We're headed to Arkansas!

Take a good look, these guys are the 

East Texas State Champions 

in 14 year old Babe Ruth baseball!  

They are headed to Mountain Home, Arkansas to compete in the Southwest Regional tournament next week.

I can't tell you how proud I am of these young men 

(and of course, one in particular!) 

You'll be glad to know that Texas will be very well represented.  These boys are such talented athletes as well as young men of character and sportsmanship.

If they win big in Arkansas, they will go onto the World Series in Utah.

This is definitely not a "kid's game," 

 we are in it to win it!

And if you could, say a prayer for their safety as they travel,

for them to play to the full potential of their God given talents,

and for some of the family they leave behind on this trip. 

(who cannot possibly go because of work/finances.

 GRRRRRR!  >:-<  )

Just know, boys, that a whole small town in southeast Texas is rooting for y'all!  Make some awesome memories and have the time of your life!

What the bugs didn't get...

 Eggplant

 Basil

 Peppers

I'm thinking this will be our dinner tonight,

maybe turned into toppings for pizza on the grill!

This guy is NOT on the guest list!

(much to the boy's dismay!)

ACK! I GIVE UP!

I give up! 

The bugs have WON!

My once beautiful little vegetable garden is now filled with thousands of evil leaf footed bugs and their demonic babies:

They are everywhere and have sucked the life out of all of my vegetables.  Sometime this week I am stripping the garden bare, except for my peppers and eggplants, they don't seem to want those.  I have scoured the internet and there doesn't seem to be any way to kill these bugs short of using poison, and I'm not doing that!  So I've decided to starve them and maybe they'll move on.

  

The only way I can think to avoid these critters is to move my garden.  I planted a new garden on the side of my house this year that is virtually bug free.  There are only sunflowers, medicinal  herbs, and one really HUGE luffa vine growing there:

This area may be my vegetable garden next year and my old vegetable garden boxes will probably grow my herbs...we'll see!  But for now I'm kinda done with the summer garden...well, more defeated than done.  But I'm sure I can find other projects to occupy my time!  

He's always been an All-Star to me!

Kyle has been playing baseball since he was six.

 I still remember it like it was yesterday...

 That sweet little boy walking up to the t-ball stand and taking a swing with a bat that was bigger than he was!

 He was the cutest thing ever!

  

But now he plays with the big boys.

Kyle played on two teams this year (silly me to think that ONE would be enough!), the Babe Ruth League here in Wharton and the Junior League in nearby Boling. 

He made All Stars in both leagues and lately it's been baseball almost every night of the week!

Yeah, it's been a bit of a pain because of the practice times and late night games, but I wouldn't miss any of it for the world.  You see, we've watched not only Kyle grow through the years out on that ball field, but many of his friends, too. 

 We've watched these little boys grow into young men.

They've not only become some really talented ball players, but young men of character.  It's been a privilege to watch them grow up.  These boys have played together year after year and have formed some great friendships, hopefully ones that will last a lifetime. 

That's life in a small town!

We sure do love our football and baseball...

but we love those boys out there even more!  

  

And you know I couldn't resist a picture 

of the cute cheerleader on the sidelines!

HE DID IT!

Last night we attended Ryan's GED graduation at Wharton County Jr. College. Now you might be wondering why we attended a graduation ceremony for a simple GED certificate, I'll explain...

Ryan has been homeschooled since the first grade. He wanted to take the GED test as "proof" of his education. He was quite intimidated by the test so he enrolled in a GED test prep class offered at the local jr. college.

He did very well in his prep classes and tested out to be included in a pilot program called "T3" or Teach/Train/Transition. 
 These students attend GED classes and college credit classes at the same time. And since it was a pilot program, we didn't have to pay for anything!

Ryan aced his GED and takes his certification tests next month for the T3 program. When he passes those exams he will be certified to work in a medical office as an office manager or in medical billing.  The classes also count as credits earned if he wants to go into any of the other medical fields such as nursing, EMT, paramedic, or radiology.

This has been such an accomplishment for our Ryan.  He has never been a model student.  His learning style is very eclectic and is hampered by ADHD.  After years of homeschooling I wondered if he could just walk into a classroom setting and do well.

He could.

He did. 

And he worked so very hard to be successful in this program and make us all proud.

  His hard work and enthusiasm obviously touched his instructors, too!

This simple "walk" was so important to Ryan.

We are very grateful to everyone who came to share this wonderful night with us!

We are akso thankful to the WCJC system for their dedication to the GED/T3 programs!  It allows so many people from vastly different walks of life to educate and better themselves.  It instills knowledge, skills, confidence, and a huge sense of pride and accomplishment in it's graduates...

Especially eclectic, blue haired, home educated young men!

The world is at your feet, son.

Go out there seize the day!

Why I love living in a small town

Because stories like this are front page news! 

 

Just in time for Father's Day

No time for blogging today!

Silly me! 

 I thought while I was working my 12hr weekend shifts that someone would pick a tomato or three, but nope...

I picked these beauties late Sunday evening, and I cannot say that it was a chore, I was like a kid on an Easter egg hunt!

I'm going to spend my Monday canning tomato sauce while the kiddos do schoolwork at the kitchen table...they might even help me fill a jar or two...maybe!

I also harvested one of my garlic beds.  Almost 50 new bulbs came out of one bulb of store bought garlic!  After we clean them up, I think we'll try to make a garlic braid for them to dry in the kitchen.

No rest for the weary today,

but maybe Mary Grace will let me take a nap with her later this afternoon!

And speaking of bugs in the garden...

I have to pick my tomatoes while they're still green due to some vicious and voracious leaf footed bugs.  I've been bringing them in and letting them ripen on my stockpile shelves. 

And anyone who doesn't think that that bottle of Cabernet belongs in a stockpile has another thing coming! 

The Flutter-byes

One morning I walked out into my herb garden and found this:

Like any good gardener, I took a picture and posted the critters to Facebook to see if anyone knew what they were.  They turned out to be a black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars 

(thanks Dawn and Amanda!).

 And after some serious pupating in a jar, they turned into this:

His friends busted out of their cocoons the same day, 

but we still have one more to "birth".

So I thought the caterpillar drama (and mess!) was over, and I pat myself on the back for a wonderful home school science lesson for the boys.

  

Until I went out to my herb garden again this morning 

to find more of these guys:

Thank goodness I planted enough dill and Italian parsley

 to keep them AND us happy!  

I'm hoping to see lots of black swallowtail butterflies 

(or flutter-byes) in the garden this summer.  

They are gorgeous!

Baby food

I have waited for this day since I planted my first seeds this season!

What has two thumbs...

...and just aced his GED test?

THIS GUY!

Congratulations, Ryan, we are so proud of you!

Now go get a job!

 

I'm not green, I'm just cheap!

Pinterest did it again and gave me an idea for a project that I just couldn't live without, 

 Reusable baby wipes

 Yeah, at first mention this sounds pretty gross, but the idea is not only cost effective but much healthier for our little Mary Grace. 

I had no idea, but some of the chemicals used in baby wipes have been linked to cancer, immuno-toxicity, allergies, developmental problems, reproductive toxicity, organ dysfunction, endocrine disruption and cellular changes.

No thank you. 

We already have two children with skin sensitivities and I'm not risking it (or anything else!) with the Divine Miss M!

 To make your own baby wipes, you start by cutting up old tshirts, flannel receiving blankets, old towels, practically anything will work. I have tons of those small flannel newborn blankets so that's what I used. I cut them in 7X7 inch pieces and that gave me 16 wipes per blanket, not too bad!

I used pinking shears so the edges wouldn't fray (but really, who cares about fraying when you're wiping baby poo?).  Then folded them in half to fit inside an old wipes container.

There are hundreds of wipes solution recipes online but I went for just plain and simple:

2 1/2 cups water

1 TBS. baby oil

2 tsp. of castille soap

(I also added 2 drops of lavender essential oil and it smells oh so very goooood!)

Mix the solution and pour over wipes.  

How simple and CHEAP is that?

Real food

This time last year I was about 20 weeks pregnant. I had started a summer garden but had no hopes of seeing it through because I was conserving every bit of energy (both physical AND mental!) trying to get this baby to the age of viability. 

 We delivered a beautiful and healthy baby girl...
and my garden went to the birds and bugs.

I'm OK with that. 

 But this year I have grand plans to feed that baby girl pure organic fruits and vegetables grown by her mama. This year's garden is all about non-hybrid, non-GMO, and no pesticides. So far I am loving the varieties that are growing. All the seeds came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and I foresee purchasing all our seeds from them in coming years (that is, what seeds we don't save through our own garden!).

This tomato is called Costoluto Genovese.  It is an Italian tomato and is the most lumpy thing I've ever seen! It is extremely prolific and the plants are gorgeous!  It's growing along side a non-GMO variety of Amish Paste that I will use for canning. Will most definitely be growing this one next year.

This enormous thing is a cucumber called Telegraph.  They are HUGE!  They are very sweet, very prolific, and very few seeds.  They are an excellent slicing cucumber.  Growing with them are my pickling cukes, Solly Beiler.  I have to admit, not a big fan of those!  They are small and I've not had a good harvest of them.  I know it's still early in the season, so I'll reserve judgement until fall!

And now the staple of the garden, crooked neck squash - Early Golden Summer.  With this variety we could have squash every night of the week!  Will be putting lots of this in the freezer for the winter.  I just love it!

This is my Danny's favorite thing in the garden, Dragon Tongue Bush Beans.  They are a beauty in the garden with plants producing purple and white flowers.  Then the beans emerge with purple stripes on green beans.  Danny's favorite way to eat them is roasted with garlic oil and Parmesan cheese.

A variety that  I am very excited about is this little melon, Rich Sweetness.  I decided I was NOT going to grow a standard variety melon this year and this one sounded fun.  I cannot wait to try them!  They are growing alongside Charantais, a French heirloom melon that should be quite beautiful and tasty!  Of all the things I grow, melons are my favorite!

Then there are the peppers.  I love the pepper patch and they LOVE this Texas heat!  I have so many varieties growing right now, above is Quadrato D'asti Rosso.  There are also heirloom varieties of cayenne, habanero, jalapeno, and Tobasco peppers.  Yup, we like things spicy around here!

This beauty is Costata Romanesco zucchini.  It is very prolific and very tasty!  The sweet flesh has very few seeds.  We will grow this one again next year!

We will be saving the seeds from all our fruits and veggies.  Saving seeds not only insures that the lines remain non-hybridized but plants are smart!  They will acclimate and adapt to our area.  They will learn how to fend off disease and pests that are common to south Texas and each year they will get a little stronger.

I suspect the bugs and birds will return as the summer progresses, after all, they had a virtual buffet last year!  And although I may loose some of the battles to them, in the long run I think we'll come out on top!

(You can click on any of the colored words on this post to be taken to that vegetable

 on the Baker Creek site!  Really, you should check them out!)