How My Garden Grows

Our garden is really starting to grow.  I love looking out our window and seeing this view.  

I put some straw down around most of the plants and then we got some rain.  The plants just exploded after that.  We should be getting some good produce soon.  I can't wait to just go to my backyard and pick fresh veggies.  There's nothing better!

I got excited this year and planted 16 lavender plants.  They all smell amazing.  I want to use them in recipes so if you have any you want to share I would love it.  I also planted a row of flowers in the garden.  I was hoping they would attract some bees and other good insects.  So far the zinnias are the only ones blooming.   Next year I will try to plant more in other areas too.

Some busy little bees at work.  Love to see it! 

Funny Kid

Driving home from the grocery store Jerry says to me - "Is Daddy home yet?"
Me - "No, he is still at work."
Jerry - "But I miss him."
Me - "Daddy has to work to make money so that Mommy can stay home with you. Otherwise, I would have to work and you would have to stay with someone else during the day, wouldn't that make you sad."
Jerry - "So the problem is, Daddy can stay home with me but how does Mommy make money."

Honestly, I think that is a good question though... How can Mommy make money??? Any suggestions:)

New Blog

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to pass the word along that I have started another blog.  It's called Blooming with Burlap.  You can find it at www.bloomingwithburlap.blogspot.com.  It's where I will be posting all of my craft projects, decorating ideas, gardening and recipes.  It still needs some work on formatting so please bear with me.  I will be getting some new posts up on it soon.  Any comments are always appreciated.  

And don't worry, I will still be updating our family blog.

Thanks for all of your support.

Love,

Jennifer

A band-aide makes it all better

You may have noticed a red streak on Jerry's face in some of the previous posts.  Well this is why - it happened at least a month ago.  Jerry was pushing his tractor on the sidewalk and it stopped but Jerry didn't.  He slid across the sidewalk with his poor little face.  I was at the grocery store and this is the photo Jacob text me.  Poor guy.  He had a bloody lip and nose and skinned cheek.  Once he saw the blood he cried even more and made dad put a band-aide where the blood was cause it always makes it better.

A few days later we took a trip to Holly because my brother, Briana and baby Ruben were there and my sister and Mike were coming down.  It was like a holiday.  Also, Jacob's Grandma moved from Port Orchard, WA to Syracuse so now we get to see her more often. 

Grandma and Grandpa with their boys.

Jerry loves his little cousin.  These two will have lots of fun together.

Jerry loves tractors.  He has so much fun playing in Grandma's backyard.

Such a Funny Kid

I love the innocence of a child.  This little boy melts my heart in so many ways.

I found him wearing my glasses as he was taking his nap in our room.  He was sound asleep.

As we were driving home one day...

Jerry, "did God build the houses?"

Me, "well, God made man and women and they built the houses."

Jerry, a few seconds later laughing, "the gingerbread man built a house."

Almost every night he tells me "I want you to sleep with me all day night."

He started to learn the planets at school.  I had always told him I loved him to the moon and back and now his reply is "I love you to Jupiter and back, is that farther than the moon."

He owns my heart.

Every morning before dad leaves for work it's a routine of "wave to me dad", "don't forget to blow kisses, dad", "mom, dad waved at me and gave me kisses."

When he sleeps by himself he will come into our room in the morning and get in bed with us if we aren't already up.  One morning as he was crawling around on us he tells me, "mom, your whiskers on your legs hurt me." 

Our New Addition

 Jacob spent a lot of time planning and building this chicken coop and it turned out Perfect!  

We painted it white with gray trim and turquoise accents.  The wheels (not shown) are even turquoise.

We got a lot of looks from neighbors and people driving by since this has been sitting in our driveway for about a month as we worked on it.  People would stop and ask if it was a playhouse are even a dog house so when we said a chicken coop they were a little surprised and excited.  Although if the chickens didn't work out Jerry would love to keep it as a play house.

Of course I would plant hens and chicks in the flower pot and their little door needed a burlap wreath.

We only hope that we have eggs laid daily.  But these chickens are still young and won't start producing until this fall so we have awhile to wait.

A very nice lady raised the chickens from chicks for us.  She hand fed them and took good care of them until we were able to get their new home ready.  When we arrived at her house there were chickens running freely all over the yard.  She has a variety of chickens and a few roosters.  Most of them were nice and would let us pet them.  Jerry thought the roosters were neat and had fun chasing a few around.  He got to see a few chickens laying on eggs.

It just made me dream of living in the country even more.  I would love to have a bunch of chickens running around the yard and maybe a few goats too.  Someday.

In the meanwhile, we are making our backyard look like a farm. The neighbors behind us have a field that backs up to our house and they let us keep the chickens on their property.  She had always wanted chickens so she was very excited when we asked if we could do this.  Otherwise we never would have been able to get them.

Our chickens are Rhode Island Reds.  Jerry absolutely loves them.  He wasn't afraid of them at all.  He got right in the cage and picked them up.  We have 4 chickens to name and Jerry decided to name one Lainie after his friend that he just loves.  He said mom and dad each get to name one and our other neighbor Cal gets to name one.  Cal and Jerry are good buddies. I'm stuck between Lucy and Stella for my chicken name.  So for now the others are nameless.

It took awhile to coax Jerry out of the chicken coop.  He really wanted the chickens to eat from his hand.

Jerry has 4 new feathered friends, whether they like it or not.  They will be loved.

