Say "cheese" Lily!

Lily has quite a few signs that she uses these days. Eat, more, please, thank you, water, grapes, cookie, and a few others. While we were at my mom's house, she was playing with my sunglasses and we told her to say "cheese" as my sister snapped a picture...so she did! In ASL. Hahaha! I love my daughter. Sorry the sign is blurry, it is made by putting palms together and rubbing in a twisting motion.

I love these people. :)

Jake's Glorious Garden

This is the 2nd year we have a had a garden and I must say, Jake has quite the green thumb. I can't take any credit for it, he quite literally does all the work. This year we had corn, yellow squash, okra, bell peppers, japanese cucumbers, red potatoes, japanese sweet potatoes, green beans, and roma tomatoes.

We're still getting more okra and cucumbers than we know what to do with! We've recently started pickling it to use up our massive quantity.
Our romas didn't do very well, this heat was just a bit much this year. We're not that interested in them anyway so Jake doesn't plan on growing any this fall or next year.
We've had about 80 cucumbers so far. We've given MANY of them away to friends and family.
Our potato harvest wasn't quite as good this season as last. We're not sure why so Jake is going to try something different this fall. Fingerlings!
Our squash was a bit overwhelming. Jake had 8 plants and we had enough squash to feed the neighborhood.

Green beans were a bust. We got a handful of them and later heard that they don't love the heat so scratch that for next year.

Jacob is getting the fall garden ready. On the list for planting are kale, ground cherries, potatoes, pie pumpkins, japanese pumpkins, and japanese radishes.

Family Vacation 2011

This year, Jake and I decided it was time to take a family vacation together. We took an Eastern Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas and Key West. We LOVED our time on the beaches and being together.

Lily's life jacket was a bit snug and she was NOT a fan.Key lime pie in Key West. We also tried some fried conch and it was SO good.
Lily was anything but afraid of a hermit crab a little girl found. She got a hold of it and we weren't sure she was going to let go--ever. Probably a bit traumatizing for the crab.
It's out of focus but I love this face. I think it expresses exactly how we all felt about being on vacation.

Lillian turns ONE!

I realize I'm 3 months late on...well, EVERYTHING. Our little baby became a big toddler girl what seemed like overnight. She's such a sweet, happy, funny little girl and we can't believe how quickly the year went. What an amazing adventure we have had (and will continue to have)!