Sweet Pepper is mobile now, and getting around at a pace much faster than I feel capable of keeping up with.

It started about a month ago with her putting her two hands forward and rocking, then she started scooting her butt and now she is everywhere and in everything! She is especially fascinated with her big brother Isaac and follows him all over our house.



Even though he acts grumpy towards her I think that he inwardly enjoys the adoration of someone smaller than himself, and spends countless hours shouting orders at her and bossing her around. She is never dismayed by this, but instead hands him toys in exchange for his stomping and beautiful smiles to melt even his fiercest frowns.



Despite the extra mess and constant worry it is nice to have her moving herself around behind the boys. It seems like she needs me a little less these days; they all do, and though it is a bit of a relief I still feel some sadness at how quickly they grow. I often sit beside my three little ones, close but not too involved, and watch them playing so nicely together. It is my sincere desire that as they each grow in their own way that their growing will be like their playing, together; and that by the time they reach adulthood they will be mature individuals who share the closest of bonds. That bond of Family.

Well about two months ago Chris counted the number of tomatoes ripening on our four plants. He counted about twenty-eight overall. We were so excited! Especially since most of the other plants weren't doing that well. Peas were ok I guess, strawberries were pretty happy, but everything else either got chomped on by wild animals or scorched in this crazy New Mexican sun. I quickly made all sorts of plans and pulled out my favorite recipe for genuine homemade tomato sauce which called for massive amounts of the fruit and which I planned to can and store away for winter.

We waited and we waited, but long after the other vegetables were ripened and gone those tomatoes remained shiny green and stubbornly attached to their hosts. People told us all sorts of things about the trouble with growing tomatoes here:

You need water walls around them.
Put shade cloth over them.
It's too hot here during the day.
It's too cold here at night.
They will grow but never ripen...

Just as we thought all hope was lost, a tomato in the front started turning orange. Very quickly all its relatives began to follow suit, so that in the past two days we've harvested ten Romas and there are still at least twenty more on our four bushes!!!



And so now, my friends, even Pepper and the boys enjoy eating their freshly sun-ripened tomatoes; and this truly gives our story a very happy ending.

The adorable little onesie that I have been eagerly looking forward to from Jen has finally arrived!!! I was so excited to get it in the mail, and it looked so cute as though it just had to be worn *now!* that I promptly went in to wake Pepper up so that I could take pictures of her in it.

Chris stopped me of course, he is ever so practical you know, but while I wait for her to wake up I have smoothed it over my front, danced around the house showing it to everyone in the household and now I want to show it to you.


Hmm I wonder if this comes in a larger size?

Oh dear, now not only am I a total blogging slacker, I'm also a onesie-wearing picture-taking freak show, and you are all witnesses to this very strange phenomenon.

On the upside, Jen's store reopens on Wednesday so if you are coveting my goods there will be plenty available over there next week.

Chris and the boys helped with baking our weekly loaves last night.
I don't know what they did differently this time around but later that night when the timer went off I opened the oven door and this is what I found.



The bread actually rose so much it was almost touching the roof of the oven and the loaves were lopsided and stuck to each other. Do you also think they look as if they are kissing one another? To be honest I felt almost guilty walking in on them!

Since starting my job I have just felt so uninspired at home. Even though it is part time I feel as though my brain is constantly there. I keep hoping that surely balance will come again soon. And so the little times like these become even more precious, when something unexpected happens which brings my heart once more back home, the place where it loves to be most of all.