Thank for the rain....

 I am almost positive that my garden says this every single day.  We have been so lucky to have recently received a few days of nice soaking rains and boy does it show in my garden.

 Our tomatoes are getting huge and each plant has 8 or so bloom on it with 2 or 3 small tomatoes each.

 The strawberries are growing bigger and more prolific every day.

 The big garden is getting more and more beautiful by the day (please ignore the onion row, it needs some serious attention).

 The Kentucky Pole beans are amazing to watch, Jon and I both are simply amazed at how fast they  grow.  I can't wait until we are eating fresh snap beans.

 The lettuce and carrots are nice and healthy.

 Our bean tee pee gets better and better every day, although next year I think we'll put the Kentucky Pole beans here instead of the pink eye purple hulls.  The girls still love it though.

 The view of the garden most commonly seen by Addison. :D

 Our first squash blossom of the year, it is a little squash now.

 One of our 12 watermelon plants.  My girls love, love, love their watermelon, so between out 12 plants and the neighbors twelve plants we  should have them covered for the season.  Their like me though, they can't wait to harvest out of the garden and I catch them at the back window silently pleading for all the fresh goodness to grow faster.

Speaking of growing fast, this little one is just shooting up like a bean.  Today my little sweet pea is 1 year old.  Boy how the time has flown.

Growing up....

While this could definitely mean our little people, like this little bean sprout who was 11 months yesterday,

but it actually refers to the garden that we are growing this year.

I don't know if you guys have noticed but the grocery store is getting very very expensive even for the most fundamental things, so we decided to cut back and cut out the middle man where we could.  We tried a garden a dew years ago and we didn't do very well.  The spot was bad, not enough sunlight and way to far from the house to be practical, it was a dismal failure.  However, now that our family has grown and the belt has been sucked in so much its about to cut us in half we need to think outside of the box and this year that meant a garden.

So we picked a good spot close to the house and got started.  Jon even came around to my idea of some raised beds and I couldn't be happier.

This is the start of our little project.  The soil looks beautiful and we even put in some manure although my lovely husband laughed at me for buying cow poo.  He won't be laughing when my plants are bursting with veggies.  The marigolds look pretty but they also keep the bugs down.

Now we don't own a tiller and the ground in this spot had not been worked so  we had to figure something out.  Jon remembered that he had an old mule plow that he found hanging in the shop so he welded a trailer hitch on it and hooked it to the back of the Honda and TADA....21st century plow.  It worked perfectly, although Jon was about to get an earful if I heard "Ha Mule" one more time!

Boogie even got into the spirit of things, and wanted to give it a try, but the plow was a little heavy so she just watched.

Until the sprinkler was created that is.  Jon was trying to figure out how to evenly water the garden when he came up with a great idea....a long pipe with holes in it. LOL!!  Seriously, this is an old top pole for a chain link fence that Jon welded uprights on, then he sliced slits at intervals down the length of the pole, and attached a hose to the end.  Once the water fills the pipe it is a fabulous sprinkler and covers the entire garden.  Boogie loved it so much she has ordered a smaller one for the front yard so that she and Addy and our neighbors can play in it this summer. 

The other idea that we created for the girls is the bean tee pee.  Pulled this idea off of Pintrest (thank you Pintrest).  We'll have a great crop of beans, pink eyed purple hulls to be exact and the girls will have a fun place to play this summer while we work in the garden.

This is the overall view of our garden from the top of the hill.  Everything is planted and ready to go, now we just wait to see what pops up.  In this part of the garden we have:

Pink eyed purple hulls (Cowpeas)

Watermelon

Yellow Squash

Cucumbers

Two types of carrots (short and long)

A heat tolerant lettuce mixture

Lima beans (under the sprinkler)

Scallions

Red Onions

Snap Beans

Mammoth Sunflowers

On the fence we are growing

Blackberries and Rasberries

These are the raised beds that Jon made me from the pallet timbers that we had laying around.  I had to beg and plead, but he finally made them for me, and now agrees that they look great.  The bed above has two types of tomatoes and bell peppers in it.

This bed has strawberries and some herbs, rosemary, basil and thyme. Mmmmmmm

Last but not least are our blueberry  bushes.  Right now we have two but we need to pick up one more.  My girls are blueberry monsters, so it seemed more economical to grow our own.  So far so good.

The only thing that we have left to plant is corn.  It is going on a plot all by itself on the other side of the yard.  Once it is in we are all set to grow or fruits and veggies.  The girls are excited which makes me excited, plus what a sense of accomplishment to put fruits and veggies on your table that you have provided all on  your own.

