Summer is here!

Squash plants

See how large the tomatoes are growing!

Basil and parsley

Some of the abundance of tomatoes on the vine.

Summer is officially here! It has been a scorcher already and we are not even into July yet. But the good thing about all this sunshine is that my tomatoes are loving it. We have planted 4 tomato plants in large buckets as well as 2 squash plants, beans, and quite a few herbs. Everything is growing beautifully. Hopefully soon we will have tomatoes to enjoy as well as squash. We are already loving the herbs. It is so nice to be able to walk outside on the patio and clip some fresh herbs for our dinner each night. Tonight alone I used chives and parsley. I need to make more basil pesto (I have already made 5 batches) before the plant gets out of hand!  Hope you enjoy the warm summer weather as much as we are. Evenings are nice as the boys (and Steve) get to run around and play baseball outside while not melting in the hot sun.

Field Trip

Today I took the boys to the Knoxville Zoo for a field trip (and to see Santa). Many of the animals were inside since it was pretty cold this morning. But we did manage to see quite a few (including Santa).

Here are a few pictures from today's trip.

Until next time,

enjoy God's creation!

Happy December!

Cannot believe that Christmas is almost here. No, really! Almost here!

Thankfully, I have finished most of my holiday shopping and am finishing the holiday decorating also. You can see that we have been busy. Steve even hung a few lights outside, which the boys love! I hope and pray that you have a very Merry Christmas!

My new tree topper!

The tree!

My lastest project. A snowman Christmas tree!

My latest craft project.

Luke's car tree

Seth's football tree

Until next time,

Merry Christmas!

I'm tired

This has been such a busy summer. And not only with packing, moving, and starting homeschool. But we have been covered up with the abundance from our garden and our area. I was contemplating all of the canning that I have done recently. Let's see...

Salsa
Spaghetti Sauce
Devil's Relish
Vegetable Soup
Strawberry Jam
Jalapeno Jelly
Triple Berry Jam
Apple Jelly
Apple Chutney
Apple Pie Jam
Candy Apple Jelly
Green Pepper Relish
Pickled Jalapenos

I think that might be all for now. I just finished the two bushels of apples that I thought I needed. Thankfully! But now, I have a box of tomatoes ripening that will become salsa soon.

Until next time,

we are stocking up for the winter.

So Busy!

We have been super busy since the move, but it has all been great! We are enjoying being near a big city and all it has to offer and am loving having the boys at home with me each day. I won't lie, it is tough at times, but when I see the spark in their eye about learning, it is all worth it.

Here are a few pictures from our past week and the various things we have been doing. Enjoy!

Luke recreating the Mayflower.

Sunday afternoon we went to Ft. Loudon. The boys are trying out some 18th century games.

The view from the Fort. Beautiful.

The boys posing with one of the cannons that was used during the Civil War re-enactment.

Soldiers!

During the re-enactment.

All work and no play make dull boys. Yeah right. We did go to a minor league playoff baseball game.

Knoxville Zoo

Sunday afternoon, we traveled to Knoxville to the zoo. We had been studying the animals and thought this would be a fun field trip to see those animals in real life.

The boys had a great time and were so excited to see all the animals. We had to slow them down to truly "see" the animal before they raced onto the next one.

Seth and Luke at the entrance to the zoo.

Seth studied the red panda.

The boys with the red panda. 

Look at how long the condor's wingspan is.

The Chinese alligator. 

Seth in his nest.

Luke sitting in the rock.

Prairie dog peeking out of his den.

Seth driving Luke in the zoo jeep.

Massive elephant.

University of Tennessee Game

Well, we are now officially transplants. While my heart will always remain in Georgia, my head is firmly planted in Tennessee. Steve has tickets for the University of Tennessee games through work and so we were fortunate to take the boys to UT versus Montana last night.

It was exciting being in the college game day atmosphere. It has been a long time since we had been to a college football game. During the past few years we have been fortunate to attend college basketball and baseball, professional football, basketball, and baseball. But no college football. So we had a lot of catching up to do.

We arrived early, found our parking garage and tailgated until time to head to Neyland Stadium. After an hour and 40 minute rain delay, we were able to start the game. Tennessee started out the game with early touchdowns and pretty much routed Montana.

Looking forward to more games with the boys. We had a great time and certainly made some lasting memories.

Seth and Luke decked out in their Tennessee hats!

Dad and the boys.

The boys and I.

View of some of the tailgating that was all over UT campus.

I couldn't resist. I had to buy it!

A sea of orange and white heading towards Neyland Stadium.