How does your garden grow?

Well mine is planted, whether it will actually grow or not is another post for another day. But it is all planted and that is a big move in the right direction.

I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, green bell peppers, butter squash, zuccini and cherry tomatoes. Basically all the stuff that I like to eat. I also planted a container herb garden with oregeno, basil, chives, rosemary, thyme and catnip. Gotta look out for the kitties too.

Along with the gardens, I added quite a lot of plants to my flower beds. In fact, I am out of space so I think I would like to make some more flower bed space. I may not actually get to it this year but there is a lot of space that could look a lot better if I put some flower beds and a few shrubs. I just need to come up with a plan.

So, that's about it around here. Hope your enjoying your outdoor space!

Memorial Day and a menu

Happy Memorial Day everyone! We are spending a relaxed day at home. Well, somewhat relaxed. We finished opening the pool, spent some time planting flowers in flower pots, and the big job, dug out my vegetable garden. This is huge because I really wanted to change the spot I have my garden in. The past few years it was just not in a great place because it did not get enough sun. So I wanted to move it. However, Mike just isn't into it. So I started digging the new one out myself and he came and helped finish it. It is not finished, just the sod is off and now I need to get out there and properly turn it over, add some soil and then plants. I am excited though because I love being able to go outside and pick tomatoes and peppers and zuccini's, etc. I don't plant a ton. Just the stuff that I really love. Plus, I can get a lot of veggies fairly cheap from local farmers. But there is nothing like growing your own veggies. Hopefully I can get the plants tomorrow and then get them all in the ground in the next couple of days. Wed it is actually supposed to be 67 and sunny so that sounds like perfect gardening weather. I also need to plant my herb garden which I am going to do entirely in containers this year. So yea, I know I am getting a late start but hopefully since I will buy mature plants, everything will grow OK.

Yesterday we went to my parents house and the kids and Mike went out on the boat.

So that's about it around here. The kids only have 9 days left of school so my plan is to try to get as much done around here while they are in school, as possible. Well, I have to do that and also we are going camping the day they get out of school and Mike will be out of town the last week of school. Which means I get to do Everything alone. Hmm. Great fun. lol


On to.......

Monday: Boneless chicken marinated in Italian and Teryaki grilled, German potato salad and brownies for dessert.

Tuesday: Cheeseburgers, leftover potato salad

Wed: Veal parmesan, salad, zuccini

Thursday: Beef tips in crock pot, mashed garlic potatoes

Friday: homemade pizza

Guess what I got?

I haven't actually been able to use it yet though because our power supply died and Nintendo is sending a new one. But I have high hopes for this little baby! Hopefully with a little effort and some fun, I can whip this fat butt into shape.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Spaghetti w/meat sauce, salad
Tuesday: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, beans
Wednesday: spinach stuffed chicken breasts, rice
Thursday: stuffed pork chops, mashed potatoes, spinach, apple sauce
Friday: homemade pizza
Saturday: grilled steaks, baked potato, salad, corn on cob
Sunday: cheeseburgers, oven fries

Hola!

Brooks and his teacher, Mr. Duggan. He absolutely loves his teacher this year. We are going to miss him! Well, hopefully we will keep in touch but we really wanted him to just move to 4th grade next year and keep the same kids. Yea, that sounds like a plan!

This past week was, well, crazy. First of all, did I mention I am a PTO officer for my kids PTO? Yea, I am. I have a few more weeks until I am cut free! Yea baby! My term as El Presidento is over in about 3 more weeks (give or take). Don't get me wrong, it's been fun but come on, three years is enough. Time to move on and let another sucka take over.(just kidding! Sort of...) So, I am working on transition and it isn't going as smoothly as I thought it would but I have faith that it will all work out in the end.

Anyway, last week the book fair at school. I love book fair. It is fun. The kids are excited and come on, books! What more could you ask for? So we had an ice cream social on Tuesday and book fair the rest of the week and then on Thursday I was chaperone on my sons field trip.( See pic above of Brooks and his most favorite teacher ever). Which was fun! We went to visit some caverns(not caves) there is a difference ya know. Closed the book fair up on Friday and on Saturday, went to youngest sons baseball game and then to his violin concert.(so cute). Then we took him out to dinner because honestly, the only reason he took violin this year was because I made him. And I made him because I made the other kids do it. And I have video of them and I wanted video of him. Does that make me a bad parent? I think not! lol It was really cute and you know what? He kind of liked it. He was the only boy at our school in beginning strings but once he got to the district concert, he realized that there were many other boys, some of whom are on his baseball and soccer teams. So it was all OK.

Before the concert I asked him where he was standing on the stage. I asked him to imagine I am looking at him. What side should I sit on, to see him? He said sit on the left. I am on the floor in the front row (he is really small). So we sat on the left. Our left. Well, he was on the right. Our right (his left). So we couldn't see him. AT ALL! Well, I saw his head but that's about it. Typical right? Grrr!!! Anyway, it was nice hearing the kids and well, I videoed Brooks after we got home. He doesn't want me to put it on here but I probably will anyway.

