Our Garden

So way back in the beginning of April we thought we would start a garden by planting starter seeds inside and then build a raised garden box and transplant once they were big enough.

We went a little overboard and had 17 varieties of plants in 3 starter boxes.



We were so excited when the plants started to grow, and the taller they got the more we liked it.

At one point, a few weeks later, we felt like we needed to transplant these plants into cups to let their roots have more space. I think this was a big mistake. We had about 50 cups worth of plants, and only 5 seemed to even have a chance at survival. So I brought those back in the house, and nurtured them back to health.

A few weekends ago, MJ and Chris, with a little help from the rest of us, build our beautiful new garden box.

We broke out a section of concrete, actually Chris did, then MJ and he hauled it out.


The kids were a big help, especially Hunter, keeping the drinks coming.


Then the guys trenched for the posts and began to dig lots of deep holes.


Jessi helped dig too, then played.


Hunter played too after he napped.


Then they played some more.


And dug some more. Then they cemented in 12 posts. It was a long day of hard work!


MJ said that this was my Mother's day present so he had to sign his work. This isn't going anywhere anytime soon.


After all the hard work, Daddy needed a snuggle.


Next came the dirt truck.


Then lots of wheel-barrels full of dirt.


Finally we were able to plant our garden again.


The kids enjoyed helping Daddy.


Here is the final project.

This is our second attempt at our garden this year. We hope that we have better success this time.
(The plants that were original are not doing so hot in the garden either, we will have to wait and see if they survive.)

Baby Hayden

Baby Hayden joined our family back in the end of March. I know I'm still really far behind.


This is the first time the kids met their new cousin. Hunter had a little bit of a runny nose, so he wasn't able to go and see Hayden with the other kids. The kids weren't able to hold him that time anyway though.

The next time they saw him, they were able to really see and interact with him. As you can see they love him as if he were their own brother.





He has been over a few times, and I have been able to babysit 2 times. Sorry, no more pictures, you will have to visit Jessica's (mommy's) blog for that. Hunter seems a little bit jealous, but overall I think we will be okay taking him in as our own during the day when I start watching him when Jessica goes back to work.
We love this new little one and are so excited that he is here with our family now!

Team picture for Baseball

I don't know how she got to be so photogenic? She is the last player on the right, on the top row in the team picture.

BASEBALL!

Back in December or January when I signed Jessi up for baseball I had no idea what I was getting into. We started baseball back in March with opening day. It was raining a ton and to say the least, not the most enjoyable day.




We also had some practices that Jessi loved!



Then the games began.

Jessi number 11. So excited for her first game.

The boys getting in on the action.












Jessi hitting the ball.


Jessi running the bases.


Jessi congratulating the other team and running the bases.

We have 1-2 games a week and we also sometimes have practices too. I am not ready to be a "baseball" mom. It seems like we always have something going on. Jessi loves it though and she is actually really good too. We will see if she wants to do it again next year or wants to try something else. For now we are getting through it and enjoying it the best we can while trying to entertain the boys at the all field.

Hunter Mischief

Hunter has found his mischievous side. He is into everything and I never know what he will do next. He is a climber like Tanner was, but he is smart like Jessi was too. He will watch Jessi or Tanner do something once or twice and then he knows how to do it. It makes for some interesting situations.

This is him behind my baby gate getting into the entertainment stuff.

Back in February he learned that he could move the chairs and climb on anything he wanted to in the kitchen. Here he is climbing on the table, his favorite thing to do.



Since then he has now decided that he likes to take the little table chairs and move them up the the stove and play with the burner tops. He also has been known to move a chair to the kitchen sink and then stand on the back of the chair to get into the water in the sink. He did this at a friend's house too on her kitchen stool.

We definitely have to keep an eye on him and not leave him alone for very long.

Thankfully he hasn't figured out how to climb out of his crib yet since he doesn't have the upper body strength that Tanner did. I dread that day.

Cute kids from February

Back in February I took a few pictures of the kids in their church clothes as we were heading out the door for church.

Binkies Away!

Way back in February, the 11Th to be exact, Tanner had a huge moment that we have all been waiting for for a long, long time. He threw away his binkies!!!



We had talked about it and he didn't want to, but I made a big deal about how excited and proud of him I would be if he would throw away his binkies. He said he would do it tomorrow. I had heard that before so I wasn't so sure, but the next morning right when he woke up, I reminded him and he went and got all 3 of his beloved binkies and threw them all away, just like that! I was thrilled.

He actually did really well that night and didn't really have a problem until the next day. He had a major, more than and hour long, melt down. Finally I agreed to look for his binkies in the trash but warned him that they may have gotten "cut" on something in the trash. When I "found" them, they were cut and I showed them to him and that was that. The end, done, no more even asking for them.

If I had known that was all it took, I would have done it a year ago!