The Pea Pod

The Kidco Pea Pod Travel Bed: Better then the Pack-N-Play!
Perfect for those that are on the go! We love it!!!! Check it out!
http://www.kidco.com/main.taf?p=4,5

We were a bit concerned after getting Poppy about how we were going to keep Little Bit (now 8 months) from rolling off the bunk when nobody was with him. He still takes two naps a day and we knew he would not take very good naps with us lying beside him. We also knew there was no way we were going to fit the Pack-n-Play in Poppy and have room to walk around!

So, my adorable husband found the Kidco Pea Pod Travel Bed. It is so wonderful I had to share our find! B. slept so good in it and we had no worries about him falling off. We have put the Pack-n-Play in the attic and are using the Pea Pod everywhere we go. It "pops" up so easy and folds up into a flat small compact "little thing". You have to check it out if you love to travel and you have a little one- they also make one for older kids.

K- Man wanted one too- sorry little guy this one is for your brother! He did get in for a picture though!

When family visits...

When family visits...( Gramzie and the boys)
We all get extra hugs and kisses, We all get too many "prizes" to count, We get pushed on the swing as long as we want, We go to the zoo and get a HUGE Elephant head drink that cost $9 for just water in it!,...

(Macey, Haley, Emily, and the K-Man)

We laugh and run around a restaurant acting like we are the only ones there, We spill water all down the table and nobody cares, We have to eat our donuts before we get apple slices...

(Grammie and Poppa with the boys)

We get souvenirs from NY, We all eat really good catfish and shrimp, We fall into the pond and survive with lots of laughter and hugs, We throw the Frisbee and hit baseballs with a cheering audience, We all get extra hugs and kisses.

Nothing like family visits!

Round Peas 101

Have you ever planted or picked round peas? Me neither!!!! After moving into the country a couple of months ago we had some help from the pros (Benny and Willa Mae) in planting our first veggie garden. We have been taking care of our little guys and watching them grow everyday- AND yesterday was THE BIG DAY!!! Our first veggies were ready...the Round Pea!Here is the first little guy that was picked...I am such a proud parent of both the pea pod and the little K-Man that is holding it!
We started the picking process. We had to look through each plant and make sure the Pea Pod was holding "large enough" peas inside. Once K. got started it was hard to look at the pod before he picked it! I started bent over picking the peas...then squatting down...finally I decided just crawling on my hands and knees was the easiest on the back! A little dirt never hurt a little lady!

Ok- Here is the process: You find pea pods that look like they are bulging about to pop and you have to pull kinda hard to get them off the plant.
Once you get them all picked (Wow, there are a lot of pea pods in there!)....
you snap the ends. You don't ever wash them off (this goes for any veggie) because you don't want any water on the peas if you are going to freeze them-it will ruin them. With other vegetables you just wipe them down really good with a towel to get all the dirt off. If you are going to eat them right away you can wash them of course! Next, on one end there is a little green string you pull down the spine of the pea pod.

Then you open the pea pod from the spine and LOOK!!!! Little Peas!!!!!
Home-grown peas are MUCH larger then frozen or canned peas!
Here are the cute little guys all together! Let's just say that it took a lot of pea pods! After "snapping" all the peas I put them (divided in 1 Cup servings) in air tight bags for freezing.
This picture proved that I did it!!! With a little sweet tea you can do just about anything. It took me a little over an hour to get the peas "snapped"

It has been a fun process from planting seeds to actually having veggies that we can eat! Another one of my 100 Life Goals has been met- to have a veggie garden. This is only the first of many veggies that will be picked soon from Gordon our Garden!

Good Mail Update

I wanted to share my good mail that has been putting a smile on my face (and K-Man's). When you are having a hard or lonely day a little good mail can make the sun shine a lot brighter!

This was a huge package from none other then Holly~ My boys even got some good mail! Notice the PINK flip flop that's now on my key chain (My adorable husband has a hard time holding my keys now- Ha!) The punch out hearts glued to the paper was from A. to K.- along with a dinosaur ball (K. wouldn't give it to me for the picture!)

This adorable blow up Flamingo (that is still nameless) was from Sweet Heather~ It now graces my laundry room with all the other flamingo stuff (A girl has to have a room that she can call her own, right?)
Holly again sent good mail with some Shot Blocks that are to be chewed while running long distances. Because I am out in the boonies we don't have many options for runners, so it will be fun to try these out this weekend for my long run!!! Maria sent this beautiful card, but the words inside were even more beautiful!

Girls, thanks for making my mailbox one of my favorite things!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

We loaded up and went to the Zoo yesterday! Loads of Fun!!! The day was beautiful - I am still loving the NO HUMIDITY!!! Let's just say- It is so much fun watching your kids get sooo excited running from one animal to another! My Mom is a super woman- she pushed the stroller and helped juggle the wiggly kids all morning while saying she was having a wonderful day! If you think that's noth'in...she walked up to the glass windows with the K- Man at the reptile center while I stood against the wall with Little Bit. I'm not real crazy about the snakes, but I found out this trip that K. loves them! He was running from window to window talking about everything he saw. At the end of the day he wanted a toy snake to take home- not on my watch!
Here is my sweet K Man, yes, hugging a reptile! Why do little boys like all the yucky things?
Ok, this is much better- Sweet, gentle, beautiful flamingos! K- Man, flamingos are much better then snakes and lizards (just don't ask your Dad).
Have I said that I love Flamingos? Oh... I love flamingos!

