Mom's Birthday and Father's Day!!

I must be on a roll, four posts this month....haha :)

Mom's birthday was fun and full of family. There might be a toss up on who enjoyed it more!!  Tante Brenda, Uncle Arie and family came to visit, and Jacqueline and Nathaniel meet their cousins for the first time (Jacqueline's real first time was at 4 months old).  I'm kicking myself now for not taking any pictures, or a video! When Mom came back to the house from a quick job with the rail-crew, Jacqueline jumped up and said "Oma's home!!! Come on cousins!" waving her hand for them to come with her to the door to greet Oma!!! It was so cute and a total video moment!!  Mom hand all the food ready to cook before she left for the job and Kevin and Jonathan barbecued dinner so it was ready by the time Dad got off of work. After dinner all the kids took turns playing a racing game on the xbox, it was really entertaining!! I'm sure that if I tried to play I would crash as much as they did!!  Really had a great time with everyone!!!  Jacqueline finally got her wish, she had a sleepover (and Nathaniel too) at Oma's with all the cousins!!! She really did want to stay in the morning and is ready for another sleepover!!   She is still talking about her cousins and wanting to see them again!!!

For Father's day (well, on Saturday) we rented a picnic shelter in Aberdeen at Wylie Park for a fun day all together with Ashley, Pete, Brooklyn, Anneke and her friend Lisa! Jonathan was at drill so he missed out!!   When we head out that morning it was raining and we came across a mother deer and fawn crossing the road, the baby laid down on the side of the road!!

And we had rain off and on all the way down (about a 4 hr trip). It was nice, but cloudy, when we arrived at the park. Got everything set up and Pete and Kevin started to get food going on the grill.  It was sprinkling but not to bad. Then the wind picked up and it started to pour.

Pete and Kevin getting wet, cooking. The back of their pant legs were soaked!

 This side of the shelter was dry!!

This side was getting wet.

Jacqueline ran through the rain with Tante K and got all wet, the wind made her a little cold!

Mom went to go see where we could finish our picnic, turns out that we were able to use the breakfast area at the hotel that Mom and Dad were staying at. So we packed up and went there.  

 Getting food all set out!

 Yummy food!! White crock-pot cowboy beans, next one a hot bean dip. Pasta salad, the blue lid, has a broccoli salad.

 Yummy!!!

 Jacqueline enjoying scotch-er-roos (?) that Tante K made.

Brooklyn!

Jacqueline holding Brooklyn!! She was pretty proud of it too!

Mom made these cute cupcakes!! Turtles!!!!

Even though we got rained out at the park we still had a great time and a memorable one too!!  Looking forward to going again and having another picnic (no rain!!)  to enjoy all that the park has to offer!!

A great picture of us all before we all left, you cant tell that we were all out in the rain!

Heading home, we saw the sunset! It was beautiful. I snapped pictures like crazy to see is set in motion, but here are a few!

 Got part of the glare from the window.

The end to a fun day!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!! Praise the Lord for another Beautiful day today!!

Garden Update!

My garden is going well, I'm still having issues with Canadian thistle and grass. I get about 2-3 Folgers coffee cans full when I weed the garden. Other then that everything is growing!!!!
We met the lady (she works at Runnings) that use to live in our house and we learned that the garden area hasn't really be a garden or really worked since 1982 when her in-laws lived here.  She said that she kinda worked and used the garden, but she never got anything out of it, because the corn never grew and something eat all the potatoes.  After hearing that, I realized that I have my work cut out for me if I am going to get things to grow!!!
I have a few things that I want to do to the garden to keep pests out, like bunnies, they ate all the leaves off the broccoli plants.  The electric fence that is partly up is going to be taken down, and a wire fence is going up.  The charger for the electric fence is not charging, the kids touch the fence all the time when its plugged in and they feel nothing. I'm going through, hopefully today before the wind picks up and storms, to put crushed egg shells down and around the plants to help keep the bad bugs from eating the plants and maybe the bunnies as well until we have a free afternoon with Kevin to get the fence up.

 I know its a little hard to tell but here is a Mother rabbit and baby playing (a few more came to play after I took the picture) About 20 yards from the garden.

This bunny is here in front of the house and like 10 feet from the garden.

 Green beans, I covered them up again after this was taken.  When they were planted, the soil was almost mud and very clumpy. 

 The bunnies handy work on broccoli.  It should grow back.

Peas poking through!! When they get bigger going to add a fence next to them so that they can climb up and be easy for picking time!

 My bell pepper plants...thinking that they got transfer shock and/or the dog trampled them. They are all gone.

 Bought 8 new bell pepper plants, hoping that they stay alive!! The jalapeno plants are doing ok...they have a little bug and bunny damage I'm hoping to turn that around! 

