Wee Suburban Garden, Year Two, Day One

The gorgeous weather inspired me to do the annual Home Depot pilgrimage this morning and plant this afternoon, a couple of weeks earlier than last year.  Made a few changes; no lettuces or broccoli this year, since those belong in a winter garden.  Also, bought more varieties of peppers and tomatoes and planted the tomatoes on the sunniest side of the house, in front of the gate this time, rather than keeping everything in the back yard.

Bought some aesthetic things, too, but those are going in tomorrow.  Mom did use all the sunflower seeds I had harvested from last year, and planted them along the other fence line behind the boys' play set, so I am excited to see how those turn out!

Here's the backyard, containing rosemary, oregano and parsley on the right that lived from last year.  I added basil, dill, English lavender, and cilantro to the mix again this year, hoping I have more luck with them than in previous years.  One early girl tomato is living here, as well. Mom is here and hoed this for me which was awesome.  I told her to leave the weeds in the back for now, so that's what that is.  In front are green, red, yellow, and Serrano peppers.

This side of the house is already ugly, so why not add some rainbow-colored tomato supports? In an attempt to avoid interfering with the tankless water heater, I planted one yellow squash below it.  Otherwise, from left to right, there are 3 early girls, 2 romas, and 2 beefsteaks. I think they will do better this year due to my proper spacing (last year's fail) and knowledge of the special nitrogen-rich tomato food (another previous fail).  Also, as advised, I added "a fish" to the bottom of each hole before planting.  I put that in quotes because, in some of the holes, you would find outdated tilapia from our freezer.  And then in most of them, you would discover some fish sticks I threw in for lack of other "real" fish meal.
Yeah, I am a gardening EXPERT.

Ah, the early girls: tomato plants for the impatient, unprepared, procrastinating gardeners of the world.

Here's to suburban garden, year two!  Can't wait to taste this home grown stuff.

Half of March....

....is over!  Busy, as usual.  Here are a couple of happenings.

The first photo was snapped on the first day of the month.  We had a great time riding bikes and walking dogs around the lake at a local state park.

Jon and I each had a dog leash in hand and were walking behind the boys as they rode.  I mentioned at one point that the path was pretty close to the lake in some areas, and how upset a boy would be if he lost control and wrecked into the chilly lake.

That. Very. Moment. Ethan. Did.

Jon screamed, "ETHAN!!" as we witnessed our 4-year-old yelling hysterically, sailing down the hill, out of control, on his bike, KER-PLOP into the water.  Maddie jumped in after him.  It wasn't that deep and he can swim, but we were all shocked. 

Jon immediately fished him out, we walked to the car as waterlogged Ethan sobbed, and all was well.  Looking back, we wish we would have been filming it because it was (now, it is) hilarious.

Afterward, Ethan was not traumatized.  In fact, he was most impressed that he got to wear daddy's shirt home.  He still talks about that. 

March 1 at Sesquicentennial State Park, moments before Ethan wrecked into the lake

 The remaining photos were taken during the beautiful day yesterday at our school's Cougar Carnival.  Both grandmas and daddy came, which was awesome.  My chorus and steel band were performing, so I was a little busy, but I still got to check in with the family from time to time.

Batface!

Creepy

10-foot deputy

Andrew's rocket being launched, by HIM!

Funny pair

Ethan has great sack race hair

Close-up of the rocket Andrew and classmates got to build, name, and launch.  We love the name: The Spider 1500.

Today, it is raining, and may for a couple of days.  Good time to catch up on blogging!

Charleston Valentine, Chapter II of II: Beauty

Charleston Valentine, Chapter I of II: Food!

Jon and I got away overnight last weekend and opted for Charleston, SC.  It was awesome.  Chucktown never disappoints.

EARTHQUAKE!

Last night around 10:30, we had an earthquake!  It was my first.  Jon and I were watching "Love Actually" when the couch shook for a few seconds.  The kids were in bed and it didn't affect them in the least.  The dogs were also apathetic.

People were pretty excited about it, especially on the heels of the icepocalypse we just experienced, but it really ended up being mostly like this:

Hello February, which is half over!

We have had another round of snow days! So, I have had time to update the blog.

Here are the guys singing in the car on February 4 to one of their latest obsessions: the Frozen movie.


On Friday, February 7, two of my former students shadowed me for the day.  They are now in middle school and it was so fun hanging out with them again.

The shadows are the three tallest people among these 3rd graders.  The brunette in glasses is a shadow in another classroom who brought her violin to help demonstrate some properties of sound for the class.

My sweet sixth grade shadows

We went to school as usual on Monday, February 10.  Then, on Tuesday, the weather became sketchy.

View from my classroom as the snow started to fall that morning.

The boys at our early dismissal that day.  We were getting ready to leave school here....

And now, we arrive at Valentine's Day.  Hope it is happy for all.

It's Friday and we have been out of school ever since that early dismissal on Tuesday afternoon.  I took a handful of snow/ice pics with the DSLR and will post eventually.