Yesterday marked 20 weeks, and I marveled at the thought that in more or less that much time again we'll have a little munchkin in our arms! Wow... We'll have an ultrasound in a few weeks and, yes (to answer the most common question), we will be finding out if this little one is a boy or a girl. I have a pretty strong boy inclination and Alida is sure it will be a girl, so it is pretty likely that one of us will be right. I'm voting for healthy most of all. He/she sure is getting stronger and I've enjoyed some good little kicks/punches in recent days. About a week ago Kali and Jason each were able to feel a poke from the outside - an exciting development and something we look forward to more of (and for it to get strong and frequent enough for Alida to enjoy as well).
The last two weekends have been delightful. They have been filled with lots of family work outside. We also enjoyed having my parents around the last several days to join in the fun - weeding, planting, harvesting and eating! We are enjoying all the stages of this food growing thing, but the latter has been particularly rewarding of late...We are about to head outside for one more stint of the same this weekend - have some tomatoes yet to get in the ground and some amaranth. So far the following can be found in the ground; much of the list was planted in the last ten days: peanuts, onions, potatoes, dried beans, tomatoes, shallots, squash, corn, okra, sugar snap peas, snow peas, hull peas, pole beans, dill, basil, parsley, hot peppers, sweet peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, popcorn, and garlic. The promise of lots of goodness to come! Within the next few weeks we'll get in our sweet potatoes and string beans.
In the meantime we are enjoying lots of fresh things from outside already: lettuce, spinach, lambsquarter, carrots, nettles, strawberries, rhubarb, shallot flower stalks, chives, perennial leeks and onions, many fresh herbs and mint tea by the gallon. What abundance! Today was our first large picking of strawberries. The girls have been itching to make strawberry jam and we had enough today to make about a gallon of strawberry rhubarb jam, as well as freezing a few trays of berries. I don't know what I would do without the girls enthusiasm and assistance. It's so fun to work at those projects together. We put away a good amount of fresh jam at lunch with toast or yogurt. 
While the girls and I worked on berries this morning, Jason got into the bathroom project. It was hard for him to come inside on such a glorious morning, but we are down to the wire (with out self-imposed deadline of the end of May). And it is almost done! As of right now the linen closet is installed and he just needs to finish out a small built in cupboard, baseboard and then filling in holes, oiling wood and touch up painting. It's really fun to see a familiar piece of furniture in our bathroom. This linen closet was the one right outside my bedroom in Martin House where I lived before Jason and I got married. We salvaged it before the house was torn down. So it looks like we are soon going to be able to have a moving in party!! How long will it be before I don't go to the back kitchen in the middle of the night assuming a toilet will be there to pee in? It is a change we are all looking forward to.
And, finally, on our walks to and fro various gardens and spots on the property, I often slow down as I walk past Nora's garden. It is in its prime right now with so many colors bursting forth. I'll end with one of the flowers that we've been enjoying admiring. Now off to the garden!
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