My Faves

I couldn't help but post my favorite shot of each of the girls. In this one, Maggie looks as if she's not a little girl anymore! In fact, she grabed her "Hannah Montana" purse the other day, flung it onto her shoulder and asked, "Do I look like a teenager now?" It has begun...

Brooke spent the entire photo shoot posing as if she were America's Next Top Model. She's probably the most girly of the bunch and likes to wear dress-up shoes around the house constantly. If she could wear a dress or skirt everyday, she absolutely would! I love how this picture captures all of her sweetness!

Katie has a laugh that is completely infectious! She's a silly little girl who loves to play and make up jokes, then belly laugh at her own hilarity. She wakes up in the morning with hair a beauty queen would be envious of, and one day she'll actually appreciate it!



Bridget is still Little Miss Independent. Of all the girls, she is the most stubborn--can't imagine who she inherited that from...You can always see the gears turning in her head, and it's been so fun to watch her figure things out. Somehow she has an understanding of things that surpasses her three years, and I'll be lucky if I can keep up with her very much longer!

My Girls

At first glance, this photo doesn't strike one as very spectacular...a shot from behind of four little girls, all holding hands amidst a garden of flowering bulbs. Nice. Cute. But that's what draws me to all different forms of art, especially photography. It gives me an opportunity to glean what I will from the endless possibilities of meaning contained within one single piece. This photo in particular, has evoked a flood of emotion as I've spent the past little while contemplating with tear-filled eyes, what it represents to me.

Of course, these four little girls aren't just any little girls--they're MY little girls. A humbling thought, as I know they have been sent to me for some wise purpose that I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding. As their mother, I take my place where I can get the best view, watching from behind as they learn to make their own decisions and deal with the ensuing consequences of those choices. I guide where I can, picking them up if they stumble along the way, encouraging them to reach higher, and applauding all their efforts.

Bridget, Brooke, Maggie, Katie

Each of these four little girls is as unique as the dress they wear, and yet they have already learned that standing together, side by side, is where they want to be, despite any differences they may have. They have the whole wide world ahead of them, and they are ready to face it together, hand in hand.

It dawns on me that all mothers must surely feel this way about their children--the neverending reservoir of love for each of them, and simultaneous grave responsibility for the soul of another. Makes me appreciate and love my mom more deeply and with more respect than I ever had the capacity to before. It also reminds me of four other little girls, whose mother still stands behind them after all these years.

Meredith, Amanda, Julianne, Emily

See, it's not just a picture...

Snapshot of Spring

We just had to take advantage of this BEAUTIFUL not-snowy day, so the girls and I met my friend, Heather at the Salt Lake Temple to get some snapshots of them in their Easter dresses, surrounded by spring COLOR!!! Please go to her website http://heathergardner-familyphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/stringham-family.html to check some of them out, and when I get my CD of them, I'll post some more.
Thanks Heather! You do a great job and you were so good w/my hammy little girls! Can't wait for you to do our newborns!

Degenerates

Someone once said, " Even the most divine planning must eventually degenerate into work."

And as it goes, it was yet another laborious day in the garden for us, followed by yet another day of snow. Go figure. But as much as I complain about Spring hitting the snooze button a few too many times, I think the Lord must be looking out for us, because he's been giving us t-shirt weather to dig & plant in, then moisture the following day so we don't have to water!





Mike toiled with the digging of 2 new beds, (the completed one in the back of the picture as well as the one to the left of it), while I planted the asparagus and strawberries in the first bed from last week. Mike is now left with the expected aching back, while my hamstrings are pretty well shot from crouching to plant. (My back would have been aching too, had I just bent over to plant, but my protruding belly keeps me from breathing when I do that, which I've found is quite a necessary function to have, so crouching was the next best thing.) But can I just say that planting was like sweeping a knife through room-temperature BUTTER! I'm already LOVING the double-dig Mike's working so hard on, and I can only imagine what it will be like to pull weeds from these pillow soft beds!





While these may look a bit like crop circles, these holes are where the asparagus was planted in the north half of the bed. (32 roots in all) As I studied more about planting them, I learned that the roots have to be placed about 8 inches into the ground, but only covered by about 2 inches of dirt at a time. The tender spears aren't strong enough to push through that much dirt, so as they emerge, you cover them with an additional couple of inches, repeating the process until the hole is fully covered. I'm pretty bummed that we can't harvest any this year, since the roots need time to establish themselves, but I'm sure next year we'll have an abundant crop! It's funny, because I remember walking down the roads in Oakley, ID with my Grandma Martindale, stopping along the burrow pits to cut asparagus. I thought she was a crazy old lady then, and I never once ate her asparagus, but now that I've actually tried it and LOVE it, I think of her whenever I think of this unusal vegetable that grows in ditches along the side of the road...

