The best in the land!

Just in case anyone was wondering, Emily is the best source for unusual knowledge....can't say useless since it came in handy today,

Since getting home our garbage disposal wasn't working. Odd since it was put in only two or three years ago, and I actually splurged for a good one. Emily came to the rescue and over the phone told Ryan and I how to fix it. She saved us just in time since I have to clean all of the CSA stuff in the morning.

Thanks Em, you are my hero!!!!

Food... glorious

I love CSA day. Today we had herbs, cabbage, chinese cabbage, lettuce, what looks to be the end of the broccoli raab for the season, fresh dug potatoes and blueberries! The berries came from another farm, so I called and we are headed out there later this week since I can't pass up PYO berries! We want to get 10 lbs of blueberries, five will become jam and five will be frozen for blueberry pancakes, scones, muffins, etc. The berries we received today will become pancakes tomorrow morning if I get some decent sleep :)

Today, while chatting with Em on the phone, I was organizing my freezer(s) and discussing the fact that we have quite a big stash. While talking, she and I both commented that we were due to get our next delivery of beef, and where it would fit. Just then, Farmer Ben beeped in to tell me the meat will be there on Wednesday!! With some pushing around, I now have the room for my meat and anything Emily needs me to store. Then we will be packed to the gills in the freezer....now we need to start canning!

I also placed an order for more green coffee beans since I am out. I decided to try a different supplier, if I like them, I will link to them :) Next big order will be for wheat and white flour. I found a place to buy in bulk in special storage pails to keep the moisture and critters out. They also have wheat that I can grind into flour, I am planning to try that this winter if I have the time. The final items I need to purchase this summer are the cheesemaking supplies (for Mozz and ricotta) and some cheesecloth for yogurt making.

Home, happy and exhausted

Yesterday husband and I enjoyed the wedding of a good friend of his from HS. Interestingly enough, he married a girl that went to MY high school, and we are from Long Island so there are lots of schools and people!

The wedding was very nice, and I even got to catch up with some people who I have known since elementary school :)

Post wedding, we headed back to Ryan's mom's house and met up with Kristin and Matt who had entertained the tribe all afternoon with pizza and swimming. We decided that it would be best of we did the hell drive back at night so the kids didn't have to spend the whole day trapped in a car again. We planned to go to dinner in Port Jeff with Ry's mom, brothers, Kristin and his friend Erik then leave straight from there. Dinner was hell as it took TWO HOURS to get the food (and it was wings, burgers, etc) so my poor babies were so tired and hungry and barely even ate when the food was served at 11 pm!

After dinner, we made a potty stop, loaded the sad tired kids in the car and took off. I ended up driving all but the last two hours (and remember I slept only 3 hours the night before) and handed over the keys when I couldn't see straight anymore. Three hours of sleep in a 48 hour period is just not fun.

We got home at 6 am and everyone went to bed for a bit. I got up at 9:30, woke Ryan and went to pick up the dog at the boarders, dropped her off, went and picked up the CSA (more on that later), then had to go BACK to the boarders since she gave me back the wrong medicine for Rosie, then to the grocery store and whew, then home.

Now I am wiped and going to lay down for an hour on the couch. I still need to cook dinner, switch laundry and write a paper, and then I am in bed EARLY!!!

Grades

You know what rocks?

When you blow off an assignment because you are at the beach on vacation, knowing full well that it would mean you only get a B+ in the class....and then you check your grade and find out you got the A anyway.

Woooooohooooo

In NY

We made it to NY, although it was a LOOOOOOOOOOONG NINE HOUR CAR RIDE!!!

Needless to say, by the end of the trip, we were all falling apart. I was in tears, Grayson was screaming, Britt was whining and Haven was sulking. Good times for all!

We made it to Ryan's friends house, and I think we were overwhelming him a bit. I suggested I take the kids to Ryan's mom's house, and sometime around 11 pm, we got there and settled in. I couldn't seem to fall asleep and was up until after 4:30 am, and was not thrilled when Gray woke at 8. Now the kids need to eat, I NEED coffee and we need to pretty up for a noon wedding.

I cannot express to anyone just how thrilled I will be when I lay in my bed Monday night. Tuesday I will need to get up early and get the dog, and we will need to go to the farm to get milk, but that will be all and I will be happy to stay home for awhile.