Is there fish in our pond?

Jerry has wanted to go fishing for a long time and always asks if there is fish in our pond (neighborhood pond).  Sadly this day no fish were biting but he still had a lot of fun with his dad.  They changed the lure about ten times cause we had to try them all.

Every time he sees the pond he still asks if there are fish in it.  

Someday we will catch one.

Jerry's School Program

I can't believe my baby has finished a year of pre-school.  He has grown up so much and is such an amazing kid (not even a toddler any more).  Oh, that makes me sad.  

They had a program the last week of school and I got a little on video.  They sang 5 songs but this is the only one that Jerry really participated in.  

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

He loved school and we ended up signing him up again this fall to attend HoneyTree.  He will start on August 16th.  He told his teacher that he would be back when he is 4 years old.

Burlap Wreath

One of my favorite things to use for decorating is burlap.  I had been wanting a wreath on this fence Jacob built last year for the clematis so I decided a burlap one would be the perfect fit.  I am always redoing my wreaths so I pulled everything off my fall grapevine wreath and wrapped it with burlap garland.  I have only been able to find the burlap garland at Michaels and I always use a coupon to buy it.  I then made a flower out of the burlap and glued three button in the middle.  I made the other flowers out of and old green scarf that was my Grandma Mickey's and some scrap material.  I stuck a little dark brown and green tulle behind the flowers for more color.  I love my new wreath and it looks great in the flower bed with my concrete chicken (thanks Susan).  

Oh, and I also unwound two small grapevine wreaths that I have had for years and strung them across the fence.

Zoo Fieldtrip

 Jerry's class went on a fieldtrip to the zoo and I got to tag along.  It was probably the most fun I have had at the zoo and the weather was perfect.   His class made the shirts, which was a great idea because I think every preschool decided to go to the zoo that day.  

I tried so hard to get a good picture of him but he would always make a silly face or had to have his hands in the way.  So I decided we would go with both, the hands and a goofy look.

His favorite part was feeding the giraffes.  

His class - can you spot my little angel?

I tried to skip the playground at the zoo because it alone was like a zoo full of kids.  It was loud and crazy with a lot of little monkeys running around but he really wanted to play on it so I couldn't say no.  It was hard keeping track which child was mine, even with the shirt.

To make it a perfect ending I took Jerry to Orange Leaf on the way home for frozen yogurt.  

It's our favorite place to go for a cold treat.  

Then we went home and took a long nap together.

Yard Work

Good thing Jacob and I love yard work because we have plenty to do.  

Jacob plowed us a 20'x40' garden in the field behind our house. Jerry was pretty excited to have a tractor in our backyard and Dad gave him a ride on it.  

Our new garden plus 2 raised vegetable beds that Jacob made last year.  Hopefully this year won't be as hot so we can get lots of veggies.  We are also cleaning up the side of the garden by the trees because Jacob is building us a chicken tractor for our 4 chickens we are getting.  He has a patient that is raising them for us so they should be friendly enough Jerry can pet them.

Another toy for Daddy.  He got a new riding mower so now he is taking on our yard, the neighbors and he mows a path around the field so that our neighbors who own it can walk it.

It won't be long before Jerry takes this job over.  He loves to do everything with his Daddy.

Jacob built this bird house out of an old fence and barn wood to cover one of the utility boxes and the other will have a rock over it.  I saw the idea on bhg.com and thought it was neat and something different.  We also planted a lilac bush in front of it.  We plan on moving the two grasses on the side.  I would like to make this a little rock garden with some lavender but that will wait for another year.  Add it to the list.

I'm so glad that I married such a handy man.

He makes my heart smile:)

No more Mud

 Take away the mud and add rock.  Still one of Jerry's favorite things to play with so he wasn't too sad.  

We had rock delivered and thankfully we have good friends who came over and helped wheel barrow it to the backyard.  What a difference it made.  We are so happy to finally be able to use our backyard again and enjoy it. 

I can't remember if I blogged about it but last summer we had a new patio and sidewalk poured and it was not done right.  The contractor was horrible to work with and we ended up hiring an attorney.  

It still has not been resolved.  We left the patio and are going to have to have it resurfaced and then decided to extend it out more with rock.

King of the Rock Pile!

 That's a lot of rock!

 We finally got Jerry's sandbox that Jacob built back in our yard.  It's been at our neighbors since this all started and he hasn't gotten to use it much.  Now it's being used daily.

Dinosaur Party

Jerry's friend Ashton had a dinosaur birthday party.  It was so much fun.  The kids made dino hats to wear, colored dinosaur pages, ate dino cookies and got to dig for dinosaur bones.  And the birthday boy even dressed up as a dinosaur. The party was at Exploration Place, and afterward the kids all got to go see some of the exhibits.  

 Jerry and daddy flying some of the airplanes in the Aviation Exhibit.

Who needs a nap?

I was beginning to think Jerry had outgrown his nap.  

So he went a couple of days without one and after awhile of playing I found him like this.  

 Needless to say, nap time is back.

Happy Easter

The Easter bunny brought a few surprises this year.  

Jerry had an Easter party at school that I got to help with then I dropped him off at his daddy's office so the boys could go get their haircut.  Jerry came home with a new style, a blue mohawk.  I was a little speechless at first and his dad thought it was very funny.  I think anything looks cute on that little boy, even blue hair.