Our Garden

Our garden has been doing ok this year. It got off to a pretty decent start only to have high temps reach the 100s and not much rain lately kind of slow things down a bit. We have gotten quite a few cucumbers. I might have picked the wrong kind this year. For some reason they have been really long, like at least a foot, and kind of skinny. They are also really tall plants. We have them in tomato stakes and they are as tall as me! I don't know what kind I got. We have a couple different kinds of squash, some zucchini, jalapenos, bell pepper, egg plant, and tomatoes. All we have got in squash, cucumbers and today Andy picked some peppers. I am so ready to have some tomatoes!!

We also have our fruit trees back this year and better than ever! I have never seen so much fruit on these trees!! There was actually so many apples on one branch that the entire branch broke!! We were very sad to see that happen. I know we probably should have thinned it out and pruned it last year. Last year because of the drought we had maybe one or two apples. I am not exaggerating. This year we have double and the pears are like that too. Usually the squirrels get all the pears and we get a handful, not this year. The tree is still loaded! Does anyone know when to pick the pears? We have never had any on the tree this long. The kids love pears and are so excited about eating them!

First harvest



The apple tree pre-broken limb

The little pears

The garden

Cooking

This week I am really on top of things, or so I think.  I have been cooking supper every night this week!!  That is a major feat for me.  Monday night we had Brinner (breakfast for dinner) with french toast and fresh local fruit.  Tuesday night I felt like mother of year, we had fish sticks.  Yep that's right, right out the box and fries, that were from the freezer section also.  As it turns out one box isn't enough and there were 18 fish sticks in there.  Wednesday night Andy grilled out steak, veggies from the garden and farmers market and corn on the cob, also from the farmers market.  Then tonight I was really proud of myself!  I made homemade lasagna!  It was so yummy!!  Cale had like 5 helpings!  I have had fixed garlic bread (that was bogo last week at HT) and salad.  In case you want to make the lasagna, which you know for me to make has to be incredibly easy, it is the recipe on the back of the Muellers lasagna noodles.  It is that easy.  Just pick up the box, then get the ingredients, then allow your self about an hour and half or so before dinner and start cooking it.  If I can do it then anyone can do it.  I also use the ricotta cheese in mine because I am not a big cottage cheese fan, but it says you can use either one. 

I have also been on top of the dishes, well most of the time.  Although I have fallen a little behind with the laundry, but today I got all caught up.  I have started getting back to my sewing again.  Two weeks ago I had a little accident with the rotary cutter, I nipped the tip of my thumb.  It is just now feeling almost normal.  Still a little tingly.  Don't you know it had to happen at 9 at night.  Luckily we have some great friends and neighbors that watched the boys so that Andy could rush me to the Urgent care before it closed at 9:30.  I have now made a new policy not to sew after 8:30 unless I have just had a huge cup of regular coffee. 

I am busy sewing getting ready for the Designers Downtown Market in Raleigh on July 17th.  Please come out, if you are local, or spread the word!  Last time I was very very disappointed with the turn out.  I didn't do even half as good as I have in past, but it wasn't because I just didn't have many sales, it was because there really wasn't the crowd there that is usually there.  I was really bummed and it was hot and windy.  I am hoping for nice weather, although I am sure it will be hot, and a really good turn out.  Spread the word!!!  I am going to have some really good deals going on!!!

Mack on the Go

Mack's pictures of him on the go.

Crawling


Andy flipped him over the other day and after only one time he started doing this!

No Hands! Here he is not holding on! I tried to get a better picture, but it was hard with just me since he kept wanting to lunge for the camera

And the return of the Superyard aka Baby Jail
This is me improvised jail, but I have the feeling he is going to figure out how to get out of this one before long.

On the Move

One more post for today...

Mack is totally on the move and ready to even walk!  Last week he started really crawling, like on hands and knees.  Before that he was doing this really weird and slow belly, army crawl thing.  Well now he is really going.  I had to put the baby jail back up, tomorrow I promise I will have pictures.  I had to work it in differently than when Cale and Carter were babies.  They had each other and didn't feel so lonely.  Mack sat and played while I put it around him yesterday and then about 15 mins later he noticed...he was trapped!  I only did it because I had to get dinner ready and he always go straight for the floor lamp and my very old glass case that his brothers never touched.  I know, no one has to say it this kid is going to be TROUBLE! 

He has pretty much perfected standing and not holding on.  He does fall, but while standing he can chew on his fists and pick his fave penguin up and swing him around, I will have to post pictures of this as the penguin is almost as big as Mack and has a plastic bottom.  Today I really thought Mack was going to take a step.  I know it won't be long.  Cale and Carter were 15 months before they walked.  I was only 10 months, so I guess Mack is going to be fast just like his mommy, ha ha. 

He is also on table food now.  Still no teeth, which the other boys had two by nine months.  He will still eat some baby food, but he loves table food.  He ate a whole banana today!  He loves, the dole fruit cups, green beans, chicken, carrots, pretty much any fruit or veggie.  I gave him toast yesterday and as soon as it hit his mouth he gagged!!  I do the same thing when plain bread hits my mouth.  He doesn't really like any bread, which I remember the other ones didn't either at first.  I am just shocked that he doesn't like waffles.   Although once again I think his brothers were the same. 

I am really sad that he is now 9 months old and growing so fast!  I feel like he is already getting that toddler attitude.  I love him so much, as well as his spunky brothers!!  I know I do complain about needing a break  a lot, especially now that school is out, but I really do feel so blessed.  Being a mom is a really awesome experience and I am so thankful I was given the privileged to be one. 

