Our first peppers

With the garden starting to produce our veggies we planted in the spring there will probably be quite a few post on them, as we are very excited to see the fruits or rather "veggies" of our labor ;)

 Just at the beginning of this week our peppers are starting to get big enough to pick. I think we ended up doing 6 green pepper plants and 4 banana pepper plants. As I am slowly watching our green tomatoes grow I can't wait to make some fresh salsa! There are a ton of peppers on each plant so there will be plenty to go around :) 

With the peppers as well they are a great snack just to pick,slice, and eat. Thomas took the one that he is holding and ate it just like an apple. And yes Sup looks messy from head to toe, not an uncommon occurrence here in the summer time ;)

Shrinersfest

Every summer Evansville holds has a Freedom Festival, I guess this year it was held by the Shriners. This is the first year that we have gone so I am not sure if it for the Shriners every year. 

 The festival was held right downtown by the river. It was a pretty hot and humid day, and of course we went in the afternoon when it was the hottest part of the day. The boys did pretty good with the heat, Eric had seen they would have jumbo corn dogs. These boys love corn dogs and really only get them a few times a year, so it was a pretty special treat for them. 

 We were all wondering how "jumbo" the corn dogs were going to be. I will have to say they were pretty jumbo! The boys were very impressed as well as excited to try them out. I was actually amazed how much of the them they both ate. Thomas has all but a bite or two that Daddy finished off and Thomas said that his tummy was "way full!" Sup probably ate 3/4 of it and again Daddy finished off the rest. 

 While we were there they also had an air show, with I think about eight planes. Because it was so warm we tried to find a place in the shade that we could sit and watch the show. Which is why the boys look like they are sitting in the bushes. It was really nice because they had the Red Cross there with lots of ice cold water that you could help yourself too and not have to pay for it. 

After a couple of hours and when the show was over we headed back to the car. We did have a nice time and for me forgetting the sunblock amazingly no one was sunburnt! The boys were pretty tuckered  out by the time we made it to the car and were happy for the AC :) 

Snapping beans

We planted quite a few green bean plants this year. I am a big fan of fresh picked green beans and was really excited to see them doing so well for us this year. 

 Since we are working on increasing our food storage the extra rows we planted we plan to can. I haven't canned any so far but it is in the near future :) When I brought in the pale the other day the boys really wanted to help me get them ready for dinner. Having snapped beans for a good part of my life even a 3 year old and a 5 year old can be a big help with this, so I was happy for the help. 

These two boys can find just about anything entertaining, this is not limited to snapping green beans. There were good guys and bad guys fighting, and dying of course when they were snapped. In no time our pot was full!

Summer fun

Our summer has been pretty enjoyable thus far. We have had some hot days but a few days here and there have been really pleasant. 

The boys and I have come up with a nice little routine. About once or twice a week we go to the library and I have the boys pick out a few books. They have a really nice summer reading program that we have done since we moved here. In the evening we head outside and the boys play a little bit in the pool/sprinkler/front yard/back yard and then settle on the front porch for some popsicles. While they are  eating their treat we get out the books and they pick which ones they want to hear. It really has been nice to see them so excited to sit and listen to story after story. And when they are playing they sometimes reenact one of the stories they really liked. 

New pool

For their birthday Gramma got the boys a joint gift a little T-Rex dinosaur pool. They were both dying to try it out so on Memorial weekend we decided to have the boys try it out. 

 We had been telling them all week that we would be able to get the pool out on Saturday, and even though Thomas knows the days of the week it was an everyday question, "Mom is today Saturday?" or  "Is it Saturday yet?".  I think the poor boy will be learning about patients for a good part of his life ;) 

 So when Saturday morning came around they were more then ready to break into the box and get the pool out. They were not patient enough to wait for Daddy to get up so they decided to see if they could blow up the pool. I thought go ahead and give it a try but Daddy can use the air compressor and it will a lot faster. After a little bit they were all out of air but they really did give it a good effort. 

 When Daddy was up he was able to blow up the pool in a matter of minutes and the boys were ready! After getting in their swimsuits and some sun block they jumped right in! Even though it was 90 degrees that whole weekend the water from the hose was a little chilly at first. Didn't stop Sup but Thomas, it took him a little bit to finally sit in the water ;)

Sup was a little unsure about the slide, he liked to sit on it and sit in the pool and lean in back on it to "relax" but not too fond of actually sliding down in. Thomas on the other hand loved to slide down the slide so Sup being the little brother he is tried to think of ways to pester Thomas. Lifting the slide was a popular choice. 

Future Paleontologist

One of Thomas' birthday presents was dinosaur fossil kit. I actually have not seen these before and Thomas could hardly wait to see what kind of dinosaur bones he had in his "rock". 

 I am glad that we decided to break open the rock outside because it did make for a nice mess and Sup liked using the pieces as chalk. Thomas was all ready he got his little safety glasses on and his mini hammer and was off to discover his bones. 

 After seeing multiple dinosaur shows and documentaries, yes my five year old loves dinosaur documentaries, he seemed to know exactly what to do. He would gently hammer for a little bit and when he reached bones he would stop and use the brush the clear away the dust and rock pieces. He really was pretty good at it and didn't need to help him at all with this part :)

 After the rock was all broken into pieces, he was able to find all the pieces to the dinosaur. He took each piece and dusted them off with the brush. He was able to identify all the pieces but had a little trouble getting all the pieces to connect. So I did have to help him with that part. 

