Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Bullseye
We've started something new. Every Monday night Traves is going to come over and we are all going to play darts for our hang out/family time on Monday nights. This last Monday was pretty much my first time ever playing darts and I got a bullseye! Yes, I am proud of it. :)
Backyard Swimming
Ethan is definitely a water baby. He LOVES taking baths and playing in the dog bowls. We thought it'd be fun to buy him a tiny pool that he can play in while playing in the backyard. He loved it!
Getting lathered up:
Mart and Ethan getting ready to play
He especially loved making Mart chase the ball he kept throwing out of the pool.
Getting lathered up:
Mart and Ethan getting ready to play
He especially loved making Mart chase the ball he kept throwing out of the pool.
Garden Update
My garden is all finished, planted and growing like crazy! Here is a picture of the finished project with the wood chips all in.
My garden has been planted for about a week and a half, and I already have some pretty large plants.
Box 1: Just about everything is up now, I think I'm missing a few peas.
Box 3: All corn
Spinach
Green Beans
Oh yeah, I haven't pulled out a single weed!!
My garden has been planted for about a week and a half, and I already have some pretty large plants.
Box 1: Just about everything is up now, I think I'm missing a few peas.
Box 3: All corn
Spinach
Green Beans
Oh yeah, I haven't pulled out a single weed!!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Garden
I have been putting off planting my garden this year for a few reasons, the biggest one is that we have had constant rain for about 2 or so weeks straight! I couldn't do anything until I tilled my garden, so I finally borrowed a tiller and it started raining and never let up.
My mom this year is trying a new type of garden and came to the conclusion that instead of me planting my normal garden this year, she would help me plant a square foot garden. (For more information on this, go to www.squarefootgardening.com. If you want to buy a book, they are cheaper on Amazon for $12.) A square foot garden takes up only 20% of the space your regular garden takes and produces probably 5 times more! If every plant in my new garden comes up the way it's supposed to, I will have 625 plants!! That's a lot of food to feed my family and to store and eat all winter long. The best part besides the smaller space and more food is that I will have almost zero weeds the entire summer!
(Just as a side note, in the same garden before I turned it into a square foot garden, the last two years I was only able to grow about 50 corn stalks, 2 cucumber, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash and 1 other squash (spaghetti or butter nut) and barely fit tomatoes or lettuce and a row of beets in and only about half of it grew..it will be fun to see how different it is this year)
Here are some pictures of the process. I don't have final picture quite yet, we won't be 100% finished until Monday or Tuesday of next week. I just need wood chips to cover the weed control fabric.
The book that explains it all:
Before: (sad, I know...)
(I'm pretty sure my neighbor who has a giant garden loves when mine looks like this, because it makes his look so much better!)
Building the boxes:
Mixing the perfect soil:
My mom and Debi came to help us today.
All ready for plants!
It started to sprinkle again right as we finished putting the last seeds in.
Box #1: (8'x4')
This box holds:
12 lettuce, 27 spinach, 1 oregano, 1 parsley, 1 rosemary, 1 cilantro, 1 sage, 1 thyme, 2 basil, 45 pea bushes, 64 onions, 45 green bean bushes and 4 marigolds (for pest control).
Box #2: (8'x4')
4 cantaloupe, 4 eggplant, 4 cauliflower, 4 broccoli, 2 tomato, 4 green pepper, 1 orange pepper, 1 banana pepper, 24 corn and 4 marigold flowers.
Box #3: (8'x4')
112 corn plants and 4 marigolds.
Box #4: (2'x14')
32 purple carrots, 32 rainbow carrots, 64 beets, 32 parsnips, 32 turnips, 1 heirloom tomato plant, 1 regular tomato plant, 90 pole bean plants and 4 marigolds.
Plus four small boxes (2'x2') holding cucumbers, spaghetti squash, zucchini and yellow squash.
I seriously cannot believe how much you can fit in such a small space without wasting seeds. It also teaches you how to store your seeds so you can use them year after year after year.
I will post my final picture when I get the wood chips in.
Pretty awesome project, I'll let you know how it goes.
My mom this year is trying a new type of garden and came to the conclusion that instead of me planting my normal garden this year, she would help me plant a square foot garden. (For more information on this, go to www.squarefootgardening.com. If you want to buy a book, they are cheaper on Amazon for $12.) A square foot garden takes up only 20% of the space your regular garden takes and produces probably 5 times more! If every plant in my new garden comes up the way it's supposed to, I will have 625 plants!! That's a lot of food to feed my family and to store and eat all winter long. The best part besides the smaller space and more food is that I will have almost zero weeds the entire summer!
(Just as a side note, in the same garden before I turned it into a square foot garden, the last two years I was only able to grow about 50 corn stalks, 2 cucumber, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash and 1 other squash (spaghetti or butter nut) and barely fit tomatoes or lettuce and a row of beets in and only about half of it grew..it will be fun to see how different it is this year)
Here are some pictures of the process. I don't have final picture quite yet, we won't be 100% finished until Monday or Tuesday of next week. I just need wood chips to cover the weed control fabric.
The book that explains it all:
Before: (sad, I know...)
(I'm pretty sure my neighbor who has a giant garden loves when mine looks like this, because it makes his look so much better!)
Building the boxes:
Mixing the perfect soil:
My mom and Debi came to help us today.
All ready for plants!
It started to sprinkle again right as we finished putting the last seeds in.
