My summer garden

I am so proud of myself for my gardening efforts this summer. I actually saw it all the way through! (something I have never done before) I weeded and watered and harvested and canned. These pictures show just a little and I must admit the pictures don't really look that impressive, but I know how much I worked at this little plot and so the pictures just don't do it justice! These are my purple beans which are really cool. We call them magic beans because when you boil them they turn green like a regular green bean and they taste delicious! Like with most things, a little color makes it more fun :) I canned about 2 dozen pints of these guys. They were the most fun to pick too. At this point the sunflowers were getting too heavy and falling over, but they were so fun and cheerful. I got them all as little starts from my friend Tina's garden. I'm hoping I will have a bunch of naturally occurring starts of my own next year. The corn didn't turn out that great. We only got a few ears and they weren't very good. I think that it got planted too late. That is mostly the fault of the MOLE I had who kept going under my rows and either eating the seeds or making them disappear into his tunnels so I kept having to replant. And then if I had a little plant growing when he tunnelled again, the plants would fall over! It was quite a battle. We did trap and kill one mole, but I think there was more than one! The two rows of beans are in front of the corn.

This is a view of my 'rocky plot' where I planted an apple tree, potatoes (in the foreground), cucumbers, and pumpkins (in the back). Looking forward to red potatoes through the winter :) The pumpkins were recently harvested and put on the front porch. We got about 12 in various sizes and colors (orange and green). We had LOTS of cucumbers so I made LOTS of bread and butter pickles. I'm sure I have more than my family will ever eat so I will be sharing (hmmm, Christmas gifts?.... ha ha!) The dill pickles I did were REALLY sour and too mushy so I only did one batch. I'll try again next year. Zoe was the best cucumber eater in our family. She enjoyed slicing one up and eating it with ranch dip. It was a good after school treat for her!

One of the pumpkins growing out into the grass and weeds... All in all I am so glad I planted a garden this year. I learned a lot and am really looking forward to next year! I feel so lucky to have to room we do in our yard and it was really fun getting the kids involved too. It was a great summer activity. Also, I have to say thanks to my mom, Gwen, for helping too. She was here most of the summer so we worked together a lot after our morning walks. She bordered both plots with rocks and it looked really neat until the grass and weeds on the outside started growing so fast we couldn't keep up. She also did a bunch of canning of the tomatoes and blackberries!

Wicked!

Grandma Gwen made these Wicked t-shirts for the girls for them to wear to the show. The four of us girls went and it was such an awesome show! The singing was amazing, I mean really, it was just as good as the original cast. It was fun to see how it played out on stage along with the soundtrack we know and love so well!

This was after the show in Seattle at the Paramount. Our seats were pretty high up but still worth it! We were, dare I say, Defying Gravity! Ha ha :)

First Day of School

Here are Madeline and Hayden on their first day of school this year. They are both at Glacier Middle School! They get to wake up early (6:00 am!) and catch the bus at 6:55am. Hayden is a big 6th grader now and playing Matt's old trumpet in band, so that's been a fun experience listening to a bunch of sqawks :) Madeline is still playing the clarinet with the 8th grade band. Madeline is so happy to have Hayden on campus with her.

Aww, could he be any cuter? Hi, my name is Hayden and I'm in 6th grade! Middle school has inspired Hayden to start every morning with a refreshing shower and fix his hair just right with the perfect shake.

Here are Zoe and Carson ready to catch their bus to Mountain Meadow Elementary at 8:30am (a much more reasonable hour!) Zoe is in 4th grade and Carson is in 2nd. Carson really likes his side sling backpack and all the buckles that can be done on it. He does not leave the house until ALL the buckles are done up. Zoe doesn't leave the house without a piece of ribbon in her hair :)

Clips from the Sounders game

Here are two video clips I took at the Sounders game. One is when we had a really awesome shot on goal (and watch all the way until the end when Toronto's goalie kicks it and listen to what the crowd yells). The other clip is of the whole crowd chanting SEATTLE..... SOUNDERS..... back and forth across the stadium. It was really cool!

Sounders Game

Scott got us AMAZING tickets to the Sounders game at the end of August! It was a perfect day, we got a perfect parking spot, and we had perfect seats! Only 3 rows up from the field! It was amazing to see them playing right there! It was a pretty crazy day because Madeline had a soccer tournament in Federal Way so we finished her first game, drove to Seattle and got to the game about 20 minutes in (hence the awesomeness of the perfect parking spot we happened to get for only $4!) watched all the way until the last 12 minutes, left early (avoiding all crowds and traffic), and made it back to FW just in time for Madeline's next game. Honestly, it couldn't have worked out any better! But back to the game, it was really cool. The stadium is packed with rabid soccer fans and they are LOUD. Thanks Scott!!!

This is how close we were to the action!