Growth

I love my little garden!  So far, the peas aren't doing so well, thanks to a bunch of slugs and aphids.  (They also devoured Jesse's flower garden.  We have since planted new seeds, and they're doing well - poppies, nasturtiums, and more giant sunflowers, as well as his snap dragon.)  I was desperate to save my cucumbers and tomatoes, so I have to admit that I caved and used traditional vegetable pesticides.  After I did it, I stopped by the Bluffton Farmers' Market and found our "gardening expert" who gave me a huge list of ways to get rid of pests without spraying them with chemicals.  Well....next time....

One of the 6 cucumber plants

I have never planted tomatoes from seeds, and so far, I'm so pleased with their progress!

18 tomatoes and 6 cukes!

We got our first "harvest" of peas this week - 3 whole pea pods!

Jess was so excited to pick his peas

Proud gardener

This is how he washes off his peas.  Isn't this how you do it?

I am dreaming about the vegetable goodness that will soon be blooming in our backyard!  But, I am also savoring the little moments we can stop and rest, discussing how the plants grow and how God made all plants different, what we can do to help them grow, and just plain sitting and enjoying each other's company...  Because I know all too well, that my garden is not the only thing growing...

Jess and I

Sharing a pea pod with his little brother 

Bite

Yum!

I am so thankful for these little moments with my boys!  Hopefully, I'm fostering a love for gardening, and the Creator who allows all things to grow.

Sprouting!

 There are some promising things sprouting!  I hope you're having a great day in your part of the world!

gardening with the boys, part 2

The sun has been very busy warming our corner of the world.  Temperatures are slowly climbing, and with the warmer weather, come hopes of a fruitful growing season.  Oh!  I have big plans for this little garden of ours this year!!!  This year we're trying some square-foot gardening, to pack in enough veggies to eat, share, and can for later on in the year when a garden-fresh tomato is a sweet, distant memory.

I love gardening all kinds of vegetables, but tomatoes are by far my favorite!  There's nothing quite like the taste of fresh-picked tomato, ripe and sun-warmed.  YUM!  I knew I wanted to plant a bunch of the little darlings this year, but after checking the cost of plants, I almost choked!  Six bucks for one tomato plant?!   Really?!  No thank you.  So, we decided to start from seeds.  Jesse and I picked out all of the veggie seeds we wanted to try and a brick of condensed seed-starter soil, and got to work.  We started by digging out the herbs (particularly the oregano) that had taken over the box during the winter.  We had to add a little dirt and manure to the box since the soil depletes a bit every year.  Jared took some pictures for us while we prepared the bed and planted our row of peas.

Micah getting in on the pea-planting action

Besides the veggie patch, Jared also dug out a small bed next to the garage for Jesse.  Jesse wants to plant his own flower garden.  He picked out one yellow snapdragon, a package of giant sunflower seeds, and a seed mix for butterflies.  He's so excited to have a little patch of garden that is all his own!  I love seeing how happy this makes him.

gardening with the boys, part 1

A couple of years ago we decided to start a raised-bed vegetable garden in our backyard.  Jared and I found some plans here, bought some non-treated wood at a hardware store, and got to work.  We had to change the dimensions a bit to accommodate the wood we found.

Our neighbors helped us measure, dig, and haul dirt.  (Thanks, Mike and Meagan!)

Jesse wanted to help too. 

Jesse wanted to build his own vegetable box....just like his Daddy.  (He was almost 3when we started gardening together!)

We've had some great success gardening in the box.  

Jesse (3 years-old) liked to checking out his beans, peas, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.

Some of our lovely cucumbers

I know this is a picture of Jesse (4) squirting his cousin in the face with the sprinkler, but it also shows how pretty our garden is in the background.

Planting with Jesse (5) last year.

We've learned some things along the way... 

*  It's really not worth it for us to plant green beans, lima beans, or peas since they take up a lot of room, but don't produce very much food.  (This year we are planing just one row of peas in the back of the garden because Jesse REALLY wanted them, and they are totally fun to watch climbing up the lattice.)

*  You actually have to water the garden if you don't want all of your plants to die.  :)

*  We have some finches that call our back porch their home, and they insist on taking a bite out of every ripe tomato.  (I don't mind sharing some of them, but come on, birds!  We want some too!)  Bird netting helps to save some of the tomatoes for my family.

*  I've moved our herbs out of the box.  They take up so much room, and overwhelm the other plants.

Next post will be our plans for this year's garden!  I can't wait!!!!

Into the woods...

