Seth joins WRESTLING!

This was Seth's first wrestling practice, he did really well and was really excited to learn.

In yoga this was the cobra pose, I noticed they used a lot of yoga poses during stretch time.

Rolling down the mat...They took the first practice kinda slow and they taught, going in for your partners leg and then your partner would then do the same...then they learned step 2 of that move which was knock them to the mat and Seth wasn't sure how much he liked being knocked down....he hurt his elbow and face (when his elbow hit his face).

After the first practice we had one sweaty, wiped out boy...

Second practice started out the same way with the stretching...

and rolling...

then they paired him up with this kid (as you can see is pretty big) they started showing new moves where you go in and grab you partners leg and pull up till his foot is up by your shoulder....well, every time this kid would grab Seth's foot and get it that far up Seth would hit the mat. Wham..

Seth hurt his wrist by landing on it and came over to me and said he wasn't sure if he really wanted to do this anymore. I told him "let's just finish this practice and we don't have to come back if that's your decision" He said "Ok" so the coach yelled "everyone on the wall and watch the next move"....so he has his high school volunteer come up and show the second move and it was grab the leg and pull up like they did before, hold it there, then with your other leg sweep your opponents other leg and watch him crash to the mat. I looked at Seth and he was looking at me and was shaking his head NO and moving his hands like "lets get the freak show out of here" I started laughing and waved him over and said "let's go" I told the coach this just wasn't our game...

I wish my camera battery didn't die, I would've loved to have that picture when he saw that kid hit the mat. Priceless. He knew for sure at that moment it would NOT be him. I love him for knowing for sure that it's not for him. It's fun watching him figure it out.

Drama...

Aww, how cute is he...well I look out my back window yesterday and he was running around the backyard. I whistled and he came right in the house (mud all over). It was raining so hard all day, I felt bad for him. I couldn't leave him out there for fear he would go out in the street and as you know we live on a pretty busy highway and if you know me I'd feel way to responsible :0) He was a really, really good dog. He didn't have a collar on so I didn't know where he lived so I called the police station to see if anyone called missing their dog and they told me to call the sheriff, so I called the sheriff and they told me to call the dog warden...I called and she went over her list of people who called and no one with his description...poor boy. She said that she could come get him and I was hesitant at first because I didn't want him to go the "POUND" you know...so I told her this and she said he would have a better chance finding his owner there and they really spoil all their dogs that come in...that changed my mind (plus, he wasn't a big fan of guinea pigs, barking at them everytime one moved) but he was a really good boy he knew all the common tricks, sit, lay down, speak...I secretly named him Charlie Brown. I'm going to check the papers daily to see if anyone is missing their dog...

He looks alittle bit like my dog Paco but taller and his nose was longer...I think he was a mix of like doberman and lab...I don't know, I stink at guessing that type of thing...

Don't you think I'm doing good (April) I've posted 2 times in a row and I have another one on the way! WooHoo! The pressure to get this updated was keeping me up at night...JK, JK :0)

Happy 10th Birthday, Seth!

Who are these kids?? We started Seth's birthday at the Science Center in Cleveland (I forgot the camera..grrrr) which was a ton of fun and even watched Dinosaurs Alive at the Omnimax Theatre which is totally breathtaking....It was Finnigan's first time at the Omnimax so it was fun to watch his reaction. The Omnimax is a dome theatre and is HUGE...very cool. Then we came home and had pizza and then the boys went next door to do the treasure hunt that Jim and I did for them before we left...It was a big hit and the kids loved it. They found their bag of loot at the end. They found their first clue on the back door and had to take 15 step and turn left and so on...really fun to watch.

This is the gangsta picture with the bling from the "loot bag"

Happy boy opening up gifts...this is from Aunt Lorie, so cool

His dad and I got him a tattoo machine...we are "new age parents :0)" He gave me my first tattoo.

An anchor and the word mom or from my view wow! I told him he sees mom and I see WOW..heehee.

