gardening 101

It is a beautiful, sunny day today. The past three days have been cloudy and cool and we had a frost warning last night which makes me glad that I haven't planted my garden yet. Dan said the thermometer here at the house said 30 degrees when he got up this morning! Yes, 30 degrees! Isn't it almost June? :)

My tomato, squash and pepper plants arrived. A friend of mine has a greenhouse asked me if I wanted any tomato plants. I have 8 Roma tomatoes plants, 1 big beef and one early girl, 17 pepper plants and 2 squash plants. Aren't they pretty?

Anyway, Dan and I have a job to do this weekend. We gotta get these guys in the ground.

Memorial Day Memoirs

We had a great, sunny Memorial weekend. Saturday was Kylie and Macy's dance recital. They did an excellent job remembering their dance and looked adorable in their little outfits. Their mom forgot their cute headpieces and didn't achieve the "messy bun" look with their hair but the earth is still rotating so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal.

They both got flowers after the performance from their Dad as well as from our friends who attended the performance.

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We had a bbq with friends on Sunday night. Kylie, Levi and Macy were collecting firewood for our fire and I captured this on video. Macy noticed that the camera was on her and she added these little twirls as she gathered firewood. As soon as the camera was not pointed her way, she stopped the twirls! :) What a gal!

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Shelby has been asking for a certain haircut for months now. She has been browsing the stylist magazines and found one she liked. So, I took her in and this is her new look! I had this moment the other day when she came up to me in the kitchen and hugged me. I just thought, "How can I have a ten year old child. It just doesn't even seem possible." Anyway, she's definitely growing up.

We are on our last week of homeschooling. We are itching to get into the lake and spend the afternoons lazing on the dock. I'm so glad summer is here!

Shelby's foot

I realized I never followed up on the story of Shelby's foot. We saw a doctor here in town who took x-rays and said her foot was broken. Then, he sent us to an orthopedic surgeon the next day who took more x-rays (ka-ching, ka-ching) and told us that where the other doctor thought was a break was just her growth plate. He said that fractures and breaks can show up several weeks later in kids so she has an aircast and we will go back in 2 weeks to x-ray again and then go from there.

She has stopped using the crutches and is walking on the cast alone. Her biggest complaint is how stinky her foot is, now that it's in the cast all the time! :) Oh, and the fact that she couldn't jump on the trampoline with her cousins last weekend sent her over the edge for a bit. She said the idea of having a broken bone and getting all that attention sounded like fun until it actually happened!

Off to Iowa

We spent the weekend in Iowa visiting Dan's sister, Jill and her family. We had a great time with them. Yes, it is possible to have fun in Iowa! :) Got a few of you there. I can hear my native Iowaian (is this what they are called when they are from Iowa?) mother now... "What's wrong with Iowa!" "Nothing, Mom!"

Actually, I love the farms and more farms. These people are fastidious about their lawns. Have you ever noticed that? They mow, like, acres of lawn all around their house in nifty patterns like diagonal which I cannot master. My lines are always crooked. If only I could keep up with my patch of grass in the same fashion!

I love all the barns. Dan and I have both thought that it would be so great to go around all over the country taking pictures of barns and then do a coffee table book. Yes, I know they are already out there but ours would be better! :)

Anyway, Matt and Jill are possibly going to purchase a farm and we went out to look around. We took some great pictures and I've posted a few. There's a wonderful barn on the property that the kids were infatuated with. We had lunch and spent the day roaming around out there.

We sat by a fire and had some great hamburgers, potato salad and fresh asparagus. Yum! The trip was all too short and we returned home Sunday evening with four very grumpy, sleep deprived kids that missed their cousins and aunt and uncle.

I Wanna Check You For Ticks...

Drat! It's that season again...the ticks are falling off the dog like crazy! It seems that the little critters are pretty plentiful this year. I just picked one up off the floor that looked like a semi dried grape - not quite like a raisin. He was dead but it looks like he filled his belly for awhile before meeting his demise.

Makes me wonder if the Frontline is really doing it's job.

Samson is so large, he uses two doses of the medicine - one for a big dog and one for a little dog. This stuff is not cheap! He's already had Lyme's once this year. I guess I'll call the vet office again and get the scoop.

It's broken...

We go tomorrow to orthopedic surgeon to get it looked at and fit for a cast of some sort. I guess that means she won't be starting softball next week! I can be grateful for good doctors and care, right? I'll take some pics and post tomorrow.

I've been steamrolled!

We are headed to the doctor this afternoon. Last evening was our last AWANA program for the kids for the summer. We rented four huge blow up thingys for the kids to play on. All the kids had a blast! Shelby was coming down this 45ft slide with her girlfriends when our youth pastor decided to join them. He steamrolled Shelby and landed on her foot. Thanks, Scott! :)

She hasn't been able to put any weight on it since and it's a bit swollen. We will go get x-rays this afternoon to see if it's broken or a bad sprain. I'm so glad we just paid off the doctor. :) I'll keep you all posted.