Visit with The Millers

We had the opportunity to send half the day with our great friends The Millers. They were in town for a 'reunion' of sorts and can over on their way back home. It is fun to see our children play together. We have been friends for over 10 years now and as the years come and go it has been a joy to watch our lives evolve. Maddie has grown into a beautiful young woman. She is kind and patient with the smaller children. Porter has a huge crush on Emma! Although he enjoys playing with Graham, I secretly think he would like to steal Emma all for himself! Before too long, Dixon and Easton will be great buddies and finding all sorts of mischief.

We always miss them when they go and can't wait to be together again soon.

Do You Remember When....?

Here is my first experience with a TAG....

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is most memorable.

2. Next, post these instructions on your blog and see how many people have a fun memory of you. It's pretty fun to see the responses.

3. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!

Gardening Pleasures and Frustrations

Each summer we plant a modest garden. Matt built us a 6'x12' raised bed garden about 3 years ago. We plant cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, and green bell peppers. This year we added a tomato plant (at Porter's insistence), Blue Lake bush beans and Pink-Eye Purple Hull Peas. In the past I have also always had an extensive herb garden. This year I opted to omit that for the plantings and just use my dried herbs.

We were very excited as the yellow squash started growing. We love squash cooked in a variety of ways but the family favorite is fried squash. We had a few opportunities to enjoy this treat. Then Matt began to notice the squash started rotting before it was ready to pick. We also noticed hundreds of bugs....and eggs everywhere. I quickly consulted with my garden expert...my dad. He had lost his entire crop of yellow squash and had not planted any zucchini. Matt next consulted our local extension agent to find out if there is a treatment. The sad news is that our plants have been attacked by "squash bugs" and "squash vine borers". These nasty bugs/worms have caused the death of my beloved squash plants and today it appears that they will be the death of the zucchini plants and cucumbers as well.

We are tempted to treat the soil and then replant but can't decide if it is worth the effort and expense this late in the season. Matt starts back to work on Tuesday. In all honesty, he is the one that keeps the garden beautiful. I just prompt the planting and cook the harvest! :)

The rest of our plants are doing well. Especially the monster tomato plant! We do not even eat tomatoes!! We planted it to please Porter, whom insisted he would eat these tomatoes. We have also learned that you need a lot more than 5 pea plants....we only get about few tablespoons of peas at a picking. Very frustrating when they are one of my favorite veggies! I guess I will have to raid Mom and Dad's freezer...they have several quarts put away already.

I am also wanting to add zipper peas next year....anyone have any seeds they want to share?

Here is the monster roma tomato plant....we had it in a tomato cage and added 2 additional supports to keep it off the dirt!

Here is the last of my cucumbers and zucchini plants....RIP my once beautiful and prolific plants!

Is That Bus Driver Bob?

It is official, Matt is licensed to drive a school bus! Why you ask? Matt was offered a job in another school system and after much pondering and prayer, he decided to change schools. The new school does not allow any transportation of students except on school buses. Since he the FFA advisor, he takes students to several competitions , field trips and even conventions during the year. To help with saving money in his budget, he needed to get his CDL and be the bus driver. The down side of this was the training began the day he finished post planning with the previous school and really cut into his summer vacation. The up side is .....

Porter thinks his dad has the "coolest job ever"! Porter can't wait to ride on his daddy's bus....HMM....I hope we can arrange that!!

BUNCO Fun

What makes this stay-at-home Mom so happy???....BUNCO night! Thanks to all my buddies for a fun night of playing, visiting and eating! It is great to catch up with our group of regular attendees and meet the newcomers. You gals are good friends and I look forward to seeing ya soon! Until next time, I will be reading your blogs....sometimes silently! Hee Hee!

Happy 4th of July

I am proud to be an American and I am teaching my son about what that means. He is a bit confused on what it means to be "free" but we are still working on that process. We talked about honoring those who have sacrificed for our country. Anytime talk of soldiers comes up, he remembers our friend, Josh Reeves, who died last fall while fighting in Iraq. Although he does not understand what it meant to "fight to protect the freedom of others", Porter does understand that Josh did a brave thing and was a hero. In addition to Josh, we have other friends serving our country and used this day to talk about them and their families as well. We pray for their safe return home.

For our fun festivities, we spent the day at the pool. As soon as we started to get in the pool, we heard thunder so we had to get out. Once the lifeguard felt it was safe to resume, we returned for about 10 minutes before it started again. This is how the day went. Once the thunderstorm actually hit, we decided to go home and have our dinner before fireworks. Grandma Maggie had come to visit and spent the day with us. We enjoyed seeing her and hope she enjoyed her visit. Matt made sure to 'burn' her hotdogs...just the way she likes 'em!

After dinner we headed to the park for fireworks. I typically avoid situations with large crowds. I get very anxious and can't enjoy myself. Regardless, we felt that the boys would enjoy it and had lots of friends from church gathering together for the event. Since the rain stopped, I didn't have a good excuse to stay home and we went. The evening was fun. Porter loved running around and playing with his friends. Matt and I enjoyed chatting with our buddies and Dixon enjoyed everything. He even did well during the fireworks display.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I got to celebrate my birthday while traveling to a conference for Matt's job. The day started very early....we were visiting some dear family friends and Dixon and Porter had a really rough night. I had that feeling you get with the calm before a storm when both boys were in bed by 8 pm on Sunday night! Dixon woke up to nurse around 10:30 pm and did not lay back down to sleep until around 4 am! Each and every time I would get him to sleep and lay him in the pack and play, he would wake up screaming! This led to Porter waking up, which meant more crying. Matt and I took turns passing off the boys. I was so stressed out because I needed them to be quiet....we were in another home and they were going to work early the next day. I did get about 2 hours sleep before we had to load up and head to the beach. Matt let me sleep on the first part of the drive then we traded and he slept until we got to Daytona.

The rest of the trip went nicely! The boys and I played in the pool and watched the waves while Daddy was in classes all day. Porter even got to play in the resort's kids club. At night the conference had family activities/dinner which was great and left us ready for bed. We loved the hotel and wanted to stay longer and give Matt the opportunity to play....too bad the Pepsi 400 is this weekend and the hotel rates shot up to $400 a night!

During the trip home, we stopped to visit Scooterhead aka cousin Jennifer for Dinner. It was nice to see her! We miss her and want her back "home"!!! We also bought a case of green peanuts and today is 'boiling day'!

Here is a picture of the boys sitting on the front porch of my childhood home. We stopped by to show the boys where I grew up and man....that house sure does look too small to have had a family of 6 kids!!!

Well...laundry calls!