A Big Weekend!

This past weekend was alot of fun and filled with some firsts for my boys. Joshua had his first official sleepover with a buddy of his, Luke. They had a great time going to Chick-fil-a for dinner, playing with flashlights in the dark, getting donuts for breakfast, and much more. Many thanks to our friends for hosting! Meanwhile, Neil and I were able to have a night just with Micah. We ate pizza at home and then took Micah to Yogurtville, which is a yummy frozen yogurt place where you choose your yogurt flavors and then get to choose from bunches of toppings. He really liked it! We went home and played a board game with Micah (his choice) and then took him to some local fountains to play in the water. He had a blast. My only regret is that I forgot to take my camera. It was so funny to watch him playing in the water!

Last Day of Swim Lessons

Here are the boys at their last day of swim lessons. I'm sad that they're over, but at some point you have to go out on your own and put what you've learned into practice. :) The middle two pictures show Joshua swimming on his own across the pool (he's in the very middle of the picture) and kicking across with a kick board, along with the other two in his class. The last two are of Joshua kicking (he's in front) and Micah with his friend Cooper and Ms. Duanna, their teacher. She was great and did a wonderful job teaching them.

Swim Lessons

The boys have had swim lessons the past two weeks. They've both done a wonderful job. Joshua is basically swimming on his own and Micah has been learning to kick his legs, take breaths and put his face in the water and much more. I forgot to take pics of Joshua during his actual lesson today. The one of him is before his lesson. The other three pics are of Micah during his lesson. There is one other boy, Cooper, in his class. You can see Micah and Cooper practicing their kick. At the end of their lessons, they always get to do something fun, like squirt their teacher with the water launchers. :) I think the boys are so cute with their goggles on!

A New Chapter

We are beginning a new chapter in our lives, one that takes us away from the shore and out onto the water, literally. :) Doug and Emily generously gave us their boat to enjoy! It's a 14 foot fishing boat, with the perfect amount of room for all four of us. We don't have a truck right now, so we got a hitch for our car and have been able to pull the boat just fine. We took it for a test run earlier this week and all went well. The water was choppy, but other than that, it was really fun. When we got back home, the boys spent half an hour playing in the boat, pretending that they were fishing for BIG fish. :)

Gardening 101

One of these days, I'll graduate to Gardening 201. For now, though, I'm stuck learning very basic gardening lessons. :)

Lesson 1: harvest basil before it flowers. I didn't think to look up when to harvest basil until after it started flowering. Oops. I did harvest some leaves, but I haven't been doing it consistently. In order to keep the plant growing and the leaves tasting right, the top leaves are supposed to be pinched off as they grow. This encourages the growth of new stems and keeps the plant from flowering. Luckily, I did start some other basil from seed. So, I have a second chance.

Lesson 2: If there are no insects to pollinate, you probably won't get any squash, cucumber, or cantaloupe. My squash plants are big and beautiful, but nearly 50 days into growing I still have no veggies to show for it, only small squash on the female flower that end up dying off. It turns out, if the insects aren't doing their jobs, you can try and do it for them. I've started going out in the early mornings, picking the male flowers and trying to get some of the pollen into the female flowers, in hopes that it will help.

Lesson 3: I have much to learn about tomatoes! I hope I learn what I need to know before my plants get eaten by bugs, a disease, or the fruit eaten by birds. :)

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had TINY cantaloupe and TINY cucumbers, finally. I hope that they grow!! I'll take pics later today to record any potential progress. Meanwhile, we are praying for a great harvest!!

Life Through Joshua's Eyes

Here are some pictures taken by Joshua: the tomatoes in the garden; his stuffed fish; Neil; and Micah! He did such a good job!