The garden has been a half-nurtured place this past fall and spring.  Between planning for an overseas move that ended up not happening to welcoming a new baby into our family (and planning another move- hopefully closer to Austin and to daddy’s NEW JOB!), that beloved space back there just hasn’t gotten the attention and investment that I really dream of giving a garden.  But given that fact, I think things are still looking pretty good out there.

Since constructing all of the raised beds, I decided to keep all of the herbs in pots.  Hopefully I will find a prettier way to place them about the yard, but for now they are just sitting in a row along the side of a raised bed.  Basil is looking and smelling great and we are getting lots of ripening cherry tomatoes-perfect combo!  We’ve got lots of different tomatoes growing and looking good out there right now- we purchased them all from starts, but maybe in the fall we will actually start our own seeds.

I am also really missing having a compost pile right now.  We had to buy compost/soil to amend beds and I hate spending money on dirt   So far we haven’t seen too many pests, but this morning I noticed that something seems to be chewing tiny little holes in everything.  I may try a simple soap/water spray before going for the neem oil stuff.

The seeds that I did directly sow were in the ground a bit later than I would have liked, but they are coming up and looking good now!  When I added soil to a few of the beds, I got a little bit too much compost and not enough sandy loam type soil, so the seeds were having trouble coming up at first and I had to amend the soil a bit more.  It’s also probably due to the fact that I bought the cheapest bags of organic compost that I could find .

The growing list right now includes about 10 tomatoes, 8 different types of peppers, eggplant, okra, tomatillo, green and yellow beans, yellow summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, salad greens, lots of chard, calendula and zinnia and tons of different herbs including lavender, tarragon, oregano, basil and more.  It looks like we even have a volunteer cantaloupe that has popped up.  We still have the tree citrus trees, but for some reason that I cannot figure out, they aren’t looking very well.  The mandarin tree, which gave us a few fruits this past season has some healthy new growth toward the bottom, but after blooming well up top the branches are all slowly losing leaves, turning brown and dying.  I’m suspecting some sort of fungus or blight?  Both the lemon and mexican lime are doing the same and although all three bloomed beautifully, no fruit set.  I have checked my watering methods and have been sure to fertilize and add good soil so, I just don’t know.  We are in a rough area for bugs and blights I have learned- it’s sad.  We also lost our pear tree to fire blight   The peach tree is doing great though!

I’m content with what we have out there for now because as I mentioned before, we have another move on the horizon!  Hopefully headed to the Austin area to be settled in a place that will allow us to put down some more garden roots and to at least have a small flock of chickens again!

May 2012 garden (with one last bed to be weeded, soiled and planted- hopefully with some roots like carrots and beets!)

How’s your garden growing these days?

Man I am such a nerd.

Anyways.  I went with the simple title, because it is definitely fitting for this simple salad that our family so loves.

Caprese.

The perfect salad (or at least one of them in my humble opinion).

Someday I am going to have a dairy cow and I am going to make our own mozzarella cheese, but for now I will settle with growing our own basil and tomatoes and buying our little mozzarella perlini at the grocery store.

Our usual method for this salad is a simple slice it and toss it, but today I thought we would try something new.  With my little shadow (aka princess of the house) at my side, we placed sliced cherry tomatoes and mozzarella inside of basil boats and stuck a toothpick through it all.  Then we sprinkled the plate with kosher salt, cracked pepper, olive oil and balsamic.  Simple and delish.

You should definitely make it.  It’s even better with freshly baked french bread.

Let me know if you make it and love it too!

I do.  I have them a lot (cause I’m sappy like that- I’ve warned you).  Last night I had one that was short and fleeting, as I teetered on the edge of sleep, but also felt rather profound.

Lying in bed, my body curves gently around the warm, delicious-smelling lump of my baby and I kiss his soft head, breath in his sweetness.  I marvel at just how much I can love.  My heart feels like it might explode.  It was one of those moments, the ones that make the long days of mothering so worth it.  And it dawned on me, yet again, the “big picture”.

I was created in His very image.

This is how He loves me.

And I am sure that He has blessed me with these children to remind me so.

This is why we procreate. Co-create.

I whisper a prayer of thanks.

I smile in the dark and drift to sleep.

Ah, peaceful sleep.

We are still here, busy as ever, enjoying the small things, and thanking God for this life that is ours.

Hello.

This Holy Week has been such a great one for me.

After a slow and steady decline of my household and time management over the past few weeks, things finally hit rock bottom.  This past weekend I was feeling like a big fat failure.  I felt like everything I usually have under control (even if barely) had slowly piled up to a mountain of “unfinished business” (laundry, bills, garden, kids rooms, my room, for that matter pretty much everything in the house, kids school, healthy eats for the family).  When the house is a mess, I always feel like before I do anything in it, I need to clean it.  When the kitchen is a huge mess, I have no space or motivation to bake our bread for the week.  And then when I want to throw together PB+Js for a quick lunch  I am wishing I just bought the bread at the store, but then I feel guilty doing that when I can make fresh, healthy bread for MUCH less than $4 a loaf….and on and on.  Do you see the spiral here?  Am I crazy or does this happen to anyone else?  And when I am overwhelmed and guilt-ridden like this, I lose the ability to be productive in any way.  While the kids are out playing and the baby is asleep, I wander around folding 3 shirts, washing 5 dishes, rewashing that load of laundry that sat wet in the washer overnight, sweeping a floor, then the baby wakes up and I sit there nursing him and looking around.  It looks like nothing got done even though I was moving around working for 30 straight minutes.  But the work isn’t productive because it is unfocused and I never get one single task completely finished…..

