forgive me readers...

for i have sinned. god knows when i last did a real post. sorry :( i really thought i would into the routine doing that 30 days thing. i thought i would start bustin' butt and talkin' to you guys, for realz. :) not so much. oh well. you all love me still. right?

so update on life currently in our household. our garden is pretty close to being done. we still get

a smattering of blueberries and some small heads of broccoli. our tomatoes became a forest. we cleaned it up this weekend with some cleverly place twine. there are a lot of tomatoes on the vine, but i'm not sure that they are going to ripen. it's gotten cool and grey here already.

our garden was more successful than in the years past. we had kale, rainbow chard, snap peas, green peas, lettuce, green onion, scallion, strawberries, rhubarb, and a carrot (yes, just one). we are still waiting on some squash and peppers. we might have gotten too late of a start with those ones.

we think we have missed our plum harvest. the tree didn't produce as much this year as last. before we actually purchased the house, we would come over to check things out in the garden and yard. the plum tree was crazy with fruit last year. we have had some though. arden loves

those tart little guys.

we harvested a good bit from our pear tree tonight. we filled one of those reusable grocery bags. guess how much it weighed. 20 pounds! woowee! some of the pears where larger than any i've seen. seriously. huge! there is one that is as large as my hand. width and length.

we really didn't know what the previous owners had planted in the rest of the yard. we ended up with some lovely flowers. fortunately, they were low maintenance. we had columbine and jasmine. lilies, daffodils, tulips. lavender, sage, mint, lemon thyme. rock roses, succulents, and a lot more that i don't know the names of, but enjoyed looking at through the summer.

there were other things that we planted that did well too. we planted honeymelon sage,

lemongrass, oregano, thai basil, fuschia , orange mint.

i recently got a new sewing machine (thanks, momma!). i can't wait to play on it. i'm intending to take a class to learn how to use it properly. i did get it out of it's box today and played with a few stitches. this was achieved while my lovely friend was over helping me with arden :) since i don't have her consent to use her name on here, let's call her rugby nanny, or RN for short.

RN is a rugby friend that lives in my neighborhood. i did have a helper for a few weeks, but she quit to focus on her AA degree better. i knew RN had nanny experience and wasn't currently employed. so now, she comes over on tuesdays from 12 to 4. she plays with arden. feeds her. let's me run out the door singing and skipping over to the bakery :) it's lovely. arden clearly likes

her too. when she comes over, arden is excited to play with RN. this makes me happy, and a happy momma is the best momma. the little time apart from arden makes me appreciate her all the more too.

hopefully, i'll be able to use the 4 hours to do things for myself and the family/house. my intention is to set little goals for each week. chores for the house and chill time for me, however i see fit. so today, i made a yummy squash, pea, and potato puree for arden. there was enough for her lunch and for the freezer. i unpacked my sewing machine. i went to the bakery for a danish and decaf coffee. also, i went to the post office to mail some very important forms, our passport updates... for our trip to mexico!

like the segue :) anna's dad will have time off from his work in laos in october. anna's mom, brother, sister-in-law, and our family will be meeting him in puerto vallarta. woo! i haven't been to mexico before, so i'm really excited. we got all of arden's passport things handled too. she will have been to two different countries before she is one. albeit, they are the easiest for americans to go to, but it's still cool. i can't wait to play on the beach, sip yummy drinks (sans ice cubes), and chow down on some good mexican food. mmm...

i'm a little nervous about the trip because we have another one planned just a week and a half earlier to indiana. that means we will have a three hour time change, back to regular time, then a two hour change. arden's sleep is bound to get messed up. i'm also afraid of her getting sick in mexico, or anna and myself. but, we'll have a lot of family with us. anna's mom is an NP. puerto vallarta isn't rural. i'm sure we'll be fine. arden is not allowed to be teething on this vacation

though. the past two she has been.

we go in for her 9 month well-visit on friday. i'm super excited. i love finding out her measurements and getting figurative pats-on-the-back from the doctor :) makes me feel like we're doing it right. i know arden is awesome either way though. she's growing well. learning all the time. amazing us. and she's funny. she has this fake laugh that cracks me up. i'll try to catch it on film sometime. i wouldn't trade her for anything.

well, maybe nachos. nah, not even nachos :)

look at that profile. i just wanna give her a big kiss :)