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Just a quick post to say come and "Like" me on facebook! I added a fb badge to my sidebar, so come and say hi! =)

Check out this Beautiful Necklace Giveaway!

Head over to Janimies World to enter to win this GORGEOUS handmade necklace!

 Click here to go directly to the giveaway post. Good luck!

PS - If you want to check out more awesome necklaces like this one, go to her Etsy store, Janimie

HSV Garden Challenge - May Update

Well, I am a week late posting this, but this is a more interesting post than it started out. It started out a lot like last month since May was very rainy like April was. It was getting REALLY old. The rain just kept coming. We had days full of thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Luckily we were fortunate and didn't suffer any damage. I pray for all those who did, especially those in Joplin.

Since I am a week late posting, I actually got my garden all planted! Its hasn't rained and we have had great weather! Our fields still aren't planted, but the farmers have been working like crazy around here!

So far during the Garden Challenge, I have learned that I have to be flexible. I am such a scheduler, everything has to go according to plan. Wellll, that hasn't exactly worked out for my garden! I ended up buying some window boxes so I could plant my strawberry plants and I also planted some in my flower bed so they could get going. I had tomato, zucchini and cucumber plants sitting on my porch waiting to be planted up until a couple days ago. I also learned that I should not grow my seedlings in our lovely, wet, old farmhouse basement where I hate going....because then I forget to water them! I ended up replanting some seeds but I had to go buy some tomato and pepper plants, which is fine - my pepper plants didn't end up coming up anyway and I don't mind supporting our local greenhouse. Next year I think I will use the dining room table for seedlings (as much as I hate that idea!). Or maybe hubby will get the basement fixed up a bit. ;-)

I am not sure what meal I want to make first from our garden, but I know I want to make Eggplant Parmesan and I found this yummy looking recipe for Zucchini Boats the other day so I will definitely be making those. Already have big blooms on my Zucchini plant! And we can't forget Zucchini Bread, yum!

As for Jimmy, we have read a few gardening books:

And we have done more activities such as this game from the Homeschool Creations Garden pack.

Jimmy has really been getting into gardening! He loves to help. He planted seeds and loved putting the seedlings in the holes and burying the roots in the dirt. He was so helpful with watering too! His little wading pool is close to the garden so he would take the watering can over and fill it up with water from his pool (no chemicals and I was watching the whole time!). Then he watered each plant. So cute!

Here is our garden's progression:

After sitting for 2 years

 Tilled once

Tilled again and partially planted

All planted! Shew, thought it would never happen! =)

Those little trees in the garden will be moved in the fall, they are some Arbor Day trees we received a couple years ago that I didn't get to move earlier in the spring because of all the rain! So they get to stay in the garden for a little longer. Hopefully I can move the bigger ones with no problems! We have some sweet corn planted in the dirt behind the trees, then everything else is planted in the foreground and to the right side.

Maybe someday my garden will look more like this *sigh*:

Source: lovemyearth.blogspot.com via Ali on Pinterest

I almost forgot, here are some of our strawberry plants in a window box on our porch, this will be interesting to see how they hold up!

As for the blueberry bushes, they are still growing happily in their containers. I think I have decided where to plant them, so they will be in their new homes soon.

I hope everyone has a great month of growing!

HSV Garden Challenge - April Update

April has been a very rainy month here on the farm. We've been dealing with a whole lotta this:

 All I have gotten done around here is roll the yard and the pasture! I haven't even had a chance to mow yet! Our yard is a complete jungle. My husband popped a ligament in his hand in March and had to have surgery so he is not able to do a lot around our place right now. He works a lot and also coaches throwing for our high school track team, so he is not home very often. Add in my 3 yo and 10 mo little boys and our life is a little hectic right now. I am really hoping to get some mowing done tonight when hubby gets home from practice, and then tomorrow as it is supposed to be a beautiful day. Hoping I can get some work done in the garden tomorrow too! If not, I may have to figure out alternative plans for planting.....

Our little seedlings are doing pretty well. We lost a couple, but I can plant more seeds in the garden & they will just be a little later than I was hoping. My jalapenos FINALLY started growing! I didn't know they took so long! ;-)

I purchased a couple blueberry bushes and some strawberry starts last week. We are really looking forward to having our own fresh berries soon! Jimmy will be in heaven!

We also started doing a few of the activities from the Homeschool Creations Garden pack, these are so much fun! Thanks to Jolanthe for being so awesome and sharing such great resources!

Jimmy and I were able to get out and do a little weeding in one of the flower beds and we have been taking walks around the yard. He just loves picking flowers that we find - dandelions, violets, some of my Korean Spice Viburnum flowers, they smell wonderful! And he loved watching the daffodils and tulips come up. They are so pretty!

Last night Jimmy even got to see his first ever rainbow, it was the most gorgeous one I have ever seen! Lets hope its a signal of the end of all this crazy weather we've been having!

And another shot, I took a bunch =D

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets a lot of gardening done! Happy growing!

Tot School - Spring/Easter

 

Jimmy is 39 months & Matthew is 9 months

Its been so long since we joined in with Tot School! I hope to get back into the letters so next week we will post our Letter M activities. 

Last week we worked on some Spring and Easter activities. Jimmy loved this flower matching game from Lawteedah. Check it out, she put together a great Easter tot kit!

We also did a couple of activities from 2 Teaching Mommies Easter kit found here.

Jimmy enjoyed doing this Easter egg matching game from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

 And of course, we colored Easter Eggs! Matthew's first time, he played with a plain egg ;-)

We did a couple more activities but I didn't get photos. I have been so lazy lately! I need to get out of this rut I've been in for a long time! Posting this is a step in the right direction....see you next week! =D