I'm Farming and I grow it

Have you seen this yet?  My kids (and I) think it is pretty neat.  We are not farmers, but we know and live among many.  They are awesome, and we so respect them, what they do, and so appreciate what they grow so they can feed us!  This was done by 3 brothers that live on a farm in Kansas.

2012 Blue Jeans Week 28

Thanks for visiting Blue Jeans Momma.  It has been so hot here that it is not fun to be outside at all.  We have had to be creative and do things inside.  Extreme winter and extreme summer are not too different in that respect.  Here is our week. . .

Sunday:  We did finally get a little bit of rain and had a pretty rainbow at the end.  

Monday:  Indoor fun--oh the things you can do with blankets--blanket forts are our favorites.

Tuesday:  Miss O is working on making her own cookbook of family favorite recipes to take to college (yes she is only 12, but she is a planner), so she is making by herself every recipe she puts in.  Today she tried homemade wheat bread.  It was delicious!  Way to go Miss O!

Wednesday:  Mr J and Miss E are attending a daily kids' summer activities camp this week in the mornings.  Today they learned how to make rag rugs, and Mr J was showing me how to do it when he got home today.  His ended up more like a rag bowl than a rug, but that is okay.  Still cool :)

Thursday:  My previous post talks about our summer garden and how we did it a little different this year, and the results are very good.  Check it out.  Miss O is very proud of her harvest today.

Friday:  One of those way-too-hot-to-be-outside days, so we played with magnets inside.  Mr J likes to make the little triangles spin.  It seems like the kids have lots of toys we never play with, so on 'inside' days it is nice to hunt through and play with things that we haven't in a while.

Saturday:  Make my day--this note was on my nightstand this evening when I went to bed.  It was from Mr J.  I smiled as I went to sleep that night.

Thanks for visiting and hope you have a great week!!!

Enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of their labors

So it has been amazingly hot around here lately.  I snapped this temp in my van in the late morning last week!!!  Ugh!  It got hotter than this, but I didn't take a picture.  It has been so dry also.  

Thankfully we got a little rain last weekend, but we still need more.

Despite all the heat and no rain, our garden, or I should say my kids' gardens have flourished.  We have had a garden every year for the last 12 years since we got out of grad school and apartments and had a home with a yard.  Ben and I (well, mostly I) have been in charge of the garden.  The kids have come along and helped half-heartedly as they have grown up with lots of complaining and whining.  Anyone else relate to this?  So this year I decided to do something different.  Our garden is fairly big--50 feet by 50 feet, so I divided it evenly into 4 squares in the spring.  I told each kid they got a square.  It was their own garden.  I put out all the seeds and said, "Plant whatever you want where ever," and I left it at that.  I haven't reminded them to water.  I haven't said anything about weeding, and I haven't set a foot in the garden until this past Tuesday.  I have just watched from the kitchen window each morning as they have weeded and watered, and I am honestly amazed.  When I went into the garden Tuesday night weeds were not to be found, and fruits and veggies were bursting out all over.  The kids have done an amazing job.  They are so proud,

 "This is my cantaloupe."  

"Do you like my corn Dad?" 

 "My zucchini was used in this bread, isn't it good?"  

"My green peppers are in the chili"

We have had lots of zucchini.  We harvested corn Tuesday night.  We are getting lots of peppers, our first cantaloupes and there are lots more to come as well as watermelon and carrots and tomatoes.  I say 'we' but it is really the kids.  They have watered it, weeded it, and taken such good care of their gardens.  Of course, don't look at our water bill.  As we were shucking corn Ben commented each ear was probably worth about $5 each with all the water, but hey, the kids did it, and I am sure proud of them.  Miss O was definitely proud of her harvest when I snapped this picture.  I am wishing I had thought of this plan years before.  I am now certain how I will garden from now on (or at least for the next 11 years until Mr J goes to college)--from the kitchen window.  Bring it on.

2012 Blue Jeans Week 27

We were still on our mini-vacation this week in Branson, so photos for the week wrap it up there and then home for the 4th.  

Our friends have a 15 passenger van, and Sunday Ben and I took all the kids (9 total) to church in our friends' van.  (our friends had to be to church early for meetings) I made Ben drive :)  After driving around in the huge van my kids were convinced we needed to buy one, but I wasn't :)

Silver Dollar City and Mr J's favorite ride--the swings--he went on it several times.

Silver Dollar City was fun!

Went to eat at Lambert's the home of the famous throwed rolls, and my those rolls are good!  These kids had fun.