Sea, sand, sun and sound

We are back home....for one night. The kid's had a blast on the beach trip, and they were so sad to have to come home. We enjoyed playing in the sand, watching kite surfers, splashing in the sound and the ocean. Tomorrow we begin stage two of the vacation, with a seven hour drive to NY. Ryan and I will be going to a wedding Sunday afternoon and the kids will hang with Uncle Matt and Kristin, probably at the aquarium or *GASP* THE BEACH!!!

The kids are total beach bums now, begging to head down to my parent's house ASAP, little do the folks know that the kids want to head to the beach at 8 am and home at dusk.

Off to write a paper and repack!

The best pic I could get

The kids were a bit excited, so this was the best I could do. At least I included the important elements, the kids and the ocean!

Five little ducks on their way to the beach

The sixth was behind me :)

Salty and sandy

On the right track

I knew we were onto something when we joined the CSA and got our meat direct from the source. Not only healthy, but now more economical too! Check this out

So everyone knows, we MADE IT!!

We are here at the beach all settled in. We spent today at the beach in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. The kids are having fun, although they were up really late last night and are a bit overtired today.

Pictures and videos to come...tomorrow we go to Ocracoke Island, which should be lots of fun.

Whew, off to prep dinner for the growups :)

Tomorrow we go!

The big day is upon us, tomorrow we leave for our trip!

We are almost ready to go, Ryan just needs to pack himself up. Tomorrow I will drop the dog off an run a few last minute errands, set the cats up (our neighbor is checking on them) pack the cold food into the cooler and pack the car. My goal is to be on the road by noon, at the beach by dinner time. We plan to lay low, mostly hanging at the beach or the pool, maybe a quick outing or two. Then we head home Friday, and are back on the road on Saturday to drive to NY for a wedding. Then home on Monday. Whew, it will be busy and fun and we are all so excited it is VACATION TIME!!!

Back in the berries

So since I, ahem, cannot blog about what "we" have to do, I figured I would blog about what I did do.

Today we ventured to the farm for milk, eggs, yogurt and berries. The plants were sparse, and it took some work, but we got five more pounds of strawberries. Emily took some of the more firm ones home for her kids to eat, and I packed up two bags to be frozen. When we get home, I will make those into about 12 jars of jam, yumm!

Rush rush rush

I feel like this week is barreling by!

Today, as promised, I am taking the kids to lunch and the pool. We decided to go to the farm tomorrow as they have a special on pick your own strawberries ($1 a pound!) and the weather looks to be perfect tomorrow.

I am still not anywhere near packed, but I will start today when we get home from the pool. The Fallon kids will be here, so I am hoping they will entertain each other while I finish laundry and pack for Ryan and I. Tomorrow morning I will pack the kid's clothes, have my conference call and then we will head off to the farm. Thursday Haven has a riding lesson at 9:30, then we will go to Brittan's birthday party at noon, then home to finish getting ready for the trip. Friday, if husband will watch the kids, Emily and I can get the rest of the food we need, and I can get the car cleaned out and ready to go. Saturday morning I will pack the food, we will pack the car, drop the dog off and we will be on our way!

Cooperation and CSAs

So, today has not gone as planned. I had instructed the girls to clean their rooms yesterday, so that today we could have had a fun day. This morning I saw that the rooms were not only not clean, they were TRASHED. Needless to say, the outings were cancelled. Grayson is also upstairs napping because he couldn't say a single nice thing today, gotta love 3/4 year old boys!

We did however get to pick up our CSA stuff and had a surprise, blackberries! We also got some beautiful kale and cabbage. The cabbage has already been made into coleslaw to go with our BBQ chicken and beans tonight. The kale will be grilled and served with a vinaigrette, and the blackberries will grace our table tomorrow night when the Fallon kids are here for dinner. Tomorrow will be breakfast for dinner, sausage, eggs, biscuits, hash browns and fruit salad including those delicious blackberries.

Also in the haul were some herbs and bunch onions that will go into the vinaigrette, lettuce, chinese cabbage and my eggs. Tasty!

Hopefully today we can get started on packing, finish the laundry and a few other odds and ends. Tomorrow we need to go to lunch, the farm, I need to grab a few things in Fredericksburg, the pool and then the Fallon kiddos will be here while their parents are at a swanky event :) Wednesday I will clean the car, get extra litter boxes for the cats and get ready for Britt's party on Thursday. Friday we will finish packing, and Saturday we are off!! We will come back the following Friday, then Saturday morning leave for NY, returning on Monday. Whew!

Countdown

We are leaving for the beach in FIVE DAYS!!!

