Garden 2012!

After a SUPER busy baseball season/masters degree/mommie being sick and us living at the hospital or rehab/anything else you can imagine... we FINALLY got a free saturday to plant the garden!

We seriously lucked out this particular Saturday b/c I was thinking that the harbins community yard sale was taking place that morning and asked Jeff if we could all go and see if we could find some treasures. Unfortunately, I was confused and there was no yard sale. So i asked him to drive around just a little (and he groaned and moaned! ha!) and while we didnt find any good sales, we DID find some TOMATO PLANTS! That beats a good yard sale, anyways, I suppose!

The "Briar Patch" is about 1/2 a mile from our house and they have all kinds of plants and vegetation for sale pretty much year round. We decided this year to keep the garden small because of time restraints, the fact that we dont have as much room anymore (hello swing set!) and we still have 12 or so bags of frozen okra and 4-5 bags of frozen squash in the freezer from last year! So we decided to just go with tomato's and cucumbers. The Briar Patch had a GREAT selection of pretty mature tomato's and they were DIRT cheap. As in Home Depot sells smaller plants than these for about $4.50 a plant and we paid about $1.25 a plant!

Helpful Hint: When you plant tomatos that are this mature, you can plant them up to a foot deep (just over the first 1-2 little branches) and they establish quickly. You simply (gently) pinch off the stems that will be below ground and plant! 

Rhyan, as always, was a big help!

We got several different kinds of tomato's this year. I specifically got some Rutgers plants for canning. They are considered an "old" tomato and have the most acid which makes for the best flavor!

And we got some Big Beefy Boys and some Better Boys. The Big Beefy Boys are known for not having such large water pockets and have more "meat"... in other words, they make better tomato sandwiches :-)

Good thing for Jeff that the garden is small this year... the tiller (um, circa 1960?!) is broken. Again. Shocker.

It was his grandads and we'll keep it and try to rehab it. Even if it cant be rehabed, we'll keep it for sentimental reasons, but i bet it would have made his life easier had it worked!

At first, i was disappointed that we didnt get the garden started until the very end of april, but then seeing as how we had such a severe nor'easter, we really were pretty lucky to have been too busy to get it done!!!

Heres to hoping for a successful harvest... we have used ALL of the canned tomato's from last year. So no more "from scratch" veggie soup or chili till we get some more! Crossing fingers! :-) Btw, I think that were my Daddy still here, he'd be pretty proud that we do even a small garden each year. And I'm super proud of my hubby for taking the initiative (ok, this year i may have had to stay on him, but in his defense, he's been swamped!) and being such a good gardner!

Outdoor Fun!

The kids both LOVE to play outside!!! And i LOVE to BE outside. Thats what we, on the office, call a "win/win/win" ;-) The water table is a huge hit with Mack right now and is still a hit with Rhyan who got it on her first birthday! How great!

Mack mostly loves to throw everything OUT of the water table...

We've been having to water the new sod like crazy and Rhyan wanted to play in it. Sounded good to me! I was surprised at her, honestly, b/c usually she doesnt like for grass to get on her feet, water to get on her body (unless in the pool) and she's scared of EVERYTHING! So i was pumped that she'd run in the sprinkler!... Twice. And then she was done because "i dont like it!!!!". Wow.

Mack thought it'd be good to go get the ball... but didnt appreciate the grass, either ;-)

I am LOVING the great weather and outdoor play! And even more, i'm loving that they play TOGETHER!!

"Rhyan Ford Shlaine Ford" (as you call yourself),
"Baby Girl"/"Angel"


You are absolutely a joy to your Mama and Daddy. Watching you grow this past year has been so incredibly sweet. You have learned (by sight) all of your "big" letters and can write A, H, O, C, F, I, T, and X. You know all of your colors (except gray) and you know all of the big opposites like big/small, short/tall, fat/skinny, day/night, early/late, etc. You are a very, very smart girl!

You made some big accomplishments this year. You started wearing big girl panties in January and started sleeping in a big girl bed last summer. You have learned so many new words and have complete conversations with me, now. I love hearing about your day :-)

You also became a big sister this past year! Watching you grow in this role has been challenging and fun for us as your Mommy and Daddy. When Mack was first born you looooved him and wanted to do lots of stuff to help us with him. Then, as he got mobile, you started getting jealous and having a hard time with him. And now, at 3 years old, you have really become a protective, loving big sister. You love to feed him whatever you're eating and you play with him so well. You are a big help to your Mommy and Daddy and like to take his bottles to the sink and his dirty diapers to the trash.

