YEAH for swings!

The look of happiness

We’ve been talking about building a swing for Mia… Papa did it the other day, in about 30 minutes.  Most of that time was spent sanding the seat, to be sure there weren’t any splinters.  Since then, we have happily spent much more than 30 minutes swinging.  Mia is THRILLED to have her own swing and is already learning the nuances of swing techniques: getting on and off, how to start swinging herself (by backing up and picking up her feet, that is), how to slow down, how to stop, how to keep your feet up so they don’t bump the ground, and (of course) how to instruct Mama and/or Papa to ‘push me higher!’

Mia gathers the eggs herself (with a little help from Papa).

First time on her new swing!

I love this picture and had to post it twice. She is so happy to have a swing!

Besides swinging in the swing, you can push it!

Be sure to hang on tight.

Happy girl!

More fun with pushing the swing.

Sweet girl is happy as a clam.

Learning to hold her feet out straight.

The ponytail makes her look so grown up!

Shoes are easier for slowing down and stopping.

Pensive girl with tomatoes (and corn in background)

Look at the size of this beauty!

Our sweet girl is actually hugging this tomato!

Who says you can’t grow tomatoes at 7,000 ft?

Munching cucumbers and pointing out tomatoes.

Eggs from our hens!

She is pleased as punch to be able to look for and pick up eggs out of the nest box. She knows how to be gentle with the delicate eggs and she even thanks the hens for giving us eggs.  And she delights in eating the eggs, too: scrambled or fried will do just fine.  I’m pretty happy that she eats eggs, because (IF they come from good, healthy chickens and ESPECIALLY if they are ‘farm fresh’) they are so good for you.

The garden is coming along quite nicely and Mia likes to spend time helping us:  examining the plants and their progress, pulling weeds, looking at the flowers, and so on.  A few days ago, we picked our first cucumber (we’re growing the Armenian variety this year, see specimen with ends nibbled off in photos) and she asked if she could eat it.  I said yes, she bit off the end and proceeded to munch on it the for the next few minutes while I was yanking out weeds.  She would take a few bites and say “Mmm”, another bite and then “Mmm. I eat this up!”  Adorable.

Although she has never been a big fan of tomatoes (probably too acidic but she will certainly partake in a marinara or bolognese and the pasta that comes with it), she ate several bites of this one from our garden.  Once we picked this one, she tenderly carried it around the garden and into the kitchen.  We cut it up and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. Not only did she eat the first bite, she asked for more!  Of course, I don’t know for sure but we’re willing to bet that it has something to do with the knowledge that it comes from OUR garden, HER garden, and that she has been able to watch them grow.  We’ll see if she eats any more.

And, we just received ANOTHER batch of hand-me-down dresses, including the green peasant dress you see in these photos.  This one immediately received ‘elite status’ in Mia’s approved wardrobe list.  Lucky us!