As we count down, I am also feeling a bit stressed about getting everything ready to go. I have some last minute things to do at the house... I need the house clean before we leave, I need to set the cats up, drop the dog off, get and pack the food, pack the kids and us, etc.

I am a list maker, so I have my lists ready to go!

Let the fun begin!

Trapped

As I have posted a lot lately, I have the itch to get out of Virginia. My job is one that I take with me, so I can live anywhere we want and still have the same income. Ryan is ready to leave his current position, but with the unstable market, he is just staying put since he knows he has job security. It kills me that we are sitting here wasting time just because of the housing prices. If this were one year ago, we could have sold our house, paid off a little debt and moved.

We are still planning to stay put until the doctorate is done, or close to it, but my fear is that two years will not be enough to fix the drop in housing. It just stinks as the kids are getting older, and I don't want to wait until they are in middle school or high school to move them. Haven would be in fifth grade in two years, and I think that is the best time for us to go, but housing has to get better. Soon right???!!!

The best Daddy ever!

My husband is by far the best daddy ever! Since the day we found out we were expecting Haven, to today when he is willing to indulge me in trying for #4, he is a dad who is always involved with the kiddos. He may not know everything that is going on, but he is the first to hang with the kids, play with them and I trust that he will guard them with his life. The kids adore him, and as we speak, he is following the treasure hunt the kids made up for him, even though he is exhausted and hungry. He makes the kids laugh, he was always there to rock them as babies, and he changed a mean diaper, and the kids and I know that he loves us all deeply.

My children are very lucky to have such different parents, I am more rigid and uptight and he is all about fun. They are very lucky to get a dad who loves them as much as he does.

Happy Father's Day!

Pears

When we bought this house, the previous owners told us that they had two pear trees in the front of the house. We have been here almost 5 years and never saw any pears, probably because the trees were planted in the shade and in the worst spot ever for fruit trees.

Today I was driving by the front of the house and I saw bulbs on the trees. Further inspection showed pears, lots of pears! They are a few weeks off from being harvested, but if they continue to grow we will have a ton of fresh pears to eat and can, right from the front yard!

Need an adventure

Ryan and I have long known that a deadline is approaching. We know that when my doctorate is done, we need to make choices about where we live and what we do, and it has been a source of excitement and stress. The deadline is still about two years away, but we have a few ideas on the table.

One is that I will look for a full time teaching position here and that we will stay in VA. That is great since the kids are happy here and we own a home, etc, but we really don't have much tying us to this area -except the Fallons of course.

The second choice is that I look for a FT teaching position somewhere else. The problem with this is, we are not sure I would make enough to support the whole family or if Ryan would easily be able to get a job. We are also not sure if we would be near friends and family, etc.

The last choice is that I go back to the corporate world, and teach on the side. My degree really is meant to be applied in the field, so this would be an asset for me when looking for a job. We know that the best place for me to work in NYC, so we are considering moving back up north if I find a job in the city. We are even thinking of living in the city for a year and think it would be a really neat experience for the kids! We also know that the NYC school system has lots of opportunities for our children, as do the cultural events, museums, etc. If we do this, Ryan will probably stay home with the kids and finish school.

Ah, the joy of the unknown!

School's out for summer!

Yesterday was the last day of school and I couldn't be more excited! Haven finished up second grade doing well, and Britt finished out kindergarten wonderfully!

We picked the kiddos up and headed to Busch Gardens for some last day of school fun with the Fallons. It was warm, but once I was soaked on the rapids....and again on the Log Flume, I wasn't hot at all!

The kids seemed to have fun too, only thing we need to do next time is see a show. Since we have season passes, we all know we will be back soon, so everyone was pretty good about waiting to try new things, etc.

The ride home went well, not a peep from Haven and Brittan except when they were thirsty. They all watched a movie, and Grayson kept trying to talk to us, but still it was a very nice ride.

All went well until Haven got up at 3 am and threw up! I think she is fine, she has a bad cold and I think it just made her reflux act up. She is doing well this morning, enjoying the first lazy day of summer, and I am just so happy that the beach trip is less than a week away!

New toy!

Husband's Father's Day gift came today, and of course I let him open it. We got a new Flip ultra camcorder

Ours is orange and I got the matching case for it, and it will be perfect for our beach trip!

Here is what happens around here when you play in the mud.

The stars are Grayson and Maggie...

Still kickin'

So Gray was up until 4 am last night, that is right 4 AM!!!!

He hadn't slept or napped in days and was just terrible, so off he went to bed last night at 6 pm. He woke around 10 and then stayed up until 4 am. Needless to say, I am just exhausted!