They each took turns giving tattoos, here's the result.

Then it was Dad's turn...he got a eagle head below his real tattoo. Now he's double cool.

Then our awesome cake that grandma bought for us a cookies and cream icecream cake from Coldstone Creamery....fell off the wagon and totally had a couple pieces of this bad boy and sure enough it was the best cake I've ever had!

We had a lot of fun and Seth is now 10 years old. I can't believe it. It just seems like yesterday he was born. He is turning into such a great kid learning his likes and dislikes and it's been an honor to be his guide through his journey so far. :0)

So this is what I've been up to....

My garden, so far, 2008

I did make an honest attempt to make the garden smaller this year. Everything is doing so well. I'm learning to use the rotatiller between rows instead of hoeing and that is saving me alot of time. Last year I was still kinda afraid of the thing...this year...fearless! :0)

Zucchini on the left and yellow squash on the right...I think these are the tallest squash plants I've ever seen. I'm betting they will be taller than me before they quit!

Close up of the zucchini, I couldn't help it! :0) Don't look at the weeds...I swear I pull them out daily and they come right back.

Green peppers are getting big, I've picked 2 so far for fried potatoes. So yummy!

Jalepeno Peppers are doing great. Put some of these in our fried potatoes and they were almost to hot! Also made hummus the other day and added one and it was soooooo good.

Hungarian Hot peppers, I can these for pizza and sandwiches...but also add them to our salsa that we make every year.

Tomatoes and the corn... I staked the romas so you can spot them. Last year I didn't and they took forever to pick. Plus I think this is the only thing I would've changed about planting the garden this year....I would've planted them farther apart. Owell, this year is really about figuring it out myself. Last year I was a bit overwelmed, Papaw and I planted over 100 tomato plant and boy, oh, boy is that alot. This year about 50 and I hope we'll be able to pick them without stepping on whole bunch...we'll see. Live and learn, right.


I have my eye on this one...it will be the first batch of fried green tomatoes and it will probably be this week! Happy days ahead.

Close up of the roma's they are doing awesome!

Cucumbers, green onion, and you can see the beet tops right behind them. I just put straw under the tomatoes the other day, it worked so well last year by keeping the moisture in the ground and keeping the weeds back, also keeps the tomatoes off the dirt so they won't rot before you have a chance to pick them, but I had enough left for under the cucumbers so hopefully they do the same thing for them. I made the best sweet pickles last year. Some I added a habenaro pepper and they came out sooooo good!


Corn and my trusty plastic owl that we got as a gift from Pam and Ron. The critters have been staying away so far...

This is our small bed, it's exploding! 1 cherry tomato, some lettuce that still needs thinned out, carrots, and about 8 eggplants (fingerling, classic and Dennisa gave me a ghost plant, which will be a white eggplant) so excited to see everything do so well.


Baby eggplant, won't be long now! Baba gnouche here I come!

Close up of our beautiful lettuce.

Can't leave out the fruit trees, peaches are getting so big. I hope everything doesn't get ripe at the same time!

Pears...again, getting so big. Not pictured are the apples, we have 3 trees and only one did fairly ok this year. I think the frost hit them again. I had to go out in early March and spray the peach, pear trees down to get the frost off but I had a hose emergency and it was spraying me more than the trees so I never made it back to the apple trees, I was frozen! :0)

And I couldn't forget our Scare Jane, her hair is a bit messy these days but I really think she's helping keep the critters away too. She's so pretty. Ok, well this is what I've been working so hard on and now I'm back to the strawberries that I've weeded for the 3rd time this year, they are blooming again which I'm happy about because I don't have enough jelly yet. Jim takes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday so I need MORE! Also the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are in...I've picked the raspberries once, the blackberries none and the blueberries are almost finished...shoo wee, I'm telling you. I'll figure out a system on how to keep up by the end of the year...I hope. I have to tell you though this is my most favorite thing to do and it is also the hardest working job I've ever done. Papaw said that he would do something everyday and I believe that that's exactly the only way to keep up with everything is to do something everyday! He also said that the reason his garden was so big is that he really enjoyed watching everything grow and I've learned that it's my exact feelings too. I get really excited to go out there and see my beet are already the size of a walnut and the beans are blooming...there's nothing like it and I'm really loving my life right now and it also makes me feel like I'm giving my boys the best possible food ever. Good gardening everybody and thanks for letting me ramble.

