Hard to keep up

Despite the awful blight that's killing off all my tomato plants, many tomatoes have ripened and are coming in now. I'm having a harder time this year with keeping up on the canning, although I know I should shake a leg since I won't have as fruitful of a harvest once the blight completely kills off every vine. For now I'm enjoying the colors on the counter, and the pondering over what to can before they rot away.

Prairie days

I've been keeping up with my volunteer hours per the Master Conservationist course, and my newest favorite activity is collecting native prairie flower seeds. I can do it per my own schedule, and Gavin can come along. I spent a (hot) morning this past week in a little patch of prairie at Chichaqua collecting four types of seed. It's peaceful when this is the view for 2+ hours....

Garden woes

My garden has taken on a sadder tone this summer than my joyful garden of last year. After I fought off the fungus that practically killed off all my non-tomato plants, I now have insects of all types devouring leaves, fruit, veggies.... ripened and unripened. There is caterpillar poop on everything, and I can't seem to pick ripe produce fast enough to get to it before the bugs. Japanese beetles are destroying my strawberries.

I chatted with the farmer that runs our organic CSA and he gave me some ideas of organic insecticides. I tried one and have all my fingers and toes crossed. In the meantime, I'm happy to see that finally I'm getting some ripe tomatoes. I may not have hope left in the peppers/eggplant/brussels sprouts, but the tomatoes are what I want the most.

I planted a rainbow of tomatoes this year, and all but one are new to my gardening journey. I did 8 (instead of 10) tomato plants this year, and now have at least one ripen fruit from seven out of eight (only the giant Brandywine has not yet ripened). I love all the colors!

White Tamesol, Paul Robeson, Arkansas Traveler, Green Zebra, Nebraska Wedding, Illinois Beauty, & Cream Sausage

1st day of school

Benji and Jack went back to school today. Hard to believe it's not even the true middle of August yet, and the State Fair is in full swing, yet they are back in school!

Benj was a tad nervous about his first day of 1st grade and all day school, but he got on the bus like a champ and had a great day. Jack seems to have slid into 2nd grade with no issues. They both have buddies in their classes, and Benji has the same 1st grade teacher Jack had last year (whom we adore). I'm looking forward to great things this year!

Gavin spent the day with Mike and I, since Mike has Wednesdays off. He chose to go to the zoo, after we went to breakfast. He seemed to TREMENDOUSLY enjoy being an only child. 

Jack's 8th Birthday

How was it 8 years ago when my little guy made me a mother, Mike a father, and started our parenting journey? The first few weeks of his life, spent in the NICU, were trying but fortifying as we learned to roll with the punches and be the best parents we could be. It's amazing how much he has grown, and how far he has come, in eight years. We love this guy and the person he's growing up to be!

Bricks 4 Kids Lego Party with 7 Buddies {& 1 buddy brother}!

Austin & Alec are a Lego team

Caleb & Jack working on a dinosaur  model

Jaxson & Matthew finish their dinosaur first

Okay, this is a little hard. Need some help, dad!

A little Weird Al

Mike recently introduced the boys to Weird Al, and they took an immediate liking.

Brave kitty

This silly kitty seems to think he can catch a goose. He doesn't seem to be deterred by the fact that they are twice his size....

Short visit from a Great Aunt & Uncle

My Aunt Lori & Uncle Don, and cousin Abby, stopped by the other day to see our house as they drove from their home in Missouri to the Twin Cities. It was a short visit, but really nice to see them and for the kids to get to know them a bit. The kids barely stopped moving to snap this photo, but we managed.

Later in the day, we found a very friendly butterfly.

Who says Saturday lunch at home can't be fancy?

Kids say the darnedest things....

In our road trip down to Mahaska County to help out with the wolly mammoth dig the other day, we were playing a "Countries of the World" trivia game with the boys. Mike and I wanted them to guess "Italy," so we said, "It's where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is, where pizza and spaghetti come from, where Mario & Luigi are from."  And Jack yelled "BROOKLYN!"

Touché, 7-yr-old, touché.