Nevertheless, I got up and made the girls lunch and got them off to school for field day. Then I spent 3 hours doing course checks, did the dishes, scrubbed the dining room, cleaned the bathroom and planted the last few things that needed to go into the ground. Husband has overhauled our bedroom and is working on the bathroom (hurray) and then I will shower and go see Dr. Tom and run a few errands.

I still have to unload the dishes and switch laundry, and then I think I will crash!

Buggers!!!!

Growing up on Long Island, my husband and I know all about fleas. Being that LI is mostly sand, fleas are a major issue and one that our families dealt with each and every spring and summer. Since moving to VA, we have never had any issues with fleas. I have always used the cheapy flea treatments you buy at those cheapy stores, and they worked just dandy. This year something went wrong.....

The cats don't go outside, but the dog does. The dog was treated with the normal cheapy thing in May, and a few weeks ago we noticed the kittens had some fleas. I bought them the cheapy treatment and treated the dog and all three cats. Well, three days later and still fleas, so we bathed them all in dish soap on the advice of the vet (that was NO fun)

Fast forward a few days and...they still have fleas. So we bought a spray and sprayed the, and then three days later we sprayed them again as instructed, sprayed the carpets etc. Now I hate pesticides, so it sucked having to spray.

So tonight I check the cats again, and I saw fleas again. Now they have never had A LOT, but if I see one or two, that is enough for me.

Tonight I sucked it up and order the really expensive treatments. I just spent $100 on treatments for all three cats and the dog. The stuff had great reviews and claim to kill adult fleas in a few hours, and will kill the buggers that are on the floor and jump on board. The only down side is I won't have this miracle treatment until Monday :(

Damn buggers!

Stop the ride!!!

I need a break, a true, laying down with nothing to do, no cleaning, no cooking, no running the household break. Britt had her awards today, and now as I sit here, I still must clean up from dinner, vacuum, switch laundry (and the clean pile has grown to scary heights again) and bake cookies for tomorrow.

I want to sit, drink coffee and watch a stupid movie, but I know that by the time I finish all that I have to do, it will be 9:30 and I will not want to watch a movie anymore. Tomorrow morning I have a course checks, which take a few hours, but class is almost over and I get a blessed FOUR weeks of no work!

Oh just get me to June 21st and the beach......

So proud I could burst

There are very few moments that my children make me so proud I could cry, and today was one of those days. Haven, my oldest, has struggled with reading and writing, and we are sure the child has dyslexia which has aided in the problem. This year it all clicked for her and she can read beautifully.

Today she had awards at her school, and in kindergarten and first grade she always won the kindness award, especially when dealing with any students who face challenges, including her friend K who is in a wheelchair. While Haven can be a lot to handle at home, she is always empathetic and tries to help anyone who needs it.

Today at school she earned the Super Reader Award for her class. I also saw that she and my middle child were in the top 10 for their grade level in reading points. For Haven, this award meant she has come full circle and is finally able to work through the challenges she faced and is able to show her true potential. I knew that she would be getting this award before I went in, and was so proud, but then she earned another award. Haven and two classmates earned a special award from central office given to children who help those in the special ed program, such as K. She was nominated for this award by a number of teachers, and it made be so proud that she could be so kind and giving. We were given copies of the nomination letters and it was so amazing to see all of the kind words spoken about my girl.

While she can be my most difficult at home, I know that when she is out in the world, she is really a spectacular kid.

Rough nights

Soooooo


No sleep for the weary.

Seems Grayson has the cold that has been going around, and with him, it makes his asthma pretty bad. We will be starting breathing treatments today, hopefully keep him healthy before the big trip.

It should be pretty exciting today when we go see Haven get her award.

The day picked up

So, Em told me to blow off the training, that the little money I would get from tutoring at this place wasn't worth the time and effort. I am going to see about tutoring some local high school students, much more profitable and a better use of time.

The kids played ok this afternoon, and my husband had a really nice gift card to Sur la Table, so I can o spend like crazy and not feel bad. We also had ice cream cake, and the kids sang, although Gray was a phrase behind.

Now I just need a quiet night and all will be right with the world!

Not off to a good start

So far, not off to a good start. Last night the power went out for a little while, and then Gray was up and down all night, and then I started to get hit with the cold going around. When we got up this morning, I was already exhausted, plus no one in my family bothered to wish me a happy birthday. Now I need to go and bring the girls to school, come home and water the gardens (since it will be 100 degrees today) and switch the laundry. Then I will drive to pick up the CSA stuff, maybe take Em up on her offer for lunch, then off to training for 2 1/2 hours. Lucky, lucky me.