 He was so excited to see that he had "found" and "dug up" a little T-Rex skeleton :) After he was all put together he was placed in my care and given instructions to "keep it away from Sup Mom, he will break it ." He knows is little brother very well ;)

Sup was actually not interested in the dinosaur what-so-ever. He just wanted to play with the pieces of the rock and try on the glasses and he was the happiest little boy :)

Fruit leather

For Mothers Day I got a really fun kitchen gadget...a food dehydrator. It has been something on our minds for a while and we are trying to increase our food storage so this was a great gift!

 We got more strawberries then we thought we would this season we were able to enjoy them fresh, plus I had enough to make a couple batches of jam then I thought I would try something new. With my dehydrator I thought I would try some fruit leather, pretty much a homemade fruit roll up, so in my opinion a lot better ;) 

 It was actually really easy to make. After blending the berries all up I added just a little bit of honey for a little sweetness (I could have used regular sugar but we have some yummy honey from some of our family's honeybees) and poured in on the sheets for the dehydrator. It made the house smell really good, but because I started it a little late we had to wait until Sunday to have a taste.  

Sup was a little unsure about it at first but both boys really liked it. Thomas roll his right up and gobbled it up. I can't wait to see what else we can try from our dehydrator!

Fun with the sprinkler

We have had some interesting weather this year. We have been above normal temps for most of the winter and spring. Of course the the winter there were no complaints, but when your hitting record highs or near record highs in April/May...it might make it for a long hot summer. 

 It has been nice that we have our hot temps for about a week and then get down to more normal temps for a few days so we have a little bit of a break. The boys do much better with the warmer weather then the colder weather and water is always a big attraction. 

 We have had a rather dry spring as well so we have had to water our garden quite a bit this year. I do better at watering in the evening rather then the morning and lately I have been using the sprinkler. This has a dual use for me. I can water my plants and keep my boys entertained at the same time!  

Last year both boys were a little unsure about the sprinkler and kinda ran around it with the objective of NOT getting wet?! This year Thomas has become much more brave around water and likes to be cooled off by it. He is not running through it but he will stand and get wet by it....Why the bucket on his head you may wonder? He still does not like his head to get wet so his solution the bucket on his head therefore he can still get wet by the sprinkler but his head can be dry. Clever I thought as he came up with this solution all on his own. Sup on the other hand still keeps his distance and will get brave when the water is on the other side and then run away as soon as it comes his way. Although he still insisted to have his swimsuit on ;)

Birthday dinner and cake

Thomas had his birthday meal picked out about two weeks in advance. He was very excited at the prospect that he could pick the whole meal. Throughout the weeks it there was an addition here and there but it was kind of a mix of a little bit of everything. 

 I realized that he is very much a meat boy. At one point there was steak, bacon and chicken on the menu.  I will say I talked him out of having three meats down to two, three proteins were a little much ;) It came down to steak with steak sauce..aka A1... bacon, green pancakes, strawberries, blueberries, and carrots. So amazingly he did pretty good on the food groups just missing the dairy :)

 This time he was expecting his big green plate because Sup had gotten a big blue plate on his birthday. So when he sat down and seen his big green plate he was ready to fill it up. " It is a good thing I have a big plate because I have a lot of birthday food to put on it." And he really did pile up his plate ;)

 It seems that nothing is more exciting then a birthday cake made just for you. He had been looking at that number 5 all week and could hardly wait so see it lit up on his avengers cake. 

It was a quick eat for Daddy but we were all able to enjoy our green cake with vanilla ice cream. Thomas wanted the confetti cake but green, so with a few green drops we were able to see the sprinkles and have our green cake :)

Cake decorating and gifts

After getting up and around our first priority of the day was to decorate Thomas' birthday cake. Again because of his birthday being on a weekday like Sup's our schedule was shifted so Daddy would be able to celebrate with us. 

 Thomas wanted an Avenger cake for his birthday. He and Sup really enjoyed the movie so we decided to take a scene out of the movie for his cake. There is a scene in the movie where Captain America and Iron Man first meet Thor and get into a fight. For those who have seen the movie you may and hopefully recognize the scene ;) At the end of the scene Thor hits his hammer on Captain America's shield and the energy impact knocks all the trees around them down creating a circle of fallen trees and rocks around them.  

 As his gift from us were the toys on the cake. This is how Eric got his birthday gifts when he was a little boy and really wanted to do one for Thomas. Thomas was really excited about the cake so I was please with how it turned out :) especially with all the green :)

 After Daddy was up and after we got the cake all set we to open gifts from the rest of the family. Because  we live far from family all the rest of the gifts were sent so he had seen dying to get into the pile. He really enjoyed them all!

Sup really wanted to get Thomas a Hulk like his....again from Avengers. We had no luck finding a Hulk here but Gramma was able to find them and sent it to the boys. Thanks Gramma! Sup was really excited to play "Hulks" with Thomas. 

Birthday boy

It was a little hard to believe that my Thomas is already five years old. Again because I am a little behind in my postings, this was his birthday morning picture. 

I think this was by far the most excited he has been for his birthday. Since the two boys birthdays are just a couple days apart and Sup's was "first", Eric and I heard a count down until his birthday came. He is becoming very good with numbers so each day we would hear only 4 more days, then three... you get the picture. So when I walked out of my bedroom Thomas is literally right at my feet jumping up and down " TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY MOMMY! I AM FIVE!". He waits about a half second and then says, " Mom you haven't told me Happy Birthday yet?" " Happy Birthday Thomas!"