Best...day...ever!!

Hey all!

You may be wondering how I can make such a huge claim with this post's title.
Well, it's because today was so productive, creative, refreshing, and overall great!

Let me share with you through photos and such:

We started off the day with breakfast, laundry, and outdoor garden chores.
The garden in the back finally has all the seeds in the ground, labels in place, and was thoroughly watered before the day's heat really got into full swing.

Ella Rose also has her own garden in the front, under the grape vines!

It features corn, pumpkins, tomatoes, and sunflowers.

She's really manned the whole thing from selecting the crop, to laying out and dampening the newspapers, adding the compost, planting the seeds, and (her fave part, I'm sure) making the labels.
It's so funny how people will sell these pre-made garden labelers, when all it really takes is a cut-up yogurt lid and permanent marker. She loves practicing her letters, but doesn't yet understand the importance of order so we have "otomat" and "kinpump".
I will let you know how things progress with it! :)

Mei Ella just sits there every day, waiting for them to sprout. But they don't seem to want to grow!
(quote from "My Neighbor Totoro" ;p )

By 11 a.m. William was pretty tuckered, so we went on a stroller walk...which also happened to involve more dumpster diving! God, I swear I am getting addicted. We all know about America's wasteful habits, but goodness to see it firsthand like this is really...shocking to say the least. I wonder if dumpsters will be as enticing once the last of the students has left. Is it really only a June-moveout thing? Or does it last all year 'round to some degree~? @_@We will have to see. Some scores on the D.D. trip included 4 pounds of rolled oats (bulk!), 2 bananas, big laundry detergent, box of Emergen-C, and two reams of gorgeous ribbon. Ella is really getting into it too and completely gets the "one man's trash is another man's treasure" motto. She loves to find her own "treasures" on our trips and also marvels at the nice things people are needlessly tossing out.

Anyway, speaking of trash and treasures, I finally cleared some stuff out from under the carport and put it on the curb out front in the hopes that our trash will be someone's treasure too! Ella got especially excited at that prospect. :)

So far a broken safe box and old palette have been taken off our hands - phew!

 
At home, we lunched and read and tidied up...and then Ella was inspired to undergo an "イメージチェンジ" (makeover) and we cut her hair!!

So long, Rapunzel...

...hello chic madam! :D

Seriously, this is the first time we've cut more than just her bangs or the tips of her hair. It was done in one fell swoop and we're both pretty pleased with the results~ :)
She looks like a fancy little European artist or something. But Ella keeps saying that she looks "like a teacher". Ha!

Wicked short pigtails are so fun, right??

After that, we were both hit with the random idea to try to remedy our two-kids-in-one-trailer problem by attaching one trailer to the other.
Ella Rose suggested we use pipe cleaners which sounded so ludicrous that I laughed at it...but lo! That was actually the first viable solution and in literally 30 seconds, we had our bike-trailer train.
Behold!

William sits up front so that he can watch Mama...it keeps him happy (mostly)

My god, I felt like I was in Heaven -- enjoying the ease of getting around on two wheels, while knowing that the kiddos were not crowding each other while in tow.
Truth be told, the pipe cleaner solution didn't last longer than 20 minutes, but I was able to use a steel screw to cinch the deal -- strong and reliable.

Yay for wicked dark shadows, gack! >.<

So yep!
We went around in that for a little, then hit up a park, and had black bean soup for dinner. Yummy~
Now the kiddos are zonked out and I am looking forward to finishing my first fiction book in a long time. You'll be hearing about it here soon~

Until then, take care and Happy Best Day Evers!!