33

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be 33. Big whoop. Know what I have to do? I have to pick up my CSA stuff, see Dr. Tom and go to training. yippee.

The simple tasks

Having three kids, 8 and under, simple tasks become HUGE!!

We have had a growing pile of clean laundry to fold. It had grown to take over the loveseat in the living room, so this morning I decided to start folding. I seperated half of the clothes into parents and kids and then folded all the kids clothes. The next step should have been easy, put the clothes away, but now that we have switched into summer, I needed to clean out all of their dressers and drawers. So this simple task turned into an ordeal, complete with closet reorganization, toy clean up and Space Bags!

Now I plan to feed the kiddos lunch, and take them over to the pool. Then when we get home, I will fold the OTHER half of kids clothes and the girls will put them away. Then I can tackle the rest of the dirty laundry :)

A good cup of Joe

When I asked Ryan for my own coffee roaster for Christmas, I never knew just how much I would enjoy roasting my own beans. Even though it makes the house a little smokey and smelly (so says Ry, I like the smell) I love the freshness of the coffee, and that I can control how deep the roast is.

As I have been trying different beans, I have found that I really enjoy a dark roast coffee. Prior to roasting my own, I never liked the taste of dark roasts, they were always bitter or burnt tasting. Now I know that the beans I used before were either old, or over roasted, dry or stale. Nothing compares to a roasting a batch of beans and making a fresh cup of coffee, it is by far the best tasting coffee I have ever had in my life. I encourage all coffee drinkers to buy a small home roaster (mine was only about $80). The green beans are cheaper, and usually free trade organic, and so much better than the roasted beans you find in the store. Roast in small batches, I do under a lb, and enjoy a cup of coffee as it should be.

Feelin' HOT

It is really warm today, and looks like it will near 100 degrees. The whole family had a busy day, the kiddos and I loaded into the car and drove Brittan to her birthday part. While we were in Fredericksburg, we got gas, for ONLY 3.76 a gallon! Being that it is about 3.93 here in our town, I was happy to get the cheaper price. We dropped Britt off and then ran to grab the kids some lunch. Off to the farm to get milk, as we were alomost out and I can't pick up our milk order until Wednesday. Back to get Britt and then home to see hubby who was sweating outside replacing the dryer vent cover. Then Gray and I took off for the grocery store to grab some things for dinner.

Now I need to do some grading and make dinner. The kids voted for homemade mac and cheese and grilled BBQ chicken sandwiches with cheddar cheese and of course salad.

I have to say, I was very happy when we were at the grocery store and the things my kid begged for were bananas and cucumbers.

Sleepy Awareness

Husband let me sleep in a bit today, which is really good since I haven't recovered from Grayson's middle of the night conversations last week. I woke up and the house was messy (really messy) and the kids running around, and toys strewn about. What I realized in that moment was that if I had been up first, the house would have been cleaned, but that would have been the only difference. While my husband has the avility to push each and every OCD button I have, he is a great dad and he really was nice lettin me sleep. I will need to vacuum and do the dishes, wipe the table and dress the kids before we leave in two hours to take Britt to a party, but I am thankful I got a little extra sleep and that he got up and made the kids a hot breakfast and made sure they were happy.

Antsy Pantsy

Everyone few months I get really antsy. I start thinking about moving, or a new job, or during bad times, a new husband :)

I like the area we live in enough, and I can see why lots of people love living here, good schools, amenities, etc. To me, it is all very BLAH. I feel like we live in limbo, not the north, not the south. Being that Ryan has sworn never to move south, I guess that means we will someday look to head back north. We live close to DC, but I really don't like it there. I am not sure if it is because I don't feel comfortable getting around, or that I am not sure where things are, but I really don't enjoy going into DC to spend time. Last summer when we were in NYC with my family, I really enjoyed showing the kids "my" city. Having grown up so close, and spent so much time there both playing and working, I am very comfortable in NYC. If we lived within an hour of there, I would bring the kids in all the time, as I know my way and feel happy when I am there.

So where does this leave us? Right now we are trapped here, the housing market is so bad that we couldn't move if we needed to. I have two more years on the doctorate, and we hope the market is better around the same time I am done. I have two big choices when we are able to move again, do I look for a job in education or corporate America? Obviously the later will pay significantly more, but a job in education is much better for my soul. I guess time will tell. I am not opposed to working in NYC again in the future, although we would buy a house upstate. Ah the joys of planning a life, good thing I have time.

