This Year's Garden

Last year I had several people comment to me about the weeds in my garden.  This year, I have worked hard to keep the weeds out and make sure the plants are well fertilized.  Today I walked out to the garden, after a week from being away, just to check on the plants.  I decided to take a few pictures and post a blog since the garden looks so good.



This year our garden has two sections.  One sections is just for watermelons.  Well, I planted a few sunflowers for so the kids could watch them grow tall.  The girls wanted to make scarecrows for each garden, but I don’t think the birds are scared.  They mostly use it for a perch. 



I have planted both Sugar Baby and Jubilee Watermelons.  Here is a picture on a jubilee just getting started.





The sunflowers have grown taller than I expected.  They are just beginning to start producing seeds.







The other section has peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and onions.

 

This year I planted three types of tomatoes:  Beefsteak, Big Boy, and Cherry tomatoes.  This plant alone must have over 100 cherry tomatoes. 





My beefsteak tomatoes are almost ready to start picking.  There are eight beefsteak plants in total.





I have planted a hybrid sweetpepper and a hybrid Jalapeño.  My sweet peppers are just getting started, but I have already begun picking the jalapeños.  


This is the only cucumber so far.  It is almost ready to be picked. 



I have already dug up over 50 pounds of potatoes.  I have planted more and don’t expect them to be ready for another month or so.

Track Meet 2013

The kids track meet that is usually done in April or early may was rained out. They finally made it up last week.  It was hot to say the least.

 

Isabelle’s group was first thing in the morning. They ran the 50 yard, 100 yard, and two relays!

 

Isabelle got third place in the 50 yard dash and fourth place in the 100 yard.

 

Not sure about the shorter relay, but for the longer (400m?) relay race that she ran with her friends they got second place.

 

Here is her teammates/friends, Christa, Jada, and Skylar.

I just had to post this next picture. Isabelle’s friend Jada, during her first race, ran so hard she ran out of her shoe. She kept going and finished the race laughing. This was great!

Here are the big girls cheering on their little sisters!

The little kids ran in the 50 and 100 yard dash. Anna came in fourth in the 50 and first in the 100. She too, ran with a smile all the way down the track.

I love Isabelle’s face in the background of this picture.

It seems like such a long way for those babies to run.

Luke was a little bored by the time we got to the second group of kids.

But he started out being sweet and picking me flowers…

And trying to steal the cones.

Jenny helped us keep track of Luke.

First Cookout of the Summer

In case you all hadn’t noticed I am trying to catch up on some posts that I have been meaning to write.

 

Mother’s Day weekend the Rushing families decided to get together for a cookout at Mike and Jessica’s house.  It was a somewhat rainy day and the pool was still cold. But that didn’t stop us!

 

Here is Will grilling. The only apron they had was a little girly, but he is secure in his manhood and had no problem putting on that flowery, ruffled apron.

There were kids everywhere. Matthew is showing off some of his diving skills here.

We tried and tried to get Steve to look up for this picture of him and Angela. All we could get was the eyeballs.

Four girls! What are we going to do when they are all teenagers?

These two took some time getting in the water to begin with. It was just a little too cold to jump right in.

Here they are trying to get warm after getting out of the water.

Look at these three! 

This is the one that made us all scream. Will told Parker to try to stand on the board so that he could get this shot. All of the Mama’s about lost it when we realized how close he was to the side of the pool. Thank goodness he didn’t fall backwards and bonk his head.

No words needed.

Matthew and Luke playing.

Luke loves these fountains!

Mommy and daughter!

Luke and the monkey bars.

I am not sure what is going on in this picture but is sure looks like trouble!

Happy in-laws!

Grandma and some of the girls.

Food, food, food, and more food!

 

I could have sworn there were more pictures of people eating. It seems like that is all we did all day.

 

Lots of good times in the water.

Again, no words!

Luke and Uncle Mike in their muscle shirts. Luke is showing off his muscles!

Plant one on her Jess! Angela, you look like you are about to deck her. Anyone else want to play ‘caption this’ photo?

Here, they were just all snacking on the French fries.

I can’t tell if they think they are sitting around a campfire, waiting on food, or just trying to stay warm.

Parker is just like his dad and uncles….full of hot air.

It is still a show every time Luke gets his blood sugar checked.

What a fun day! Thanks Mike and Jessica for inviting us. Thanks everyone for the food. And thanks Steve and Will for cooking!