Strawberry Pickin’

So apparently Elli had never been strawberry picking.  So Scott & Julie promised to take her sometime this year.  So Scott arranged for us to go picking…on one of the hottest days of the year at a time when the shade on the patch was gone!  Then he ended up not going b/c he got a tow job to Massillon.

So Mom, Rhett & I took Elli and Emmy Jo to the garden so they could pick for the very first time.  Elli said she liked it.  She didn’t like getting a hold of the mushy ones. 

I didn’t think Emmy would pick any, but she ended up getting a couple.  This is her first one:

We managed to get four buckets:

Then Julie treated us to Whits:

And before we got home Emmy & Elli were asleep:

Memorial Day ‘11

This year Memorial Day was so hot!  The day began with our first strawberry harvest of the season (actually, ever).  Mom, Scott & I picked three buckets of berries.

We had a really nice cookout for lunch. Then we all hit the pool for the first time this summer.  Emmy loved it. 

A Busy Weekend

My busy weekend started on Friday when Bean, Emmy & I headed to the Columbus Zoo.  It was our first trip of the year.  Despite the LARGE amount of school children on a field trip, it wasn’t that bad. 

We started in the aquarium…

Checking out the new gorilla…

It’s a baby!!

Checking out the orangutans…

The kangaroos were the 2nd favorite animal this time.  I taught Emmy the night before how the kangaroo hops.  Right after this picture, two of these took off to the other side of the exhibit.  She said, “They boing.”

Here’s the #1 animal so far of every trip….a “duck”.  Emmy still thinks anything with feathers larger than a bird is a duck.  Where we like to eat lunch there was a family of geese… “baby duck”, “mommy duck” and “daddy duck”.  Emmy was in heaven.  Anytime she’d spot a duck, goose or swan, she’d say, “I see ducks”.

This “duck” really wanted her lunch.

The baby elephant was asleep…I hope!

Still loving the polar bears.  Even though it was apparently time for a nap…they’re just so darn cute!

Checking out Brutus & Buckeye, the brown bear brothers.

The bobcat.  Emmy thought it looked like our cats… “meow”.

Finally, a decent bald eagle picture for Scott.

There was hardly anyone at the otters by the time we made it to their exhibit. I got some good pictures, but this is my favorite.

So that was Friday.  Saturday was spent at the garden (see the post below) and visiting with my brother and his wife in the evening. 

Sunday after church I went on an impromptu road trip with my Mom, little brother Nick & Bobby B.  At first, Mom was going to treat us to McD’s and eat it on their back deck.  But as we headed there, she was like, “KFC sounds good.”  So we headed towards Coshocton. We took the KFC to Lake Park for a picnic.   Afterwards, we walked around the Lake and then stopped for a Frosty on the way home.  We stopped at Emerson’s, too, for some flowers to plant.  I did a little rehab/craft project later on, but I’m saving that for it’s own post.

The Garden Is In

Between the rain and work schedules and other obligations we finally were able to get the garden in last Saturday.  It was so hot!  But I am so glad that we were able to get everything done.

We were lucky to have Bobby B.’s help for an hour or so.  Together we hoed and planted six rows of corn.  We do have some more to plant in about another week to stagger our produce a bit.  When the first of the corn is done, we are going to try to plant some winter squash…we kind of ran out of room.

In the mean time, Scott was tilling the other side of the garden for our mass planting.

Guess what we’ll be picking in a few weeks?

Here’s our beautiful strawberry patch.  You wouldn’t believe all the runners it is producing already this year!  The best thing is we have a mix of June bearing (which only produce once in June) and Ever bearing (which will produce throughout the summer).  I can’t wait to taste these!!

Rhett & Scott getting the net down to protect our berries from the birds.

After this, we planted and sowed and planted and planted some more and sowed again.  We put in watermelon, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, green beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, eggplant, bell peppers, banana peppers, hot peppers, sweet potatoes, corn, radishes, carrots and tomatoes.

Here’s a look at the potatoes and some of the peas.