I woke up Monday morning feeling motivated and determined to pull myself out of this rut and I sat down in front of google and started creating.  We now have a family calendar (that Dash and I can both access remotely since he doesn’t have an iphone), a weekly meal plan spreadsheet and a daily schedule.  It has already made such a huge difference in our day to day living!  When I know I have a block of time to do xyz, I can decide on a task to take on and finish it completely.  I also forgot how much of a difference an hour or two of quiet time in the afternoon makes- especially since both of the big kids have given up naps.  Now that the house is coming back together, our meals are planned and healthy for us and our school time is back on track, I am planning other changes that will help us live(and sleep) a bit better in this our home.  I think that Asher and Amelia will soon be sharing a bedroom…..

I have also gotten back into my much loved habit of photographing our days and all of the moments in them that make me grateful.  There is a difference in my photos right now though- most of them are on instagram!  I keep the big camera around to grab and shoot like usual, but with an 8 week old in my arms a lot of the times, my phone is just so easy and convenient to use.  It is definitely just the tool for my photojournaling tendencies.

So here it is, a productive Holy Week at Casa Ballarta.  Complete with lots of clean rooms, clean clothes, school completed, prayers said, books read and healthy meals eaten.

How has your Holy Week been?

This past Saturday I spent the entire day out back building the rest of my raised garden beds (I now have six 8×4 ft beds!).  It was 85 degrees, the kids were frolicking (and hanging out in the bouncer seat), I broke a sweat and got a sunburn.  It. was. glorious.

I always feel like this come February/March and getting out to enjoy those first warm, sunny days really renews my spirit.

I am still riding the vitamin d high (which is good because today is cloudy and cool and the kids are whining to fill up the plastic pool with water again).

This Lent has been a good, productive season for my spirit and now that we are in the midst of Passiontide, I am trying to be extra mindful that I don’t lose focus and thinking that some of my new Lenten prayer habits should remain permanent.

Aside from some fun and busy weekends we’ve had lately, the weeks have been calm and SEVEN of them have already passed since Oliver’s birth.  I’ve been seeing TONS of this lately…

Our Mr. Oliver is quite a smiley guy.  His eyes are always big, bright and inquisitive and his lips are possibly the most kissable lips I have ever seen on a baby.  And he is not lacking in those willing to give kisses either   His big brother and sister always make him smile and sometimes they can even get him to talk to us.  We’ve been having so much fun as a family of five and blessedly, we have all been getting some pretty great nights of sleep as well.  I know that the great sleep is not always permanent, but I’ll take it and be grateful for it while I can!

Life is so very full of blessings right now, even amidst our struggles and trials.  I am grateful for pain which helps me see beauty in even more vibrant color.

Winter is over.  Spring has arrived.

Looking ahead towards things like school, team sports, a regular allowance and so many other things that just make me say “Wow!”.  My first baby has grown up so much and I love watching him do amazing things write his own name or attempt to read his favorite books.  And the discussions we have about what _____ means?  Wow.  I’m seriously loving this age.  He is quite the conversationalist, much like his mama, and it’s nice having a little helper around to get sister a drink of water or help make baby brother smile.

I can’t wait for all of the fun things to come.

Happy Birthday Asher- you will always be my baby guy.

This year was a LEGO Star Wars birthday, per request of the (currently LEGO obsessed) birthday boy.  And with help from the Daddy, I dreamed up and constructed a LEGO cake.

A few cake notes…

1.  I know that a true LEGO block should have eight pegs (or be square with four pegs), but I couldn’t find a cake pan large enough/didn’t want to spend lots of money on special baking stuff/didn’t have to time to cut and assemble several baked cakes.

2. Fondant is pretty tough to work with (especially with a six week old wrapped on your chest).  This is where the Daddy came in and I think that he did a pretty great job with the time and supplies he was handed.

3.  Kids don’t really care about how perfectly the fondant lays anyways.  Asher was super excited about his LEGO cake and he helped put the guys on top.  The cake still looked awesome and tasted great.

The cupcakes were pretty cute too…

Thank you to all who helped us celebrate this past weekend!

It reminds me of the fleeting moments spent in an elevator.  You simply stand and wait, watching the numbers rise with anticipation.  Perhaps there is classical music playing softly in the background.  The time spent there is short and relaxing.

