My Jolly little 'Ranchers'

How do I get my kiddos to be Jolly 'Ranchers' while helping in the garden?

Well, besides letting them help to put seeds in the ground and help with watering...

I found a great way to get them to help pull weeds! I asked Jacob, WesLee and Faith to come help me weed and I told them that whoever gets the biggest pile of weeds gets to have 3 Jolly Rancher candies. It might sound a little sad that they are so deprived of sugary stuff, but that really got them motivated to do a good job! I gave the others one at the end also. As a team we got most of the weeding done in 30minutes! (it was easy because the ground was nice and soft from rain the night before)

And another thing that's good about Jolly Rancher candy is that it lasts quite awhile so they can enjoy that little bit of candy for a very long time. Jacob was telling me how the same peice was in his mouth from 30 minutes before.

Now to make sure they brush their teeth really well!

HOW DID OUR GARDEN GROW?

The day before we flew to AZ I thinned the spinach and the lettuce and cilantro and used it to make our first homegrown salad!



I also reluctantly transplanted our tiny little tomato seedlings that we had started inside, wishing I had started them earlier and also that I could give them more time to get bigger before planting them outside.



I was a bit worried about leaving all the baby plants, but my neighbor said she'd water our plants if it didn't rain enough.

SO sweet of her...

Yet never did I expect to come back to this:




In just 10 days my cucumbers and squash went from this:



to this:




Some of the tomato plants have blossoms




as well as the jalepenos




and bell peppers





I can now use the onion shoots in recipes (while waiting for them to get big under the ground)



and we can have salad as much as we want instead of forking out 3 bucks at the store for a little bag of salad.



Here's the carrots Faith planted:




And I am so looking forward to when the basil gets bigger so I can make some Pesto like the kind my sister Lisa made...this basil was about a third of an inch when we left 10 days before!



We planted a few more things that I didn't take pictures of and are so much looking forward enjoying them!

I am just utterly amazed at what a little seed can become. God's creations are amazing!

AZ trip

Despite some unexpected 'bumps in the road' during our AZ trip, we're all back safe and sound, together at home. We were gone for only about 10 days, but it felt a lot longer!! Some pics from our trip:

Preston's first plane ride:




Watching the planes on the ground at the airport-



Swimming in the 100+ degree weather :




(Preston's first time in a real pool)



Another first was seeing Preston drink a bottle! It was so sweet to see Matt giving him the bottle! I had just recently began weaning him and if I was around he would refuse a bottle, because he thought he should just nurse, but at this particular time he didn't notice I was nearby:



I was so worried that Preston might have a hard time because he had never slept in a different bed before. We did have a couple rough nights, but finally realized he just sleeps better if no one shares a room with him, so Matt and I slept in the living room instead. I forgot one of his blankets one night at someone's house, so here he is sleeping with Jessica's baby blanket:




The kids got all excited about seeing pigeons in the parking lot (because they never see pigeons in Indiana) so we tossed out some crumbs to get them to come closer:





Another critter we don't see in Indiana, geckos, on Grandma's carport ceiling. I used to catch lots of these in this very spot when I was a kid:



Yet another desert critter... Grandma bought a scorpion sucker when we went to the Usery Pass Nature Center and the kids tried to trick everyone with it:



And this is the coyote dog that lives at Grandma's. She is one of the sweetest canines I have ever known. My mom let her live there after someone found her and brought her into the animal hospital I worked for 9 years ago. The kids felt very useful taking the dogs for walks.



She is only about 2 feet tall but she can jump the 6 foot fence, shown here behind Jacob and Faith playing in the water.



WesLee spent a lot of time with Aunt Lisa learning about piano playing:



Making homemade ice cream! SOOOOOO Yummy...











My dad bought us dinner at Pizza Mart which is where I had my very first job!





Playing the arcade games there-



a snapshot with my dad:



We took turns pretending to 'hunt for food' at the Bass Pro Shop, and the kids actually had a pretty good aim!








The kids had a great time with their cousins!!









The last hug Preston got before returning to Indiana... :)



It was so good to see so many great friends and family! Thank you for all the hospitality we recieved.