Catching up...

SO, we are 3 days from August, which means we are only 21 days from the first day of the new school year! I am most definitely ready for the kids to go back.  They are bored and bickering! It has been WAY too hot to do anything besides play at the pool! As a result, my little white kids are showing their Native American roots! LOL  

The garden is growing! I am picking cucumbers, tomatoes and okra daily now! My pepper plants got off to a rough start, and I haven't got to pick ONE yet! Maggie is dying for some stuffed peppers, hopefully soon!  

I am working on some cute things for a few new second cousins of mine!  I really love to sew, but it sure is hard to concentrate when the kids are running around screaming! 

The chickens are growing well, and are finally in their 'mostly-finished' coop.  I think they are really enjoying it! Our rooster Matt has found his voice and it is the funniest thing! We should start seeing eggs sometime in September! We were very upset to come home last month and find that 4 of our 7 chicks had been killed by a stray dog :(  I have plans to replace them...( plus a few more LOL) soon.  I wasn't really eager to have new chicks so soon, but I think its the best way to go to avoid disease and to make sure they are as tame as possible! 

The kids went to VBS a few weeks ago and had a blast!  I even managed to get a picture of them on the final night....TOGETHER! This is a rarity these days! LOL 

Hopefully I can put up a more organized and interesting blog post this weekend! I have lots of things to say/write, but my brain seems to be failing me at the moment! 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary....

I am feeling like I am living up to my last name this year! LOL At least so far, my thumb has proven to be at least a little bit green! :)  I tell Kevin that once we are eating our harvest, THEN I will consider the garden a success.  Because it is what I have worked on and obsessed over this last week, I figured I would share a few pictures, showing how everything is growing! I am a proud garden mama! :)

We had a rough start with several things.  The critters seemed to just LOVE my young tender plants and ate several tomato, pepper, cucumber and zucchini plants.  All of which had to be replanted.  With that said, I believe things are doing well now, and thank the Lord, we are getting rain as I type this.  I can finally take a break from numerous trips from the hydrant to the garden!

The strawberries have been a thorn in my side.  It seems like overnight, the grass and weeds TOOK OVER!!!  We have 100 plants and it has taken me a total of about 4 hours to get 28 of them weeded! Such a big job! I really hope the payout next year is worth it! :)

A few pictures...yes, there is TONS of grass in the garden.  We need to run the tiller through there soon!

Kind of hard to tell, but 6 rows of corn...

Cute little corn growing all in a row...

LOTS of potatoes!  IF these all produce the estimated amount, we are looking at well over 100 pounds of potatoes to harvest! 

Cucumber plants...I actually have 2 cucumbers on right now! They are about the size of a lima bean! :)

Okra...This needs to be thinned out, but some critter has been feasting on it, so I decided
that I had better leave it all there until it is a bit bigger!

My cabbage...I mainly planted this for the chickens to enjoy ( I know, Im nuts LOL), but Im
sure we will eat at least one ourselves!

Some tomato plants...not a great picture.  I just painstakingly raked our WHOLE yard and
used the dead grass clippings along with newspaper to keep the weeds down!

Our lone tomato at the moment! Not sure it will even fully develop.  Kevin
picked up some tomato plants really cheap and this one already had a tiny
tomato on it when I planted it.  Im anxious to see if it ripens! :)

Green beans!  Lots and lots of green beans! :)

A row of peppers. Bell, jalapeno, long red cayenne, banana and chocolate habaneros!
Kevin got a good deal on the hot peppers also, not sure what we
are going to do with them yet! LOL

We also have cantaloupe, carrots, and asparagus that I didn't post pictures of.  Hope you enjoyed the walk through my not so little garden! :)

Whats happening?

In our house right now...


Kevin is still snoozin!  Having a rare sleep in day, totally deserved! 


Katelyn is hunkered down in her room, no doubt chatting with 5 friends on facebook or watching Brady Bunch on youtube. 


Maggie is listening to showtunes on youtube...current music is from Mama Mia :)


Jackson is brushing up on his ninja skills watching Power Rangers Samurai. 


Preston is playing with the MOST annoying toy ever made, an electronic fork lift. Making everyone else in the room mad because it is SO loud! LOL


And I am sitting on my tush, finishing my coffee, thinking of ALL the things I want to get done today...Things that in reality, will take me days or even weeks to complete! LOL 


On a total side note, I am SO excited to meet up with a childhood best friend on Monday!  We haven't actually SEEN each other for probably well over 13 years! I cant wait! :) 

Food Allergy Awareness Week...

The week of May 8th to May 14th is considered Food Allergy Awareness Week. So, I thought I would share a little about our experience with food allergies.