I'll post pictures every couple of weeks so that you can see how we're doing.  Cross your fingers that we have a good yield as I am also going to try my hand at canning.  Might need prayers for that endeavor, but you don't know if you can do it until you try.





Well I am trying to fit you all into my schedule

Not that it appears to be working to well at the moment. 

I tell you juggling a 40 hour a week job, a 2 1/2 hour commute every day, 3 girls under 5, a house, a husband and 3 dogs all over 50lbs can really take it out of you.  LOL!!

However, I am trying to get back to you guys.  I miss you all.  In the mean time, here are a couple of photos to tide you over.

I made it out to Denver in February to scout out some locations for a meeting and of course I was not going to pass up the opportunity to see Rocky Mountain National Park. That was not even a possibility in my book. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, even if it was 35 degrees outside.

I made mom go with me.  I mean she gets to see a lot of snow and mountains and all living in Florida, but I was lonely.

I work for an Irish owned company so of course we are always in the St. Pats Day parade in Atlanta.  This time the whole family was able to participate and we had a great time.

This one loves her daddy just a little bit

Boogie was not getting off the float for anyone or anything.

It is very hard to get a good shot of Addison and this is the best that I could grab of her from the parade.  Sad I know but some days it just doesn't work.

These are my sweetie pies sleepy eyes.  She took a nap with her daddy on the swing it was sweet as can be.

I'm not really sure what this face is to be honest, but it sure is cute.

Just a quick photo for you...

I know I haven't posted in a while there really is no excise except that I am doing the work of 3 people at the moment and it is keeping me hopping. 

So here is a photo of pure joy, and yes there is a great story, and yes I will share it with you, and no I will not take a month to do it.  For now just enjoy. ;D

This honestly has to be one of my most favorite pictures.  It just makes me smile every time I see it and remember our special Mommy daughter weekend.

Back to the house.....

You might remember that we had a surprise visit in June for a gorgeous giant white oak tree as it crashed through our roof.  Well now I can say that the work is finished and even the swing set has been replaced and is a huge hit. :D

It was definitely a long process but because of the age of the house and good insurance we now basically have a new outside shell to protect all the people living inside.  Have a look at the final pictures, now we just need to do a little aesthetic work, and our little house will be simply lovely. :D

 So first off the siding could not be matched since the house is 60+ years old, so off it all came, and believe it or not the wood siding underneath was in good shape.  Woo hoo!!  So brand new Hardy Board went up over the whole house, and this meant new paint too.

 It was already starting to look great even without the paint.

 This is the side of the house where the tree came down.  Now we have a nice graded side play yard for Boogie's new swing set.

 Kitchen side of the house and the dog yard.  I wish it still had beautiful grass but dogs will do bad things to grass, so we struggle to keep it alive.

 Here we are with new siding all finished and new paint.  This color is called Aruba Aqua and it looks fantastic.  We have the matching accent color to put on the lower bricks.

 Play yard side with all the old aluminum siding removed and brand new Hardy Board and paint.  The house looks so fresh and clean now.

 This is before the swing set went up, but you can see the slide sticking up there above the crazy fence.  That is what I am dubbing Jon's attempt at extending the wood fence because believe you me it is definitely crazy.  He promises that he will fix it, and when it is properly cut it will look great. :D  The window at the top is to Charlotte's little room in the attic.  Update on that soon.

 Here is the back and side of the house at the kitchen.  Just a nice clean crisp look with a pretty new roof. It looks like a brand new house.

 Then we had to put up the new swing set for the girls, and its a doozy.  We decided that we could get more bang for our buck if we recycled so that's what we did.  Courtesy of Craigslist we found a fantastic swing set with swirly slide, monkey bars, swings, climbing wall and little picnic bench for what we could have bought the basic structure for.  So we put a little elbow grease into it, with a little plastic paint and wood stain, and we got a fabulous swing set for the girls.

It was definitely a hit with all the kiddos at Boogie's slumber party recently.

 PJ has mastered the climbing wall much to my horror, as I just know that she is going to fall at any moment.

She loves to climb and slide though, so I just keep an eye on her and let her have fun.  She's my little daredevil to be sure.  I miss the shade of that big beautiful tree to be sure, but the girls love the bigger play yard that they have now so I think it was a good trade.

Slow row to hoe...

Sorry guys I am slow getting back into the swing of things.  Between to goings on at home and Corporate tax deadlines looming on the horizon, the blog has suffered.  It might take me till the end of September to get back into the swing of things so consider yourself warned.  However, I do have some great photos to show you today, and I think you'll love them.

