July Garden Update

First of all I want to update you on how our sunflowers are doing...



Aren't they beautiful?

I don't know what kind they are?... but they are definitely different than the kind I'm use to. I personally like the sunflowers with one big flower... these have several small flowers per stem.

We added another box to our garden. That makes four now if you count the small herb box on our deck. I've been doing some research on a fall garden and I found this awesome blog on gardening. You can check it out here. I discovered now is the time to be preparing for the fall. On the blog they have where you can print out a PDF file and make a planning book for your fall garden. They also link you to another website that will help you determine when the first day of frost is in your area.

I love how the boys are so eager to help...



Should I be surprised?... we are talking about boys...



"playing" in the dirt... ya know?



This is...



what a real...



boy looks like!!!

Here is our finished box. Look really hard and you can see the tiny cauliflower I transplanted into our fall box. I sowed (indoors) leaf lettuce and rosemary, but no signs of growth yet. My leaf lettuce that I have in the other box seems to be doing good. We have eaten off of it several times.

Okay... you can stop looking for it now... I took a zoomed in picture of the cauliflower for you.



I love the way God reveals His love to us through nature!


When I went to the garden this morning I found all of these guys...



and this big guy... that the boys have been dying to pick... but he wasn't ready...

until today!

They wanted to pick it together.



And then study it before we eat it!



This was our harvest for the day...



not too shabby... if-I-say-so-myself!

DIYP (Do-it-yourself-projects) Message Board/Key Holder

Last Saturday the boys and I decided to go check out some yard sales. Just let me say... I got the FEVER again! About 5 or so years ago we would go every weekend... I loved it! ... but for some reason we just kinda stopped going. Anyway... like I was saying we went out and found a few cool deals. FYI... You really need to have a budget and stick to it or you will get sucked in and spend way to much money on STUFF you don't really need.

Now... we have lived in our current home for a little over a year and the walls are still bare. So my purpose (always have a purpose) was to find inexpensive (but useful) things to decorate with. This is what I found... FOR $4

It's great because I could add pictures of our family, have an excuse to use chalkboard paint and have a place for our keys. (Because sooome of us can't keep up with our keys... I won't mention any names, ahem DADDIO!)

I changed out the pictures...because my guys look better! ... and painted the mirror with chalkboard paint. Here it is with pic's and paint...

I am going to use the chalkboard side as a message board for that "What's for Dinner?" question. You know the one... that comes every evening about 5 or 6 o'clock and is usually followed by a "Aaaaw chicken, aaagain!?!"

Here it is all finished. I also took a brown marker and colored in some of the little dings it had and you can't even see them.

Sooo... want to know "What's for Dinner" tonight?

Yep...

You guessed it...

Chicken!

Blueberry Pickin'

Yesterday we went with some friends to pick blueberries.

We have never picked blueberries before. It's a little bit more of a job than picking strawberries, but it was still fun.

The biggest and best ones seemed to be waaay in the middle.


It took a long time to fill up our buckets...


And it was very, very hot!!!


Here we are waiting to pay. Hot and sweaty!

This is a great and inexpensive outing to do with family and friends. You just might want to go early in the morning or late in the evening because... you guessed it... it was hot!

We ended up stopping just shy of 4lbs and this is how much we got... and they are soooo yummy!

What's New

First of all we say goodbye to a dear friend. April (seated in front) is one of the "Dojo Girls" and she will be greatly missed. Her husband is in the military and they have moved to Maryland. We decided to take her out to dinner to say goodbye. Only about half of the girls could make it but we still had a good time and managed to not cause too much trouble. Believe it or not we were not the loudest ones there.(Sensei would never believe it!!) Over the past few years we have had many good times of sharing, crying and laughing until we cried. I am very blessed. I know that God has a plan for April and her sweet family... I pray that she will quickly get settled in and that God will surround her with many friends. I can't wait to here all about her new adventures. We will miss you girly!

GARDEN UPDATE...

My cilantro has dried out and I have harvested all of the seeds. Seth took this picture of me while we were taking the seeds off.

The tomatoes keep coming... I love seeing them in my window sill. I did discover (the hard way) that as soon as your tomatoes start turning orange you should pick them and then let them ripen in your window sill or the birds / squirrels will take a bite out of them. I've picked about 3 or 4 cucumbers so far and they are delicious.

Hey, by the way, I found my camera (it was hiding out in the couch???)... as you can tell by the following clear closeup of one of my "maters"!

And... remember this?...

It is going very well. Luann and Ramona are doing a great job with this ministry. I really encourage you to take the time one Saturday @ 2pm and listen to the show. Also check out the website here for daily devotions written for that weeks topic. This week you might just see someone there you know?!? This is a new adventure that God is leading me on... so check it out and let me know what you think by either commenting here or at Encouragement Cafe'.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...NOAH!

I can't believe that my baby is 8 yrs old today.

We decided to go ahead and have cake for Noah's birthday on the 4th because he would be going to camp today. Joshua and Nosh left right after church for camp. They will be gone for three days. I'm glad Joshua is going (as a junior counselor) with him so I don't have to worry as much. Joshua went to middle school camp last week and Seth went the week before that. It seems really strange to have only one boy in the house. Poor Seth... he was home only for about an hour this afternoon before he started missing his brothers. I'm glad he misses them... they truly are good friends!

A few presents...

4th of July Celebration

We had a nice time having family visit for the 4th. Mike's family came over for a cook-out. We played games all day. "Apples to Apples" is a lot of fun with a large group. It was time for dinner before we knew it. After dinner we went to watch the fireworks. They were great as usual.

OO OO OO...



AAHHH...



P R E T T Y...



C O O L !



I love this picture... it looks like green musical notes coming out of the top. Cool, huh?

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

We decided to do a little spur-of-the-moment decorating for the fourth.

We cut stars out of foam sheets... hot glued them to some twine... and VOILA!... instant art.

We hung the streamer on the wall behind our kitchen table and with the leftover stars we made a hanger for a door or window.

We may write some patriotic words on the stars... I can't make up my mind. (as usual!) Another idea is to write, "I love America because..." or, "I'm thankful to live in America because..." on the star and let everyone fill in the blank. It could be a keepsake that you add to every year. We should never take for granted our freedoms, but we should take the time to thank those who have sacrificed for our freedoms... remember freedom is never free.