Hanging in there

The weather situation here in Virginia is crazy. It seems we live with a constant threat of severe weather, and I am very tired after a night of watching for storms and avoiding flooding the house.

I hope we have warm weather the next few days and minimal rain so we can dry out a bit. Enough is enough with the weather!

Too much to do, too little time

I am just feeling swamped.

On the bright side, I received my performance review today and it was really great. My boss had a lot of nice things to say, and it made my day.

Also, my birthday is on Monday, no big plans so tell the band not to come.

Pool was a bust

Never fails, just when you think you have all your ducks in a row....the cosmos messes with you!

I left to pick the kids up at school. That means Gray and I got in the pickup line at about 10 to 3, the kids came out at 3:30, I gave them juice boxes and snacks. I had the girl's bathing suits ready to go, they could change at Dr Tom's, all the towels and toys were neatly packed and dinner was ready to be finished at home. When we were almost to Dr Tom's (which took forever, damn construction) Em called and said the pool was closed :(

The kids were sad, but we went to Em's and they played in teh sprinkler and had popsicles, so it wasn't all bad. Then it only took 20 minutes to get home (it is only 6 miles or so) Then rush and finish dinner and throw the kids in the bath.

I am sleepy now.

Water babies

OK, so not to beat a dead horse, but Gray didn't sleep well again last night. Oh well.

We had a good morning, got some things done, went to pick up CSA and I know Haven will be thrilled as there are sugar snap peas in the bag today! Gray napped in the car, which is a good thing since I am picking Haven, Brittan and Declan up from school to go to the pool. I love when we hit summer, everyone's mood improves and it feels so free!! This i why I keep considering homeschooling, I think my kids would really enjoy the time at home and the more flexible schedule!

So now I am quickly making chicken parm so that I can leave it in the warm oven while we swim. Then when we get home, all I have to do is make the pasta and toss a salad and we are ready to eat. Summer rocks!

Mud is only good for wrestling

So we had a nice day. I didn't get all of the things I needed to done, but instead I took the kids to get new pool toys and to the pool with Emily, her mom and the kiddos. We had fun, went back to Em's house so the kids could horse around a bit more, Declan beat me at a Guitar Hero battle (watch it kid, I am going to practice and come back and beat you!!) then home. I had a nice dinner all planned, steaks on the grill, twice baked loaded potatoes, corn on the cob and salad. Then the skies opened and it POURED. I waited a bit, seemed the rain passed, started the grill. Just when I needed to put the steaks on, the skies opened again, and as the good wife and mother, I ventured out. The problem was that the mud was slick and I slipped and wrenched the hell out of my back. Thankfully Ryan came and saved the day, he cooked the steaks and served the kids and gave me tylenol for my back. Tomorrow morning before getting the CSA, I will see Dr Tom. Damn mud!

General updates

OK, just a few quick updates on what we have been up to!

We now have found all the kittens new homes with the exception of the two little guys we are keeping. We have kept an all gray striped kitten named Tuesday and a wild gray and white male fluff ball named Jacks, and of course mama cat Helicopter! This brings the animal count in the house even with the people, 1 huge Newfoundland (Rosie), a hamster (Sammy) and the three cats!

The garden looks like it is going well, nice flowers on my squash and zucchini, tomatoes in the main garden seem to have come back since the floods, the cukes are looking betterm beans and peas are growing strong, and carrots and one set of lettuce look great. The eggplant is still really small, but I am hopeful. The side garden was pretty washed out, but I do have some pumpkins growing and I put the sweet potato plants in the ground, so we wil see. I have more acorn squash and butternut squash seeds that I will put in the ground as we have a really long season and they are fall bearers. I also bought the kiddos a watermelon plant, although I have no idea where I will plant it! Maybe where the potatoes washed away :)

The bucket graveyard will go up next week, 5 tomato plants, i pepper...for now. These will live in a sunny patch in front of the playroom, near the side garden. Herbs are growing out back, and I am getting ready to start a new set of herbs in the aerogarden.

Haven's birthday has passed, Brittan's is next in July. We are planning a party for her in June so that kids from school can attend as well. She chose Chuck E Cheese...oh well, it is her party :)

My birthday is just around the corner (6/9) but as usual, I am not planning to do too much. It is a Monday, so Ryan has to work, and it is the last week of school for the girls. I am happy to take the trip to NC at the end of the month (and all of the new clothes I ordered for the trip) as my present :)