Last weekend I got a rare opportunity to spend the entire weekend doing things that I like to do all by myself.  Jon took the little girls and went to the farm for a visit to celebrate Papa Edge's 60th birthday.  I packed up the car early Saturday morning and headed out for a short road trip.  Woo hoo!!  I was headed to Huntsville for some Connie time with a dear friend, but along the way I had plans.  These plans included Pointe Park on Lookout Mountain just outside Chattanooga and a rest area on Nickajack lake.  Sounds kinda funny doesn't it, but just you wait.

On the way to my first stop Pointe Park, I got a call from another Connie friend of mine....she said and I quote..."You are driving entirely to fast".  Huh???  To which she said 82mph is entire to fast...to which I again said huh??  then "Where are you??  Turns out I had just passed her and her husband on their way up to house hunt in Nashville.  So lesson learned Don't think that just because you are no where near your home town, that someone you know won't catch you speeding (just a little, and I did slow down). :D

Anyway once I got through the construction in Chattanooga and on my way up Lookout Mountain.  Now if you like to drive steep curvy roads (all you motorcycle riders) this is the ride to take, it was fabulous.  The views were gorgeous and the atmosphere was amazing.  It took my time but made it to the top of the mountain about 10am, and the light was gorgeous. The park had only been open for a short time so there were few visitors which was perfect for me.

 Pointe Park is a national historic park that was the lookout, hence the name of the mountain, for the confederate forces during the civil war.  Once you get to the lookout areas you can understand why.

These lookouts are positioned straight towards the city of Chattanooga, and out over Moccasin Bend in the Tennessee river below

There was a large battle at the base of Lookout Mountain as well as its slopes as the Union soldiers tried to take such a strategic position.  It was like having a birds eye view, so definitely a place you wanted to be in possession of.

The park is beautiful and well cared for.  There are walking trails that lead all the way down the mountain to the Craven house which has some great significance to the battle but I am embarrassed to say I didn't make it to on this trip.

 There are information plaques scattered around the park to help you understand the role that this position played in the battle of Chattanooga and then also the battle of Chicamagua just down the road in Georgia.

The is one of the paths that leads down the mountain.  It was beautiful and lead to a museum at another lookout point.

This old building held a few exhibits about photography on Lookout Mountain (definitely an interest for me), life in the camps and signaling used during the war to alert troops of enemy movements.  It was well presented and very fascinating.  If you are anything like me then you LOVE looking at old photographs and making up stories, and this little museum was just full of great old pictures.

 This is the view of Moccasin bend from the front patio of the Museum, Chattanooga is over to the right.

 There were many many photos in the museum of people sitting with their legs hanging over on that rock.  I think I would have to pass.

On of the side doors leading back out to the path to return to the top of the mountain.  I unfortunately had to go back up so that I could make it to Huntsville in time to relax in the pool. :D

 While I wouldn't dare go out on the one rock out crop, I did find a very interesting formation that I just had to have a picture near, so it was time to use the good ole timer setting.  Not a perfect picture but better then nothing. :D

 There is a very long stone wall that runs round the park, and has look out towers incorporated into it.  Definitely adds to the picturesque feeling.

 With your $3 entrance fee you also have access to a small interactive museum that tells you all about the Battle of Chattanooga, or The Battle in the Clouds.  The painting above and below was commissioned by one of the generals at the battle to show the last day of battle. 

 Lookout Mountain is in the upper left hand corner of this massive painting.  It is absolutely stunning in person, and the attention to detail is amazing.  Definitely worth seeing, actually the whole park is a must see if your in the area.  It makes for a tranquil couple of hours, with some very majestic views.

Once I left Pointe Park I was heading back North again and stopped at the rest stop on Nickajack lake, which so far in my travels is the most beautiful rest stop.  It sits on an island in the middle of the lake, so you have beautiful water all around you.  It was definitely a good place to stop and take a rest for a moment.

 On the north bound side rest area, you have a great view of this Trussel bridge.  This was the main reason for my stop.  I had seen it before in the car as we zoomed over the lake, but never got a chance to stop and really admire it.  So this trip I did.

There were speed boats everywhere so getting a picture without a boat was a great feet.  However it was  worth the time.

I then took just a couple of minutes to sit and reflect under one of the large shade trees on the bank.  The only other person there was an Asian monk who was also having a moment of reflection.  I thought it was a good sign that my weekend was going to be wonderful.  I had to take a minute to play with my camera again, this time a self portrait was in order, even without make up. With the timer sitting in my out-stretched hand, I think it came out pretty well.

I finally decided it was time to go and hopped back in the car and made it to Huntsville will plenty of time to enjoy the pool, Orange Cremesicles and then a good dinner and great movie with a fabulous friend.  Sunday brought more adventure so stay tune.