Today (Sunday) we just sort of hung around all day. Caitey had a youth group thing to go to so I took her and a friend and stopped at the grocery store and video store. We had chicken purchased pre-cooked from the grocery store. That's about it. Really, quite a relaxing weekend(despite the fact that Brooks had to change in the van for his concert between baseball and violin) lol.

The kids school year is winding down. This week I need to wrap a few things up with PTO and some more planning for our end of school year picnic. I also want to plant some more flowers and buy some fish for my container garden. That's it from here!

Mikey is a man...

Well, of course he considers himself a man or at the very least grown up. Of course at 14 he isn't actually grown up or a man yet; young man for sure but full grown man? Well, maybe in size....Anyway, Saturday, Mikey became a man in the eyes of the church. He was confirmed. It was a beautiful ceremony. I looked over at him as he was returning to his seat and the huge smile on his face...Well, many may think it was brought on intense spiritual growth or sense of well being. I know that it was most likely brought on out of relief. Relief because he was very nervous about that day, about saying the wrong thing or messing up in some way. The relief was also brought on because he is finally finished with Sunday School. Sunday school in the catholic church is, well it is boring. Sad but true. It is like regular school complete with homework and tests. So the fact that he has been going to school 5 days a week for the past 9 years and also Sunday School for the past 9 years (he started in kindergarten), well I can certainly understand why he would be relieved it is over. I do think though that he is proud of himself. Proud that he worked hard and has now graduated to a new phase as a Catholic. We are very proud of him. He may not be a man yet, but he is growing into a very fine young man. We love him very much.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Caitlyn's 13th birthday. I can't believe 13 years have gone by with this child. It seems only yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. I vividly remember bringing her home, introducing Mikey to his new baby sister. It was a warm and sunny May afternoon. Mothers Day. My mom was at the house with Mikey when we got home and she had cooked us dinner and had lilacs in vases around the house. It smelled so good. I remember bringing Caitlyn outside in the back yard and we pushed Mikey on his airplane swing that was hanging from our magnolia tree. We had caitlyn in her seat on top of the table. We were so filled with joy and hope for her future. For our future together as a family. I remember feeling such a connection to my daughter. Like she was a part of this private club; this girls only organization.

Thirteen years later we are still filled with joy and hope. Caitlyn has developed into this fantastic young lady. She works really hard in school and she gets great grades. She has a huge heart and a love for animals and children. She is also so funny. She cracks me up on a daily basis. Of course it's not all perfect. She is a complete air head as well. But we even love that part of her. And we especially love that she is able to laugh at herself. We couldn't ask for a better daughter. She is everything I ever hoped for and I love her. So Happy Birthday Caitey!

School's Out For The Summer!

Woohoo! I am done! Yea baby, I am off for the summer. No more homework, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!

OK, just had to get that out.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Have a nice day.

Menu Plan Monday

Blah blah blah.......

I don't have time to cook anything fabulous this week. I am way too busy.

Tonight we had soccer and scouts, tomorrow miraculously enough we have nothing. But I do have to go to school and I have to study for finals. Wednesday we have a baseball game and a PTO meeting. I am president so I should probably go...Which is a dilemma since I have yet to figure out how to be in two places at one time. Thursday is finals day. Yuck! But yea because then I will be free for the summer! Can you say yahoo? Yes? Well I say it louder. Yahoo!!! I also have a parent teacher conference that day and Mikey's Confirmation rehearsal. Ok So Friday I will be cooking a turkey and a ham and lasagna and I plan to try to clean this house up a bit since we are having a confirmation party on Saturday. That brings me to Saturday. That is Mikey's confirmation. But also Brooks has a soccer game and then a baseball game. Oh good lord. I cant handle all of this. If he doesn't go to his baseball game, they may need to forfeit. Since a couple other kids also cant be there. I think one of the coaches are going to probably pick him up and take him to the game. Which means he will miss the confirmation. After the confirmation we are having the party. Then Sunday, well Sunday is Mothers day and it is also Catie's 13th birthday. SO I am planning to stay at home on Sunday. We will celebrate Catie's birthday and I guess mothers day at home. I will have to celebrate with my mom on Saturday when they are up for the party. I just cant see myself driving to another state to visit after this week. I need the break!

So, my meals are going to be...I don't know...Basic? Simple? Whatever.

So, here ya go!

Monday: Spaghetti and meat sauce
Tuesday: Chicken in crock pot, mashed potatoes etc...
Wed: leftover spaghetti and chicken soup. (yea I know, sounds gross together)
Thursday: pork chops, scalloped potatoes
Friday: pizza
Saturday: you know...turkey, ham, lasagna...
Sunday: leftovers baby! Its mothers day and since I'm a mother, I am not cooking.

