Spring Has Arrived

We all know that Spring has sprung, at least to the calendar. It is officially here in the south though. We are mowing grass, dodging tornadic weather and planting crops for the summer harvest. Heavens to Betsy!!!! As I type this it is hailing!

Lord, I ask you to spare the fruit. Please keep it safe and let the hail leave quickly.

It is pea to dime size. It could also damage the plastic you see below. It lasted about 10-12 minutes.


Here is hubby cutting the grass last week.

The tractor is pulling the plastic layer. That is D.R. walking with the shovel (my brother's fil).

Here is John (my hubs) and D.R. finishing up this row. They are laying (shoveling) extra dirt on the plastic to pack it into the dirt. The black strap sticking out from the plastic is the drip tape (for irrigation and fertilizer).

This is what the rows (beds) look like before they are covered with plastic.

Can you see how long the rows are?


Plants should be in next week. We should be able to start setting them then. We will start with lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, squash and zucchini. There will be many more different veggies to come in the near future.

What are you planting in your garden this year? When do you plant for your area?

Happy Spring Blessings!

Bloomin' Daze

Last Sunday was absolutley gorgeous. We took a drive down to the lower farm where the peach orchard is. The boys had never been there and this is where my heart is. There was NO more a perfect day to go since it was the boys actual birthday as well. In the pictures below you will see the boys and my parents as well. The boys had their "work gloves" on . When we say peach trees or apple trees, garden or anything like that they insist in wearing them. They are so funny! I hope they are this interested in working the rest of their lives! LOL! Farm work is hard, but so rewarding. You are constantly depending on God to provide when you are a farmer.

All of the beautiful blooms are gone now and we are hoping to see peaches soon. We grow 25 varieties of peaches and there are about 4,000 trees.

Farmlife is such a blessing and a joy! Please say a little prayer that the peaches (bloom) stayed warm enough last night not to freeze as we had a frost.

Blessings!

My Daddy's Surgery

UPDATE: MY Daddy is home and surgery went fine. He goes back tomorrow to the regular eye doc. Thank you all for your prayers. He his tired and has a headache right now. The eye pain is moderate. We are praying for complete healing. Blessings!

I am asking for your prayers today. My Daddy is having eye surgery today. This morning at 8:30am to be more exact. He had the right eye done last Spring, but insurance would not pay for the other, saying it was not bad enough. Finally it is!

He has not been able to read more than a dozen lines of the paper or any article in the last year due to the difference. Nor, has he been able to drive at night. We are hoping this surgery will make that all possible and better.

Thank you for your prayers, as he means the world to me!

Happy Monday! Blessings!

The Big Top Party!

Here are the pictures from the boys birthday party in NO particular order. I have also decided that I will use all of our names from now on. We celebrated the boys birthday (March 22) on Saturday March 21st, at our house. We had a carnival themed party. The big top was the play yard.


This is my oldest nephew (he's 16), Austin pitching and my brother the coach (in real life), directing (little)John (Tiger) on his first game of baseball.

Mason (Monkey) is on the left and little John on the right. How many 3 year olds do you see actually "read" their birthday cards?!

(big) John (my sweet hubby) taking a break after grilling 60 hot dogs, with a cold one (Pepsi)!

My father-in-law (Hoyle) taking it all in. Can you believe he will be 81 next month?

My brother (the coach). He is 44 years old (almost 13 years older than I). Isn't he handsome?!

This is my Daddy (Marvin) thinking about the plan for the baseball game (also a coach....but a few years back)! He will be76 years old this year!

This is the "big top". We finally got the gravel hauled in and the timbers all fixed and scattered the day before the party. We worked out hinnies off!

My beautiful sil, Pam on the left, my Mom on the right, my boys (Mason on the left and John on the right), my nephews (Austin in the back and Peyton in the middle (he's 10 years old).

This is our precious Miss KK (she is 16 years old). She is my Mother's helper and such a blessing to our family!

Here the boys are ready to dig in to their cakes. I made all of the cupcakes and their cakes too.

I made vanilla icing on milk chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and clown decorations.

We had lots of guests and plenty of food to boot! We iced down Pepsi products, Capri-Sun and bottled water in the big red tub. There was chips and dip, as well as packaged popcorn (done that morning by yours truly) in the bags sitting behind the food and then the cupcakes.

Here are the boys and us with my parents before the party.

Here are the boys with one of their presents (the picnic table) from my parents.

And I see that is all. Now, you know us all and welcome to the family if you made it to the bottom picture! LOL! The boys had a wonderful day and so did we!

Blessings!

Handmade for You

I got the privilege of getting in on this over at Nikki's Notes. I like Nikki, also love to make things.mainly food products. LOL! So, the first five to respond to this post will get something handmade by me. You may email me or leave a comment.