In April of 2009, Jackson (  then 4), Preston ( then 1) and I were visiting at my In-Law's house.  Grandma Green decided to snack on some cashews and Jackson asked for one.  He put the cashew in his mouth and started to chew and immediately went to the trash can and began spitting it out.  He kept complaining that it was 'hot'.  We knew there was no reason that it should be hot, but gave him a drink of water and went on.  Probably less than 10 minutes later, I had to leave the house to meet the girls getting off of the school bus at home, 6 miles away.  No sooner than I walked in the door, the phone rang.  It was my Father-in-Law telling me that Jacksons mouth was swollen and his eyes were really swollen, he wanted to know what to do.  Lets just say that Grandpa Green is a 'country boy' and is definitely NOT one to run to the doctor, so when he told me that Jackson looked bad, I knew that this was serious! I decided to have him bring Jackson to me, since an ambulance would have to drive past my house to get to his.

By the time Grandpa got here with Jackson, he was becoming lethargic.  Drooling and having trouble breathing.  We immediately headed straight to the ambulance building.  I called them from the car letting them know we were on our way.  By this time about 20 minutes had passed since he had put the cashew in his mouth.  Keep in mind that he didn't even swallow the nut!!!  The ambulance crew immediately went to work on him, administering epinephrine and monitoring his vitals. When we initially got in the ambulance his eyes were swelled almost completely shut and the rest of his face was so swollen he looked unrecognizable.  Within 5 minutes of the epi-shot, his swelling was probably down by 1/2.  

As per standard procedure, we took a ride to the emergency room to be monitored.  Once there, they started him on steroids to help prevent further reactions and we waited for the doctor to come in.  By this time we knew without a doubt that the cashew was the cause of the reaction, but of course, the doc has to be the one to confirm those things.  He explained that to have such a severe reaction to an initial exposure was definitely NOT a good thing and that we would need to be sure that he did not eat any foods that could have possibly come in contact with cashews.

Of course, things are not ever that simple.  We soon learned that all tree nuts are typically processed in the same facilities, so ANY type of nut was out of the question.  As well as other things like baked goods, ice creams, and some packaged meals that were processed in the same facility as products containing tree nuts.

We finally got in to see a Pediatric Allergist in July of 2009.  They do a few things to confirm and monitor food allergies.  First is the skin prick test.  They put a tiny dot of the allergen on the tip of a sharp 'pin'.  Then they poke those pins with the allergens on them on the kids back and wait to see which pricks react.  Luckily Jackson only reacted to cashews.  Then they take blood to check levels of IgE in the blood.  This way they can see if the numbers are going up or down each year.  An indication that the child is possibly outgrowing the allergy.

So almost one year to the day after his initial reaction to cashews, Jackson ate one bite of pistachio pudding at  Preschool.  Immediately his eyes swelled up and the teacher called me.  Luckily we got things under control with benadryl, but I requested that pistachio be retested that July and sure enough he is now also allergic to pistachio.

The main reason for this blog post, I guess, is obviously to raise awareness.  Food allergies are REAL!  We as parents deal with obstacles and worries every single day over our children. People offering them food without asking, not taking request seriously when asked to wash their hands after eating something  that is an allergen.  People grumbling about being inconvenienced!  This illness is NOT a walk in the park.  It is NOT something to be taken lightly.  I hope to do my part, in my community and school district to help keep these kids safe every day!

Jackson did not ask for this, yet it is something that he will likely live with for the rest of his life!  Breaks a Mama's heart!

Renovations and babies!

 

Well, Kevin took off with a bee in his bonnet this week.   When we built the house 10+ years ago, we didn't do everything quite as planned.  One thing that we really wanted and talked ourselves out of ( to save money) was putting a gabled end on the porch roof.  Instead we went ahead and put a slanted roof on.  Neither one of us has ever been happy with the way it looked.  When Kevin was on the roof a few weeks ago and realized that the shingles were quite damaged from past storms, he decided that if he was going to rip the shingles off, he would rip the porch roof off too! I gave him an idea of how much extra cash we had available and he took off running, or reading actually.  My husband is nothing if not thorough. He is definitely not one to just jump into something without researching.  So, by the end of that day, he had a list of materials and prices from several lumber yards.  The hope was to reuse as much material from the existing roof as possible, and he did!  The project is not nearly over at this time,  but he is moving right along!  Kevin has fallen into bed the last 2 nights and will no doubt need some serious ben-gay or muscle relaxers by the end of the weekend!

Getting started, of course Preston MUST supervise!

The first chunk of shingles comes off!

What a mess!  And there is a LOT more where that came from!

Really starting to see some change! All of those 2x4's you see and the plywood was reused!

Preston assisting Grandpa <3

He wanted to be out with them as much as possible!  

