Garden Satisfaction

Well, it's August.  That means school is coming around again.  It means it's supposed to be blazing hot outside.  It means tomatoes should be turning red...and they are.  Remember back with me to the spring when I planted way too many tomato plants from seed.  Remember with me how I didn't care for them and most of the first batch died.  Remember with me that I did successfully start from seed 4 Brandywine plants and 4 Jelly Bean plants.  Well, I've only enjoyed 2 jelly bean tomatoes so far.  This first picture is the first harvest of tomatoes.....off the plants that I didn't plant on purpose.  I have 5 plants that started growing on their own, and they're doing phenomenally well!  You will only see 10 tomatoes in the picture because Ainsley helped me get them.  I set her down with one zucchini, and went after the tomatoes.  She tried to eat the stem of the zucchini, which was pretty funny.  I put 12 tomatoes in front of her, turned around for 30 seconds to pick the other two zucchinis and I laughed at what I saw.  She had bitten and spit out the first tomato, but she was going in for another!!!!  She's like a bull, she loves the color red.  I've tried giving her tomatoes again, but she spits it right out.  I think she gets the texture thing from her mama, but I didn't like tomatoes as a kid either.

We have probably picked about 6-7 dozen tomatoes!  No joke.  We've used them all so far with different recipes.  My favorite super simple one was dicing them up, adding some garlic salt, and spreading it on buttered toast.  Refreshing!

We've picked about 10 zucchinis so far, using all but two of them at this point.  Some top recipes for these has been the zucchini cakes mentioned last time and the chocolate zucchini bread we made for Sunday school.  Oddly, Rachel wanted to make it, and then never even tried it.  One of our pastors said it's the only way to make zucchini taste good.  :-)

The next picture is some lovely homegrown goodness from our friends John and Amber.  They have some peach trees in their backyard, and it's way too many peaches for them to eat themselves.  It's pretty rough being their friends and HAVING to take them off their hands.  I ate about 5 peaches the day they brought them, and then cut all these up the next day, finishing them off on day 3.  They didn't last long.  Thankfully, they brought another bag this week too since they were blown off with the last storm that came through this past weekend.  I'm trying to savor them this time.  Ainsley is definitely my daughter though; she polished off 2 peaches all by herself.  (Oh, I also saved a seed or two to try planting a tree for us too.)

One other amazing surprise from the garden this year: remember how 5 tomato plants are growing that I didn't plant on purpose?  Well, I had a couple potato plants do the same thing.  I dug up 2 decent-sized potatoes yesterday, and I didn't even plant them!  That was really cool.  I also harvest the beets, which only produced one fairly small beet and four tiny things.  So if I choose to grow them again I'll look for growing tips.

We received about 50 carrots the other week, from my mom's garden.  They tasted just as good as the full sized carrots from the store, but knowing where they came from made them even better.  I just need to find a good way to make them last longer than a week in the fridge, because I can only eat so many carrots in such a short amount of time.

I'm also hoping to grow more diversity next year with more root crops and different things.  I also intend to plant them at the right time and give them what they need.  We'll see if I can actually follow through with that though!

Thanks for reading.  Time to eat.

-mister-

Dear Ainsley [11 months]

As mentioned before we took some of Ainsley's 1 year pictures this week. A few of my favorites are scattered through this letter to Ains. The rest are on Facebook. Enjoy our sweet lil' one! :)


Dear Ainsley-


Next month you are turning 1! And I'm so excited for it. I know all parents say it, but it seems like just yesterday you were born. Especially with a new baby brother or sister on his/her way in a few months, it's my goal to continue to soak up these moments with just you and Papa.

 This month was a month of transitions for you. Our first attempt to switch you over to whole milk resulted in a rash a couple days later, which ended us at the doctor to learn that you had hand, foot, and mouth disease and impetigo. We went back to nursing for a couple weeks until it was all cleared up and then you're back to the milk, without a problem. After Grandma-wisdom, we decided 1-2% milk was a better option than the whole milk as the fat enzymes that remain in your poo may have been the root of the rash. [Your Papa had similar issues as a wee one.] Now at your 11-month birthday, you are going on nearly a week of whole milk only. You and I thankfully, have handled the transition well.

Your other BIG transition was into your crib at night! Now I'd been dreading thinking about this transition for months. Nine times out of 10 when we'd tell someone that we co-slept, a comment would be made about the nightmare we'd experience when we tried to get you to sleep on your own. Your Papa and I decided that come Summer we'd make this transition. I mean I don't need sleep in the summer, right?! Well June came and went and we snuggled through the early summer nights. With a work trip planned for the 2nd full week of July aka 1 king bed in our room, we decided after that would be a great time to make the switch. I stalked the blogworld for support and suggestions and then came July 19th. Papa gave you a bottle and rocked you to sleep. He laid you down in your crib. Instantly you woke in tears, but 3 minutes and 8 seconds later, you were out for the count!! [Yes, momma timed it! I was only going to let you cry for 5 minutes. :)]

You woke a couple times that first night for a few minutes each time but considering it was the first time in 327 day and the only time in your entire life that you had slept farther than an arms distance from your momma, I thought you did great!! The next night, I was whooped and Papa had nighttime duty. He rocked and rocked you, and next thing I knew, I woke next to Papa and you in our bed. He informed me it wasn't worth the fight and there's another day to try. Good enough for me. 

Well the next night, Papa wasn't feeling too great and I tried to get you into your crib peacefully. You wanted nothing to do with sleeping let alone your crib, so that night? Papa woke next to you and me. :) Since then though you've slept in your crib and most nights you haven't even woke during a 9 or 10 hour stretch. It has been wonderful! And as much as we loved your nightly snuggles, we've enjoyed the slumber party like pillow talk and evening time together since we've made the transition. You still cry like crazy for a few seconds [13 to be exact the other night] or a couple minutes [not more than 3 yet though] as soon as you are laid in your crib, but so far, so good!!

In addition to those major transitions, you are still as cute and fun as ever! Your personality is really starting to shine and your facial expressions crack.us.up! Today, I think you learned what the word "kisses" means, although it's important to keep our mouth shut when we receive such kisses right now! ;)

My fav!

Keep being sweet, sweet Pete! Keep being the joy to our world!


Much love,


Momma

Photo Shoot Preview & Goal #25

With Mister having the day off today, we thought it'd be a good day to head to the park and take some pics for Ainsley's first birthday. Well unbeknownst to us rain was in the forecast so after snuggling through a Tyler Perry movie [my fav!], a lunch date, a few errands, and a nice nap, the sun came out and we decided to still head to the park. 


We took 300+ a lot of pics so hopefully we have a dozen good ones. No exaggeration on either end of the estimates. We still have to sift through them all but I thought I'd leave you with one preview:

Ainsley & her lil' sibling's first photo.
Goal #25 :-)

Baby Massie #2 is healthily growing with an expected arrival of early March. Ainsley had a due date that threatened to keep me away from The Allen County Fair, yet was unsuccessful as I made it there all but the day my water broke and the day she was born. This little one though I'm 99.9% will keep me from another annual attendance at the OHSAA State Wrestling Tournament. Since I'm due the weekend of the tournament, I'm already counting on my first missed attendance in 16 years!!! 


He or she is definitely worth it though! 


We are all excited and hoping for another smooth pregnancy with a perfect, healthy outcome; just like the last one!