Our very own garden

We were so spoiled by my in-laws’ garden when we lived with them!  They grew tomatoes (40+ of different varieties), lettuce, peppers (many varieties), eggplant, cucumbers, onions,  parsley, and squash. 

Last year we were without our own garden, but we received so many wonderful fresh veggies from several in our congregation.  We received tomatoes, corn, squash, and peppers, but I sure missed the abundance of fresh veggies in the backyard.  We were given our first tomato plant last year from a member, and it gave us sweet bite size tomatoes all summer long.  I remember plucking tomatoes when I would let Chloe out for her morning walk. 

Well, I am not a gardener.  I don’t like all the work that goes along with it – you know, the constant weeding, but I sure love the fresh veggies, especially tomatoes.  Our backyard has many shade trees & a huge garage so not much room for a full blown garden – plus our dog uses it as a bathroom.  Anyway.  So, I asked Jay about trying to do a vertical garden. 

He thought maybe it would be okay, so what the heck, let’s give it a try.

 

So he and his dad built the vertical garden boxes.  We figure if it works out, next year we will invest in better wood and maybe even make it slightly bigger.  Once it was built and filled, we planted pole beans and peas on May 25th.  Then we invested in some mature tomato and pepper plants.

We were so excited to have things sprouting less than a week after planting!

 

On June 9th everything looks great.  We also have pots of tomatoes, cilantro, and basil.

The picture above and all those below were taken on June 24th.  I can’t get over how everything is growing!!

The peas are climbing the mesh wire and are even starting to get blooms.

In the front of this box, is one lone green pepper plant in between two tomato plants.

It might be hidden, but it is growing!!  Look at those peppers, and there’s at least ten others starting.

This pot of basil has been giving us fresh basil for our spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce.  What a big difference in flavor!!

Yesterday, Jay picked up some jalapeño pepper plants.  Need those for his salsa!!

Here is our potted garden – tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, and basil.  Three of the tomato plants came from the same member as last year – two of which made it into pots while . . .

this little lone guy found a spot near our garage. 

But hey, it must like it over there because it already has some little reds to share!!

So far so good.  Looks like next year’s might be slightly bigger!!

Landscaping – not our first love

Many of you know we do not enjoy yard work.  However, since we live next door to the church, we thought it was important to make the front of the parsonage look nice rather than over grown with weeds.

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Morning Strings

It is amazing how time flies.  It’s hard to believe Mackenzie has been playing the violin for three and one-half years.  When she started, the violin was tiny – she was too-, but not the tiniest one they make and now she plays a full-size.

She enjoys playing, but probably not as much as Mom enjoys hearing her play.  She says she doesn’t like performing on stage, but she always does such a wonderful job!!  However, she has talked about playing in the symphony/orchestra when she gets older.  We keep reminding her that that is ON stage, but we know she can do it and would be wonderful at it!!

In the fall I had found out about auditions for Columbus Symphony's Youth Orchestra’s Chamber Strings for grades 3-6.  We talked about it – well, actually I mentioned it and she abruptly said, “NO! I am not interested.”  So, she continues to take private lessons and orchestra at co-op, and she performs at music recitals and showcases. 

Well, I also found out about a two and one-half week long strings camp at OSU through their music school.  At first she didn’t want anything to do with it.  Then she only wanted to go if a couple of her friends, who also play the violin, would go.  With plans for all three girls to attend, Mackenzie was willing and ready to go. 

Unfortunately, her friends have other camps this summer and a really busy schedule so they couldn’t make it to this one.  At first, I was worried she wouldn’t follow through and we had already paid the camp fee.  Well, to my surprise, she was excited to be going even though her friends wouldn’t be there with her.  :)

So, this is where she is spending her time.  I forgot how pretty OSU’s campus is and all the things there. 

So far she has had good reports.  She really likes Dr. Gillispie & she has made some new friends. It might have been a blessing her friends couldn’t fit it into their schedule.

On another note – not being a musician, nor having ever attended a music camp, it was much to my surprise that there will be an actual orchestra performance on the eve of the last day of camp.

Not just a performance.  She will play for 45 minutes chamber style.  Then they will play three pieces as a full orchestra on stage in the Mershon auditorium.

UH OH!!

