Today we...

Had a pie eating contest...

Went horseback riding...


Climbed a rock wall...

  

Made human pyramids...

Built sandcastles  in the volleyball court...


Built a PVC bike rack...

Planted a fall garden...


And filled the chicken's coop with delicious weeds (from our very own garden beds).

Family Pictures

 

Singing Time with Katy

Meet the newest three-year-old in our house:

She is quickly turning into a goofy little know-it-all preschooler. Tonight I just had to share a conversation that I had with her as I was singing to her and trying to put her to bed. One of her favorite songs is a children's song from church--in our house we refer to it as "Song of a Bird", although I think its actual title is "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". Tonight as I tried to sing it to her, it went something like this:

Me: Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky...
K: Why is our sky dark?
Me: Because it's been raining all day
K: Why is the sky dark?
Me Because the sun went down.
K: Oh...Why did the sun goed down?
Me: Because it's time for bed.
K: Oh.

Me (trying to remember the tune from before): Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by, When ever I touch a velvet rose or walk by our lilac tree...
K: I didn't touched a velvet rose! You picked up a frog!
(I did, in fact, pick up a frog about 2 weeks ago and let her pet it)
Me: ....
K: There's more song!

And so I finished singing her the song. I think she managed to keep quiet for two whole minutes so I could sing her the rest of that song.

Purple Pole Beans

This spring I bought a packet of Purple Podded Pole Bean seeds.  I'm a sucker for red or purple vegetables. Maybe they just seem tastier if they aren't green (This year I bought Red Malabar Spinach, a couple varieties of eggplant, and a purple tomato variety along with my pole beans). Our pole beans are the one thing in our garden that's really thriving. (Please excuse my blurry pictures. A two-year-old ran off with my camera, so I used the iPod, which needs some improvement in the auto-focus department).

Here are the pole bean plants climbing all over their trellis:

I love the pretty little purple flowers.

But the coolest thing about them are the bean pods themselves.  See that deep purple color?

 When you snap them, you can see that they really are green beans with a thin purple coating

 
But then you throw them in a pot and boil them for a few minutes and abracadabra...







You have green beans!

Pretty cool, huh?