Spring is here

These are the radishes. These came up first. It was nice to have something to look at as the other seeds were still working on sprouting.


They are hard to see but here are our spinach plants. I love a good spinach salad.

Our sugar peas came up just this morning! I watered them in the morning a could see only one, by the time I took this photo there were 5!

Again it's hard to see but here we have 2 cauliflower.

This is the garden from my back door.

There you have it, our first garden! I pray that I can keep everything growing and producing tons of veggies for our family to enjoy this year.

Homesteding in the Military

So we have been doing a lot of praying as to what we should do with our family. Do we stay in the military and move every few years, should we buy a home and settle down, or do something in between? The one thing we know for sure is that we want to be more self-reliant. The price of food, fuel, and fun is going up everyday. As a family we have chosen to stay away from credit cards and needless loans. We have seen many of the young families around us well over there heads in debt due to them. So as an answer to that we have started a Square foot garden in the backyard. We are also playing with the idea of getting some chickens to add fresh eggs as well.
Jamie is very happy to have a garden in the back yard, and is eager to help. Michael is a bit more of a hindrance. Oh he enjoys helping plant the seeds, but he also likes to pull up the plants! Our dog Sam is also finding the garden useful. She thinks that the beds are just that, a bed for her to lay in. I have now added some netting to keep little hands and big dogs out and will be adding a short fence soon.
As I was watering the garden this morning I came across 4 seedling! our radishes are coming up to say hello. It is nice to have something to show for all the work I have put in. Sadly Jason won't be here for the main harvest. By the time we are in the season to enjoy all the work he will be in Afghanistan. Such is the life of an army wife. It is all fine and good so long as he comes home to me and the kids.
ANYWAY... we are taking the first step in having a homestead in the military. I just pray that we don't get caught up in some silly rule that limits what we can do. I will post pics later but for now I must get back to washing clothes.

pre-deployment

OUr family has been going through al lot in the last few months. Jason is gone at some point every month for training for the up coming deployment. With Jason gone I have been given time to learn how best to care for our house with him gone. To put it lightly the house is a mess. With three wonderful, yet messy, kids to clean after and teach/play with it has been less then easy to keep our home in the order it should be. I often find myself wondering how I will last a whole year without Jason coming home at night to help look after the kids as is pick up the chores not done for that day. We had a wonderful gift of a 4-day weekend the weekend before last. It was so nice to have time with Jason and the kids and not have to rush to get all the Saturday errands do in one day. Well Monday night came around and it hit us that we got nothing done in the house, the dishes were stacked in the sink, clothes needed to be washed and put away, and there were toys EVERYWHERE!
Now here I am trying to play catch-up with the house chores and still get the daily tasks done at the same time. I feel so over my head. I want to just hire someone to come in and get the house back in shape then I'll take over! I know that is never going to happen so here is sit taking a well needed rest from my all morning cleaning. Jason is leaving on Thursday for 3 weeks and will miss yet another Valentine's day. I am happy that He has a job, and that I can be a stay-at-home mom but there are days that I would love t drop the kids off at a sitters and hire a maid.
As the wise Annie once said "The sun will come out tomorrow".

Christmas time is here

First off please forgive any typos, Jamie got grape juice on the keyboard, we are now looking for a new one. Well last night was the ward Christmas party. We had good food and good friends all around us. We were sad that Jason couldn't be with us but he is coming home today. The children did a live nativity and Jamie was all too cute in her "Mary" outfit. Michael want so bad to join the big kids that he stood at the front of the stage the whole time!

Good food for all. It's nice when Mommy doesn't have to cook.

Our little "Mary" Michael want to join the big kids.

Here's our Christmas card photos. We are so blessed!

The kids, Jason inclued, loved playing in the leaves.

It was so cold that night that the s'mores were just right.

Thnaksgiving

Michael getting pie from Grammie... And Papa!

making s'mores

Michael and Jamie playing in the leaves.

Well thanksgiving is over and now on to Christmas! We had a most wonderful Thanksgiving with our friends the Wareing's. It was an almost perfect weekend.There were some stress as is normal with the holidays but over all it was great.
We now have our Christmas tree up and lit. It looks very nice but it's missing the star on top. As is tradition in our family Daddy will help one of the kids put it on. seeing as Jason is gone to Miami that will have to wait until he gets home. Now to find the box with the ornaments!