Baseball pictures

Some baseball pictures from the latest group of games. Only three more game nights to go! The boys are sad about that, but I am ready to get back to our regular schedule.

Aaron got a double last night. He's running for third in this picture.


Stephen also got a double last night.

Aaron stopping a grounder.

Nathan, waiting for a ball in left field. He usually plays first base. Yesterday he pitched and was pleased with himself for not walking anyone. He kept the other team from scoring in his second inning pitching. And he got an RBI. So even though his team lost 9-6, he was happy with his performance.

The race is on!

The first of the pea blossoms showed up yesterday. Now it is a race to see if we can get back from vacation before the first peas are ready to eat.

Goofy kids

My dh wanted a picture of the children in their new John Deere hats. So here is the good one with angelic (for the most part) looking children.

And here is the true nature picture.

Can I help you?

What started out as a cool morning turned out to be a hot day (for us). Tonight we had concession stand duty. It is part of playing in our baseball league. For one night, you have to man the booth. The children love it. Nathan had to practice with his team and was mad that he couldn't help out.

It was a slow night but the children seemed to have a good time anyway.

Another day in paradise

We've had another beautiful day here. We got the weeding finished and the watering done and enjoyed lunch on the porch.

We've also already been to the post office and picked up the new Star Wars stamps much to the delight of all of the children. And planted the pie pumpkins. Now we only have to plant the second plantning of corn and we'll be done with the planting phase of the garden.

All Work and No Play....

We've had four great working days here at the ranch. Today the two older boys took apart the dog kennels that were inside the shed. They had a great time dismantling them.


This is a picture of my chives in glorious bloom. I planted some dill today and pondered on where to put the daylilies that are currently starting to crowd out my herbs.

Our meat birds are getting bigger. This one is two weeks older. Only ten more weeks to enjoy life.

But we didn't spend the whole day working. We went to a friends' house on a lake and enjoyed a very relaxing Memorial Day picnic complete with swimming, games of tag, a military slang quiz (for adults - I got 7 out of 15 right), and jello shaped in a flag.

The children enjoyed their first dip in the water this year, especially Deb who stayed in the water long after the big kids got out.

Memorial Day Flowers

This weekend's new wildflowers: A blue flag (though it really is more purple than blue)

And a Lady Slipper (thanks to Kim for the identification!)

Stephen's birthday

Saturday we celebrated Stephen's 9th birthday. He had invited over another family that we've known for years and years. We started off the party by a walk through the woods, through mosquitoes and muddy patches, and ended up at the always fascinating bridge over the river. It really is an official river and ends up in Lake Huron. We're just at the very beginning of it.

No one fell in which is always heartening to the moms. Here is Stephen with his Bionicle cake and his favorite Pirates baseball shirt.

Stephen got several games and is thrilled by another Star Wars Lego set. Remember when getting presents made you grin like this?

So a good time was had by all there. So good a time that we stayed up talking until nearly 10:20 pm. And paid for it the next day. But still, one's 9th birthday only comes once, right?

In the Beginning...

Well, here goes. I'm starting my new blog. We'll start out with some pictures what we've been working on this wonderful weekend. We finished putting in the majority of the plants in the garden. We'll still make at least one more trip to the greenhouse but the big part of the work is done.


And you can see that we've expanded the garden once again. Now it is truly 100 feet by 100 ft.