As for Cale and Carter, they are still asking 900 questions a day.  About 400 of those are the same question just asked a different way.  By 5:30 I am about ready to scream, sometimes by 8:30 in the morning just depends on the day and they amount of coffee I have had!  They are in their first week of VBS and are surprisingly loving it.  I didn't have anyone refuse to go in, I fully expected Carter to refuse.  They have made crafts and told me they did the motions to the songs.  Oh how I wish I could be a fly on the wall in their class.  They are doing great at reading!  I am so proud to hear them sound words out at the store or where ever we are at.  I am just so amazed at how anyone learns to read!  Sounds silly, but I always thought that seemed like a hard thing to teach.  Andy has done a great job at teaching them, he he not their mother who was a language arts teacher.  Cale shows a lot more interest than Carter, but Carter will definitely bust out something intelligent when you least expect it.  Those kids are like crazy sponges!  I love it!!  I am one proud momma!! 

Our summer is really flying by and then my big babies will be kindergartners and my little baby will be in MMO.  Everyday I remind myself that this will be over in a flash and I need to enjoy even the hard days. 

Pool Snobs

I feel as though I was very fortunate to grow up with my parents having a pool in the backyard. Some people, like my husband think it depreciates your house and is hard to keep up. I think it is well worth it! I think I took for granted the fact that at anytime I could just walk outside and go swimming, well when the weather was warm enough. Now I so wish we had a pool!! I live an 1 and 10 mins from my parents, so there is no going over there just to go swimming. We do however live practically right across the street from a decent Raleigh city pool. It is nice as far as public pools go. It has a fenced in baby pool and spray yard and is mostly full of neighborhood people. But, I hate public pools!! By public pools, I mean all kinds of public pools. A lot of people in our area are members of pools either country club or neighborhood pool clubs and well we definitely do not fit in at the country club and the neighborhood pools are nice, but you have to drive too far and by too far I mean 10-15 mins. I am too lazy to drive that far, because with Mack we are doing good to make it an hour at the pool and then when you add in all the getting ready and time to get settled at the pool. I am actually wiped out by the time I get to the pool and can get in. Then I stress the whole time that some unruly kid is going to pull my kid under water. That is probably not going to happen, but sometimes it is pretty crowded.

OK, so I am a pool snob because I really only like to use private pools. I DO NOT like to share my pool space! So last week I drove to my parents house and spent two days swimming with the kids, Andy had to work of course. It was so nice! I was finally able to put Mack in a float and didn't have to hold him the entire time. I have tried so hard to talk Andy into getting a pool, but as usual he says no. Well what drove me to go to may parents and really bug Andy is that I had a really bad experience at the public pool last week. Some kid took Cale's toy aways from him and he was younger than Cale and we try to teach our kids to be nice, so I told Cale to go ask for it back. Well the kid wouldn't return it. Then the mom turned around and Cale told her that that was his truck and he had been playing with it, all very nicely, and after her failed attempt to get the toy away from her son she told Cale he needed to share! No she did not! I have never had to confront a parent before, but we had just got to the pool and he had just put his toy in the water when this kid took it. I didn't go through all the prep work and get to the pool just to have some kid take my kids toy away. So I had to get up and nicely, but really wanted to snap, tell that woman that we just got to the pool and my child had just put it in the water to play with it. Then she got the toy back and there was no issue. I don't know why she didn't just take it from him in the first place. You can tell who runs that house. Andy went with me Sunday afternoon and it was a lot better and it is easier to have him there to swim with the older boys.

The boys practicing their swimming



Look at that sweet face!! I could just eat him up!!

5 years and 8 months

I am so slack! So last month, when Cale and Carter turned 5 and Mack turned 8 months, I took them to get their pictures made. We just went to Portait Innovations, which they do a good job, but it's not the best place. For the money, it is definitely worth it though! I really like taking pictures, and that was actually one of things I was considering doing before I decided to go with the sewing thing, but didn't because I didn't have the money for an even nicer camera or the time for photgraphy classes. I always think that I should just take them outside somewhere and do it myself. I have a nice camera and some photography books, but just never take the time to do it and Andy isn't really into to helping me wrangle the kids into getting their pictures made.

Here are the pictures of my, most of the time, sweet boys.

First Beach Trip

This post is only about a month late! I would come up with an excuse about being busy or the kids being sick, but really I have had time to do this and just haven't. I am honestly a lazy person, at times anyways. I could never be one of those die hard mommy bloggers. There are lots I have to say, but I just don't make this a priority. I feel like I should make time for it because it is a good documentation of our children growing and some people I think like to read and look at what I post. I will really try hard to be better. Maybe I should post while Mack is napping in the afternoon instead of doing the usual, which is absolutely nothing by the way!

Here are some pictures of our first trip to the beach of the summer and Mack's first trip ever! We left after the boys preschool graduation and headed to Topsail beach. I love the beach and I love it there. Mack was a little hesitant, but soon loved the water. The weather was just perfect and the older boys had no hesitation for the first time ever! They love the beach and want to go back. We also swung by the aqarium on our way home and then visited some friends that moved to the beach last year. The boys had fun at the aquarium and I can't wait to go back and see more stuff. We went to the Fort Fisher one and then when we were leaving it started raining, so we didn't get to visit the Fort Fisher stuff. I know we wil be back! I would love to move to the beach, but I can't talk Andy into doing anything fun!!!

Mack's first touch of the ocean. He cried, it was cold. The next day he loved it though.


My sweet boys playing in the pool.

I love this picture of him!! Such a sweetie!! Notice that closed fist, well it has sand in it that he will stuff in his mouth the first chance he gets. I think he liked how it felt on his gums or maybe he just liked the taste of sand.

My three boys:) I wouldn't trade having boys for anything!!!