Box #1: (8'x4')
This box holds:
12 lettuce, 27 spinach, 1 oregano, 1 parsley, 1 rosemary, 1 cilantro, 1 sage, 1 thyme, 2 basil, 45 pea bushes, 64 onions, 45 green bean bushes and 4 marigolds (for pest control).
Box #2: (8'x4')
4 cantaloupe, 4 eggplant, 4 cauliflower, 4 broccoli, 2 tomato, 4 green pepper, 1 orange pepper, 1 banana pepper, 24 corn and 4 marigold flowers.
Box #3: (8'x4')
112 corn plants and 4 marigolds.
Box #4: (2'x14')
32 purple carrots, 32 rainbow carrots, 64 beets, 32 parsnips, 32 turnips, 1 heirloom tomato plant, 1 regular tomato plant, 90 pole bean plants and 4 marigolds.
Plus four small boxes (2'x2') holding cucumbers, spaghetti squash, zucchini and yellow squash.
I seriously cannot believe how much you can fit in such a small space without wasting seeds. It also teaches you how to store your seeds so you can use them year after year after year.
I will post my final picture when I get the wood chips in.
Pretty awesome project, I'll let you know how it goes.
Ethan
Here are some new photos of Ethan playing.
Kacean and Ethan were hanging out one night and piled all the couch blankets (we have quite a few for movie nights!) and pillows into the entry and played in there for a while. Ethan loved it!
Hanging out with Aunt Kacean.
Ethan loves getting mail!
Having a popsicle break.
Ethan has also discovered the dog house, and loves to play in it!
Kacean and Ethan were hanging out one night and piled all the couch blankets (we have quite a few for movie nights!) and pillows into the entry and played in there for a while. Ethan loved it!
Hanging out with Aunt Kacean.
Ethan loves getting mail!
Having a popsicle break.
Ethan has also discovered the dog house, and loves to play in it!
New friend
It has been raining so much lately that our lawn was just about declared a national forest! George finally had about an hour break where it wasn't raining so I sent him outside to mow the lawn while he still could. A few minutes into mowing, he comes back in the house and shows me a huge frog he caught in the grass while he was mowing! I was sure glad he caught it instead of mowing over the top of it.
George and Mart transferring it to a fish bowl:
Mr. Huge Frog found in my grass:
We only kept him inside for only a day to show Ethan and stare at him, he's really quite good looking. Then we took him back outside and let him go.
George and Mart transferring it to a fish bowl:
Mr. Huge Frog found in my grass:
We only kept him inside for only a day to show Ethan and stare at him, he's really quite good looking. Then we took him back outside and let him go.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Here we go again...
Once again we are jobless. This economy is killing us and I don't know what to do about it. There are no jobs around, and we are going to have to take anything we can get. There is a huge possibility of having to sell our home. Please pray for our family that we might find something and be able to work through our bills and save our home. Let me know if you know of any job openings as well.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Graduation
Well after much stress, pushing, prodding and shoving on my part .. George finally did he. He graduated from high school! When he started coming around I started helping him with his homework so that he would be able to pass. It started slipping and he wasn't doing very well. I was able to switch him into a much better school. I've known the principal of the school for about 10 years. She's amazing and such a wonderful lady! She and Launi the counselor gave him the best direction he could have received and put him back on track to graduate. With much shoving from me, he did it. I'm so proud of you George. I love you. Congratulations!
Class of '09
He did it!
Class of '09
He did it!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Photos!
I entered this photo giveaway just like everyone else. I love photos and definitely do not have enough. :)
http://sweetlillyphoto.com/wordpress/
http://sweetlillyphoto.com/wordpress/
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Hanging out
Having a pastry chef for a sister in law definitely has it's perks. Since she moved here, she asks on a regular basis what treats we want her to make. I've been telling her two different things, so she finally decided to make one of them! I wanted a pretty fruit tart...well I don't have a tart pan so we made a fruit pie....? She made the crust and the pastry cream for the filling and then we both decorated it together.
Then it was time to dig in!
Okay, so the filling didn't set up right...we don't know why ... so it was more like a fruit pudding with an awesome crust!
Kacean has a huge mouth, so she decided to show me just how big ....
The spoon on the right is a large spoon, the left is a serving spoon. That's what she decided to use.
It was very delicious! I came up with an idea for next time though. Her pastry cream won't set like it did in Oregon, so until she comes up with a recipe that works here...next time we are going to make a fruit pudding! She will make a crust and just bake it on a cookie sheet. We will put the pudding in a bowl, mix a lot of fruit and pie crust pieces in. Then layer the crust on top, and then the fruit. It will still be pretty but it will be a pudding full of surprises! Yum!
Then it was time to dig in!
Okay, so the filling didn't set up right...we don't know why ... so it was more like a fruit pudding with an awesome crust!
Kacean has a huge mouth, so she decided to show me just how big ....
The spoon on the right is a large spoon, the left is a serving spoon. That's what she decided to use.
It was very delicious! I came up with an idea for next time though. Her pastry cream won't set like it did in Oregon, so until she comes up with a recipe that works here...next time we are going to make a fruit pudding! She will make a crust and just bake it on a cookie sheet. We will put the pudding in a bowl, mix a lot of fruit and pie crust pieces in. Then layer the crust on top, and then the fruit. It will still be pretty but it will be a pudding full of surprises! Yum!
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