Believe it or not, at least at the moment, she doesn’t seem too concerned about it.  Matter of fact, we already bought her dress.

I think she looks pretty.  I know she will do a wonderful job.  She still has over a week of camp left before the big night.  So check back for the performance post.

Crazy Fun Cupcakes

This post is way overdue . . .

I found these crazy fun looking cupcakes on Pinterest and I just knew Mackenzie would love to make them.  So, last month we made them & she shared them with her ASL class. 

They looked really cool and I wasn’t sure how in the world the other bakers got them to look like they did.  I love the fact I can visit someone else’s blog and learn how to do something.

All you need is a white cake mix prepared as directed, four different icing colors, and four small containers.

Once we divided the batter among the four bowls, we colored them.

Check out those bright colors!!

They looked so colorful while they were baking.

The finished product.

See how cool they look!! 

Of course, Mackenzie wanted to ice theme with butter cream icing.  So, we made a big batch & she had fun decorating them.

Upcoming Formals

It is so hard to believe Kassi is a junior in high school.  Seriously, where does the time go??? :(  Why does it go by so fast? 

If you recall she attended a holiday formal back in December. That was her first of four for the year.  Yes, four formals. Yes, she is homeschooled. Yes, she has a life.  Her public school friends are amazed at the fact that she gets to attend formals and she is homeschooled.  No, these are not formals at a friend’s school.  These are formals organized by homeschoolers.  Even homeschoolers can experience some of the same things kids who go to school experience.  The best part – they are together with other homeschoolers with like mind and like values to have a great time doing fun and appropriate things. 

This time last year was crazy – looking for formal dresses was not on her ‘Fun To Do’ list.  But this year she seemed a little more eager and excited to look for dresses. With her first dance  in March, we started looking in January.  We checked local thrift stores, but we were not having any luck.  We had visited a local resale shop, Plato’s Closet, too, but still found nothing. 

Finally, last week we found this pretty black and white tulip style dress.  Which is perfect for her upcoming Celtic Ball.  We got it for a great price!! 

I figured we had plenty of time to find dresses for the April & May dances, but then I realized prom season is approaching too.  So, I decided it was best to be aggressive in our search sooner than later. 

While the kids were at a teen party Friday night, Jay & I went out and checked a couple of stores.  But did not find one – found styles she liked, just all the wrong sizes.  He is so funny.  He asked why she couldn’t recycle one of the three from last year or wear the same one more than once this year.  Must be nice to be a guy and only have to wear a tuxedo.  He was only joking, but of course he had to give Kassi a hard time.

The hunt continued.  While Kassi and I were out delivering our weekend shoppers, we made some stops at Plato’s Closet – didn’t find anything – and a consignment shop – SCORE!!

She was excited when she saw this one.  The only issue is the lace up back. 

The dances have a modest dress code – no revealing backs & it must come up to the bra line.  Which means this back is not considered modest.  So, we are going to make a simple, but temporary alteration to the back with a panel under the lacing. It still will be perfect for ball room dancing. :)

We found this adorable dress at the same upscale resale shop.  It is just perfect!  The only issue is convincing her to wear actual dress shoes and not her chucks!!

I have to say I am very happy about the fact we were able to get three dresses for $150.00 total.  Seriously! I am pretty sure just one of my prom dresses cost at least twice that.  Maybe that is why I only went to one prom a year. 

Valenhogs cupcakes

It’s been a while since I have made a cake or cupcakes for that matter, but I offered to make some for one of Kassi’s events. 

Kassi has an upcoming ‘Valenhog’s Day’ celebration to attend.  It’s a social gathering for the teen volunteers at the zoo.  Last summer they did Christmas in July.  They’re always trying to do something fun and crazy.  So they decided to combine Valentine’s Day and Groundhog’s Day. 

I wanted to try and make some kind of themed cupcakes for them.  I had some different ideas, but when I saw these on Pinterest I knew I had to make them.   

So, I made red velvet with cream cheese icing, butter yellow with vanilla icing, and triple choco fudge with buttercream icing.  I actually made all the icing, baked all the cupcakes, and smooth iced the grassy cupcakes.  But my girls helped ice all those cupcakes.  Mackenzie piped swirled cream cheese icing on the red velvet & Kassi iced the butter yellows.  Both girls did the grass!!

