Garden abundance!

We came home from the weekend at the cabin to a garden full of lettuce and radishes!!!!!

The thing with lettuce is that it's all ready at once!  I love the butter crunch lettuce and have some to give away!  Sadie kept Ginger for us over the weekend and will be getting a bag of fresh lettuce!!!!!

The radishes look great!!!!

Ashlyn and Austin were running through the hose water while I worked in the garden and then they cleaned the radishes for me!

And here is the cut lettuce that I plant from seeds.  Every spring I question if I want this lettuce again and then end up planting some.  It's called Black Simpson Cut Lettuce and you can cut it and it will grow again.  The leaves are smaller and delicious with hard boiled eggs and in a mayo dressing!  It's really good mixed with some fresh spinach.  Which by the way, my spinach leaves were too big and should have been harvested last week.  We gave that a haircut today and now we wait for it to regrow!

I just love our small garden and the veggies we reap every year are so rewarding!  The kids play in it so much and grab a spring of chives to chew on and then cut a hand full of tea to make some cold tea with!  Ashlyn is drawn to gardening and Austin is right on her tail!  He's excited about the pumpkin seeds and Ashlyn has her eyes on the strawberries that wait to turn red!!!

Watching foods grow from seeds is such a lesson to learn!  We plant, we wait, we pull out the weeds and then harvest the crops!  Isn't that life???  We plant the seeds of Jesus into our children's hearts.  We wait and watch them grow and ask questions and read the Bible!  We help pull out the weeds and sins in our lives and pray that the Holy Spirit will be their conscience!  Then we harvest and reap the seeds that were planted!  It's exciting when your teenagers make a stand to do what's good and right in the sight in God!  It's exciting to see the little ones apologize for bad attitudes.  Mike and I ask God to forgive our sins too and it's such a beautiful thing to come clean before the Lord!

Gardening has many lessons for life!  I'm thankful for my garden to remind me of God's blessings on me!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend!

COVID-19 still has us still in the red zone for most counties but slowly stores are opening their doors and people are gathering.  There feels like there is light at the end of this tunnel but we move ever so slow.

Do we still do our annual Memorial Day Weekend with friends?  We called and asked the owner and they were saying yes to coming!  So we did and had such a great time!!!!  We've been friends with these families for many years and have done this vacation for over ten years now!!!!  We have stayed at different cabins but each year we have such a good time!

Trophy Whitetail Lodge is where we stayed at for the weekend!  The kids loved the pool and actually used it a lot!  The weather seemed to go to chilly to summer overnight!

Ashlyn learned how to braid flowers/weeds.

Matthew did go with us and took along a friend.  But him and Ryan decided to not be in the picture.  Teenage boys for ya.

Martha Rose always does a fun afternoon of events for the kids.  This time she planned out a scavenger hunt and had prizes and candy.  Someone loved it!!!!

All week Austin was talking about his friend Mason that will be at the cabin.  It's funny because some of the families we only see a few times a year but he couldn't wait to be with his friend Mason again!  They had a blast together!  Martha Rose gave out water guns to all the boys.  Let the fun begin!

These guys and their games ... Acquire is always on their minds and they love to play!

These kids are growing up fast!!!!!  We have some girls with a whole bunch of boys!  Ashlyn loves these friends!

The kids swam during the day and then played volleyball and then did gadgets and then ate and then eventually slept.  The weekend was full of laughter and giggles and even the moms played lots of volleyball with the girls.  My favorite was when the adults played the best out of three volleyball games!  It was good playing and so much fun!!!!  The campfires are always a highlight and of course much was talked about our governor, the president and the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Thank you families who joined us this weekend!!!!  Your foods were all great and very delicious!

These kids were having a dance party while that chicken was cooking on the BBQ!!!!!

Thank you also to all those who serve/serves/served our nation!!!!  Many have died and sacrificed family weekends together to give us freedom!!!!!  Thank you all!!!!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!!!

God bless those who serve!!!!!

Finishing up school and moving into summer mode!

It's May and it's still chilly!!!  The wind doesn't seem to let up around here and we are trying to stay calm as each day just seems to blow by.  We did have a warmer day last week and the kids took their chance in getting wet!  Soapy warm water on the back porch helped with their fun play time and watermelon is now on the grocery list for the summer!!!  This is the first watermelon I bought this season and it was delicious!

 Watermelon is one of her favorite foods!

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We finished our last week of school!!!!!  We are very excited to be finished with school at home and finishing strong!!!!  Ashlyn took her stack of finished papers and workbooks to her classroom and said good bye to her teacher!  Miss Blain has been so terrific in getting organized worksheets and YouTube videos for her to watch and learn!  ZOOM was used usually twice a week with her classmates to ask any questions and read together!  Matthew wrapped up his freshman year and is ready to work and earn some money this summer!  The shop offers him a job that he absolutely loves and then he still mows the carwash yard each week.  Hadassah is also finished with school and is looking forward to her senior graduation!!!!  So many things had to change up in the last quarter of school but we are forever grateful that the seniors did get to go on their senior trip to Africa!!!!  Praise the Lord for the great trip and safe travels!  We are finished with the school work but still have a few events that school has planned yet this week and next!  We are now ready to move into summer vacation mode!!!!!

After we left school we needed to pick up Matthew at the shop and drop him off at the golf course.  We then swung by Costco but realized that the kids didn't have any shoes on their feet.  I told them it's ok and that they would just have to ride in the cart.  Well, the Costco employee said no to bare feet so we had to leave without shopping.  The kids took off their masks and we went back to the Yukon.  As we hopped into the Yukon to leave, I said, "Hey guys, I bet Strasburg Market Place will let us in their store without shoes and without our masks!!!!"  We drove straight there and sure enough, we got inside to grab us some quick groceries that included honeydew and watermelon!  I told Ashlyn she can get ice cream as a celebration for finishing school!!!!!  This was a special treat for the kids and it was wonderful to shop without our masks!!!!

