What's new?

How embarrassing! Over a year without a post! Oh well, here's to new beginnings. Funny how quickly life passes us by. A year later, I find myself in a totally different lifestyle than before. The boys are growing quickly and becoming more independent. Not that life's a vacation or anything, but it's nice that they don't need constant supervision, and I do tend to get a little bit more done these days.

The garden is (mostly) in, though things are a little smaller than I'd like them at this point. I guess it's time to break out the fish emulsion. Have you heard of it? It's stinky as all get-out but works wonders for the plants! Four out of six of my broccoli plants were eaten by rabbits (as usual), but I replanted with squash since I'm never that impressed with the amount of broccoli I end up with for the amount of space the plants occupy. I cut back on the variety of things planted and am focusing on greater yield of the produce we tend to actually eat. The veggies this year consist of:

Spinach
Buttercrunch lettuce
Red and sweet yellow onions
Eggplant- white, purple, and pink
Tomatoes- Roma, Mortgage lifter and Gold Medal
Cucumbers- patio snacker
Kale- curly leaf
Swiss Chard- rainbow lights
Yellow squash
Zucchini
Peppers- Hungarian Hot Wax (for making the famous pepper butter!), Marconi, and Sweet bell if I buy some plants.
and the measly 3 sugar peas that popped up.

Also growing are strawberries, blueberries, cilantro, basil, oregano, mint, and an assortment of flowers.
Cucumbers are planted in a large tub with trellis and covered with tulle in hopes to avoid cucumber beetle infestation. Last year I only got a few cukes before they were totally dessimated by the pests. I almost didn't plant any, but I love cucumber salad, and hopefully the covering will work.

In other news....

I've started a small home business selling vinyl decals, wall art, customized gifts and the like. It's going pretty well considering I've only started, and I would say that the amount of work I put in is reflected in the amount of business I get.  It's slow at the moment due to end of the school year hubub, but hopefully summer will bring opportunity for more work. If you want to check it out, you can find my shop online at First Impressions Decals.

Isaac graduated preschool! Friday will be his last day of school for the year, and he is so excited for Kindergarten in the fall. I have mixed feelings about closing this chapter of our lives, but it's so fun watching him grow. Riley is finishing second grade next week, unbelievable! Both of the kids are so smart and funny (wonder where they get that from, hehe).

We have lots of fun things planned for summer. Camping, fishing, canoeing, swimming lessons, summer reading program, ice cream and popsicle making, hopefully lots of this...

...free kids movies at the theater, and extended stays at Grandma's are on the agenda. I hope these activities will translate to blog posts and fun things to share with you  all. I'm also planning to do a bit of summer homeschooling to keep the kids sharp and ready to continue learning in the fall. There will be a post with my home-developed curriculum coming, as well as updates on what is working and not working for us.

Well, that's the short of it all. Thanks for sticking with me. I really hope I can get this blog back up and running, don't be afraid to poke me if I forget to post. :)

 Diana