::puttin' up corn::

On Friday, we put up some corn with Matt's mom and Aunt Deanne. This is something Matt's family has done for YEARS, and is relatively new to me. So here's how it goes...

First, you shuck it...

Then, wash it...

Cook it...

Blanch it...

Then, you cut it...

You bag it...

...And you freeze it and you can have fresh corn any time you want it! We started with about 13 dozen ears of corn, we got about 70 bags out of it. We took home 25 bags ourselves. It's a bit like a chipmunk storing nuts for winter :), and it's going to be so nice to have fresh corn in December.

::Chloe's first day::

Chloe's first day of FIRST GRADE!!

(yesterday)

She was SO excited! She couldn't even sleep the night before. I went down to check on her and she was laying there wide awake. So I just sat on her floor next to her bed, and we just talked for a while. The next morning, she was ready to go! She came in the kitchen about 7:15 (I didn't even have to go wake her up). She had her outfit all picked out, and she knew exactly what she wanted in her lunch. She was just SO excited!

When we got to the school, she started to get nervous "Mom, I feel nervous in my tummy!" She got quieter and quieter the further into the school we got, and she kind of peeked around the corner into her classroom. She came in, sat down, and didn't say much. She didn't look around much either. I knew how she felt...kind of playing it cool, 'til she gets to know everybody :)

(at her desk -Cooper's head in the foreground)

After a few pictures and talking to her teacher for a minute, we left. It took a little more to get Porter out of there. He wanted to stay with her, and I had to call for him a few times for him to come with us.

So there she was...for the whole day!! I can't even believe she's in first grade, and at school all day! I missed her. I kept looking at the clock all day hoping it was almost 3:30. I was so anxious to talk to her and see how her day was going, how the kids are, how she likes her teacher, how lunch was, and all that. I told Matt I kinda wished she had a cell phone, I would just text her! He told me not to get any ideas.

Then, FINALLY, she was home! I said hi and gave her a big hug and told her I missed her, and she says "well of course you did." The little boys were glad to see her too! Bubb said "kiiisss!!" And she told me ALL about her day! She said "school was SO fun" and told me all about everything. Her teacher is really loud and funny, she's the only one in her class with a princess backpack, only 5 kids in her class brought their lunch from home, she sat next to 2 boys at lunch, she heard stories about bad kids her teacher taught last year, she learned all the rules of the classroom, AND she didn't have any homework that day!!

...and this morning, she was just as excited to go again.

::mom's mmmsrrrpryssth birthday::

Mom's birthday was Friday.

We celebrated with her at Cheesecake (mmmmmmm!!).

Papa surprised her with an iPad.

She was WAY excited!

Happy birthday, Mom!!

We love you so much!!

::back to school::

School starts tomorrow!!! So today we tried on our backpacks, walked around with our lunchboxes, picked out and tried on our clothes for the first day, looked at our school supplies, squealed a lot 'cause we're SO excited...

...and we had our 2nd annual back to school dinner, and it was so great!

chicken fettuccine alfredo

steamed veggies

french bread

Kool-Aid

homemade brownies

Yum!

Me: "What's first grade going to be like?"

Chloe: "I think it'll be a little harder than kindergarten. The homework will DEFINITELY be harder!"

Me: "What do you think you'll do in big preschool?"

Port: "I know we'll have snack!!!!"


Should be a fun year

:)

::writer's block::

I guess it's been a while! All I can say about that is that life's been a little boring around here, and I haven't been able to come up with anything fun to do or write about. We're on our last couple of weeks of summer, and we've just been kind of hangin' out! We've played outside, played in the water, played with friends, and just done a lot of nothing!

I wish I had blogged a little in the last couple of weeks, but all the posts really would've said is "Today we played outside. Again." And I just haven't felt too creative. I kind of had a writer's block of sorts. Anyway, hopefully I can get past that and get back in the swing or else I might not ever again!

We had the most boring Saturday in history yesterday. We were all ready to get out of the house and do something fun. So we got some dinner (McD's for the littles, Subway for the bigs) and took it to the park.

