Wordless Wednesday

Happy Earth Day! (A post about our worm bin)

I thought in light of this day dedicated to our lovely earth, I would do a quick post about our worm bin. A couple of people have asked me about our worm bin as I have mentioned it in previous posts about our garden.
I will keep it simple. We moved into our home last summer and there was already a functioning worm bin. In order to care for it properly I purchased a great book called "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof Before we had a worm bin in our yard, I knew nothing about worm composting. We have really enjoyed it and our garden and the earth have benefited.
Doug built a new bin this year and we started from scratch. The book shows you how to build a bin and how to get one started. Once you get it started, which all you need is shredded newspaper, you save your organic food waste (veggie scraps, fruit scraps, unused pasta) and add it to the bin to feed the worms. You need red worms which can be ordered online. If you care for your bin properly, you only need to purchase worms one time. When you are ready to use the compost, there are techniques in which you can get the worms out and make them start all over, which is what we did. Once you start feeding the worms, they quickly move through the food scraps and turn it into beautiful compost! This keeps rotting waste out of land fills and gives you free compost for your garden.
Happy earth day! This is a great small step to improving our earth!!


This is what the bin looks like. It dubs as a bench too! Doug built it. I am lucky to have a wood working hubbie!




The news paper on the left is new bedding for the worms, the more black on the right looked like this just about 5 or 6 months ago. I shifted all the compost to one side to maximize the amount of compost made by the worms. Now, we only put food into the left side but the worms still work the compost on the right. In a few months the compost on the right should be all turned and look like this...

Wordless Wednesday

Pregnant thoughts

Here I am! Everyone always asks "where are the photos of you?" Well, being the family photographer it's is sometimes hard to get in the photos.
Here are some photos of myself and the baby. This is my belly at 29 weeks pregnant. I must say, I am proud of my pregnant self and find it quite annoying that I always have to say "yup, still have a few months to go". I feel great right now and find it disturbing that people expect a pregnant woman to look a certain way. Big bellies are a good thing people. We are meant to get bigger every day as we are growing a human. The pregnant body is an amazing thing. I think it is fascinating. Our bodies stretch and grow to allow a baby to thrive inside, a true miracle.
To all you mama's out there: enjoy that belly!

This Face

I just love photographing this face of his! I will never get tired of it. He has such a beautiful face and his personality is even more beautiful. He really enjoyed the tulip festival. He ran among the flowers and loved looking at all the vibrant colors. It is a must do if you live in the area. Fun for all ages!

If You Haven't Been To The Skagit Valley Tulip Fest....

GO Now! It is absolutely beautiful! I took so many wonderful photos of Cooper, Livia, and the flowers that I am going to have to spread them out over a few posts. Happy Spring!

Daddies last game

After Varsity Boys basket ball season was over, Doug agreed to coach the mid school girls team (his school is 5th through 12th). A few weeks ago Cooper and I went to their last game. I actually forgot my camera, shocking, I know. Luckily another teacher had hers and captured Cooper on the bench with the girls and shooting hoops with Daddy after the game. I tried to get Cooper to cheer "go Eagles" but all he would say was "GO HUSKIES!" I guess we have him brain washed. He thinks all sporting events are the huskies. It was fun to see the girls play and to see Daddy be the coach.

Every girl has a tutu. right?

Today I had fun with my camera. I had Ann bring Livia's tutu over with her and I took some adorable photos. When Cooper saw me stripping Liv down to her diaper he wanted to join in on the photos but really didn't last too long so I wasn't able to get too many of them together. I sure do love taking photos and really want to take a class so I can use our camera to it's full potential. For now, I am just having fun. Enjoy our little princess and our handsome prince.

Long Beach

Doug and I have decided that we are pretty lucky to have the schedules that we have. Doug had last week off for spring break so we decided to take advantage and go on a little road trip. We headed to Long Beach, WA and stayed at these lovely cottages at Klipsan Beach, thanks to Grandma Audrey's suggestion. The weather was cold and windy but that didn't stop us from hitting the beach to run and play. It was perfect weather to sit by the fire in our cottage and relax. It was nice to get away, as it always is. One thing is for sure, the sound of the ocean has a soothing effect like no other. We really want to visit Long Beach again in the summer and stay at the beach front cottages again.



The Cottages. Aren't they so cute! You get your own deck with a view of the ocean.




Cooper playing in the sand dunes.


Daddy playing in the sand dunes. I think he had more fun then Cooper!





The most special part of the weekend for me was that I had a dream about our baby girl. She was about 18 months old, I called her by name and she ran into my arms. I picked her up. Her face was clear as day. She had hair the color of coopers in two messy pony tails and big eyes like Cooper but chocolate brown. It was amazing and if felt so real. I nuzzled her little head and it smelled sweet like my boy's. Must have been sleeping by the calming fire with the sound of the ocean in the background that cleared my head to allow me to dream this wonderful dream. It will be interesting to see if she looks anything like this.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!