With most summer days here reaching over 90 degrees with 100% humidity, we welcome Fall, and cooler temperatures, with open arms! We can finally venture outside without sweating through our t-shirts, and having to listen to incessant whining about how hot it is from our very heat-intolerant 5-year-old!  (poor thing!)  But...I have to tell you... I am not really what you'd refer to as an "outdoorsy type".  I would much rather stay in a nice hotel, with my own bathroom and a hot shower.  I don't really like getting dirty, and I hate bugs because I always end up getting eaten alive.  And if I'm going "camping" I'd much prefer camping the way my in-laws do it - in a RV.  Ha!  But until we can work an RV into the budget, we will stay in a tent because my Jesse just loves camping.  And this time around, I was really excited to collect my boys under one tented roof, and find some adventure in the woods.  And we definitely found some adventure!  We ventured into the "wild" of Jekyll Island, for one of the more memorable family times with my little ones.  And despite, colder-than-expected temperatures, a really grumpy Jesse, extremely loud quarreling raccoons at 3:00 am, a deflated air mattress, a broken camp stove, forgotten groceries and can opener, and attempting to pack 2 adults, five-year-old, toddler, and 2 dogs onto the only remaining queen-sized air mattress, we had a great time together.

Located smack-dab between Savannah and Jacksonville, Jekyll Island is an awesome place to visit!  It has a little bit of fun for everyone in the family - gorgeous beaches, miles of paved biking trails, gigantic, sprawling hundreds-of-years-old live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, the old plantation home made of tabby, Horton House, and a beautiful historic district, that was once owned by the richest people in the world.  And it was just so nice being able to enjoy all of it with my boys!

Micah eating a pre-breakfast muffin while Daddy went to get replacement eggs for the ones Mommy forgot at home. 

Cooking bacon on our tiny camp stove since the Coleman stove was  busted.

Brothers chilling in the wagon, after Jesse finally got over his case of the grumps.

My boys at the Horton House

Jesse showing us how to jump

Swinging with Bean

The squirrel who ate all of Jared's Chex Mix.  Poor Jared.

This is when he decided he loves camping.

Micah likes chilling at the camp site

Our home camp

Wagon walk with Daddy

Roasting marshmallows 

Micah likes S'mores!

and we all loved camping!!!

A Wonderful Day

I have been stuck inside for almost 3 weeks now on bedrest.  My hospital room had a window, but 3/4 of the window was covered by an air conditioning unit, only allowing me to see a tiny patch of sky.  And although my house has tons of windows, I still feel like I haven't seen the sun in forever!  Now this might not seem bad to you, but I love being outdoors in the spring and summer - working in my garden, kayaking in the river, taking Jesse to the pool or beach, picking strawberries for jam, and riding bikes down to the "historic" part of town to go to the farmer's market or occasional festival.  (I'll be doing all of those things next year, by the way!!!)  So, in order to keep me from going completely crazy from cabin fever, I went outside today!  Don't worry!  I sat very still with my pelvis tilted back so that I could still rest, and I only stayed out for half an hour....and it was nothing short of glorious to bask in the sun and watch my adorable 4-year-old play in his new "gingeraffe" kiddie pool that he received for his birthday from his Grandpa and Gigi.

Then Jared came outside with two packages.  One box was for Jesse, and it contained two books - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster (belated birthday presents from Aunt Megan and Uncle Justin).  He was so ecstatic, that we had to read them right away while he sat in his pool.

And to make the day even better, the other package was for me!!!  My mother-in-law, Jean (otherwise know as Gigi), sent me a book I have been wanting VERY BADLY since its release a couple of weeks ago, Anna Maria Horner's newest book, Handmade Beginnings : 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby.  

I REALLY wanted this book, but since funds are super tight, I felt so guilty buying it.  I have entered every giveaway available to win it (see below for more chances to win), but have been unlucky thus far....until today!!!  (Thanks Jean!!!  You made my day!!!)

Blog Giveaways for Anna Maria Horner's New Book:

May 16    The Purl Bee

May 18    All Buttoned Up

May 19    Alabama Chanin Journal

May 20    Homemade by Jill

May 21    True Up

May 22    Oh, Fransson!

May 23    Prudent Baby

May 24    Sew Liberated

May 25    Handmade by Alissa

May 26    Hazelnuts

May 27    Petite Purls

Giveaways.  Sunshine.  Kiddie pool.  New books.  Micah staying put for another day.  What a wonderful day!!!!

Deep Breath

Maybe I've being a little hard on myself....and I really need to take a deep breath! OK...here goes... (hmmm ahh) Now, that feels much better!

Despite my last self deprecating post, I have been having tons of fun this summer with my sweet husband and Jesse. A couple of weeks ago, for my belated Mother's Day celebration, we took a little trip to a strawberry patch with plans to make some yummy strawberry jam. I come from a long line of "canners," (at least four generations on my Mom's side) and nothing is more satisfying than a pantry full of jars of homemade strawberry jam!!!

After a brief instructional session with the boy, he was picking perfect jamming strawberries in no time. Jesse, who, by the way, will not even touch a grocery store berry, was shoving berry after berry into his sweet little mouth the whole time.

We did run into a slight occupational hazard, though, that we are now affectionately calling "strawberry-butt." (Next time, Jesse, don't sit on the strawberries!) :o)

And when we got home, we squished and squashed, and squashed and squished the berries until they were the perfect jamming consistency.

And after 5 hours of preparation (picking, sterilizing jars, mixing, stirring, and waiting to hear that amazing little *POP* that occurs when the jars have been sufficiently sealed) we enjoyed the fruits of our labor on Ritz crackers. I think he likes strawberry jam; don't you agree?