Zucchini

Yes as any gardener would tell you, zucchini is perhaps the easiest vegetable to grow. We only planted 8 seeds back in May, thinned them to 4 and have 5 plants. I'm not sure how that happened and the 5th plant is even in a different location in our garden. Well, I decided to make this past weekend -"zucchini cooking weekend". And you know what's scary, I am looking at my counter right now and there are STILL 5 zucchini sitting there. I made 2 loaves of bread, 2 casseroles with mushrooms, onions, cheese, tomato sauce and some rounds. All of these things made with zucchini. I think we gave away 3-4 just this weekend as well.

We are anxiously waiting for our tomatoes to turn red. What on earth am I going to do with all of them? I think we have about 2 more weeks until they are ready. Just in time for us to go on vacation for a week. Anyone want to come over and pick garden-fresh tomatoes the week we're gone?

And I'm hoping to plant a couple new rows of lettuce once it cools down a bit. Lettuce does better in cooler weather.

Cathi

Progress on Griffin's expander

Well it's been about 11 days since we started turning the key on Griffin's expander. It's going very well. The first night it took us about 2-3 minutes to figure out how to insert the "key" and turn it. Now it takes Dallas about 5-10 seconds. Griffin is very patient and doesn't mind having it done. And the best part is, it does not hurt him at all. We go back to the dentist on August 4th for Dr. Wagner to check the progress. I think he'll be very happy. G's favorite thing is that he gets to use a toothpick whenever necessary to dislodge things that get caught up in there. This is not the best picture of Griffin but you can definitely see that the expander is working. The space between his 2 front teeth is much wider. Before this is all done, it is going to look like he's lost a front tooth; the space will be so big. It will be well worth it in the end because he will have a corrected crossbite and lots of room for his permanent teeth to come in.

One interesting tidbit of trivia the dentist told me is that girls lose their teeth earlier than boys. And when they looked at G's x-rays, they told me it would be at least one more year before he lost one of his.

Fun at the Fair!

Today we went to the DuPage County Fair. The weather was perfect for an afternoon of riding tractors, watching a magic show, seeing the farm animals and taking in a ride on the Ferris wheel. The fair organizers do such a great job getting the kids excited about all things agricultural. There is an area where you can milk a cow, see a sheep being shorn, and see eggs hatching. The most interesting part for Griffin's parents was when he said, "What is that thing hanging between that sheep's legs?" Oh yeah, that was fun to explain. And did you know, they have wool on them? Just thought I'd throw that in there for you city folk who might not know that fact about a sheep! :)

Griffin was most excited about his funnel cake AND snow cone and the Ferris wheel ride. My camera died before I got any pictures of them on it. We are looking forward to going again next year already.

The backyard

I think I've talked about our backyard before. Of course I have. It's where the garden is and the sandbox and the fireflies. Oh and our huge Charlie Brown tree. Have I shown you that yet? I'll have to.

When Griffin and Dallas went on their father/son camping trip a few weeks ago one of the things on the schedule was a water balloon fight. Unfortunately, they never got to it but it's stuck in G's mind as to something he wanted to do. So on Saturday we went to Walmart to find water balloons. We were successful and a water balloon fight ensued in our backyard. The two of them had a blast and I've already been to the store to buy MORE balloons.

And if Jennifer would email as to how to post a video, I'd post one on this subject. (hint, hint)

The sandbox

Who would have thought that a sandbox could bring so much pleasure to a little boy? We bought this little crab sandbox back in Texas when Griffin was about 2. We had it around the side of our garage so it was always in the shade. Well, here in Illinois we have it right outside our backdoor. I don't think a day has gone by this summer that he hasn't played in it. Actually, I just came in from playing "build sandcastles", "hide the truck" and "bury Griffin's legs". I am so thankful for my little boy and praise God for his health, vitality and love he brings our family.

What is that?

Today Griffin had this apparatus installed in his mouth. Is installed the right word? That sounds like something you'd do to your kitchen dishwasher. Well whatever the word is, he got this thing put in his mouth by our dentist. He is doing fine with it. He has what is known as a crossbite. Honestly, it's too darn cute because he's having a little trouble enunciating words and controlling the excess saliva the thing causes. It is not bothering him at all, yet. I don't start turning the key (to spread his upper jaw) until next week. Dr. Wagner will show me how to insert the key and turn it each night before we go to bed for the next 6-8 weeks. Griffin's appearance might change a bit and he'll get a pretty big space between his front two teeth.

Hopefully this will fix his crossbite and decrease the need for braces in the future. One can only hope!

The Bounty of our Harvest

Well, it's official. We had almost an entire meal from our garden. It was great. Dallas' cousin Chuck and his son Charlie came for a quick visit the past couple of days. The boys had fun picking the veggies from our garden. I made a stir-fry and a garden salad to go with grilled chicken. It was a big hit. My "non-veggie-eating" boy now likes zucchini and loves mushrooms.

We had to do a little damage control on the garden tonight. The tomato plants are so large that they are toppling over. We had to wrap a string around all the plants to tie them back up into place. We did lose a few branches (is this the right word?) but it looks like we will have A LOT of tomatoes even without the few we had to break off.

With the latest news saying that it might be cilantro, onions or jalapenos that are causing the salmonella outbreak, we are glad that we are growing all of those along with our tomatoes. We'll have to make a ton of salsa and give it to all our friends w/ no fear of illness! :)

We've just had a huge thunderstorm. I do thank God for the rain. And the cooler weather - I just put on a sweatshirt. It's cool outside!

A quick trip to Texas

On Thursday afternoon I decided to go visit my friend, Ellen, in Texas for the long weekend. Dallas had the next three days off work as did Ellen. Dallas and Griffin hung out at home while I ventured to the heat um, I mean to Fort Worth. Ellen moved into a new house about 2.5 months ago and needed some help. We painted her dining room (above and below the chair rail and the rail and trim). Then her hubby, brother in law and I laid laminate flooring. We also painted some of the master bathroom, organized the linen closets and bathroom cabinets, emptied boxes and did lots of yard work. Sunday afternoon we did relax poolside and have a cookout which was great! We got a lot accomplished and their house is looking more and more like a home!

Fireflies!!

Growing up in Virginia we had a LOT of fireflies in our yard. We had woods behind our house and it was great for finding these critters. There were significantly less of them in Texas. It must be too dag gum hot there. But in Illinois, they abound. So the other night, Griffin and I, with the help of Molly, our kitty cat, went on a firefly hunt in our backyard. We had a blast. Here's the proof. Oh and the best part is Griffin likes to let them go so he can catch them again the next night!

What a chore

I decided I'd like to have a small garden in the space between the street and the sidewalk up against our driveway. It is where the mailbox is. I went out there on Thursday and started digging up the sod/grass. OMG - that is so hard to do! I did about a 4 foot square patch and I was done. Dallas said he would be happy to help me on Sunday after church. So when we got home, we went right out there and started working. There was about 3 inches of topsoil/grass and then SOLID GRAVEL for over 10 inches down. It was unbelievable. We ended up clearing out 5 wheelbarrows FULL of gravel and rock in this very small spot. It's a wonder the grass could even grow there at all. We have a large compost bin in our backyard so thankfully we had a lot of dirt to fill in the gaping hole we created.

Are you wondering what someone does with 5 wheelbarrows full of gravel? We have an empty lot across the street that is still owned by the builder. We dumped them over there. Thank you said builder!

So the compost is in and the plants are planted and the mulch is laid. Sure hope it grows! It doesn't look like much now but hopefully in a year or two I'll have a nice garden here!