Kevin's Uncle Joe came by and helped ( a HUGE blessing, he did in a few hours what would have taken Kevin and his dad a day or more).  Joe's foot hit the air compressor hose and he fell through the porch ceiling! LOL Whoops! We were just glad he wasn't hurt!

Wow, look at the change already! I LOVE it!

This morning's view.  I am so excited and proud of my hubby for doing this! Now if we can get the siding on by the garage, the house will be looking great! 

NOW, onto the most exciting part of my week! :)  We have doubled the size of our family ( and it only took one trip to the farm store!!!)  After Kevin promised ( on Facebook) that he would build me a chicken coop for my birthday, I decided that the best way to guarantee that the coop would come to fruition would be to have a bunch of little peepers waiting for their new pad.  SOOO, Preston and I stopped at Orschlens after grocery shopping yesterday and picked up 6 sweet little chickies! One for each of us! LOL Kevin is NOT impressed!

They are SOOO cute!  We are still talking names, and trying to put 'feathers' with the names we do have.  Stay tuned for individual introductions!  :) 

 

The kids were so excited about these guys, that they ALMOST didn't want to go to Grandma's house yesterday evening.  Not many things top Grandma's! :)   These will be the most loved chickies in Crawford County I am sure!

Happy Easter!

 As per tradition, Saturday the day before Easter we made our way to good old Crocker Mo to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Jones and all of our wonderful extended Jones family.  The counters were covered in yummy food, the kids ran wild in the yard and the adults caught up on everything that has gone on since we had all been together at Christmas.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful day, sunshiny and warm in the midst of all the storms and rain that has plagued Missouri this week.  The kids always have a great time playing together, and yesterday was no different.   Even better, Aunt Amanda was right in the mix, just the way they like it.

This morning the Easter Bunny had visited, bringing the kids all new Webkinz pets.  Sunday mornings are always crazy here and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them opening their baskets.  We headed off to church ( late as usual), and hunted eggs after church.  The kids were spoiled at Grandma Green's house as well, with tons of candy, little toys and money.

But I will tell you, the BEST part of the day, was coming home and realizing that the kids had cleaned their rooms while I took a nap :)  It sure doesn't take much to make this mama happy!  I hope everyone had a Blessed Resurrection Sunday, and took a minute to remember the reason we celebrate this wonderful spring holiday.  Love to all! Angie

Kids getting ready to hunt eggs at Grandma Jones' house.  Papa looks like he is ready too! :)

Katelyn is 'of course' too big to hunt eggs now ;)  BUT, she sure does love helping the little ones!

My beautiful girl Maggie, turning 9 in just 24 days <3

Jackson :)  6 years 8 months

The whole crazy gang- including my masked bandit! :)

Showing some love! :p

Hanging out with Aunt Amanda

So, of course, I didn't get a sweet picture of this guy.  But we ALL definitely got an eyeful
when we saw this full moon out the window. 

Hunting eggs at church this morning

Katelyn hunted this time, there was $$ involved! :)

Maggie is looking hard! 

The under 5 crowd hunted eggs in the church basement! Preston found a $5 egg!

My cute crew!  This is the FIRST year in 11 years that we haven't bought new Easter
clothes, despite the wrinkles, I think they looked ok! 

The dreaded family picture!  We have definitely had worse, and 5 out of 6 smiling
is not too shabby!  I love my in-laws beautiful iris' in their front yard!

One more egg hunt at Grandma's house!  

Katelyn has decided she is still a kid after all! :)

Hilarious!  Katelyn realized there was a spider on her toe, dropped her basket
and ran!  Jackson took advantage of the available eggs and added them
to his basket! LOL

Spring has sprung!

I promised a post with garden pictures! :) Keep in mind that things are just being planted and beginning to grow. We have a long summer ahead, hopefully full of yummy veggies, and some fruit next year.  We owe a lot to my Father in law, Harold.  He is what I would call a 'master gardener'.  He is definitely very knowledgeable on all things gardening!

Strawberries- We will prevent them from producing this year by pulling blooms off as they grow.  This will help establish the root system and make for a healthier crop.  Here, in front of the naked child, is the entire patch.  There are 2 70 foot rows of strawberries.  Along the left side going toward the trees is the asparagus row.  There will also be corn here in a few weeks.

These guys have probably doubled in size since we planted them 9 days ago!

  

I am excited to see this whole row filled in!

These are asparagus crowns.  Nothing exciting, but we will certainly enjoy them next spring when they are producing! :)

These are tomato, cucumber and bell pepper plants in the making... Along with some flowers on the right. 

And finally, the new trees we planted Sunday.  First is a tiny red bud ( kind of hard to see) and a weeping willow, along with undie boy again! :)