My Finds

Today was a rainy day. I hadn't been out to the garden for a bit so I thought I'd take a stroll & peek at what has been going on. It's been several days since my last check and I was surprised at all that had happened as I've been inside planning for the school year.

Many more tomatoes have ripened........

.......and another zucchini is ready.

My Morning Glories have started blooming & a bumble bee was visiting.

I have a bloom on one of my sunflowers!

The tomato plants are growing like Jack's beanstalk!

What a thrill to find this little guy hanging around.

Princess sees her first home grown cucumber.

And snuggled in the leaves is a baby cuke.

I love my garden!

Nothing Beats Garden Grown

Oh, I have been waiting for these tasty, red gems. Our garden is yielding them & I am a very happy lady. Today I had a BLT with garden grown tomatoes & lettuce. Delicious!

This one was our giant tomato!

A few fell off the vine & are happily sitting in the sunshine on the window sill.

These were all picked in one day!

And yes, we shared a few with our neighbors. =0)

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Here's my birthday boy with his first present of the day! Sunglasses! He's been wanting these all summer & Boo Bear bought them for him. They will be perfect for the lake today. That is where Elvis wants to celebrate so that is where we'll be! Let the celebration begin! Happy Birthday, sweet boy! I love you more than you'll ever know!

Organization, PLEASE!

I am under great stress. I have SO much to do. Going away for 3 weeks didn't help any. I came back to a week of extreme heat, humidity and working VBS. It was all great, though exhausting, but I have tons on my 'To Do' List. When did summer get so short?

I have been working all weekend and most of the week on school stuff. My main focus was on Sweet Pea's 4-year course of study. She will be starting high school this year and I was terrified of messing up. Well, maybe not terrified but it was constantly in my thoughts. A veteran homeschool mom took me under her wing and helped me plan it all. I had it written out and she validated, added, suggested and advised. What a blessing! I now feel confident that Sweet Pea has a solid course load and will be prepared for college when that time comes.

My next project has been our workboxes. Oy vey! They have turned into a place for anything & everything. Usually things that my kids don't feel like putting away in the right place. Here are some pictures of the start of our work. I'll post finished pics later. Anyone else working on some back-to-school stuff yet?

Before we start Princess entertains us.

The "Before" shot.

Doesn't show the full damage but believe me the floor is stashed with junk as are all the drawers.

Princess insists that she vaccum with Boo Bear EVERY time!

Sweet Pea washes out all the workboxes.

Not a happy camper to be contained.

Elvis decides what will go & what will stay.

I made the kids do most of the work because honestly they made the mess. They needed guidance and I was there to delegate, motivate, praise & keep them on task.

Summer Days

The oppressing humidity is gone and it is absolutely gorgeous weather this week. We have been hanging outside this afternoon just enjoying the breeze & sunshine. The kids are doing a mix of helping & playing while I'm trying to work on school stuff for this fall. I keep getting interrupted so we'll see how much I actually get done. Lol.

We picked our first Tennessee zucchini today. The kids are so proud!

The free cherry tomato plants have their first yield. I'm quite impressed considering the condition the plants were in when we got them.

My cozy spot.

The gardens keep growing & growing.

Garden #2

Elvis pushed Princess in her swing for awhile.

Bugsy was bored so I told him to go hunt for bugs. Here he is catching a spider.

Hello, Spider friend!

Even the "black brothers", Sky & Bailey, enjoyed some playtime in the shade.

See how my herb garden pot & lettuce have grown. This is my second yield of lettuce.

My various assortment of sunflowers, squash, pumpkin, parsely,& geranium. I'm very pleased at how all my container plants are doing this year.

After a bit Elvis decided he could swing AND push Princess. He must have done a good job b/c she ended up falling asleep. =)

Boo Bear rescued some of my sunflowers by staking them. Dave had thrown the grill cover on them & they weren't doing well. One didn't make it but I think the rest will pull through thanks to her TLC.

Doesn't it look much better and very loved?

She helped out my tomato plant too. Thanks, Boo!

Night School

We wanted to study Astronomy with the kids but couldn't see how we'd fit into our schedule this fall. Dave agreed to teach them in the evenings over the summer. The plan is to fit as much in before school starts back up and then continue on into the fall. This way we can have a leisurely pace if needed. I don't know about you but our fall is always jam packed.

Dave started the first lesson with the kids tonight. They loved it! Boo & Elvis each have a notebook that goes along with the book. They are using Apologia. Boo studied space before when we were doing KONOS but it was years ago and she was quite little. I don't think she remembers much of it. Bugs sits and listens in and I know he picks up facts here and there. He's only 4 so I'm not worried about him. We'll do the official course with him when he is older. Maybe Princess will join him! =0)

Listening to Daddy read aloud.

They could hardly wait to work on the first lesson in their new workbooks!

We love Apologia!

Summer

Sorry to have been absent for so long. First we had our trip and we were gone for 18 days. Whew! I have tons of pics to post for y'all. Brace yourselves! Lol! The week after we returned I had zero energy. I was surprised but I guess I was more worn out than I realized. This past week we have been at VBS. This year since Princess was older I helped out. What a week! It was both amazing & exhausting. But oh so rewarding. I have pics to post on this as well.

I hope to get back to a more normal schedule which means regular posting. It's been a wild & wooly summer so far! I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds for us. Hope you are having fun too.

Growing By Leaps & Bounds!

I knew our garden would grow while we were gone. But.....WOW! I didn't expect this! I guess I didn't realize how long we would be gone in terms of the growing season.
Our wonderful neighbors kept our gardens watered and I am eternally grateful.

This is what the gardens looked like before we left.

This is what everything looks like now. We were amazed!

My pot full of herbs.

The sunflowers are reaching for the sky.

It's like a jungle!

Beans, squash, cucumbers, radishes, beans, peas, tomatoes, basil......

Bed #2

Loving it and can hardly wait for harvest time!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

This cracks me up!