I Have a Green Thumb

This year I wanted to grow a garden. I have tried growing gardens in the past. I tried the two years we lived in Virginia. All I got were some herbs. I tried last year in our back yard. All I got were some green onions and a giant oregano plant. But, this year I wanted a real vegetable garden! My mom gave me this book to read and helped me pick a perfect place where we get the most sun. 

One fine spring day I ripped out one of our useless plants on the side of our house and began to dig out an 8x3 foot garden space. Steve wasn't as enthusiastic about the whole idea since I had put so much work into gardens in the past and they never turned out. But, when he came outside and saw what I was trying to accomplish on my own, he took pitty on me and grabbed a shovel. And a wheelbarrow from our neighbor. It would have taken me all night if it wasn't for his help!

I went to two different home improvement stores and spent what seemed like a small fortune on soil and supplies. I went to a local nursery for a certain type of seeds and with a little sun and water my garden actually started to grow! 

And then it was GIANT! 

Zucchini 

Romaine lettuce

Green onions

Peppers

Tomatoes

Can you believe this is only two tomato plants??

Green beans

Spinach

I think the spinach was my favorite. It came on first and I juiced it or froze it and used it in smoothies. 

My mom found me these beautiful blueberry bushes so I ripped out two more bushes on the side of our house so we could put them in.
They actually produced some berries this year!

The kids (especially Jakob) loved them.

I have been obsessed with my garden. I love going outside and picking a zucchini and some green onions and making an omelet. It has totally been worth all the hard work and cost. And next year it will be a lot easier. 

Except I want to rip out those last two bushes on either side of my garden and get big pots for my tomatoes, some strawberries, and some herbs! 

Don't tell Steve.

Kittens!

Summer is in full swing here. The sun is shining! All we want to do is play in the sprinkler and go swimming. My house is a mess, all my closets need cleaned out and the kids still need school clothes and supplies. But, that can wait because we have these cute little girls to play with!

Crystal (Chrissy)

 Calli

They are my mom's new kittens but they spend most of the day at our house so we can socialize them. Which means spoil them rotten and let the kids moll them endlessly. 

We all love them (except our mean cat, Hunter. He spends most of his time outside lately.) Even Steve loves to snuggle with them and let them sleep on his lap. It's been a challenge to get anything else done around here. We are all quite smitten with these cute little kittens!

And yes, I am the crazy cat lady that just posted seven pictures of my cats on my blog. Come on, you know they are adorable!

The Tale of Two Teeth

Right before we left on our vacation to UT Jaxson got his first wiggly tooth. He was so excited! I noticed he had another tooth growing in behind it so when we got back from UT and it hadn't come out I took him to the dentist. They said it needed to be pulled and they would also pull the one next to it for more space. We made an appointment for a week later and we tried to wiggle it out ourselves (so we wouldn't have to pay the dentist to pull it) but it didn't work. So Jaxson went in and got two teeth pulled. And to my surprise he did great! He got $4 from the tooth fairy and was very excited to join the "big kids who have lost teeth" club. Honestly I think it's a really awkward and not very attractive stage of life but my opinion is irrelevant. He thinks it's awesome.

A couple days later he said, "Is the tooth fairy really real or are you the tooth fairy?" I said, "Do you think it's real or just something fun to pretend?" He said, "Just something fun to pretend." I said, "You're right. But, don't tell your sister yet. She still wants to believe." So, that was short lived. If only that meant the tooth fairy did have to leave money for the rest of his teeth.