Another Tiny Harvest

Here is my latest harvest, bell peppers. They are all really tiny again. Can't figure out why. I added manure to the soil this summer and I have watered with Miracle Grow. My mom suggested maybe it's because the soil is so hard. Maybe.
There are a lot of them at least. There are about 20 more on the two plants I have.

My beans are growing pretty well and a few of the corn plants are getting tassles and ears on them. Still, they are only about 3 feet tall. I will have to get a tiller next spring and try tilling the soil a little deeper and see if it helps. I will have to replant peas, AGAIN! It has just been too hot for them still. This morning it was only 77 at about 6:30 so maybe it is cooling off enough.

Gymnastics

You may remember the tu-tu I made Josi a while back. She later picked out some sparkly, tie-dye, pink fabric so I could make her a leotard to wear under the tu-tu. I finally finished it yesterday, I kept forgetting to buy the elastic for it everytime I went to Joann's.


Here she is testing it out and showing her stuff. She loves to tumble. She can do a pretty good cartwheel which she learned from Harley Quinn playing Lego Batman on the Wii. I wish I was in better shape so I could better show her the proper forms.

She does an excellent bridge, she just needs to build those scrawny little biceps so she can do it from a standing position instead of starting on the floor like she does now.

And here was her best twirl.

Readin', Writin' and 'Rithmetic

I have been testing out homeschooling Josi. I have found a couple of websites that have lots of worksheets you can print for math and writing. I have also gotten a few booklets from the dollar store that have different themes like Disney or Carebears.
Here she is working on addition using M&Ms. She loves using M&Ms because she can eat them afterward.
You can see by the look on her face how much she enjoys doing her schoolwork. She really gets into it. She has a backpack she got from Hailey (her cousin) and she keeps all of her books and pencils in it.

She is quite good at math. She really understands it. She is still having a hard time understanding adding and subtracting zero, though. But it is coming to her.

We have also started learning to read. She is mostly just memorizing short words and we work on sounding out the bigger words. We will have to get a video of her reading up soon. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Rain, Rain ...

I am so happy it is finally raining here. During the day, no less. We have had a few night-time thunderstorms, but nothing we could enjoy. Right now the temperature is a mere 74 degrees and the kids are out playing with umbrellas in the sprinkle. It's about time; it's about a month late.

Yard/Garden Progress

Well it has been about a month since I last posted photos of the yard. The grass and garden are doing pretty good. I actually have to mow it once a week.

Here are the picture from last month and the one I took today.

You can see the three main spots have all filled into one big patch.

It is about the same area as the shed which is 8'x8'.

And this is the other side of the yard. This has all grown into one large patch too.

And there are several small patches forming that have several runners spreading out.

The older picture didn't include the bottom patch, it was barely visible then.

Here you can see the corn that I planted in the back 3 rows and the beans in the front one. I had to plant new seeds about 1 1/2 weeks after I planted the first time because they weren't coming up.







And here are a couple of pea plants. I had to replant them a couple of times. I just planted for the third time so we will see if any more come up.

Creative Juices

We have all had our creative juices flowing today.

I am sick of the summer. I hate the heat, I hate the water and electric bills, I hate being stuck inside or frying outside. So in an attempt to nudge fall in, I decorated my half-wall with an Autumn-y garland.

I bought a couple strands of leaves last spring for, like, 50cents in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby. One was missing half the leaves so the cashier let me have it for nothing. It worked out to be the perfect length once I cut off the naked part. I just need to add some pumpkins or something.

Here's a closer shot.

Josi and Hyrum spent about 45 minutes on the back patio drawing with chalk. Here are some cute pictures.

By the end, they were chalky from nose...

all the way...

to toes!

I found the "That Guy" I blogged about forever ago . . .

Old Post Here. More "That Guys" Here.

Great deal!

Target has these "Sterilite 09 College" 66 qt latching or 41 qt under-bed storage boxes for only $4.44 right now! That is about 1/2 price and the best I have ever seen for this size. My Target only has them in purple and blue. These latching ones are the good ones, too. I have a couple other types of "latching" ones that just don't stay latched. These latch over the lid so that it doesn't pop off if you have it really full or when you are moving it. Not quite as good as the some other Sterilite top latching ones, but very good still. I wish I could go get a bunch of them, but I gotta stay within my budget :) So tempting though. If I had known, I would have put off buying some other things already.

Fun Hair Day

Today I decided to something fun with my hair. It started as just a doubled ponytail with the end sticking out on top. But I turned it into this cute bun with the ends sticking out all around. This picture isn't the best. Hyrum was the photographer.

The other day Ben said I should try to do Josi's hair in all-over braids. Most days she just runs around with a tangly mess on her head, because she just won't keep hairbands in. I'll put them in when we go to the store or church or whatever, but as soon as we get home, she pulls them out.

I finally sat down with her today and braided it all. Her hair is so fine, it only took a couple of hours. She looks kind of bald.

I decided to put it all in a ponytail to keep the unruly ones in place. I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm not sure how to secure all of the ends though. I just used hair-snot (gel) for now, but I don't know how long it will last.

Of course, Hyrum had to get in on the fun too. So I used my hair-snot to give him a fauxhawk.

What should we do to Papi's hair when he gets home :)? Just Kidding, babe!

What to do when you can't sleep?

This morning I woke up at about 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I thought about reading a little in the BoM (that usually makes me drowsy:), but decided the light would wake Ben up. So finally at 3:30 I decided I would exercise. And I did, right there on the floor by the bed for almost 30 minutes. Push ups, crunches, side planks, etc. Let me tell you I fell asleep with in 5 minutes after that! And when I woke up with Ben, I was so sore and I could barely wake up. I went right back to sleep before he was even out of the shower. I woke back up when he opened and closed the garage door (it's right below our room) so I read the BoM. I have to do it then while the kids are asleep or it won't get done. Then I went to sleep again til the kids woke me up.