slowly got to our gate, even had something to eat and waited.  If I was thinking a little bit it would dawn on me to check the flight number but it wouldn't occur to me in a million years that there are 2 small planes leaving from Chicago to  Fargo within a few minutes of each other.  So I just waited until it was time to get on the plane and that's when the flight attendant goes "you are flying United and this is American airlines".  I just about died right there.  I could not believe that I was just sitting there for an hour and did not realize I am waiting for a wrong plane.  Of course, our terminal was at the other side of the airport and so it was impossible for us to make it in time for boarding since these 2 planes were leaving at the same time.  Seriously, there are so few flights coming into Fargo in one day so why are there 2 from Chicago at the same time?  I was so furious, at myself and everyone, I knew the best option we would have now is to fly in the morning.

And that is what happened.  Luckily the airline didn't charge me for re-booking and gave us a half off coupon for a very nice hotel so that was great.  I called Ehren's mom and then Ehren and of course I just bawled because all I wanted was to get home.  I was exhausted, sweaty, with no change of clothes and no one I knew.  Unfortunately Ehren was already in Fargo so he drove out there with the boys for nothing and I felt so bad about that.  But I guess the main thing is that we were safe and nothing bad happened.  I put Anika into a nice hotel bed after 10pm and she was out within 2 minutes.  The next morning we woke up early to get to the airport and got on the first plane to Fargo and it was so sweet to see our boys again.  Kason seemed so much bigger to me and we all had a great time catching up.  The kids still play and play together so nice, you can tell they all missed each other.

So that is the story of my trip back.  Pretty dumb and sad, after flying that many times to do this, but I guess stuff happens to everybody.  I am glad I am home safe and sound.  We are getting ready for Kason's family birthday party tonight so no time to sit back and relax yet.

Pictures

I thought I would have more time to write but we are down to the wire now, trying to do everything with everyone so I have no time for blogging but at least I want to put the pictures up of our days or else it will be too many at once.

Yesterday afternoon we went to my birth town Levice where my mom"s mom and my only living grandma lives among other relatives.  We visited with my grandma for a bit and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening with my 2 aunts and that was so fun, just like the old times.  Anika even learned how to fall asleep in the car now with all these trips here and there and now she keeps asking if she should be sleeping when we get in a car.  On our drive home my parents and I were remembering the old times when we were little and they used to take us on trips.  There were no radios, dvds or anything so the way dad had to entertain us the whole time was by singing to us all the fun folk and Christian songs and we had so much fun listening to those.  Us kids all had our favorite songs that we couldn"t wait to hear and tried to sing along with dad.  That is one of the best childhood memories of mine and I hope we can pass on something as precious to our children one day.

Today - Tuesday - we had a full day visiting with my old class mates from elementary and high school and it was really nice to see them again and their lovely children.  It is so nice to see friends as moms now, going through the same things as me even though they are thousands of miles away.

at one of my aunt"s cabin - built in 16th century

inside their living room

a gothic church there, from the 13th century

beautiful country side and such good fresh air

with my grandma - 4 generations

my aunt just loved Anika

we went out for pizza

Ani was SO excited to finally get her dreamy sunday because they sell ice cream on every corner here.  But she was waiting for it very patiently, never once tried to beg for it

3 sisters with their mom and Ani

eating at my aunt"s house before heading home (my cousin David is on my left)

meeting some class mates

my elementary school class mate who now lives in NY

Ani taking a picture - me and my friends as moms

meeting with other friends in town - it was a hot day so the kids
loved all the fountains everywhere

in front of the presidential palace

trying to get a castle background

finally found the American hockey player - in front of the American Embassy, duh

There are just friends with whom no matter how much time passes by  you
just pick up right where you left off, as if it were only days and these are friends like that - for life

all of our kids together

Ani was in heaven that she got to walk this great dog on her own for hours

again trying to get the castle but the lighting didn"t work out the best

By the end Ani was having a blast with the kids