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Ashlyn and Austin have this thing with lemonade stands.  They beg often to have one of their own and so the other day we whipped up one gallon of fresh squeezed lemons and added sugar and they went outside to sell it!  It was so cute to see them get their little table and sign and everything!  Ashlyn grabbed her doll dresser for the money box!  They sold all but one cup of their drink and made $8.50!  One man gave them a $5 bill and said to keep the change.  How sweet to help spread some cheer during this crazy time in our world!

They always ask to take one crazy photo!

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The garden is doing so well!!!!  The lettuce is enjoying the cooler weather that we've been having!  Austin really wanted to plant radish seeds because of his love for Peter Rabbit and the things that grow in that garden.  However, radishes are a vegetable that we do not eat much of but Coca is enjoying them very much!!!!!  He loves the leaves the best!!!!

I pick the first head of butter crunch lettuce too!!!!  It's crisp and really the best tasting lettuce!!!

In the background, we have cucumber seeds sprouting through the ground and I hope they will grow up the trellis Matthew made for me!

Next, we planted cabbage and it looks great!  For some reason this is one of my favorite things to see and grow in the garden!  I just love how neat the plants and huge leaves look!  I planted our first fennel plants and we can't wait for it to ripen!

In the herb box, the chives are blooming and look so pretty!  These are Austin's favorite and he eats them right after he pulls one off.  His breath doesn't smell so great after eating these!  I grabbed a baby rose herb plant but not sure how to use it???  All the other herbs are thriving!!!  I did plant some basil seeds that I am still waiting for it to peek up through the dirt.  I may have to grab a plant at the greenhouse if the seeds don't come up!?!

In the front raised bed, we have onions, carrots and tomatoes!

The small box in the back, we have a pumpkin plant growing!

These herbs I picked from the box and snipped them overtop of vegetables that I roasted for supper!

I tried making the Watermelon Mint Lemonade found in my new Magnolia Magazine and we loved it!!!!  Tastes just like summer!

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We have baby kittens.  Again.  One cat had four and another had three.  The other day one of the momma cats went missing and now all the kittens are with one momma and doing well.

These make for free entertainment for the little ones and Ashlyn just loves them!

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This May is a whole lot different than other May months.  Covid-19 has affected our whole world and our state is one that is still under red zone.  It's been months now and it's really time to get the stores up and running!  We are dreaming of eating out and eating inside a restaurant.  And go shopping in stores!  And enjoy the parks and pools!

This year we finished school without year end field trips.  Without track-n-field days.  Without Community Clean Up Day and the Spring Banquet.  Our school needs these funds and now we need to support even more!  BUT WE STILL FINISHED SCHOOL!!!!!  We finished strong!  I'm happy to have that behind us and now move onto summer!!!!

Stay healthy!  Stay safe and have a great week!

Moving forward.

We are moving forward as a family.  Trying to move forward as a county and state.  Things have been under lock down since March and businesses are so ready to open and have customers!  We are ready to see and socialize with friends!  We are trying to wrap up school at home.  Graduation and other end of school events are else canceled or will be really different from other years.  We need to accept that fact and move on.

Last weekend we actually had a few plans and it felt so good to gather with a few families and enjoy people!  As much as we want to move on, it will take time to get our economy up and running strong but we move forward!!!!  Today, some shops from town are having their doors open and will not turn down business.

This has been one of the most difficult moments in our nations history and in our family calendar.  We've had to adjust and adjust quickly.  The children went from going every day to school to no school.  Actually, school at home.  We had to adjust to a new normal and a much slower pace.  It was abrupt but now we are kinda use to not having to rush out the door after supper for events.  We actually like this way better now!  We've had endless campfires and love that!  We enjoy having all the evenings at home together.  Golf is starting up and the boys have already been on the course a few times and now we have to adjust to a little bit of sports in our lives again.  I do hope to some how keep the evenings free at home and not rush into a crazy schedule!!!!  We really do like having more time at home!!!!

I went to more greenhouses last week and loved every minute of it!!!!

I got to visit my favorite consignment store under an appointment based shopping but it was great!

The plants had to all come inside for a few days because the weather was crazy cold!  It even snowed a little bit and Matthew's slides had ice on them one morning!  Is this not May?????

Last weekend we gathered for a very delicious meal with friends.  The meal was cooked and served in a home because the restaurants are all still closed for dine in.  This was so yummy and we loved it!!!!  Thanks Imos and Susan for the great food!

See what I mean about the crazy weather in May!!!!!

I also stopped in at Cocalico Creek!  I couldn't wait to finally see their spring things and I love this store.

Making food is something I do every day but we did it extra much over this time.  This strawberry rhubarb crumble from an online recipe was so delicious!

We bought our first watermelon from Costco!!!!

Uncle Alvin's dropped off some free donuts too!!!!

This was a very delicious chicken recipe I used for the first and will be using it again!!!!  Matthew loved this honey chicken!!!!

Lilacs are blooming and I love that!!!!!

We picked the first radishes from the garden!  Spring must be here!!!!

I mixed a drink together from a recipe I have in my new Magnolia Magazine!  It's called Watermelon Mint Lemonade!  It tastes just like summer and so good!!!!!

We caught two skunks that now no longer live.

 This is how we feel about getting out for a night with friends!!!!!  Love this man!!!!!

This random post is for us to remember of it all was during COVID -19.

Let's move forward now!!!!  Let's get school over and back into the church pews!!!!!

Cheers to a much warmer weekend and more time with family!!!!!