More Garden Pictures

Peaches,
Apples,

And Corn...

Yellow Beans!

Working on putting up beans for the winter time. These are some of the yellow beans. We have done bunches of green beans and some cool looking purple beans. Corn is coming in and is soooo yummy. We had some for lunch.

Hoppy Toads?

Add more "pets" to our list. Now we have a bunch of "hoppy toads" as the kids call them. I am not sure if it is a toad or a frog...Help me out! But they look to be little babies...we see some bigger ones and then lots of little ones. Someone email me if this is some kind of posionious frog! I also saw a snake in the grass by the barn...so I don't know how long the "hoppy toads" will be around. The Circle of Life is in full swing...what eats snakes?

The First Ripe Tomato

Here is the first ripe tomato from the garden. We have been harping on the kids soooo much about trying new foods and the fact that you have to retry them again and again...sometimes you just need time to get used to something new. Well Steve has a LONG history of hating tomatoes. When we met he wouldn't even eat pizza with too much sauce. Well he can stomach tomato sauce now if it isn't chunky...Well he tried again with a raw tomato...(my favorite) Here is the sequence of pictures...I love the look on his face...He couldn't spit it out because the kids get in trouble for that...but boy did he want to. We all laughed so hard. I don't think tomatoes will ever be something he will like.

A Message from Julie's Oven

It is soooo amazing that I had to take a picture of myself. I am being used to capacity. It was sooo much fun! In the past I have only been used to reheat stuff and make frozen pizzas. NO MORE! I am finally realizing my full potential. I feel Great! I made two loaves of banana/blueberry bread, two loaves of zucchini bread, and three...count them three...zucchini in a dish dinners. It was the best hour at 350 degrees of my life. Maybe just maybe I will get sooo dirty that I will have to self clean ! Ohhh I can't wait!

Back yard pics

The smallest humming bird...(I think) that I have ever seen. It is just about as big as a big bumble bee. Fast and cool to watch. I put my camera on the sports setting otherwise it was too blurry. Oh yeah and a cool Monarch butterfly. He just happened by when I was trying to catch the hummingbird.

Blood and Guts or Picking Cherries?

Here are the kids...picking cherries off the cherry tree. Some were very ripe and they were squeezing them and watching them pop! It looks rather gory, but it was just some delicious fun!

Chicks Chicks Chicks

These are some of the chicks that are Aunt Bobbie's for the fair. They brought them by so we could see them. We haven't got chickens yet...the coop still needs some work and we have been so busy with the gardening and life...hopefully in the Spring we will get to it!

Score is Swing 1 - Jacob 0...

This has been quite a week...well the big news is Jacob fought with the swing and the swing won. Actually he was swinging high and it broke and he fell and twisted his ankle. We had to take him to the doctor...xrays show no breaks. Good news there. Football starts next Thursday...we will see...so far he can only put a little pressure on it. He is using crutches 98% of the time. Now it is starting to swell more and turn a nice shade of purple. Other fun that happened. Maggie was sick with the tummy bug all day on Wed. Same day that Jacob hurt his foot. Then on Thurs when we took him to the doctor...we came home and Curtis jumped on the couch and cracked open his lip and gave himself a bloody nose... Those were the major injuries. On a happy note we picked green beans and put up 10 quarts. We picked more today and probably have another 10 quarts. Miss you all...

Style Review 2008

Well, the style review has come and gone for 2008. Douglas took 3rd in his class, and Jacob got an honorable mention in his class. They both had a good time and enjoyed it...after the stress of judging (which wasn't as bad as they thought it would be) They did well for their first time ever sewing! They are already talking about next years project. They also got to see other boys that sew and so now it isn't so WEIRD!

4-H Judging Today

Here are the boys outfits. Dougie made the pants of his outfit. Jacob made his shirt. We have judging at 12:30 and 2:00 today. Tonight is the style review at 7:00. At the end they announce who won from each category. Wish us luck.

Wildlife outside the window...

We have tons of bees...see former posts...and now butterflies. At least I like butterflies...yeah...Just an update...the moths have seemed to have peeked and now are on the decline in the house...probably lived long enough to lay a million zillion moth eggs for next years epidemic. Now those pesky honey bees...you know the ones that moved into the house siding...are finding their way indoors. Well moth guts were bad but at least they don't sting you. So alas...be careful what you wish would go away ...you never know what it will be replaced with.

Camp Whitewood

Well, the boys are back from Camp Whitewood. They had a blast. It was a cowboy theme this year and this is Dougie's outfit...He had a great time. They are a bit sunburned and sleep deprived but made friends and liked everything. Jacob got to shoot a 22 rifle. They also did archery, swam, and did a water slide...also a hike up the creek and I am sure lots of other things I haven't heard about yet. It is the first time they have been away from me for a week without family...well they still had some cousins with them technically although they didn't really see or hang out with each other all week.

Sleep Over Night

Here are the kids when they decided to have a sleep over in Jacob's room. It didn't last long before they were fighting over bed space and being too hot. The older boys are at camp this week so it has been very quiet around here. They will be home tomorrow...

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! I just love this picture. He just finished sweeping the walk by himself...and he is oh so proud. Can't wait until he finds that 'special" girl when he is older so I can share this picture! Have a great weekend everyone and God Bless America!

Brotherly and Sisterly Love Part II

Apparently they bow to each other before they kick the crap out of each other...who knew?

Brotherly and Sisterly Love

I saw them out in the side garden bowing to each other...I thought how nice. They play together so well. They even posed for a few pictures together and looked so sweet...like they loved each other... See next post for the finish...

Workin' at the Car Wash Yeah...

Here are the kids washing the van. I would like to report that it looked better when they were done...but...at least it wasn't dusty anymore. They had fun, and they decided to do it on their own. Maggie was there too but didn't get a good picture of her. We are trying to convince the car that we will take care of her if she will only live forever. Oh yeah maybe we should change the oil now that we have lived here for a year....hmmmmm.

More Pets? or Invasion of Mothra

Now let me tell you you might be thinking...that is only a few moths. What is she freaking out about? Let me just say this is a "sample" picture...last night upstairs I had to kill about 50 moths before Maggie would go to bed. They were that many in her room...the bathroom the same and a bunch in the boys room and our room. We nicknamed Douglas the "exterminator" ...he is good at getting them on the first whack. Just a few other moth "facts" you might not be aware of... if you try and drown a moth by filling the sink with water and watching it go down the drain...they just climb right back out. Amazing. You have to flush the suckers...the jury is still out if they can come back from that... Also "fact" number two...if you have nice white sheer curtains in all your rooms...moth guts make a HUGE mess. Hopefully moth guts don't stain. Oh and Steve is really glad we didn't get to paint the bathroom yet...because Moth guts on paint or walls has to be scrubbed off. Yuck! So Invasion of Mothra...or new pets? New pets we have had since moving to the "country" mice, bees, wasps, ticks, moths, ladybugs, peacocks, and oh yeah we actually did get a dog.

Love ya,

Julie

Primary Day

Here is pictures of Maggie at the church. We planted sunflower seeds and talked about our testimonies of Jesus Christ and how faith is like a seed. Hopefully the sunflower will grow. They are giant sunflower seeds given to the church by Aunt Margie.

More Bees

Here are some more honey bees that decided to hang out on our berry bush. They were there for about 3 hours and then they all flew away. It is an awesome sight to see a swarm of bees. You can hear them buzzing before you happen upon them.