Sweet Potatoes and Apples

Daddy has been gone all week, but today he was off!  Momma put him (and the kiddos) to work digging the sweet potatoes...

The ground was so dry and hard to dig since we haven't had a decent rain all month, so Daddy did all the digging!  It wasn't our best crop of sweet taters, but I'm sure we are going to have plenty to get us through the year.  And we will have enough to make some baby food for Number 4.

After we were done digging, we went to check on the fruit trees.  Unfortunately, our peach trees produced absolutely nothing this year.  (Insert sad face)  Our apple tree on the other hand, put on a handful of apples.  One looked perfect, so Dallas picked it!

He was teasing that he was going to eat it, but it is sitting in the fridge waiting to be shared.

Until next time...

Fun Friday Fotos

Daddy had a rough day at work yesterday.  They started harvesting, but only one of the 3 combines was able to run.  We thought we would cheer him up this morning with a picture.

This evening, Reba helped me dig the carrots out of the garden!  I was very pleased with how they did.

I think these carrots will be destined to become baby food for Number 4 and a carrot cake for everyone else!

All that is left in the garden are a few bell pepper plants and the sweet potatoes.  I think I'm going to wait for the weather to cool off before digging them.

Until next time...

Trains, Tomatoes, and Watermelon?

Somehow the train tub made its way upstairs recently.  With that, the kiddos have been playing daily with the tracks.  This has to be my best track design to date!

Once Julianne went down for her nap, Dallas and Reba volunteered to help process tomatoes!  Dallas cranked almost the entire time and Reba place almost every tomato into the funnel.

After work, Daddy decided it was finally time to pick the first watermelon!  We were all so excited to sink our teeth into that heavenly juiciness...

Until next time...

Pickin' Beans

This morning, I picked (what I hope is) my last batch of green beans (with the help of Gram).

I had two rows of beans this year: one row of Contender variety and one row of Blue Lake variety.  One of those buckets was the "third picking" off the Contender row, and the other two buckets are from the Blue Lake.  I have already picked 2.5 buckets off the Contender row.  It was my first time planting the Blue Lake, but I'm happy to report they did well.  I found that all the beans on the Blue Lake were ready at one time (as in I am only going to pick once off that row), unlike the Contender where there were small beans on the plants letting me know there was more to come.  If that makes any sense...

Looks like I have a date breaking beans and running the pressure cooker tomorrow :)

Until next time...

How Sweet it Is

Daddy brought home the first ripe ears of sweet corn tonight!  When I got the text that said he was bringing it home, I quickly changed the menu for supper.  You GOT to have BLT's with sweet corn; and as luck would have it, I had picked a few red tomatoes from the garden a couple nights ago!

This was Sugar's first time with the delicacy.

She wasn't sure what to do at first, but after watching her brother and sister...she quickly understood.

After supper, we all sat down to break the first picking of green beans!

Notice the little one "behind" the bucket?  Yep, she's eating the beans and not really breaking...

Until next time...

Vacation Day 2

This morning everyone got up and ready (minus our kiddos) and made their way to the fairgrounds to start setting up for the party.  My little ones must have been worn out from the previous night because it was close to 9 before they got out of bed!  While they were sleeping, Ma-maw and I finished ironing everyone's wedding clothes.  Once the kiddos were up and dressed, we made our way out to help with the decorating!

Julianne needed a higher seat in order to supervise appropriately.

The florist arrived with fresh flowers and small vases to be used on the tables

Little Miss was more than willing to jump in and help with the decorating.  Although, she was disappointed there were no streamers and balloons...

The head table - the bride's and bridesmaids bouquets will be added after the wedding.

Aunt Katie wanted to keep the decorating simple, and it turned out beautifully!

The finished cake - the topper was custom-done: it says Mr. {&} Mrs. Ricklefs with a snowflake.  The mugs were a gift the couple received early - one has Mrs. and the other has Mr.  I then added the ribbon for a little something extra.

Back in January when Ma-maw and I went to Iowa to help dress shop, Ma-maw had the idea to make a photo prop of a couple and a snowmobile.  We mentioned the idea to Aunt Katie, and she thought it would be fun as well, but was unsure what Brian would think.  Turns out, he thought it would be a fun idea too!  So, that became my big project.  I searched online for various pictures of couples on snowmobiles, and I sent them to Katie and Brian to decide what they wanted.  I was lucky enough to be able to use a projector at school to blow the image up and trace it on butcher block paper.  I brought it home and over the course of a week created the following master piece...

I think the groom and bride were happy with the way it turned out...

I even got Dallas to get his picture in it with me

We finished the decorating party with pizza and drinks, and then everyone went on their merry way to get cleaned up for the rehearsal.

Katie and Brian chose to do an outside wedding at the Historical Society on the edge of town.  There is a lovely flower garden there, and it made the perfect setting for the intimate wedding they wanted.

After rehearsal, Brian's parents treated us to dinner.  Pa-paw managed to get a hold of Julianne before the meal.

I then convinced the other kiddos to join them for a picture...

Dallas and Daddy waiting on the food to arrive

Little Miss doing her thang...

We ended the meal with cherry pie and ice cream for dessert...Sugar thought it was the best part!

One more picture of the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs.!!!

Until next time...

Site Supervisor

The kiddos were outside playing yesterday, when I spied this through the bay window...

My only guess was that Dallas was in charge and instructing his workers on what he wanted done.  I later found out that Dallas and Reba had the idea of creating their own gardens in the buckets.  I still think, Dallas took it upon himself to be supervisor and delegated his work to Julianne!

Until next time...

Pinto Game and Outside Work

Dallas' team is cruising right along through their season - they only have 3 more regular season games before the tourney starts.  They currently have 6 wins-3 losses-2 ties.

Today they played the other St. Wendel Pinto team.  Our boys played hard, and had an awesome comeback inning, but they still ended up loosing.

The most exciting part was that Dallas hit the ball off the machine!  It has been a few games since he has done that.  Unfortunately, he was thrown out at first base, but let's hope this ends the drought he has been in.

After the game, we came home and unloaded the 2 yards of mulch we picked up that morning.  I then took Reba and headed to get another 1 and 1/3 yards of mulch and a new phone.  (Julianne had dropped mine in water a few days ago, and I fried it when I plugged it in without it being completely dried).  Once I got home, we finished laying the mulch, and then we got to work finishing the garden planting.  Thankfully, we had good helpers!

Until next time...

Planting

Between all the spring rains and Doug's own planting schedule, we have had a difficult time getting our own garden started this year.  At last though, Julianne and I headed over to a local greenhouse this morning and picked up a few plants for the garden.

I sent Doug the following picture in a text, saying this was on the agenda for evening.

We planted bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, and sweet potatoes tonight.  We have seeds that need to get in the ground as well, but we ran out of daylight.

Last year, Julianne sat on the side lines and watched us plant the garden.  This year was a different story.  She was right in the thick of things, getting her little hands dirty - along with her face, shirt, and everything else!

Until next time...

Garden Tilling

We had a very busy day outside today.  Doug borrowed a tractor and tiller, and worked the garden for the first time this spring.  Of course, he had a few little people very willing to help, too.

Until next time...