They did a great job!!  I am so glad they like to help.  Hopefully all the zooaides will like the cupcakes.

Dinner Diva

Mackenzie L.O.V.E.S. being in the kitchen.  She has her own skillet, small egg pan, and small flat griddle pan, which come in handy when she makes her own breakfast or fixes a midday or even a late night snack.  She makes great pancakes and egg sandwiches.:)  When she wants something sweet . . . she will bake too – brownies are her specialty.

I am amazed at her eagerness to cook for herself and others.  As long as I can remember she has always enjoyed helping Grandma Karen bake.  Then over the last year, she has become very independent in making her own breakfast and lunch. 

She is the only one of the kids that liked the idea of helping at least once a month to help cook dinner.  She has been flipping through the various cookbooks to find recipes to try. 

So, she found some noodle Italian dish for a dinner last week.  We actually didn’t have to start from scratch with the recipe because we already had homemade sauce to use.  :)  She is looking forward to her spring cooking class she will be taking at one of our co-ops.

I love being in the kitchen with her!  But I marvel at what she can do in the kitchen at her young age! :)

Where do you nap??

The kids love using Chloe as a pillow and she obviously doesn’t mind.

When no one is around to snuggle with her, she finds a corner to cozy up to.

That really doesn’t look comfortable.

COOOOOOKIES

Can you believe it is Girl Scout cookie time????

The sale kicked off this past weekend and Mackenzie wasn’t missing it!!  She made sure Jay had her out and about on the first day. She loves going out door to door and asking, “How many boxes would you like?” 

That was the best advice we ever got when Kassi was a Girl Scout selling cookies!  Never ask ‘if they would like to buy any,’ but ask ‘how many boxes they would like to buy.’  We have even had people tell us if she would have asked ‘if’ and not ‘how many’ then they would of just said “no.”  Mackenzie is awesome too, she even asks how many they would like to donate to the Gift of Caring program.  :)

She will be selling until sometime in March, but she is off to a great start.  She set her initial goal at 500 and will go up from there when she surpasses it.  She has already made it halfway to her initial goal. :)

Nice job, Mackenzie!!  Keep up the awesome selling!!

The Changing theme

I don’t think we have ever taken down our Christmas decorations so early.  I am sure we have waited till at least the second week of January.  But this year the changing of the guard came much earlier – December 28th.

I know.  That is really early! :(  I love how our house looked with all the holiday decorations.  Jay always does such a nice job.  The kids and I help with the ornaments on the trees, but then Jay does the rest of the house, transforming it from its everyday wares to a holiday wonderland. 

I have to say, this year when we removed the ornaments from the trees, there was a new method to the storing of them.  Thanks to a friend and her share on her blog, she inspired me to make tree decorating easier. 

In the years past, we have had an angel tree, a Disney tree, a Hallmark tree, and a team sport tree.  Well, this year we had the Disney tree, an angel tree, and a miscellaneous/catch all tree.  This year the Hallmark ornaments weren’t on display.  The kids receive ornaments each year from us and their grandparents, and usually we mark the boxes and then put them all together.

Well, thanks to a friend’s share, I got each of them their own container.  As we removed the ornaments from the trees, they were placed in each individual’s container along with their stocking & Christmas doggie. 

Kassi – Zack – Kenzie .  .  .

they each have a nice collection of ornaments.  So, when they move out, they will get to take with them their ornaments.  But until then, the can decide which ornaments they would like to display on the “Family Tree” each year. 

All the boxes and containers are marked and stored nicely away for next Christmas. 

In the meantime, we – I mean Jay - transformed the house to a winter wonderland. 

Jay did another nice job!  But we need way more snowman stuff.

A Talented Eye

As many of you know, Kassi enjoys taking photos, and she is really good at it.  She has been wanting a new camera because her old point and shoot just needed some repairs.  It still takes nice photos, but it has more than gotten its use. 

So, her big gift was something we thought she would really enjoy and definitely get a lot of use out of.  She got a new camera. It was another awesome deal at Target – it was on sale AND we got a $75 gift card kicked back to use on other gifts.  Forget ‘Black Friday’ deals, we got awesome deals on other days!

Kassi hasn’t wasted any time  . . .

See what I mean about being good at it!?