 Also bought another zucchini plant (other one is still living)

 My corn is coming up!! I think that it is safe to say that I will have better luck with the garden then the lady did that lived here before we did!

Carrots!!!

Beets!!!

 Onions are starting......It took me a while to see them, they blend in with grass.

 Leeks, also hard to see with grass.

 The biggest potato plant

 The littlest potato plant

My potatoes!!! They are bigger they the picture shows!

 That is my thumb next to the biggest tomato and another little one starting!!!

Also my thumb next to another tomato bud, there are 2 here!

The tomato plant I put in a 5 gallon bucket with potting soil to eliminate transfer shock. It was a beautiful plant with a good 6-10 flowers, I was not going to take a change and plant it in the ground and kill it!!   I will do another update on the garden next month, cant wait to see the the difference!! Oh, I don't have a picture but the lettuce and spinach is growing also!!! Fresh salad is going to taste so good!!!

Last but not least, we got another cat, Shadow.  She is 3-4 years old and is a big girl.  She is warming up to everyone slowly (Bella might be her favorite so far) and is starting to show her personality

Have A great day everyone!!!!

Just a quick thank you!!

Over the last week since the last post, I have gotten so many compliments and that people enjoy reading it!!!  I have even inspired one to start their own blog (Hi Misty!!).  I really do love writing these, they are fun!!! Thank you everyone that does read them and to those that leave comments, love reading those (they always make me smile after a post is up)!!! It really makes my day that you all enjoy it and I still smile knowing that you all enjoy reading it too!! Thank you again!!!

Just an update of fun things since Mother's Day!

This is just a mix of fun things since Mother's Day!

First fun thing, was celebrating Brooklyn's 1st Birthday!! It was a blast, and what made it so much fun was that all 5 of us kids were together!!! Josh and Megan came up from Arizona to visit and for the party! It was a short visit but the fact that we all were together for the party was that much more special!! Can't wait until we all are together again!

 Jacqueline reading to Brooklyn and entertaining her while we all get things ready for the party!!

 The Birthday Girl!!!

After the party we went to the hotel where Mom and Dad were staying and went swimming. Jacqueline was being taught how to swim by Tante K!

Next we got new pets!!  Ashley found a lady that was giving away some kittens (I asked her to to watch for some for me!) So after the birthday party was over, Anneke and I went and picked up a kitten! She is so cute, and she is kinda special too!!!  Everyone was there when we brought her back to Ashley's and all fell in love with her and all were asked to help name her.  Mom came up with Bella and Jacqueline loved the name!!!

She is the most playful little thing and lovable too.  She sleeps at my feet almost all night! 
The other pet we added was a puppy! The day after we came home from the party we saw an add for free puppies, called right way and there were 2 males left.  We drove to the next town and picked him up...saw both parents and the owner raved about this little guy and that he has great potential as a work dog.  His mother is a red heeler and his dad is a border collie.  

We came up with the name Bandit.  Kevin wanted to see what he can do as Kevin was going to be working with cows that afternoon, so he went with Kevin to work.  Kevin came home very impressed and said that Bandit would be a great cattle dog! Both Bandit and Bella join our other dog Chena. 

Its hard to tell in this picture but she has the most beautiful blue eyes!! She is an Australian Shepard and is mostly the family dog and will occasionally go to work.

The last thing for today is my garden! I am gardening this year for the first time by myself and I am having a blast doing it!!!.  It is slow going and it will be a battle too.  The garden spot hasn't been used for at least 3 years and was nothing but weeds and grass.  Well over half is planted, I still have to plant peppers, broccoli, peas, beans, and lettuce and spinach. 

 This is potatoes, leek and onions

My potato plants are starting to grow!! Have 11 popping up! (we were in a frost advisory last night and I went out to cover them!)

Not everything is marked yet but after onions is beets, carrots, a few turnips and corn.

 At the top is a watermelon, middle is zucchini and the one here the bottom is a pumpkin plant (used for both carving and cooking)!!

 This is the last of the garden where the rest of the plants are going.  I'm battling grass and Canadian thistle and have to weed before I can plant...they come up so fast with all this rain, but oh so good for my plants!!!

Cilantro I have growing on the side.  (this, the leeks and a jalapeno plant I got for Dad for his birthday! Also sharing the garden with Mom and Dad!)

That's the up date so far!! I am currently trying to write one about getting Jacqueline ready for school and the adventure that we have taken so far with that, which has been interesting.  The post with pictures of the inside of the house is still coming, I haven't forgotten about it! It will just be the main floor, the upstairs and the basement will be a different post as I will show the before and after when it gets done, which will be later in the year.

Hope you all have a wonderful day, I know I sure am, Its a beautiful, Glorious day!!