It probably will be a homemade mix, a canned item or a baked item. Please let me know when you respond if you have any food allergies.

In return, all you need to do is post this on your blog and make 5 things for 5 other people.

So, who's up for some handmade/homemade goodness?

Blessings!

The Winner and Her Goodies

Thank you all for your tips! They were fantastic. Nikki's tip was just to stay home.......GREAT tip!

The winner is Nikki at Nikki's Notes. Please stop by and visit her sometime! She is a wonderful blogging friend and has two precious little ones.



She has won a gooseberry patch crocheted dish towel, a gooseberry patch journal, an organization book, a box of yummy tea, Rowenta's dvd on ironing, a wonderful smelling candle and a bookmark. I probably leaving something out.......maybe Nikki will post a picture of her winnings when she gets them.

Congrats Nikki!

Blessings!

3rd Birthday Boys!

Wow! Has it really been three years?! It seems like just yesterday! The boys had their party yesterday. their actual birthday is today though. I will have a separate post on their party later. You can read their birth story in the following parts:

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 3 (edit)

PART 4

GOD IS SO GOOD! ALL OF THE TIME! SEE HIS LIVING MIRACLES!

Blessings!

The Giveaway

I am looking for your BEST money saving/frugal minded tip. Leave me a comment for a chance to win the prize. Link me to your blog for another chance as well. Anyone that you send over, needs to leave your name or blog name in their comment for you to get more chances to win.

This contest is open from now through next Monday the 23rd.

Now for the goods. You will win 7 items. There is a book, a journal, something crocheted (bought from Gooseberry Patch), among others. It will be kept under wraps until the winner is announced.

Blessings and good luck!

Other Things

I am sorry for lack of comments on your blog and the fact that I have NOT gotten the post up about the GIVEAWAY. It will be later today or even tonight until I get the giveaway one up. I will hopefully be back to commenting later on today or tomorrow for sure.

MY mind is spinning with details for the boys party on Saturday, a Sunday school party later that same evening, my Dad's upcoming surgery, the fact that it is raining buckets and the play yard (landscaping) needs to be finished by the party and the fact that I am potty training twins!!!!!

We are still recovering from the crazy weekend and I have been up since 2am this morning with Tiger. I am getting a little cold, starting a new diet, I could go on and on........oh me I am exhausted just writing about it all.

I am fine, promise and God is in control. Hope to see you in awhile! Have a Marvelous Monday! Blessings!

Finally Friday

What a week! Hubby has been home two days this week, due to the fact that there is not enough work to go around. We have done projects, been many places and just spent much needed time with our two little boys. We have had a ton of homework from our marriage enrichment class. Then we also have hit the potty training hard this week. Big boy under roos abound (not at sleep times!).

We are going away overnight this weekend and are looking forward to being childless for one night. YAY! We both are very excited!!!!!!

I am racking my brain, getting ready for this class I will start teaching at church, on shopping frugally, living frugally, etc.

I will be having a grand giveaway starting Monday.......gear up and put your thinking caps on! Thing about the one thing that defines how you save money and give some detail about it......JUST save it for Monday though.

OH and tell everybody you know! If the person you told comments and also leaves your name as a reference for my blog then I will enter you again......just think of all of the chances you have to win! If you mention it and link to me on your blog there's another chance. Enter yourself by leaving a comment.

Okay........everyone have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday! Blessings!

Belated Birthday

Yesterday was Hubby's birthday. We had a little party last night and I was busy ALLLLLLL day LONGGGGGGG getting things ready with two helpers under three at my feet. Sorry it's late but better than not at all. :)

Happy Birthday Baby! I love you more than I could ever say. You are a wonderful person, a great Father and hubby and you are our life. God has given you to us and I am so thankful for you each and every day.

33 years and going strong! Here's to 33 more!

I love you always!

Blessings!

Santa Fe Soup

Here this is again, for those of you wanting the recipe. I published it over a year ago.....but thought it was too yummy not to post again......

We are all about warm, cozy suppers in the winter. We love Mexican food and this is one of our very favorites.

2# ground chuck
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 - 1 oz. pkg. ranch dressing mix
2 - 1.25 oz. pkg. taco seasoning mix
2 - 11 oz. cans white, shoe peg corn
2 c. water
1 - 16 oz. can pinto beans
1 - 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 - 16 oz. can black beans
1 - 16 oz. can kidney beans
1 - 10 oz. can Ro-Tel

Cook ground chuck with onion. Drain off grease. Add all ingredients in a large crock-pot. DO NOT drain liquids off of canned items. Cook on low for 4 hours. Top individual servings with sour cream and shredded cheese. Tostitos Scoops are wonderful with this as well.

ENJOY!!!

This and That's

It has been a very busy few days around here! The weather has been positively gorgeous and the boys have enjoyed being outside. They have played until their hearts were content and then some.

Friday I went grocery shopping and such and then they played outside for awhile. We got one field ready for planting too. I am so excited to see Spring just around the corner! Friday night we burned a field off behind the house. This burn was INTENTIONAL! LOL! However, several passersby called 911 and the firetrucks roared up our driveway only to find out we needed the fire! IT is kind of funny now......

Saturday and Sunday was busy, busy as well. We detailed and cleaned up all three vehicles. We put the 99 Chevy out for sale afterwards Saturday morning. Praise the Lord, by Saturday afternoon it was SOLD! That was quick. I had been praying the Lord would take over because insurance in due on the 20th. They are suppose to come and finalize everything today. Get this......the guy had been looking for one similar to this over a year. His wife and I went to school together and she works at my parents bank.

Saturday night we went to Cracker Barrel and it was yummy. We had a wonderful server too!

We went to Lowe's to get landscape timbers, caulking and a kitchen faucet. The faucets similar to ours were around $150 +! Ouch....we'll wait and I'll look at a local place. We forgot about the timbers and I couldn't find the caulking I wanted to do the 4 bathroom sinks.

Then we went to Target. I had some pj's to take back. It was crazy though. I ordered them online and id not have the packing receipt because one was NEVER sent. We tried to pull it up online and it said my email addy was not in their system. They couldn't track it by my check card since we have new cards thanks to a hacker (from another event) and then they called the corp office. I spilled the info again and all of my personal info, only to be put on hold. She came back on the line (we had been there for over 30 minutes by then and the boys were cranky!) and asked me to hold a while longer. I told her to forget it, I would just give them to someone else for Christmas this year. I was so irritated! We went to get the storage thingy I needed for the playroom and they had one. It was suppose to be $59 regular and on sale for $37 this week (last week). The one box was open and when we checked, some of it was missing. I asked for a rain check and was told that they could not give me one! GRRRRRRRR! Needless to say we left and my Target shopping days are OVER!!!!!

Hubby thought I needed a little Dairy Queen after all of the drama and ordered me a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffle Bowl. I would have been happy with an ice cream bar! It was nasty!!!!!! I ate some of it and told him thank you. We tossed it once home.
We finally made it home with 2 very sleepy kiddos about 9pm.

Sunday morning we all slept in and then I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We lingered over coffee and the Sunday paper.

We rushed to get ready for church and finally made it on time. The boys started to Sonshine Village today (the 3-5 year class). They aren't in the nursery anymore.....another milestone! YAY! I missed service though by staying in there with them. Monkey refused to let me leave. Next week the youth does children's church. Miss KK goes to church with us and she will be in there with them.

After church we came home to hot Santa Fe soup in the crock pot. It was so yummy! Then we all took a nap and lingered around with an afternoon snack once getting up.

We got ready and back to church we went for Marriage Enhancement class. We finally rolled back in at 8:30pm and had a light supper. The boys and us were in the bed by 9:15pm.

Hubby had to get up at 3am for work today. The boys allergies are acting up and we are giving them meds. I am thinking the peds will need to change them though. They are much bigger than when given last year. I am calling the pharmacy this am, to get the correct dosage until their well check later this month.

I am doing the usual cooking cleaning and laundry for today. I will need to get the party invites in the mail today as well as some bills. I need to go by the water dept and pay the bill too. We are out of milk and foil. I also want to get some $.99 chicken breasts before the sale ends tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that I attened two market meeting s and a vegetable production meeting over the weekend as well. They were interesting to say the least.

What does you day hold? How was your weekend? Happy Monday! Blessings!

Bargains From the Multiples Garage Sale

WE found most everything we needed and actually more. I thought we did really well and we spent $157 total. I love going to these sales. We will go to the next one I hope, in August. It was a real blessing!



There are 2 long sleeve tees. 6 Short sleeve tees. 4 rompers w/ baseballs on them from Parsian kids, 2 AUBURN jerseys, 4 pairs of denim shorts from Kohl's and 2 pairs of overalls for this fall/winter from Gymboree. Total for clothes (20 pieces) was $45.

My boys LOVE Barney. These little computers were $4 each. They wach contain 5 cartridges.

I got the 4 dish clothes for $.50. The basket was $.50(I'll use it for a shower gift.) And the 3 pack photo ablums for baby was $3 brand new. Also will be used for a shower gift.

The John deere books were $2.50 each. Regular about $7 each. They were like brand new!

The other 7 were $5. All still practically new too.

The back pack was $1. We need one for outings and such to carry both of the boys things in it.

This frame was $1.50. It will make a nice gift for my Mom on mother's day with a family picture of us in it!

These 3 movies were $17.50 for all. Very happy to get them too!

This picnic basket was fully stocked and everything still wrapped for a mere $5! Yippe!!!!

I had been looking for one for a long, long time!

These two booster seats were only $15 each. We need a extra ones for the new 4 door truck. We were tickled to get these $60 seats so cheap!

Blessings!

Jim N Nick's Cheese Biscuits

Mimi asked me to share this recipe. The story behind these is they are from a bbq place named Jim and Nick's. We ate there several weeks ago and it was very good but very pricey, at least for us. They served these little muffins (but they are called biscuits) before the meal. They were so good. I looked for a copycat recipe but ended up getting my computer eat up with a virus. Then in our city newspaper 2 weeks ago this recipe was printed. This is the recipe to the "t". They are sweet yet oh so good! I hope you like it. We eat ours with chili and bbq mainly.

4 T butter (no substitutes), melted
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 c sugar
3/4 c milk
1 egg
1/4 t vanilla
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients together and pour into greased mini-muffin tins. Bake at 400* for 20 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

What We're Eatin' In March

This month I am sticking with tried and true recipes. I am kind of burnt out on trying new recipes, so I am using my oldies but goodies. I am so excited to see warmer weather returing (maybe soon?.......it snowed yesterday). I also wanted to add that sometimes we switch the menu around some. If I or hubby do not want soemthing listed for night 5 then we might switch it out with noght 10 (just for example). So, things vary and most of the time I DO have most all of the ingredients at home for each meal.

1. Chili, Jim & Nick's cheese biscuits, strawberry pretzel salad
2. leftovers made into chili cheese burritos
3. ole farm breakfast casserole, fried apples and toast w/ hm apple butter
4. roast and gravy over biscuits
5. ribs, potato salad and baked beans, lemonade
6. enchilidas, spanish rice and refried beans
7. venison cubed steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and biscuits
8. santa fe soup, scoops chips and cheese for the topping, snickerdoodles
9. chicken fajata roll-ups, refried beans
10. chicken fingers w/ special sauce, peph peas, skillet corn, sweet pot. casserole
11. bacon cheeseburgers, slaw and oven fries, german chocolate cake w/ pecan/coconut icing
12. steak burritos, black bean dip and chips
13. french toast, hm strawberry syrup and bacon
14. OUT for hubby's birthday (his b'day is the 11th)
15. beef stew, homemade bread and hoop cheese, oatmeal raisin cookies
16. hamburger casserole, cornbread, peph peas, skillet corn
17. brisket, cabbage, hm mac and cheese, pintos, sliced onion, fried potatoes
18. sloppy joes, onion rings and slaw, lemonade
19. fried chicken, gravy, biscuits, green beans, mashed potatoes
20. tacos and nachos
21. leftover hotdogs, nachos, popcorn, cotton candy, ect. (the boys PARTY!!!!)
22. brunswick stew, J&N cheese biscuits (the boys birthday), leftover cupcakes
23. taco bar
24. candied pork chops, fried apples, rice and green beans
25. lil' smokies, biscuits, hm strawberry syrup
26. kraut &weiners, pintos, fried potatoes, hm mac &cheese, sliced onion
27. venison cubed steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and biscuits w/ hm applebutter
28. chicken burritos, cheese dip amd chips
29. ham and bean soup, cornbread, hopp cheese, fried apple pies
30. cabbage, corn on the cob, squash casserole, cornbread, colored butterbeans, sliced tomatoes and onions
31. grilled steak, salad and baked potatoes

Blessings for a wonderful March!

Snowy Sunday, Southern Style

We had a beautiful snow today. As a matter of fact, church was called off and the road crews were out with sand trucks. We actually got about 4 inches or so. It has melted already though and it is abut 2:30pm. These pictures were taken about8:30am.

This one is Monkey, out for the first time in it.


This is Tiger out for the first time in it, trying to figure it all out.

Here is the boys with their Daddy.
It is really coming down now!

Here I am, very happy, if I might add, with my boys!

Here's Monkey, still for the moment.

Here's Tiger, he's still not sure about it all!

There they go!!!!

Looking pout my back door, this is my brother and sister-in-law's house.

This is the little orchard in our front yard.

This is the back of my parent's house, looking out my front door.

If you remember the "fire" this was the area from that, our back yard and the creek.

Here is the pond (the creek behind our house runs into it).

I made snow cream and it was so, so yummy!
Here is Tiger, after we went and played outside. He had two bowlfuls!

Monkey posed after two bites, but did not like it. He doesn't like ice cream!

We have had a wonderfully blessed day! I hope all is well with you and yours. Did you have snow or rain or sunshine today? It was just Friday night that we had tornados in the state.

Blessings!!!