The Garden Is Growing

Unfortunately, so was the weeds.  I spent about 5 hours Saturday & Sunday weeding.  Then Monday, Scott, Emmy & I went down to the garden and spent all day weeding and tilling in preparation of next week’s big planting.  Emmy had a blast playing in the dirt, dancing in the yard and taking a walk with Aunt Chris, who was visiting from Omaha.

The good news is that we have plants growing!  I’m absolutely thrilled the peas grew this year.

     

The onions & potatoes are also growing. 

     

And the best news: the strawberries are blooming & even have some fruit!!

 

Bean’s asparagus has taken off.  Should be yummy next year!

Emmy & Aunt Chris:

Ready for more planting:

Awww:

Spring Goals Update

 

1. Get back into Church.  Still teaching the Jr./Sr. High Sunday School class…and enjoying it!! 

2. Read the whole Bible.  Well, I’ve done Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Revelation (what my SS is studying) & most of Genesis. 

3. Make an apple pie.  I thought about doing this for Easter, but I think I’m going to go a different route.  But definitely something I want to try soon!

4. Sew a skirt.  I need to go fabric shopping because the warm weather is almost here :)

5. Finish my bedroom.  Got it mostly cleaned.  Went through my fabric tub the other day and purged some stuff so now everything actually fits in.  Hoping to get some shelves hung this weekend.

6. Make a 2nd quilt.  DONE   I’ve actually got three more in progress.

7. Take 20,000 pictures.  Not even close… :(  I think my camera & I needed to take a little break from ourselves.  Looking forward to Senior pictures!

8. Sell something on my etsy store.  Ideas in my head, just need to get them done. 

9. Host a dinner party.  DONE

10. Get a mani &/or pedi.  Not yet…

11. Weigh 150 lbs.  Really, really, really want to get started on this…

12. Save $1000.  The good thing is I haven’t fished any of the money out that I’ve put in there.  The bad thing is there’s very little money going into it.

13.Visit a state I’ve never been to.  

14. Read 20 books.  

1. As Young As We Feel
2. I Heart Bloomberg
3. What She Left for Me
4. Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest
5. Let Them Eat Fruitcake
6. Spring Broke
7. Spring is in the Air
8. Amazing Gracie
9. Three Weddings & a Bar Mitzvah
10. Twilight
11. New Moon
12. Eclipse
13. Breaking Dawn
14. Christmas Homecoming
15. Refuel by Doug Fields
16. when God writes your love story by Eric & Leslie Ludy
17. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
18. Free Book by Brian Tome

15. Grow a pumpkin.  Seeds are currently waiting to be planted. 

16. Build something.  DONE  However, I have designed a bookshelf for my bedroom and I’d love to make something for more storage in our hallway for towels and stuff like that.

17. Get published (article or picture) in a newspaper, magazine or reputable website.   I need to write something.

18. Try 10 new recipes.  Organized the recipes I have. Waiting for the new computer to arrive so I can get the recipes off of my other computer that I had found on the internet.  Oh, well, technically I guess I tried three new recipes for the dinner party…the Tuna Noodle Casserole was different from what we usually make and the Broccoli Chicken Casserole & the Creamed Corn in the Crock-pot were new.

19. Go camping.   Scott got the camper cleaned out last weekend :)

20 – 29. Do 10 things I’ve never done before. 

1. Hair professionally dyed.
2. Ran a tiller. (Technically… I planted onions & potatoes for the first time, but I’ll wait and see if I need anymore new things at the end.)

30. Watch 20 movies.   

1. Letters to Juliet
2. The Bounty Hunter
3. The Love Guru
4. Diary of a Mad Black Woman
5. The Last Song
6. Date Night
7. Madea Goes to Jail
8. The Pelican Brief
9. Eclipse
10. Play the Game
11. Dinner for Schmucks
12. A Christmas Carol
13. Charlie St. Cloud
14. Letters to God
15. The Switch
16. Life As We Knew It
17. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
18. Toy Story 3

31. Dress more girly.  Still working on this one.