Plans

So, it is that time of the year again...Time to make our summer vacation plans. We typically camp around 5 or 6 times each summer. This year, because of the high cost of fuel, we are scaling back our trips. Gonna stay a little closer to home most of the summer. So today I made my reservations. For your reading enjoyment, I will include links to the places we are going. I wont tell you exactly when we are going though because I wouldn't want any of my fans to stalk me or anything. Cause you know, that totally could happen. lol

First we don't camp in tents anymore. No siree, we gave that up a few years ago. OK, because I know you are just dieing to ask, I will tell you. Every summer we have kids from New York come and stay with us. They are inner city children that are needy and we have them stay with us for 2 weeks or more. One child in particular stays the entire summer -all though this year we are not taking any Fresh Air kids. That is what they are called. We are involved in the Fresh Air fund. It is a wonderful organization that enables inner city youth to enjoy a summer vacation with families in the suburbs or freaking boondocks. I have acted as the chairperson for my town for the past few years but this year, there is a new person taking over for me and we are not taking any kids. It is a much needed break as we have shared our summers for the past 6 summers! And while it was great, it is time to say goodbye. Or at least goodbye for now. Of course we will still be dragging other peoples children along with us camping, etc. We are just weird like that.

Anyway, back to my story about how we came to not be tent campers. That summer a few years ago my daughter and oldest son both wanted to have Fresh Air kids for the summer. So we took two kids in. Yes, two. That makes 5 kids for the summer. I am not quite sure what we were thinking. But we said sure kids, what is two more kids for the summer? We will go camping, and biking, and swimming, you know, all the "ing" activities that we all enjoy participating in over the summer. So we got a nice little boy (crazy kid from the Bronx) and a nice little girl (crazy girl from the Bronx). OK, actually, the girl, Tonisha, we have come here every year since she was like 6 so we knew about her "crazy". Which in all honesty wasn't really crazy at all. She is a nice kid. So, anyway... back to my story. It is 4th of July 2003, we decided to take all of the kids, all FIVE of them camping. In tents. Need I say more? We pitched a kid tent and we pitched a grown ups tent and we pitched a screen tent. Then we put all of our clothes, and bedding, and air mattresses, etc. in the various tents. We were doing good. All set up. Then a storm blew up. I mean a huge storm. A storm that blew all three tents down. Yes, you read that correctly. All three freaking tents blew down. And all of the clothes and bedding got wet. So I spent the entire Saturday afternoon washing and drying all of our clothes and bedding in the Laundromat.

OK so that was bad enough right? I mean, it was a pain in the ass but a month before that we had gone camping with the boy scouts. The boy scouts have this pesky rule that families should come camping during their "family camping" events So we went. But they also have a rule that you have to camp in tents. Which at the time was not a problem since we didn't have a camper yet. So we went off that fine May weekend camping with the boy scouts. Unfortunately for us, it was cold and it rained. And it rained and it rained. And it was cold. Cold and rainy. And muddy. Really, really muddy. In fact it was so rainy and cold and muddy that our tent literally had about 3 inches of water in the bottom of it. It was a good thing we had air mattresses because otherwise we quite literally would have been sleeping in muddy water at the bottom of our tent. So, I endured the torture Friday night but Saturday morning, I was OUTA THERE! No passing go, no collecting $200.00 See ya later sucka! I am not camping in this mud hell hole anymore bitch. So.....Between the mud camping fiasco and the 4th of July blow down, I was done with tent camping. I mean, come on, I am not an Arab. I don't need to be travelling the country in a tent. Give me a great big old RV baby! Yes, that's what I am talking about.

So, we bought a travel trailer. It sleeps 10. Has a glorious bathroom with a shower and bathtub(combination but still..). It has a stove and an oven and double sink and a microwave oven. Best of all it has air conditioning and a steareo and a televisiona and dvd with surround sound and cable and Mike and I have our own bedroom with a queen size bed and our own television in our room. We are living large baby! OK so what was the point of all of this wine induced verbal vomit? Oh yea, I planned our camping vacations for the summer.

First we are going Here.. It looks like tons of fun. The kids especially are excited about the water slides.

Next we are going here. Tom's Cove. We have been going here for , well- forever. My parents camped here before I was born and I am pretty sure they took us camping here every year of my life. I had a couple of years where I didn't camp in the late 80's and so I didn't go to good ole Chincoteague then. But Mike and I started going there again when we were dating and have gone practically every year since. I love it and would love to buy property there. Unfortunately by the time we can afford to buy anything we will probably be priced out of the market on the island. So we will continue to camp there. You may have heard of the famous Pony swim? Well yea, this is where it all happens. So we are planning to spend about 11 days there this summer. I wish it could be more. We will spend the entire time fishing and boating and crabbing and swimming in the ocean. What more could you ask for?

The next trip we are going Here. We have never been here before but it looks like a lot of fun and some friends are coming with us(in their own campers) so we should have a blast.

Then the next camping trip that I have planned is for Halloween camping. We go with a bunch of people. My brother and his family, my other brother, my parents, and several other families that we love to travel with. It is a blast. We all pitch in making meals that we all eat together. The kids dress up and trick or treat.There are pumpkin carving contests, hay rides, a dance, find a needle in the haystack contests, and best decorated site. Then there is the partying. Lots and lots of fun around the campfire. I think we all love Halloween camping.

Other than those trips, I would also like to spend a nice long weekend in the mountains and take the kids 4-wheeling and tubing and maybe some time at our friends beach house. Lots of fun stuff planned.

So what are your plans for the summer?