Taking a break from blogging...

Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier in the week, huh? ;)

My little Garden

Our garden is just a few weeks old, but it's amazing how much it has grown in that short period of time. I couldn't get it all in one picture, so here it is from a few different angles.



Here's a list of what we're growing:
Tomatoes (Roma, Yellow Pear, Sweet 100)
Lettuce (Buttercrunch, Romaine, Red Leaf)
Zucchini
Peppers (Yellow and Orange)
Pumpkins (Baby sweet pie)
Cucumbers (Pickling, Slicing)
Acorn Squash
Broccoli
Bush Beans
Radishes
Garlic
The Professor and I are also growing an Herbal tea garden in large containers. It includes Chocolate Mint, Spearmint, Peppermint, Pineapple Sage, and Spicy Globe.

And last but not least, here is one of my Sweetleaf plants (also known as Stevia) which I plan to use to sweeten the previously mentioned tea.

I think that wraps up this edition of the garden tour. Thanks for stopping by! :)

A Giveaway + An Update

Please head over to Angela's blog and enter her great giveaway given in honor of her little girl Dallas! Just for anyone that doesn't know, Dallas will arrive in about 3 months :) So stop by and check out the daily additions to her giveaway package.

On another note: Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind words. The Doctor gave me a prescription that seems to have helped lessen the severity of my bronchitis, but not enough. So I'll be heading in Monday for another visit. I didn't mean to leave anyone hanging (sorry Nikki).

I will post pictures of my garden on Monday. Honestly, I will. Hold me to it.

Have a great weekend~

A prayer request

For the most part, I try to keep things as up-beat as I can here on my blog. It's not that I have a problem with other people posting when they're having a tough time or sick, ect. I say this because I have blogging friends who do blog about those things, and I personally do care about everything going on in their lives, even those details. They're my friends, and I want to be there for them. Not to mention the fact that I often bow my head after reading such a post, and ask God to help them get better, give them strength for a particular trial they're going through, ect.

So this time it's my turn I guess. I would appreciate your prayers this weekend. I've had a bad cough for the past month, one that I referenced in my last post. Honestly, I thought it was extreme allergies at first, and treated it as such. My hubby finally prevailed on me ( though it was more like an order now that I think of it) to go to the Doctor last week. Which led to a diagnosis of a bad case of bronchitis aggravated by all the pollen hanging around here this year. I've stayed home ( sometimes in bed) from church, shopping, practice, ect. for the past week. And I thought I was turning the corner and getting just a tad bit better... until I took my kids to little league practice yesterday. It was all downhill from there.

I was up all night with a burning chest, and a forceful cough (I won't go into any more details than that). And the bad feeling that this has either turned into walking pneumonia or the regular old kind. If it doesn't take a turn for the better this weekend, it's back to the Doctor Monday for some chest X-rays to see what kind of damage is going on in there.

I really, really, don't want to have to do that. Not only does it scare me a little, but financially it would be a burden right now. We do have insurance, but the co-pays are starting to stack up on this one between the multitude of prescriptions I've been trying and the Doctor visits.

Please understand I'm not complaining about this. Obviously, we're all sick from time to time. It is starting to wear on me just a bit, not to mention the fact that a few people are wondering why I'm missing church, ect. just because I'm a little sick. I shouldn't care about such things, and most the time I don't. But you know how it is...

Anyway, I would appreciate your prayers for me this weekend, that maybe with a little rest (I have a stack of books all ready) this will all take a turn for the better.

It's Strawberry time

I've been anxiously awaiting the start of the strawberry-picking season. So the fact that I have a bad case of bronchitis right now didn't stop me from hitting the strawberry fields last Saturday;) The truth is, I couldn't have done it without my husbands help. One hour out in the field and I felt like I had run a marathon. Anyway, with a lot of help from my family (and a lot of snacking on the strawberries along the way by said helpers) I managed to get a good start on my jam-making for the year.

Part of our yield from the first trip to the fields. They have quite a plentiful harvest this year.

My absolute favorite Summer dessert. This recipe is a favorite.

My first 4 batches of strawberry jam. Approx 20 cups worth.

My own little "strawberry freckle-face." She never gets tired of them. But then, neither do I :)

An anniversary and other things

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. Grandma took the kids for the afternoon, while we went to Olive Garden and did a little window shopping as well. It's been a while since we've been out with just the two of us, and we definitely enjoyed it.

Only 3 more days of school left...:) I'm SO ready for Summer break.

My garden is planted, but there's not a whole lot to see at this point. So I probably won't post a picture until the end of the month. We were having beautiful sunny days during the latter part of May, but now they've turned cloudy, and we'll be seeing more rain later in the week. I would prefer my little seedlings were getting sun right now, but these things can't be helped.

Our dog Sugar (Ginger's pup) went in to be spayed yesterday, and the poor little thing (who now weighs 40 lbs) is recuperating inside the house until her stitches heal. I'm not an inside dog person, but she's doing quite well. It helps that we have her in a large dog carrier of course.

The boys had their first day of little league practice yesterday, and they loved it. It will be a great activity for them this Summer.

I do plan to post a little more often once school is out. We've been so focused on getting in our last Units projects/essays/experiments. The curriculum we use is heavy in this department, which means it takes up much more time than our regular lessons would. The boys have done a great job, and I'm ending this year very satisfied with what we've accomplished.

And very ready for Summer break. Or did I mention that already? :)

Happy 7th Birthday Princess

Our little Princess turned 7-years-old today. It's hard to believe that much time has passed since I held her in my arms for the very first time. I feel now just like I felt at that moment: that words could never express the depth of love I feel for this little miracle God has entrusted us with. Happy Birthday sweet Princess.