Thursdays of Thanks....

Birthday cake; Baby robins; The smell of bacon frying; Meeting newest cousin; Shelter from the rain; Normal iron level; Helping grandma....

...how does your garden grow?

The gardens are finally planted and everything seems to be growing.  We are about 2 weeks behind here in the Midwest due to a cold wet spring.

RileyAnn was a huge help to me this year.  She's been planting, hoeing, and weeding. She picked some radishes over the weekend.  After the long winter, fresh garden produce is such a treat!! 

Though it's hard to tell from the photos, we have about 30 tomato plants this year.  We have caged them since the photos were taken.  There are six varieties.  I'd like to try my hand at making ketchup this year, along with our usual juice, sauce, and salsa. 

Our hosta bed is absolutely lush this spring!  I did have trouble with slugs last year, not to mention the drought.  I am intending to get some pine needle mulch.  I read this deters slugs and other pests that plague hostas. 

The flowering crab tree we planted two years ago made it through winter.  The first year we planted it, a young whitetail buck came up and ate all the buds and leaves.  And then with the drought last year, I can't believe it's still alive.....God is good!!

The hay fields look good.  Though with the heavy rains this past week, some were laid down.  The weatherman has rain in the forecast everyday throughout this week too.  The harvest is slow this year.

Thursdays of Thanks....

Sheep sheared, Celebrating 70 years of aunt's life, seeing cousins, A boy's fish in the utility sink, A baby's healthy wellness check and one year of life, Call from tutor center, Rhubarb.....

A Year's Worth of Baby.....

Our baby is one year old today....my how time does fly,
Seems like only yesterday, but a whole year's gone by.

Smiles at three months
Then five sitting up at once.

You love the shower and your swing,
Standing by the window watching birds sing. 

Then it's crawling for the books and running away with remote,
Helping daddy fix the faucet and climbing like a goat.

Dear Levi, as I watch you sleep
I pray God will look over you and always safely keep. 

 

 

Sheep Shearing 2013

Saturday was sheep shearing day.  Angel and Riley corralled the sheep.  Then The Farmer assisted them in shearing.  It went smoothly other than the mud from the inch of rain that fell during the night before. 

 Even Levi got in on the action :)

Posey and Pearl snuggled in the grass waiting for their momma....

Here are the girls freshly shorn waiting for the gate to open.... 

Ahhh....free at last!!

I just love how they walk in a line....

Nature Journal....

RileyAnn loves nature!!  Recently, she wanted to make a nature journal for summer nature study.  We searched the web for notebooking pages she liked.  However, she couldn't find exactly what she was looking for so we decided to create our own. 

I created the above page based on her description.  We printed 30 copies.  Then we used photos we had taken of various scenes in nature to create the cover.  We used our ProClick Binding Machine to punch it and put it all together.  She was very tickled with the results.  

Here are some of her past nature entries when she was using just a lined spiral notebook.  She doesn't care for the totally lined paper.  Many of the notebooking pages we found on the web were very busy.  She prefers a more simply designed page that she can decorate herself. 






 

Also, here is a link to Nature Portfolio Throughout the Year that she created, as well as some of her past Animal Drawings she completed while Galloping the Globe.  

Do you keep a nature journal?  I'd love to see it!  Let's inspire each other.....

Thursdays of Thanks....

Generations; Drinking milk; Baby wearing sister's apron as a cape; Sprouting seeds; Dad's safe return from Canada; Tomatoes planted; Sunshine.....