And these kids had even more fun, I swear between the two of them they caught and downed about a dozen rolls :)

Home and getting ready for the 4th and our BBQ.  We made these cool layered patriotic drinks that I saw on my favorite food blog Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  It is so awesome when things actually work like they are supposed to.  Everyone at the BBQ was very impressed with our drinks.  Thanks Mel!

Have I mentioned before that I love Mel's Kitchen Cafe?  We made her patriotic brownie kebabs for our BBQ dessert.  They were a big hit and very easy--I like things like that--yummy and easy.  Miss O was my big helper.

Miss O and Miss E have been into making friendship bracelets lately.  We have to think of things to do inside since it is way too hot to be outside.  I remember making lots of friendship bracelets in my day--a classic.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week as we pray for rain and cooler temperatures here this week.

2012 Blue Jean Weeks 26

I am a little late posting this week.  We went on a mini-vacation to Branson and stayed with some great friends.  It was so nice.  But then we got home and laundry and the 4th hit, and we are trying to keep our heads above water, so these are last week's photos.  

Sunday afternoon fun--Mr J and fort making in the family room

It has been soooooo hot here!  ugh!  The kids have been really good about keeping their plants and garden watered because if not, they would have fried long ago in this heat.  Mr J and Miss E work on getting the hose untangled to water their gardens.

Summer fun for me :)  got a pedicure today--ah. . .

Summer fun for the kids--a juggler was in town and performed.  I felt bad for him, it was so hot, but he did a great job and the kids all loved it.

Vacation on the lake--so nice to get cool--Ben watches and Miss E gets ready to ride the tube.

Miss O and our friend double up on the tube--so much fun!

Went to a show in Branson, the Duttons--loved it!

Hope you all had a good week and are able to keep cool where you are!  We are sure trying hard to stay cool here!  Have a good one!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 25

Welcome to Blue Jeans Momma.  We had a quiet week at our house.  My oldest 2 girls were at church girls' camp from M-F, so it was just the youngest two.  It was a very quiet and relaxing week.  We missed the oldest, but they had a lot of fun.

Sunday:  Happy Father's Day!  Ben is just amazing.  My kids are so lucky and blessed to have him for a dad, and I am even more blessed to be married to the cute guy!  Sure love you!  His awesome card was created by Miss O.  She is our resident master card maker.

Monday: The girls before they headed to camp

Tuesday:  With her older sisters gone, Miss E kept herself busy this week.  She took a kids cooking class offered through the library.  Today they made whole wheat quick bread and fruit smoothies.  She has dinner planned for next week which I am happy about because she is cooking!

Wednesday:  Bedtime routines---Ben always reads to the kids, and he and Mr J are reading a book together--just the boys.  They are reading A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole.   

Thursday:  Miss E also kept busy this week with swimming lessons.  She is a very strong swimmer and really developed her diving this week.  Way to go Miss E!

Friday:  Mr J wanted to learn how to roller skate.  Miss E was a big help because he couldn't quite get the hang of it yet :)  Love her look.

Saturday:  For the past 2 weeks Miss E has been participating in a children's summer theater workshop.  The workshop culminates in the kids performing a play for their parents on Saturday morning.   Miss E is 2nd from the right and is a pony.  Her play was about Rainbow and her little ponies that eat magic oats and come to life and like to disco.  They enter an animal dance contest to win the prize money to buy medicine to help their owner recover from a rare disease.  It was a fun play, and the kids did a great job!  The play was written by the staff of the workshop.

2012 Blue Jeans Week 24

Summer is in full swing, and there are lots of activities, but I think my kids enjoy summer because of the actual 'play time.'  There is unstructured down time to just play, and my kids love that.

Sunday:  Mr J loves trains, always has, but during the school year there just isn't a lot of play time.  He has loved playing trains this summer.

Monday:  It is also nice to have the kids home to help clean more :)  Not that they really enjoy that aspect of summer, but mom does

Tuesday:  Went to a soda fountain with my mom and 2 of my girls.  Those are fun places and yummy too!

Wednesday:  Enjoying the tree swing--classic summer

Thursday:  They have such cool programs at our library.   We love our library.  Today they had a program about night time animals, and we got to feel all their pelts and see their skulls--cool stuff!

Friday:  Summer is a time for projects, and today my girls were helping their grandpa build shelves in his shed.  They are very lucky to have their grandparents close.

Saturday:  Miss E has started to work on a quilt with my mom.  My mom is a huge quilter, and I am grateful my kids can learn skills from my parents.

Hope summer is going well in your neck of the woods!  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week!