First Day of School!

Well, today was our official first day of school.  Everything was ready, plans were made, and though it all went well, it didn't go according to my plans!  God's plan always trumps mine, thank goodness!
So, here are some pic's of the first day:)

To celebrate our first day of school, we had a BIG pancake breakfast this morning! YUMMO!

Benjamin was VERY happy to "start school" today:)  He even has his own backpack filled with goodies for him to do during the day:)

This surprise was the best, daddy was home for there first day due to rain.

That's me, the happy Mamma:)  Excited to start the day!

I put up a few posters in the dinning room to be helpful for the girls as well as to get that "school time feel".

I really like this one.  It has names for things that I sure don't remember learning.... but that's not saying to much!

Today the girls had a math video to work through.... oh how I wish I could have done math in a lazy boy back in the day!!! lol

The girls geography this year is SO cool.  We have this awesome book called 'Material World" and it goes through 30 countries.  It centers on one family in each country and has that family take EVERYTHING they own out of the house and set up in the front for a BIG picture.  It is AMAZING to see the differences in not only the things each family owns and DOESN'T own, but just the different cultures within the families, as well as the different statistics for each country.

An excited Kayla!

An excited Samantha!

I'm guessing getting this backpacks ( so cheap at walmart ) was a HUGE hit!  We gave them to them Sunday night and they got to see all the supplies inside.  They were SO EXCITED about these backpacks.... never stops amazing me the kinds of things my girls appreciate.  I just LOVE these ladies!
I hope all of you enjoy your back to school day!  GOD BLESS!

Feminan Napkin Clutch! :)

I've got a new item up on my other blog sight, Kelly’s Crafty Creations. It's a cute gift I've been wanting to make for awhile, Go on over and check it out!

Todays harvest

I went out and harvested a bunch of stuff today.  It was hot and sticky, but worth it.  I am SO thankful to the Lord for blessing this garden.  It is really going to help us out especially in the winter.  Take a look and see.  ANYONE can do this, you don't have to have a bunch of land!!!!  Just grab a small place with sun, even if it's on the roof and grow some yummies!!!

Sorry so dark, not a great camera.

a lot of cherries, some beef and Bradley tomato's and a few jalapenos

Pickling cucumbers. I picked some small ones to try and make mini sweet pickles...  there should be a few more ready in a few days

two of these are from actual red pepper plants, the rest of from green pepper plants!  I think I will cut most of these ones up in a almost mince size and freeze them for the winter.

a few carrots I pulled for the week.  There are some really wonky lookin ones in there.

Three large cucumbers and two medium size zucchinis.  I'm thinken of making some baked zucchinis chips this week.

Garden pictures UPDATE!

Well, I thought we were due for some new pics on how the garden is doing.  Take a look:

Strawberry Bed.  I am letting them put out new strawberry plants, rather then cutting the shoots and getting more berries.  I'm hoping next year it will be full enough to cut the shoots and give more berries a chance to develop.

I am getting a few straggler berries though:)

Arugula gone to seed

These are the little seed pouches.  I gotta get the girls on separating those out! :)

Cilantro gone to seed, which is coriander!  Need to get that harvest too.

Attempt at a close up, my camera isn't to spiffy at that.

In the background is one of the cantaloupe growing in the jungle...

There are many of these little micro cucumbers right now growing :)

Another cantaloupe in the back middle of the pic.up

Medium size cucumber

Two watermelons.  The one in the front has been growing for EVER but really isn't getting any bigger.... any suggestions?  Should I sacrifice it and cut it off for the greater good?????

New baby watermelon trying to make it's way

This is a pic on the right side of the large tub jungle.  These are my pickling cucumbers..

Zucchini, there is another one hiding in the grass that you can't see

The tomatoes are really doing well, SO BLESSED.

Small watermelon

Another cantaloupe

A newer cantaloupe growing

Here are the jalapeno plants.  They have been amazing!!  I have so many of these guys in my freezer right now.  Should warm up our winter months well!

Cherries

Finally getting some of these guys to turn to red!

Yellow pears!  I love these guys!  They really taste the same to me, but the color they bring to the party is so worth it!

Well, this was basil, Rosemary and parsley....  the rosemary and parsley did NOT make it:)  BUT, the basil is doing real well!

The lemon grove is very bushy now.  Hints of mint and oregano here and there , but mostly LEMON BALM!

So, there ya go, and here is some of the harvest that day ( about three or so days ago):

We went ahead and harvest all the onion bulbs that were left, they were lookin pretty done.

Yum yum.  I just froze in a zip lock bag most of the onions whole. 

ONE MORE!!! You go John Wallar, I love this one!!!

Ok, OUR GOD REIGNS HERE!!!  I love this one!!

While I'm waiting by John Waller

Another great one from John Waller.  Enjoy!

As for Me and My House by John Waller

This is SUCH a totally awesome song!!! Let the whole thing download (pause it after you let it play a second) before you listen to it so you can really enjoy the song. My friend Zachary sent me this video tonight from his blog New2Torah. He's got a lot of other interesting video's up as well, check it out and enjoy this video!!

PICKLES!

I finally got a chance to try my hand at making some pickles today!!!  I had a ABUNDANCE of cucumbers ( some specifically for pickling, some regular, but used them too), so I wanted to try out some Kosher dill pickles ( Kosher is with garlic instead of mustard seed, didn't have the $ for the mustard seed)!  They were much easier then I thought they would be and fun! 

I just boiled 3 3/4 cup of water and cider vinegar each + 6 tablespoons of kosher salt. 
Then I boiled some water in another pot to sterilize the jars lids and screw tops. 
Then I cleaned and cut all my cucumbers, smooshed them in the jar and filled the jars full with the boiling liquid with 1/2 inch space left at the top. 
Then, 1-2 teaspoons dill seed ( the only thing I really needed to get at the store) depending on the size of your jar, and one clove ( I used one teaspoon of my big tub of preminced garlic in oil from Sam's club). 
Then just wipe the mouth of the jar and place the lid and ring on there and tighten well! 
Now, this called for a 10 minute water caner boiling bath.  I don't have one, SO, I used a large steal pot with a steam rack on the bottom.  Worked great!
 Now I just have to let them sit for a week and wallah!  PICKLES!! 
We'll let y'all know how they turn out!  Blessings!