Fun pics

I haven't posted any fun pictures of the kids for a little. Not that I've had much time to take any, but I did get 2 really sweet ones the other day. One of Lennon and one of Corby. I added one of Hads from a little while ago so she wasn't left out.

Corby's, it is so rare that I get a really good picture of him. One that I really like. I am loving this one. He has actually been asking me to take his picture. He was showing me the flower that he had picked.

Lennon-you might remember the Hadley at the fence picture. I love this fence. He just started pulling himself up on EVERYTHING a few weeks ago.

Hadley-she was checking out a flower. I liked the look on her face.

How Dewey has grown

Dewey is almost 5 months old. Man has he grown from the little 7 week old 10lb ball of fur that we got when moved into the house. I took some pictures of him with Lennon last night. Dang, for real. I couldn't believe the comaparison:

Lennon and Dewey the day after we got Dewey.
Lennon and Dewey last night.

For today...a series of posts

You are just busting with excitement aren't you? I took a bunch of pictures so I am going to do a individual posts for each picture.

First off..I want to send my apologies out to my watermelon plants. I called them slackers only to fined a softball sized watermelon the next day. Then I found 3 more(1 golfball sized and 2 baseball sized). I also want to say sorry to the cuke plants. I totally forgot to check on you. When I looked yesterday, y'all had about 10 huge cukes. I must learn how to pickle, fast.

To follow up on RL2, he appears to be doing better. I think he realized his efforts were going unsuccesfully. I look forward to his next attempt. I should just name him Shannon. Since I started talking about the chickens I will post their pictures.

This is Ruddy the Rooster. That is Allyson with him cleaning her fanny.

This would be the whole "flock". From L to R-Ruddy, RL1, Allyson and RL2

Here is Miss Allyson.

Lopes, maters and beans

Broccoli and grean beans are still coming in like crazy. I love having the fresh broccoli. We are going to eat some tonight. The kids fight over it. We are going to plant twice as many plants next year.

We have a cantelope!!!! It is big, too! Just needs to ripen and then we can eat it. Lennon will be in heaven. He loves fruit.

We also have about 8 neck pumpkins on the vine ripening. I can see one from the house. I think we will be giving some of these away. I don't know what to do with so many!

Regular pumpkins are starting to come in also. There is one out there the size of a basketball. Clint put a board under it to keep it from rotting.

Tomatoes are fast ripening. I predict a lot of sauce making beginning next week.

Green peppers are plentiful as well. I am going to make some stuffed peppers to freeze. I've also read that you can cut them up and freeze them to use in recipes later. I am going to do that, too.

Corn....ha ha ha ha ha ha...our corn. I must laugh at it. It is about 3 feet tall and trying to make ears of corn. It is so pathetic, it is funny. So funny.

I don't think we will be getting any watermelons this year. The plants look good and have spread out all over but yet, there are no melons to be seen. Maybe they will be late bloomers-or maybe they are just slacker plants.

The Peeps-Well, we have confirmed that we have 3 Roosters and 1 Hen, shouldn't it be the other way around? The hen was named "Allyson" after Allyson. The rooster I decided to keep is named "Ruddy". I chose Ruddy because he has the biggest "comb" and seems the most manly. He wins the mini-cock fights they have. That is a funny thing to watch. Rooster Loser #1 has taken the news well. He said he will go quietly when the time comes. Rooster Loser #2 decided to throw some dramatics. In an attempt for pity he talked Corb into picking him up, then hucking him in the raspberry bushes when he say his Daddy coming(he isn't supposed to handle the peeps unless we are there). Since that, RL2 has been walking funny. Not sure what is going to happen with him yet. Just keeping an eye on him for now.

Blueberries!

Oh yeah, blueberries! I made muffins last night, they were gone after breakfast. The kids loved them. I am really going to have to ask for some more blueberries so I can keep making great stuff. They are delicious! I made a cheese pie this afternoon and we will be putting homemade blueberry pie filling on top. It looks soooo good. I could just eat that for supper.

The sun tea never became. I will have to try again soon.

We worked on the herb garden today. Weeding it and planting some new things. It isn't beautiful yet. Everything needs to grow. It looks like we just stuck some plants in the middle of a desert. It will happen someday though.

We put Dewey in his outside kennel so the Banty's could get some outside time. They went NUTS. They are scratching at everything and eating like crazy. It is fun to watch them.

Sun Tea, No Sun

I finally got a big old sun tea jar. I was so excited to try it out with some of the tea that is growing in my herb garden. Particularly the chocolate mint. I made a sachet with my fresh tea leaves, put it in the jar, put in the water and set the whole thing outside in the sun. Then, the sun went away. I am hoping the sun comes back out so the tea can brew. If not, I guess there will be another sunny day to try it.

I put up more green(purple) beans and broccoli. I don't know if "put up" is the right term. I picked a bunch, blanched them and put them in the freezer. We have a ton of green tomatoes out there. I can't wait for them to ripen so I can make some sauce to freeze and try canning.

Speaking of canning, my canning supplies came! I have a Grannyware canner(boiling not pressure), jar rack, jar tongs, metal funnel, metal masher thing-it looks like a cone that sits on a rack and has a wooden masher thing and of course jars. I want to try everything out.

Blueberries! We traded some of our garmillion raspberries for some blueberries. I have some freezing whole. I plan on making blueberry muffins and a blueberry cheese pie as soon as I can get to the store to get a few things. I love blueberries.

Prep for Lennon's birthday party are in full swing. The outside of the house is looking pretty good. Not too many weeds left. The goody bag supplies are all bought, just need to be put together. Lennon's gifts are bought, invites have been sent, menu is planned. I can't believe he is going to be a year old on Friday. It just can't be happening.

Busy weekend

Where to begin?

Saturday-we went and picked up Lennon's birthday present. A great wooden playset-3 swings, a playhouse, sandbox, slide, see-saw and monkey bars. It still needs to be put together but the kids are having fun playing in the playhouse part. Pictures to come when it is together.

Sunday-We got the our Banty chicks! Picture below. We are going to wait until we can tell what they are to name them. They are so fun to watch and the kids are having a blast with them. One of the chicks caught a bug the other day, it began running around peeping excitedly while the other peeps chased it. Too funny.

Monday-We welcomed a new baby into the family! Clint's brother and his wife had their second child. They didn't find out ahead of time if it was a boy or girl so we were all waiting to see. It was a BOY!, their second. They named him Braiden Michael. I can't wait to meet him.

Tuesday(July 4th!)-We went to a picnic. I made a Raspberry Pie. I asked others how it tasted and they said good. Clint did not taste it because he is sick of raspberry things. The Raspberry Review has been put on hold. We went to see fireworks with my Mom, Dad, Brother and his girlfriend. We got home around midnight but it was worth it.

The Raspberry Pie that went to the picnic.

The Bantys!

Our first green(and purple) bean harvest!