Composting

So I did it. I purchased a compost bin. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by it, but thought I'd give it a shot. I purchased this one. It was inexpensive, reasonably attractive and I put it together very easily last night in my garage.

Now if you had asked me years ago if I would be composting in my very large garden while my healthy eating, cloth diaper wearing children were running around their knitting, canning, sewing mother I would have laughed and laughed at you. This is not how I pictured myself years ago, but I really like it. I think we should be living on a farm, but that's another story.

Composting seems a little tricky to me, but I figure everything seems tricky until you get the hang of it. I know my garden could really use the fabulous soil that it will produce so I'm excited to get it going. The first thing it says is to put leaves and other brush on the bottom. I have none of this, but there are many trees and forests around so I will go foraging soon.

I will keep you updated.

If anyone has any composting tips to share I would greatly appreciate it!!! :)

Wednesday Wonders

Catchy title eh? I didn't have anything else in mind.

We returned Sunday evening from our trip to Sioux Falls to visit grandma and grandpa. We had a nice time and the weather was great! The kids miss seeing grandma, grandpa, uncle Bob and uncle Jill. Yes, Sam calls auntie Jill uncle Jill, very funny!

I'm bringing our lawn mower to a guy today who can hopefully give it a nice kick in the butt and make it work better! I've dreaded having to mow the yard because it doesn't always start. Usually what happens is I get it started pretty easily the first time, but then it goes downhill from there.

By mid-afternoon, hours after I've finished the front you can usually find me in the back yard cussing at my mower trying to figure out why it won't start. I don't like the fact that mowing the yard takes all day when it should take no less than an hour. So hopefully all it needs is a good tune-up.

My garden is doing nicely. I have a lot of strawberries that will be ripening here shortly. I think I'm going to freeze them until I have enough to make a batch of jam. Yum!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 6th Birthday Ella!

Rainy Days

As I sit here typing this I can hear/see the rain pouring down. There have been small but very heavy downpours this afternoon. It seems to be the new normal these days. I actually managed to get the yard mowed around lunch time and I'm really glad I did. The amount of mushrooms growing in our yard is astronomical!

Since there isn't much to do on rainy days (my birthday included) I've been sewing. I made Ella a dress for her birthday. I'm very proud of this dress for a few reasons. First I ordered the pattern and fabric online. Neither of which was cheap. So I followed the pattern exactly and took my time to make it right. It turned out so cute! It's perfect!

Ella's 6th Birthday Party

We survived another birthday party! It really wasn't too bad. A couple of the girls couldn't make it, but the rest all had a good time. I'm really glad it's all over with.

Here are the little bug cakes.



They turned out really cute and I can't wait to make more!

We played games and opened presents. The girls got to play up in Ella's room for a bit too. (I planned the party for a little too long.)





The kids got their pictures taken Friday morning and they turned out so great! I'm so excited! It's been so long since I've gotten a really good picture of them together at a photo shoot. I took these before we left.





Nana is coming over tonight to watch the kids while Zan and I go out for dinner. It' my birthday tomorrow!! The big 35. Yikes!! What do you do?

Ella's birthday is Wednesday and we're going out for lunch with Nana (while my car is getting serviced). Then we'll be heading to grandma and grandpa's. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us.

Summer Vacation Begins

Today was Ella's last day of kindergarten! I can't believe how fast the year went by.

Here she is before she left for school today.



She had a great year at school and I'm sure she'll be happy to get back to school in the fall with all her friends.

This morning I gave Sam a haircut. I'm taking the kids to get their photo's done tomorrow. I really want to get a great photo of them together. It's been a while since I've gotten a good one. Here's hoping.

He looked so much older today for some reason. Maybe because he's getting bigger every day, but he's only 2 1/2! (Even though I've started buying some size 4 pants because he'll be outgrowing his size 3's soon I'm sure.) He's got those tall Silus genes for sure!!



I've been busy getting ready for Ella's birthday party this Saturday. We've got a cute bug theme going. Here are some of the favors I have ready.



It took some long Internet searching, but I found the best invites, etc.! I was planning on having everything outside in the back yard, but it's supposed to rain, so we'll be inside. That's okay I guess.

Ella's birthday is next Wednesday and mine is on Monday. Zan and I are going out on Sunday night. I picked the spot that has my favorite dessert!

Friday

It's Friday and I'm sitting in my garage waiting for someone to come to my garage sale. I wasn't sure if I was going to even open it up today, but why not? At least for a little bit. I told my mom not to bother coming today. It wasn't going to be busy and the kids are so good anyways.

Wednesday was a very good day! Yesterday about half as good. Maybe today will be half as good as yesterday? While I noticed that the tables weren't nearly packed full, there are still a lot of things left!! Nice things too. I always find it funny what people buy and don't buy. There are things you think are the best (and they are), but they stick around. Then there are the pieces of garbage that are the first to go. Strange!

Ella and the rest of the kindergartner's put on a little singing show last night at the school. It was very cute. Unfortunately Ella was in the front row and we couldn't really see her at all. They needed to be somewhere where the parents could see better. Oh well she had a good time. Her last day of school is next Thursday. Which reminded me that I scheduled an appointment for my car next week not realizing that Ella was still in school. I need to reschedule that.

I put my dresses that I made in a special spot at my sale. I sold one yesterday and have gotten many comments on how cute they are. Now most of my neighbors know where to come if they need a dress made.

My garden is doing well. Something has been nibbling on my cucumber and melon seedlings. I went online trying to find out what it could be. My best guess is that it was the birds. I haven't seen any bugs and from what I read that was my best guess. At least I planted enough so I should still be okay. Now I know for next year. My pepper plants are doing very well. I have found a couple caterpillars on them. They've been chewing on the leaves a little, but not hurting too much. I just pick off the offending bug and throw them as far as I can. Hopefully they don't find their way back to the garden.

I have very high hopes and big plans for all my veggies, so lets hope they start getting bigger fast!

They're going to be building the house right next to us starting next week. It's going to make for a loud summer. Not that it's not loud around here with the many houses their building around us, but this is the closest one. It will be nice when they're all done. I was hoping they would building during the winter, but oh well.

Back to my sale I go......