Our new favorite thing to do at the park is play hot and cold. This time, it was with a Matt's Sobe bottle. The kids love that game, and don't seem to ever get tired of it. Portie usually peeks, and sometimes doesn't tell you correctly if you're hot or cold :)

After the park, Matt was in the mood for a drive in the mountains. The kids (well, Chloe), hated it and thought it was more boring than being at home, and a BIG OL' grasshopper flew in our car!

::fishes::

We finished up a couple of sessions of swimming lessons yesterday...

The first session, the kids got to go with some friends...

(Cooper-20 mos., Porter-4, Chloe-6 1/2, Laney-6 1/2, Dillon-3)

Port got off to a rough start in the first session. He didn't want any part of getting his face wet, so we put him in a private lesson. Turns out, all he really needed was some goggles! After we discovered that, he did awesome!

Chloe LOVES the water! She was always the first one in and the last one out of the pool.

She did a great job, too!

What would summer be without swimming lessons? They got to swim every day for a few weeks, learned a lot, and had FUN!

Bubby, on the other hand didn't love swimming lessons. He wanted to get in too (and he did during Port's private lesson). We spent a lot of time eating snacks, crying, running away, trying to get in the pool, throwing toys in the pool, trying to run out into the parking lot, and REALLY wishing we could swim too!

He and I aren't too sad it's over :)

Now, if we only had our OWN pool........

::garden update::

I thought I'd do a quick update on our garden.

(mostly for my Dad :) )

It's grown!

A few close-ups of the produce...

Green Peppers...

Radishes...

...and they're HOT!! We pick these pretty often for salads. We give some away too.

Green Beans...

We had to replant a few because the first batch didn't give us many sprouts.

Tomatoes...

They're monsters! They've each got a million tomatoes on 'em (not really a million, but you know, a LOT). The middle bush (cherry tomatoes) grew so big it lifted the wire support off the ground and then tipped over. All the tomatoes are green still, but they'll start turnin' any day now, I'm sure.

Yellow Squash "Crook Neck"...

It's coming along. It had a broken stem on it, so I just cut it off, and ever since then, it's gone nuts! The plant itself is huge. There are a couple of teeeeeeny little squashes on there.

Cucumbers...

We had to replant these because they didn't sprout the first time (same as the green beans). We'll see how they do this time.

Corn...

Our corn's doin' pretty good. No ears yet, and it's not as big as the neighbors', but it'll get there (we hope).

Carrots & Lettuce...

We cut the lettuce pretty often for salad. The carrots are doing well.

Watermelon...

We only have 2 watermelon plants (out of the 9 we planted). I think maybe we washed the seeds away when we watered. The 2 little plants are doing well though.

Peas...

We're FINALLY getting pea-pods! We lost a whole row of peas. A friend told us it was because we had too much compost in our soil, and it burned up the plant. But our other row is doing well.

Onions...

Our onions are lookin' good. The plant part came out of the rough look they had at the beginning, and seem to be doing well.

And that's about it! It's been fun. We go out every day to weed and water and check on things. It's always fun to see new growth or a change in the vegetable itself. The kids get excited too. They've helped a lot with the watering, weeding a little, showing us new stuff, and planting-Coopie always says "oh howp." We can tell the kids helped us plant because we have random carrot plants popping up all over the place-some in the watermelon mounds, in the middle of all the lettuce, along the brick edge, etc.

It's definitely a learning experience! It took us a while (and probably cost us a few plants) to learn to best way to water, and we already know a few things we want to do differently next year.

::"wuhdeeluh"::

Saturday. 7ish pm.

A 4-wheeler ride with Matt :)

and J & Sae-glad she took her camera!

I'm not much of an outdoorsman (I saw lots of campsites and people camping, and I just kept saying "why??? Why would you DO that???"), but I do kind of enjoy riding the 4-wheeler with Matt. He likes to scare me a bit (it doesn't take much), he knows just about every trail and road in the mountains up there, and it's just fun.

PS "wuhdeeluh" is the way Coop says 4-wheeler :)