Might Be Surprised

So summer is coming to an end, and in a way its sad and yet exciting. The boys have started back to school, fall baseball season has begun, and my garden is dying (kinda).. We had alot of veggies come ripe over the past few weeks so I have been canning, cooking, and freezing my butt off, with some help from Joe and the kiddos. I was and am pleasantly surprised at how much stuff I already have canned and yet I have a crap load more to go! But hopefully we will have a nice stash for the winter months and get to enjoy the veggies! Also it has given me the urge to start on Emilys babyfood. Im going to start making her homemade babyfood within the next week and start stocking the freezer! More to come on that later!

Here are some pictures of the progress so far..

We have everything from banana peppers, to jalapenos, to pickled eggs, and homemade pickles

Emily helping mommy can the peppers!

Frozen fresh squash and corn - YUMMO

I also wanted to share Justins plant. He came home the end of last school year with this little plant in one of those dixie cups like you use in the bathroom when brushing your teeth. I stuck the dang thing in the window, thinking it was a bean plant, and just kinda waited for it to die. Well after a few weeks it looked pretty sickly, but Justin would NOT let us toss it. He said it was a pumpkin plant and he wanted to grow it. So Joe took it out back in the flower bed, planted it to kinda just make Justin happy and we both expected it to just go on and die. The thing was maybe an inch or two long and yellow and half dead anyway. Well several months later this is what we got! Never give up on something small, it might just surprise you!


And last but not least I had to show some summer tradition. Watermelon season is in and even though we didn't grow this in our garden it sure was goooood!

*notice the juice streaming down his arm =)

Second Grade

So today was Justins first day of 2nd grade! WOW time is flying by! He is so excited to be in second grade. He is also excited he has a man teacher he said. Whom which seemed very nice today when we met him!. I'm so proud of my baby boy and can't believe how much he has grown and matured! Hes so big he feels the need to want to ride the school bus now. Mommy on the other hand is not wanting to let go. But I have agreed to let him try out the school bus and ride it in the morning to school and if that goes well we will start talking about riding it home. I HATED riding the school bus as a kiddo, so I'm wondering why he is so eager. Guess we will see how he really likes it after a few weeks!

Nickster is gearing up to start pre-school on Friday. He can't wait, but yet wishes he was already at the "big school" with Justin. Next year my dear, is what I tell him. Nick will be one of the oldest in his class considering his birthday falls less than 10 days past the cut off for Kindergarden! Which I guess will be nice, I would have liked to be the oldest in my class as a kid!
Also we are getting ready for fall ball season. Practice for the boys, yes I said BOYS, starts next week. Justin is so excited and can't wait. Also Nick will be playing in a 5/6 league this year. Hes so happy to finally get his chance to play! Joe is also playing fall ball for both a church league on Friday nights and a tournament league on Thursday nights. So if you need to contact me I will be forwarding all my mail to the ballpark :)

Here are a few pictures from this morning!

Ready For His First Day of 2nd Grade

A Little Brotherly LOVE

And this is what Emily thought about the first day

Here is a collage I made for Justin!