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Corn and green bean growth in only 1 week:

Garden Update

Here's the growth so far:

It's very windy in Iowa:

Tomato plants:

Cucumbers:

Watermelon:

I want this (click image to see whole pic):

You can find it at here at Pottery Barn Kids

It's insanely expensive. However, thanks to Ana at KnockOff Wood - hopefully Dave will be able to build us one. Someday. Click here to see the plans for the Cubby Media Wall from Ana's site.

The kiddos

Little Will

I need to get some even newer photos of the Willster, but for now these will have to do.

Summer Garden 2010

This summer is my first real gardening attempt since we've moved to Iowa. I tried last summer and did get some tomatoes, but due to the pregnancy - I really didn't get a chance to do what I wanted to last year. Sorry it needs to be weeded again...but anyway - Here's this year's crop list:



1. Tomatoes - 14 plants

2. Sugar Snap Peas - 40 plants (they're planted along this fence, hopefully this picture will look entirely different in about 6-8 weeks!)



3. Bush Green Beans - (all in the square foot garden - see below)

4. Strawberries - 11 plants (but only 3 look like they're going to make it....)

5. Watermelon - 6 plants

6. Corn - (all in square foot garden - see below)

7. Carrots - (but I'm not really holding much hope for these guys....they're also in the sq. ft garden but I don't think we made it deep enough for the carrots....)

8. Cucumbers - 6 plants

Later this month I'll be planting 3 different varieties of pumpkins for the kiddos in the fall - and for decorating! We'll also plant broccoli later in the summer for the fall harvest as well.

We're also experimenting with the square foot garden this summer. Here's our first square for the sq. ft. garden:

This square is holding:
Tomatoes - 2 plants
Carrots - 12 plants
Bush Green beans - 81 plants (yes that's not a typo!)
Corn - 12 plants

Right now our corn and the first crop of green beans we planted have all sprouted and are doing well. I planted a second harvest of green beans about 2 1/2 weeks later than the first batch, so hopefully those will be sprouting soon too!

Here are links to some other sq. ft gardens - let's hope we are just as successful!
Tim's Square Ft. Garden
Steve's Garden
My Sq. Ft. Garden

And you'll definitely want to go here: Garden Girl for all the how-to's and video you'll ever need if you'd like to sq. ft. garden along with the Block's!

I've also planted these in the front yard (but no pics yet):

1. Shasta Daisies

2. Zinnias

3. Marigolds

In the backyard we've dug a sunflower garden for the kids, with 3 different types/colors of sunflowers. Back row - 8 ft high, middle row 6 ft high, front row 4 ft high. Right now it's a pile of dirt:

Kid Pics

Here are some recent lovely shots of the kids (of course messy faces are included):

Poor kid...don't worry honey if you keep smiling this big no one will notice that your mom can't cut hair straight....8-)

For some reason this was the only one I had of Kailie....

Baby Shower Crafties

Here are the results of some baby shower crafts I've been working on for a shower later this week:

The Baby Bootie Mint Holder
(made from styrofoam cups)

The Baby Washcloth Bunnies

Completed Gift Basket
(I shrink-wrapped with clear plastic)

The Baby Boy Diaper Cake
(my first attempt at a diaper cake)

In the future I'll try a diaper cake loaded with "stuff" but I think this is really cute and simple just the way it is! 8-)

We're a Samaritan Family

Samaritan Ministries from Samaritan Ministries on Vimeo.

This week's news:

Well, we have had a busy week to start out 2010!

Today is Dave's birthday and we celebrated by ruining his birthday cake and not having his gift from me arrive on time. Sigh...such is life! Thankfully he's a wonderful man who just laughs these things off and appreciates what we tried to do for him anyhow. 8-)

The batter shifted all to one end because the baking sheet this disposable pan was resting on was a little warped....Dave says we'll still eat it. What a guy!

Kailie and Emma made him their own gifts from Christmas crafts we hadn't completed. I suggested he take them to decorate his office at the church.

Made with love by Emma



Made with love by Kailie - she also made some sledding gingerbread people to go along with the church

Isaac found an old Charlie Brown Christmas book and wrapped that as his gift to Dave. He agreed to this one after I squashed his idea of giving Daddy one of Dave's "work shirts" with paint splatter all over it from the various around the house projects he's done...why do kids love giving people stuff they already have? It always makes me laugh....anyway.... Isaac tried to hide his book gift from Daddy yesterday, by putting it in the middle of the living room floor with Isaac's huge (and glowing-bright-neon-orange-trimmed) Toy Story blanket on top of it. Hmmm......maybe it makes sense when you're 4?



Our washing machine broke. Yes our not-even-2-year-old washer broke. That left us with over a week's worth of laundry to catch up on today...yuck. Dave found the part on line for $78 instead of paying someone over $300 to fix it. Thanks honey!

It looks much better now! 8-)

We have endured the PAINFULLY cold weather, including a snow storm which shut down the schools here for 2 days. And if you're wondering, yes we took a snowday too!

The view across the street.

My husband knee-deep and shoveling out our driveway and front steps. Note to everyone - before you even CONSIDER moving to Iowa: Buy a snowblower!

Our porch after shoveling.

In school-news we studied the founding of Jamestown, the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Pocahontas and early Colonial life this week. Next week we tackle the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. Kailie is working on some wonderful projects for history including her own book on Colonial America and a long term project on life in Plymouth Colony. Pics of those will be posted later on.

In geography Kailie learned many places this week including: the Labrador Sea, Buffin Bay, Beaufort Bay, the Canadian Shield, the Coastal Lowlands and the Piedmont Region. I told Dave that if she just learns 1/40th of her geography she'll be LIGHTYEARS ahead of her mother! ha!

School Starts Again

As the second half of the year starts we are making some curriculum changes, as I am often want to do. We are switching back to Tapestry of Grace now that Kailie is old enough to read well on her own and complete work independently. We will be beginning with Year 2 Unit 3 which encompasses the time from Jamestown through the establishment of the 13 colonies. We will finish the year with Unit 4 which covers the American Revolution and the beginning of the United States as a nation. I'm really excited as this is probably my favorite era to study (well, so far anyway!). Here's a look at the books we'll be using: