Don't Forget, Don't Forget, Don't Forget...

That has been my mantra all week...

I didn't forget!

Happy Birthday Sailor/Farmer/Father/Husband!

He turns the big 3-3 today! "Raaawwwwr!" says the wife whose age will NOT begin with the number 3 in a month!

We usually don't do gifts for our birthdays, but I am making an exception this year, and you can see why...!

I know what you're thinking... a gift for him, huh? Well SURE it is! Now I'll be able to send him homemade beef jerky, dried fruit, dried herbs to spice up the horrible ship food, etc! Clever, aren't I ? teeheehee...

Jealous Much?

Maybe just today?

STRAWBERRY TIME!

Yesterday after school the kids and I went to go pick our first batch of strawberries out at one of the local fields. Our area is known for delicious strawberries so this is one thing that I had decided to leave to the local farms, thus freeing up my beds to produce other things the rest of the year. Plus, the kids love to go pick!

Finn doing a quality check

Our haul from yesterday includes all these berries plus a dozen farm eggs for $20, not too bad!

Next on the list was making jam, but we needed a quick boost of energy first - in the form of what else? - strawberries and eggs! Nothing beats eggs for a quick dinner and the strawberries were less than an hour old here, still warmed by the sun. Of course hubby made the eggs which means although delicious, he fried them in butter diner-style so they weren't tipping the healthy scale tonight!

First batch of freezer jam ready to be stored. I will make another batch today, but what should I do with the rest of those berries?

Can you see where this is going?...

I plan on sending the kids back out this weekend with daddy to pick another batch so I can freeze whole berries for use in smoothies, etc later in the year. We are entertaining both Friday and Saturday evening this weekend so I know I will not have enough left over after the weekend for freezing!

If my posts become scatterbrained in the next week or so, it's because hubby is deploying soon and I have been in denial up to the past weekend, and we are now going crazy with chores, entertaining, cramming "family activities" in, and dealing with assorted military gear and paraphenelia being strewn all over the house as it makes its way into seabags. Congrats to me, I have been doing this for many years now, and this is the first year I successfully managed to completely ignore the upcoming deployment! This is a good thing, any military spouse will tell you that before and after deployment is the worst times in a marriage, there is bickering, complete tantrums, and just mayhem in general, the only way to avoid it is to truly ignore the event. There is no such thing as being 100% prepared, so there is no reason in my book to worry daily over his deployment date and begin the marital and family strife until the last minute! Every deployment for the kids gets harder for them as they get older and really need their dad more. I know they will be fine, but will just take a little extra TLC and cultivation - good thing gardeners know how to do that!

I don't normally do this...

But this is too good to pass up! Pretty much describes exactly where my generation is at right now, and I LOVE IT! I just know this song will be playing in my head for awhile...

Enjoy!

Official Toyota Sienna Marketing Music Video:

Just when I thought I had this garden thing down...

I started off wanting to do a post about how lovely and huge my tomatoes are getting...

True Black Brandywine

Look at the size of these leaves!

After spending 30 mins inspecting Tomato Alley, I found the carnage shown below! Only one leaf looks this way right now, but the underside of the lower leaves are covered with what looked like eggs. I can't identify them, strange in that they are scattered, not laid in clusters. I went to go get my camera and used it to magnify what I was seeing, and in fact they now look like a bug to me - there is what looks like legs on them. They also resemble scale with the way they stick on the surface, but they are on the leaves and not the stems. When poked with a fingernail they resist like a shell and then pop juice out (sorry, LOL!) I really need y'alls help on this one! And in one photo is what looks like to me an aphid, but I have only seen green ones, are there red ones? So far I cut the worst branches off, handpicked any others, and inspected the others around them, they appear okay. I am guessing insecticidal soap will be my weapon of choice, but I would really like to know what they are. I took several photos hoping maybe one would be recognizable. Here's the buggers:

anyone?!

adding this also if anyone else is interested: cool pest id guide

I did find my red aphids on there, still don't know what the white/cream things are!

Mother's Day thanks to my kids... (picture heavy!)

First, I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my own mom - there's not one day that goes by that I don't appreciate all you have done for us. I'm still trying to figure out how you did it and lived to tell about it! You are the polar opposite of me in that you have infinite patience and quiet wisdom, listening patiently to my OCD rants about the kids misbehavior, deployment issues, future plans, and everything else, and manage to have a calming effect without me even realizing it! (Get ready, deployment starts soon and the frantic calls to my mommy will start again!). Know that I appreciate all of it, and am so thankful my kids have you for a grandma, they miss you lots!

Here are some pics that remind me of all the reasons I am thankful to have my kids in my life this Mother's Day, in no particular order:

faces like this

...and this

... and this!

being there for your first hospital stay

and your first bee sting

and your first lesson in dressing for a Minnesota winter

watching your face the first time sledding with Aunt Sara

your first hike together with your brother

your first exposure to child labor!

the first time you sauntered by with one of these

teaching you to ice skate

your first time canoeing

your first time "up north at the cabin" and your face that stayed grubby and happy the entire week!

your first fish caught

watching you and your friends

the first time you realized your grandpa is a rock star

your first time kayaking with me

your creativity

the first time you held a chicken

your first strawberry pickin'

seeing your excited face after your first sleep-away camp

your first crab

helping you through Daddy's deployments

wiping the tears away when daddy deploys

watching your excitement at daddy's homecomings

watching you have a quiet moment with your brother

and receiving Happy Mother's Day wishes from you!

I have a lot to be thankful for this Mother's Day, and even though you guys make me crazy, thanks for bringing me along for the ride on all your "firsts"!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, whether you mother children, pets, or enrich the lives of others by sharing love and caring with them.