School Pictures and Garden Work

First day of school picture as promised:

 Last year (2011)

This year (2012)

On another note, Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner have visited us quite a few times over the past couple months. We have been so lucky! Grandpa K helped me prepare this garden for our front yard since the back yard doesn't get much sunlight. This is a picture of about a month later. We planted everything (beets, radishes, lettuce, carrots, beans, cilantro, and basil) from seeds, so it is exciting to see it growing so well. We also get compliments from everyone who comes to our door. They think it is a great idea, plus it's "cute!" It's portable, so when it starts to get too cold, we'll be able to put in our garage during the nights. We also have a deer net over the top so the deer don't get to it. My favorite part is the hanging strawberries on the side, but still no strawberries! :/ Maybe next year.

On another visit with Grandma and Grandpa K, we decided to do some canning. We canned two boxes of pears, a box of tomatoes (into spaghetti sauce and canned tomatoes), and the remainder of a box of peaches (into peach jam and canned peaches). Many of the peaches were overripe, so we ended up throwing a lot out. At the end of the day, I was exhausted, but so proud of all the hard work. Plus, we got to enjoy some yummy peach cobbler made by Grandpa. I had a great time canning. It was a neat experience working along side everyone getting this done and learning how to do it all. And don't you think they turned out BEAUTIFUL?!?

(I have to confess . . . we've opened a few jars of pears since then. I can't help it. They are sooooo delicious. I'm afraid we won't have any left for the winter, but we sure are enjoying them!)

And here is a picture of our new lawnmower that I posted about a while ago. I also got a clip of Rhett actually running up and down the yard pushing it, but he has threatened my blogging license if I post it. Maybe I can change his mind . . . we'll see.