Another favorite animal at the Zoo was the Rhino. They are huge!
We kept calling for the Rhino to, "Come here little rhino!" So here is a picture of him walking right up to us. Did I tell you that we speak Rhino?
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!! There were so many wonderful animals. I had more fun seeing the animals through my boys eyes. God is so creative!
Here is sweet Little Bit! He did great... Though I think his favorite part was lunch (HA!)

The world can get so busy around us and daily duties can take the fun out of many things. This little "side trip" refreshed all of us and gave us a day full of laughter and smiles.

Maiden Voyage

We took our Maiden Voyage this weekend with Poppy! We visited our "first" State Park in Texas - Lake Mineral Wells State Park. The day we arrived was beautiful and the flowers were numerous.You HAVE to take a picture of the welcome sign as you enter into the state park- it's an unwritten rule!
Here is the Lake Mineral Wells! So beautiful! At the park you can rent paddle boats and canoes. (We decided just camping with the boys was enough of an adventure for us this time!)
Here is Poppy arriving in RV spot 55! I think 55 may be our new lucky number. It was a perfect spot with a lot of trees and the bathrooms right around the corner (a MUST with a 3 year old!!)

Here is Poppy looking GREAT! My adorable husband did a great job popping Poppy up for the first time with two kids and a very helpful wife (Ha!)
Ohhhh!! I had to get a picture of my Pink Flamingo Lights (thanks Holly!). Yes, once again my husband put up the CUTE, GIRLY light with no complaints!
We had so much fun! Everything we did the K- Man thought IT was the best thing ever! Well, S'mores ARE the best thing ever, right?
Here is Little Bit and K. humoring their mother for a quick picture on one of the bunks- This is K-Man's new favorite "happy face".

Hot Dogs- Everybody knows you have to have hot dogs when you go camping. At least that's what I have been told! K. lasted about oh-2 minutes standing next to the hot fire before my sweet husband finished our gourmet meal. Yummy, Yummy- Hot dogs in my Tummy!
The K-Man was totally in his element! He looked for and picked up rocks to build "houses", towers...
And find BUGS!!!! We went home with about 100 insects! If you looks closely K. is holding a poor little critter in his finger tips.

Another adventure was down at the lake. K. got his first lesson in skipping rocks. I don't know if you know this, but my husband is the Rock Skipping Champion of... of... well, he is just really good (Ha!)
K. and Momma taking a break on the rocks in the shade. Cheese!!!!
The two bigger boys taking a walk enjoying the glorious day.
Ok- I almost forgot to tell the story, but this picture of Little Bit reminds me that there was one adventure I can't leave out!!! This picture is of B. waking up after a wild nights sleep. We understood that there was a 20% chance of thunderstorms on Friday night, but what's 20%- not bad, right? Well...at about 11pm on Friday night the storm ARRIVED in BOOMING fashion!!!!!

The lightning struck, the thunder crashed and the wind blew (to say the least!)

Dear Poppy did a great job keeping us safe and dry (with a little shaking back and forth during the night) K. slept right through the whole event and Braden only fussed a couple of times then fell back asleep- Me, well, I kept listening for the "train noise" that everyone describes comes with tornadoes and praying quietly for God to make it Quit!!!!!! At 8 am we all woke to soggy surroundings, but everything was fine! We had survived!!

We had a wonderful time with many little (and slightly bigger) adventures. The boys did great and my husband was wonderful and patient with all of us! I think we will only get more efficient over time. But let me tell ya- I think we did GREAT for our first time!!! Texas State Parks watch out - you may just be the next one on our list!

Still Growing!

Our garden (Gordon- Shhhh!) is still growing by leaps and bounds! We have had a lot of rain and now the sun is coming out... So I feel certain the little guys will continue to thrive! From talking to others that have lived in the area for awhile this has been the best year for planting a garden in around 7 years ( because of all the rain). It looks like we picked the best year to move and plant our first veggie garden (It was all part of our plan, Ha Ha!)Grow Gordon Grow! Did I say Gordon? I mean Garden- Sorry Babe!
These are our Kentucky Wonder Beans. AKA...Green Beans.
These are our round peas. There are so many of them my adorable husband is going to have to start liking them!!!
See the yellow flower? The rumor is that's where the veggie grows. This is squash, but our cucumbers and zucchini also have these beautiful yellow flowers on them. K. likes to smell them-Ha.

Bell Peppers- We are having twins!!! Can't have fajitas with out the green guy!
These are two of our eight, yes eight, tomatoes plants! Can we say SALSA!
Here are the cute little boogers now! The K Man has tried to pick them on several occasions. I hope they make it to red!
Yes...And the Banana Peppers! I think they are ready to pick, Don't you?
I feel like a real gardener with corn in the garden! I think I'll be most excited when I see the corn on the cobs. I absolutely love to eat corn on the cob- Shhh! Don't tell the corn, I want them to grow!

I have loved gardening! The weeds can get out of control- but so can't anything else in life, right?It has been fun to watch God in all his glory make the little seeds bloom into something so beautiful and yummy! There is nothing like having a "real" veggie garden for the first time