We've been tagged by April!

These answers are from my son, Seth, who is 9 years old.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Stop...

2. What makes mom happy?
Me not doing stuff...

3. What makes mom sad?
Her dad dying

4. How does mom do to make you laugh?
Say stuff...

5. What was your mom like as a child?
tiny

6. How old is your mom?
35

7. How tall is your mom?
6 ft 5 in. (1st answer) 5 ft 2 ins (2nd answer) it's right

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
clean...

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
watch tv and clean..

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
cooking..

11. What is your mom really good at?
cooking

12. What is your mom not good at?
Science and the periodic table

13. What does your mom do for her job?
clean, sit down and watch tv. Laughing while he's giving my job lists.

14. What is her favorite food?
squash and zucchini

15. What makes you proud of your mom?=
She taught me how to knit and she taught me to walk.

16. If your mom was a cartoon character, who would she be?
She would be Sandy Cheeks in Sponge bob...hmmmm, we are alot alike April.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
watch tv

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We sleep, I think someone is reading someone else's answers.

19. How are you and your mom different?
I don't have a bad sunburn...poor mommy. And I'm a heavy sleeper.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
She says it every 30 seconds.

Baby deer in the yard...

This morning I finally saw the baby deer again, here she is in her glory....

Just a little off the top....

Seth got out of the shower today and said " Mom I have a surprise for you" and I said "What is it?" and he said " I want you to cut my hair". I got a bit excited because he wasn't going to cut it until it touched the floor, so I went running for the clippers....

This is before clippers....

This is after clippers....Seth was sooooo happy to lose his long hair. He said it was just to much responsibility to have long hair. Now he has the "summer cut" #1 short as he calls it.

LOOKIN' GOOD, MY FRIEND!

The garden so far...

Blueberries!
Baby peaches! They are getting so big!
Lima bean.
Look at how tall the corn is!

Meet Scare Jane, she is the critter keeper outer! We are trying all kinds of things this year. The pie plates, I planted some sunflowers that are suppose to repel deer...we'll see. :0) Those are the tomato plants behind her.
Our green, red, orange, yellow and even a chocolate sweet peppers in the first row and then the second is all the hot peppers we need for our salsa! I can't wait.
Here's the lettuce peeking out and you can't see the carrots in this photo but they are there!
This is our small bed, it has eggplant, cherry tomato, lettuce and carrots. We even planted some of the sunflowers in this bed just to make things alittle pretty! :0) Now I have to go and work that garden, we got some pretty hard rain the last couple days and the weeds are growing as fast as our veggies! I'm really excited and hope we have a really great year and we get so much canned that we get to share with ALL our family!

Seth's golfing!

Seth signed up for a 3 day golf clinic at Thunderbird...super fun. His dad was really excited that he was interested in golf. Jim is a big fan. Here he is practicing some of his moves :0)

Practicing his slo-mo swing...

At the driving range..they had the high school golf team there helping the youngsters. Seth did really well at the driving range.

He's practicing his chipping up to the hole. I'm so proud of him...my little tiger.

Taking instructions from the coach on how to follow thru with putting. So cool.

Lessons were finished on Friday. We thought we'd take him to a small par three course that's right down the road from our house. Give him a chance to practice what he has learned and let mommy get back into the "swing of things". Jim and I hit a couple of bucket of balls and, boy, am I sore. I am so out of shape from winter, let me tell you. I'll be taking advil like it's tic tacs :0).