You still loooove your puzzles and we call you the "puzzle master". You have also started loving to play with your babies, recently and we are noticing that you're becoming more and more imaginative in your play!
You are so very polite. You almost always say "please, thank you, no thank you, yes ma'am", etc. without being prompted. I love this about you and it endears strangers to you immediately :-)

Most of all, you've become my little buddy. You help me clean. You help me go shopping. You like to be with me in the yard while i cut grass. And my favorite... you like to come to praise team practice with me and "sing" into your own (cordless) microphone. We just like to be together. And nothing could make my heart happier.

You are still a great little eater, although you have definitely become more picky and less willing to take one bite of anything I ask you to. Your favorite foods are still mac and cheese and pretty much any fruit. You still dont like meat much (and i dont blame you!). You say the blessing typically without being prompted and are learning to close your eyes when you pray. You said your first official prayer this past year as you prayed for your little brother who was sick. I still remember it word for word.... "Jesus, please help mackee not be so sick so he not be so fussy. Amen" :-)

You are a joy to my heart, Rhyan. Your Daddy thinks that everything you do is the cutest thing ever and we both cant imagine our lives without you in it. Thank you for making me a Mom and for making me the most blessed mom in the world. I love you, "baby girl"
Mommy (and Daddy)

Rhyans 3rd Birthday PARTY!!

We decided to do a small, family only (plus Taylor and Shelby of course... b/c bff's ARE family!) get together for Rhyan the day after her birthday (Sunday). We had it at 4pm so that sleeping beauty (who LOVES her naps) could get a good nap in and be well rested for the party! Mack was pretty happy about the whole thing, too!

Before everyone arrived...

I let Rhyan pick her cake and, shocker, she chose THOMAS!

Rhyan seemed a little taken aback by all of us singing "happy birthday" to her!

Rhyan blew out her own candle all by herself!

 Well, Mack was happy until Shlaine made him MAD! ;-)

 Taylor and Shelby have been rhyan's best friends since she was born :-) Her birthday just wouldnt seem like her birthday without her besties by her side! Look at how happy she is with them!

The girls were CLEARLY enjoying their cake and icecream!

Rhyan was NOT shy about being ready to open her presents! She got lots of GREAT stuff and loved all of her gifts! This puzzle book was from Lindy and her family

And this little friend, shirt and skirt were from the Nash girls! Side note: rhyan wore this outfit to church on sunday and got TONS of compliments on it. Her daddy, on the other hand, said the skirt made her look like she had a "budunkadunk" and he didnt like that part! HA! Such a protective daddy!

THIS was the look she gave when she got her gift from her "Mayer"... an EDWARD TRAIN! This was literally the ONLY thing she asked us for. Well, that and a "tea party" but we had no clue what she meant and just hoped she forgot it :-)

The gift her daddy and I gave her. She looooves it!

The kiddo's, minus mack. We tried to get him in it, as you can see. FAIL. lol

We also gave her "James"

Rhyan and her Mayer. We were soooo grateful to have her here!

Shelby kept saying "i hold mack!". Who would have thought that THIS was the way to get him in the pic?!

Rhyan, Liz, Jason and Baby Avery (in Liz's tummy! expected arrival July 15!)

Rhyan and her Grammy

Her "second" family :-) Kevin, Tracy, Lydia and not pictured Elijah (at church!)

The most favorite thing that she got all day ended up being her Thomas the Train pillow pet from Tracy and her family and Bobby and Marsha (tracy's parents). It has replaced her monkey *gasp* and she now takes it anywhere we'll let her. The upside: it doesnt have a tail! ha! (when she has her monkey she sucks her fingers outside of her bed b/c she holds the monkey by the tail and sucks her fingers). The downside: the thing is pretty BIG! haha! But she looooves it! So thats what counts.

And her other gifts that i somehow didnt get pics of were "Toy Story" (her first movie!) from Grammy, a giftcard to go shopping at Target from Jason and Liz, the Thomas chair you see her sitting in from Shlaine and Steve, a set of 4 thomas puzzles from Aunt Gaye and the big playground from Jeff and I and her Gran and Grandad (um, its for BOTH kids but had to come around her bday).

We had a WONDERFUL time celebrating our "baby girl" who is not such a baby after all!