The other half of the bed was reserved for these tiny little strawberry roots, some of which had started to grow already. We planted both June bearing and everbearing so that we could benefit from the big plump berries of the one-time Junies and the continual harvest of the everbearing. Again, I'm bummed that we won't be harvesting any this season, but I'm assured that by plucking off the blossoms to prevent them from producing this year, we'll guarantee an abundant crop next year!

We also had a big surprise to see our broccoli and cauliflower already germinate in the flats I just planted 5 DAYS AGO!!! I can't tell you how rewarding it is to see the fruits of our labor beginning to take shape. All this planning and preparing is starting to pay off with VISIBLE results, even though it's definitely degenerated into work...

Maggie the Librarian

Maggie has been learning all about the life of a librarian for the last couple of months, doing research on the internet, typing up reports, creating an artistic representation of her career, and presenting her findings to her class and all the parents, along with a little Q & A. All this in 2nd grade!

First of all, I've been so impressed with her school, North Davis Preparatory Academy, and her teacher, Mrs. Coleman, because of the way they approach every subject in an all-encompassing way. This whole project is actually for a GEOGRAPHY unit, and yet it included language arts, art, math (graphing), public speaking, & research methods. It seems as though the kids learn so much better with this sort of three-dimensional way of teaching.




Second of all, I've been MORE than impressed with my girl, Maggie. She worked so hard on this project and did so well with her presentation! It wasn't until I became an adult that I got really comfortable with public speaking, but Maggie just loves being the center of attention, and has even spoken in Sacrament Meeting already at the tender age of 7. (After which she asked, "Can I do that again next week?")




She's growing up so fast, and is not only meeting, but surpassing all our expectations and hopes for her. While I'm thrilled that school is going so well for her--she's already passed all her 2nd grade benchmarks--I'm even more thrilled that she's becoming a kind and compassionate friend, who is always looking to befriend an outsider. She's a big help to me at home, with my lack of energy due to this pregnancy, and has taken over the vacuuming and has taught herself to do laundry. Of course, I still get to fold it and put it away, but the good news is that I'm slowly learning to relinquish control over SOME things.

Maggie, you are such an amazing girl & I'm so glad you and your happy smile were sent to our family! I love you, Maggers!

One Down, Eight to Go!

"Population will increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former times,

and 'ere long the most valuable of all arts

will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil."

--Abraham Lincoln

So this is the beast we've been trying to tame for the last few months. I wish I'd taken pictures before it got cleared out so that I (and you) could see the progress we've made, but this gives an idea of the workload we have ahead of us! There are a total of 9--100 sq. ft. beds that we're getting ready to plant for the spring & summer. Our plan is to harvest enough food to feed our family for an entire year, but truthfully, if we get 6 months' worth, I'll be terribly happy! Mike and I have grown a garden for several years now, but this is our first attempt at something on this grand of a scale. Frankly, I don't doubt that we'll get a great harvest, but what I do worry about is the work it will take to preserve it all...and where in the world we'll store it! We've actually talked about digging a hole under the deck, and putting in an old chest freezer to use as a root cellar for the winter. Since our house is so small and practically every square inch is already occupied, we figured this may be a good solution.

Brooke (6) standing in the middle of what I hope will be lush green very soon, with Mike and the rest of the girls in the background working on the first of 9 beds. This is where we'll be planting our asparagus and strawberries as soon as the snow is gone next week--yes, I said snow.
Maggie (almost 8) helped by raking in compost as Mike loosened the soil. I'm truly surprised that she worked the entire bed, but we're so glad the girls have developed such an interest in gardening already. Whenever we're we're out there, they come along with their little trowels asking if they can dig out the rocks and play with the worms! (Mike is completely thrilled by the prospect of having girls that like worms...can you say "fishing buddy"?)

And here's the man himself, after unloading a truckful of compost. We figured one load would be enough...dun dun dun...yeah, enough for only 3 of the beds. Poor guy. Good thing he's not too out of shape...

One down, 8 to go! This one little bed took us about 6 hours to prepare completely on Saturday. That's double digging (A method used to aerate the soil a full 2 feet down for better root penetration & therefore happier, more productive plants!), composting, fertilizing as well as weeding and removing rocks. What a lot of work! Now that we've figured out what exactly needs to be done and how to do it most efficiently, we think we can cut at least an hour's time off each of the rest of them...that means only 40 hours of work left to get the garden prepared! I hope our backs can take it. Isn't it pretty, though?