We are still adjusting to life with a new family member and that means lots of blissful, quiet moments spent nursing, rocking, holding and kissing my new angel.  There has also been more reading, some knitting and most importantly sewing those buttons onto the things I have already finished!  It also means our house it pretty messy, even with all of daddy’s upped efforts to handle things at work and at home.  It’s a phase I know will pass, which is why I am enjoying every moment of it that I can.  At his two week checkup, little Ollie was already up to 8 lbs!  It’s going way too fast…

It’s so fun to see him finally in the hand knits I spent time making while he was still growing inside

Oliver sure has some proud big siblings, they never stop asking to hold and kiss him

The weather can’t seem to make up it’s mind- is it winter or spring?

We can’t really tell these days, so we just eat popsicles outside in sweaters.

There is way more green grass than usual for February and lots of things blooming that are surprisingly early.  To be honest, I don’t like it.  Lent just started and it feels more fitting for the green and blooms to wait until Easter. It just doesn’t feel right.  And I mean, if I’m being really honest, I kinda can’t wait for summer.  Not the miserable 100 + degree days, but the early days that bring bare feet (that don’t have cold toes), ripe tomatoes and days spent out back in the pool.

And we are in the middle of another pretty big transition right now- leaving the Army.

It is officially official.

We will be finished come May.

It’s a bittersweet transition for us all, most especially daddy.  He is a soldier and for almost 10 years (including his cadet days) he has been doing this gig.  But we know this will be good for us all and we are excited about what the future holds.

In the meantime, we are just enjoying the ride up

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On a side note, how is everyone’s Lent going so far?

Ours is going well so far.  Our Lenten wreath is out (a crown of thorns laying in a bowl of sand with a large candle in the middle),  I’ve been reading this book, and following along each day with my Magnificat Lenten 2012 app for iphone   (along with some of my more personal goals).  We were also inspired by this article (and are hoping for some dim and quiet Wednesday evenings this Lent).  I was also hoping to add this book to our shelves for Lent this year, but I was too late ordering- looks like we will have to wait until next year!  Our CHC “A Year with God” book is always filled with good stuff for each liturgical season.

Anyone else out there have a tradition or favorite resource to share?

Peace and blessings my friends!

It’s been awhile, huh?

I really miss this space and I feel ready to jump back into it.  So instead of explaining all of the reasons that I was away, I’m just going to jump back in

First things first- our sweet Oliver!  Oliver Blaise was born at 2:19am on Feburary 4th and measured in at 6lbs 12oz and 20 inches long.  He is our smallest baby so far and he is absolutely perfect.

His labor and birth were smooth and uncomplicated.  He was supposed to be born at home with our midwife Sandra, but after weeks of funky blood work with falling platelet levels and a scare over low amniotic fluid, we went for a second opinion with a wonderful Catholic doctor in Austin and made the decision to have baby at the Seton Medical Center in Austin.  The decision was made at 39 weeks and it was a hard change for me, especially so late in the game.  But God always knows what He is doing and I know that this birth was exactly as it should have been.  Labor started early Friday morning with real contractions waking me around 6am.  They continued regularly throughout the day and slowly grew closer together- I knitted, napped and timed all day.  After a nice quiet dinner out alone with Dash, we headed to the hospital and were admitted around 10pm.  It was a dark and stormy evening- very reflective of my state of mind.  Although I have been through two successful, all natural births, I still found myself feeling anxious and burdened.  I was also excited- soon we would be holding our baby!- but for some reason, this time around I didn’t feel energetic or positive.  After settling into our room (now accompanied by our dear friend and birth angel Christine, who was with us through Asher’s birth, as well as my mama and little sister) I settled into the bed and found that I was tired, body and soul, and all I wanted to do was sit in silence and breathe peacefully through the strong and consistent contractions.  Besides getting up to sit under a warm shower for a bit, this is how I spent almost the next four hours.  Each time a contraction came, I breathed meaningfully and silently offered it up in prayer- so many prayers for so many different intentions.  Finally Christine asked if I felt like trying to get up and go to the bathroom- change to an upright position- and I knew it was time for the part I most dreaded.  As I anticipated when I agreed to get up, the time to push came and a few short minutes later I was holding our baby guy (Dr. K barely made it in time to catch him- it went so quickly!).  He was almost born on the feast day of Saint Blaise (his middle namesake), but needed just a few more hours.  Our first day/night with baby was not quite what it would have been at home (I was missing my other two babies so badly!) but it was peaceful, filled with kind nurses, and we were released to go home after just one night.

Christine texting Dr. K-”You better RUN!”

brand new

first night

We are home and settled in now.  Routines and schedules don’t exist for new babies, but I have plenty of helping hands around and Oliver fits into the family mold as if he has always been here.  I know that we are surrounded with much love and many prayers- thank you for that friends, we always feel them!

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It’s a bit ironic that I am finally posting on Ash Wednesday.  Here at the start of the Lenten season I find myself, as usual, with a desire to draw back from the glow of technology and the world of social networking a bit and spend more time in quiet prayer or with a good book, but this place is different.  This place, for me, feels like a quiet place where I can share, reflect and feel grateful- and I truly miss it here.  We will see how much time I find to post now that I have three in my charge and plenty of reading and knitting lined up in my queue   But life is good, mountain and valley, and I love being able to record it all here.

Peace and blessings friends!  I pray that you all have a fruitful and reflective Lent.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.