6 Months Old

Last week Katie turned six months old. Six months sure does go by fast. It seems like just yesterday we got this

She was so tiny!

Now look how big she is, almost 16 lbs!

This last week she had her first taste of solid food.

She took her first trip to the beach and really liked the waves and water.

She also got two kittens, Misty and Bruno, this past month.

She can roll over and sit (with a little help getting there) she loves playing with her feet and sticking her tongue out. Her laugh is one of the greatest sounds I have ever heard. Overall she is a happy little girl and the apple of her parents eye.

Compost

I have been wanting to start a compost bin and thanks to a discount offered by Waste Management we were able to get a discounted bin. It took quite awhile to arrive but this last week when we got home we found the box sitting on out door step, of course some assembly was required. This is what I had when I took everything out of the box.

Of course I had my trusty assistant looking on, actually I think she was just trying to figure out what I was trying to do.

I assembled the compost bin and got it in the yard. Of course then I needed something to put in it and had to rake the yard and bring out the scrap bin from the kitchen. It is now started and hopefully soon I will have some compost!

Garden Gone Crazy

The garden has gone a little crazy. Turns out we made a small mistake with the fertilizer. When we built the bed Mike added Nitrogen. Turns out that nitrogen is what causes plants to get really big, leafy and green. This sounds good but all of the plants energy is going there instead of the vegetables. Our radishes and beets were lost to this, they were huge leafy vegetables but hardly anything in the dirt. I have worked to add some potassium now to help balance things out but here is where the garden is now.

The carrots which actually have little orange carrots developing.

Spinach and lettuce which we have been eating, but bugs are really eating away at the lettuce.

The tomatoes which are pretty much covering the peppers and eggplant, they are almost taller than the fence. There are small tomatoes on the plants.

The tomatillo which is looking good.

The corn, cucumber and one parsnip.

Watermelon, beans and cantaloupe.

And finally the squash. These are doing good. We have a few small zucchini and it looks like some of the other squash may be coming in soon too.

The rhubarb I planted are growing. The herbs are also getting bigger and more productive. My Mothers Day lemon tree will hopefully go in the ground soon. The dirt is very rocky and clay-like to I am only getting a little of the whole dug each day. That's the garden so far!

Katies Room Makeover

Katie's bedroom has been on my list as the first one to paint and finish. We recently got a crib from Mike's cousins and so it was time to set up Katie's room. This weekend my parents came to visit so it was the perfect time.

Here is what we started with. The walls were a sage green color and the trim was wood. I referred to the room as the cave since it was usually quite dark even in the middle of the day.

The closet had only been half painted the green and in parts of the room you could see the bright blue and yellow that the room was painted in the past.

My Dad is a painter so he and I got started in the room cutting in and putting up primer. We used Kilz no voc paint.

Clearly one coat of primer was not going to cover this green we had to buy a second gallon and do a second coat.

It was looking much better now. The next day we got busy putting on the paint. The painting went much faster than the primer. I used Yolo Colorhouse paint. Yolo is a great small environmentally friendly paint company. I used Air 04 for the walls and Air 01 for the trim. At first I was afraid the color was too yellow but in the end it was just what I wanted.

One of the first things we brought in was the pieces of the crib, luckily my Mom knew what she was doing and was able to put it together.

Katie really likes it. Next we brought all of Katie's stuff in from the garage and unpacked some things she hadn't gotten to use. Also her books are now out where we can get them, before they were in a cardboard box.

The large rocking chair is the one my parents used when I was little, the small one was mine when I was young. The mobile was finally taken out of the box where I read it was for birth to 5 months but Katie loves it.

Overall Katie and I really like her new room, it finally reflects her personality, bright and cheerful.

Maker Faire 2009

Last year I started reading about an event called Maker Faire. It only happens in a few places a year, one of those is the Bay Area. I was pregnant last year and did not want to try and go, however this year there was nothing to stop me. Katie and I loaded up and were on our way this last Saturday. (It was her first time riding in her stroller without the carseat)

There were lots of crazy creations there.

Giant drivable cupcakes

Very colorful things

There were lots of robots. The people who created Wall E, R2 D2 and many more. There were robots that drew and moved and all sorts of crazy things.

And the Legos! They had a city, a huge lego cake, robots, train tracks running through a lego city/country and much, much more.

There were a lot of hands on exhibits, to make and take. Lots of different craft. This one was to take apart and redo barbie. It reminded me of the YA library program where you pretty much do the same thing.

This was a giant version of that board game Mousetrap, it was huge!

There was lots of metal work

Things that shot flame

The diet coke & mentos guys of youtube fame did a show

There was also a craft show, swap-o-rama, gardening area and just way more than I can describe here. It is a very interactive experience designed to inspire people of all ages to create. Katie did good up until we were listening to Adam Savage from Mythbusters speak, she lost it and I knew it was time to go home. I cant wait for next year!