Dirt Digger Paradise

My baby is 3! It was only yesterday that I felt like my back was going to break as they finally gave me an epidural after 8 hours of hard labor...14 hours later, I had this large cranium boy that was the perfect end to our family. Evan's birthday was a monumental one for us. The Cars underwear, set of matchbox cars, and Goldfish as "Targets" were included in the presents. Here comes Potty Training. Getting him to wear the underwear will be a feat in of itself. He begged to wear his diaper yesterday.

Being on the brink of Poverty...ok really...it's a minor miracle to pull off a memorable birthday without money. This is when I start to thank my Mother for my creative ability. With all of her crazy mental ways, her genes and example gave me the ability to pull miracles out of garbage. So I really wanted to give Evan something he could use this summer. He needed clothes, so I got some great stuff at Target. I was salivating over the wooden sandbox that was only $84, but knew it wasn't going to happen. Then my brain started working....3 dinosaurs and 3 sand tools later, I hatched the plan.

When the kids got home from school, I had a family meeting. We all needed to work together to make Evan's birthday memorable. While he was down for a nap, the rest of the kids and I went to work in the Garden. They weeded. They hoed. They tilled. And then it was done. Patrick found some scrap wood and I painted a sign for Evan's own Dirt Digger Paradise. That's right, we gave Evan his own raised bed in the garden to dig in for his birthday. It was free. It was fun. It was just what every 3 year old dreams of. Best of all, when I spend all that time in the garden this summer, Evan and Anderson will have something to keep them occupied for hours. Don't you just love ingenuity?