How Much

for those doggies in the window?

I let them out to use the bathroom this morning and I didn't realize it had started raining until I heard a tapping at the window. Guess who?? So I took their pic and then let them inside.

Hope they make you smile!

Potting Up My Herbs

and a few other plants. It's been stormy and rainy here all day so this has been a process of running out on the back deck, planting a few things, running back in until the next rain shower passes. This fellow kept me company on the bird feeder. He is a male rose-breasted grosbeak. They come through this area every Spring but never stay long. I guess they have better places to be!

I brought all my potted herbs inside so the hail wouldn't beat the poor things to death after I had them in their new pots so my kitchen looks like a greenhouse today.
I have herbs, peppers, tomatoes and cabbage on the bar.

More herbs on the counter by the window...

More on the other counter...

Some smaller ones started from seeds on the window sill.

I also spent some time thinning my hens and chicks plants and started a flat of them to give away to friends.

This wild and hairy Aloe Vera guy is next on my list to thin!

So what herbs do you grow and what do you use them for?
This year I have Rosemary, Sage, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Balm, Sweet Basil, Sweet Marjoram, Greek Oregano, Lemon Balm, Parsley and Lavender. I love to use herbs in cooking and I am hoping to use the Lavender in my goat milk soap!
Last year was my first year of growing herbs and I am addicted!

Nikon D3000

I know I promised vacation pics but I have misplaced my SD card!! It's here somewhere, I just don't know where! In the meantime I want to tell you about my experience with the Nikon D3000 DSLR this past weekend. I don't usually do product reviews but in the 20 minutes that I got to play with this camera I fell in love!

The in-laws were in from Nashville on Sunday and I picked my mother-in-laws camera up and started chasing my boys around outside.

I love the clarity of these pics. I told my mother-in-law I was going to hide her camera in my couch so she couldn't take it home.

I really was serious!

She told me I didn't have too...

that I had a birthday in June......

and that if that's what I wanted then that's what she would get me.
After I popped my eyeballs back in to my head and wiped the drool off my chin....

I said , "Are you sure?" and she said.....

"YES!"
Hurry up June 13th!!!!!!
I'm already picking out lenses and accessories!

Time Castle

I was taking a photo of this clock tower on the Sevierville, TN courthouse on our way to Maggie Valley, North Carolina during Spring break and my 4-year-old yelled, "Momma, look!!! It's a time castle!"

A little history on this "time castle"....
The Sevier County Courthouse was completed on November 10, 1895 with Kenneth McDonald as the supervising architect. This is the fifth courthouse for Sevier County and was built for a little over $22,000. Limestone came from a nearby quarry and Isaac Dockery, a notable African American brick mason in Sevierville, manufactured the bricks. The centerpiece of the courthouse is the Seth Thomas clock which is located in the 130ft tall tower. This clock cost more than $1,300 and is still in flawless operation today. Several finishing touches were made over the next several months and the first court was held on October 5, 1896.
(Information taken from here.)

I'll be sharing a few different vacation pics during the next week.
Oh and I'm hearing peeps coming from the incubator in the bedroom (a day early)!! My poor husband will be sleeping on the couch tonight if he plans on getting any sleep!

My Baby is 4 today!

He's growing up so fast! The first thing I did when he woke up this morning was picked him up and held him for as long as he would let me...about 5 seconds. I didn't get to hold him the morning he was born.....he was rushed to the NICU in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and put on a vent. I didn't get to hold him until he was 5 days old so I try to make up for it each birthday morning but he wiggles loose a little quicker each year!

You may be 4 already but you'll always be my baby!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!

We had a wonderful vacation for Spring break. Getting to see Joe's family and spend time with them was wonderful. I'll post some pics when things settle back down a bit!

Next week is back to work and school, the baby chicks are due to hatch on the 15th, T-ball and baseball will start soon, gardening is on my list and we're supposed to get our milk goat next week. Did I say settle down??

A Long Row to Hoe!

Let the planting begin!

Each year we amend the soil and do more work to our garden. When we moved here 3 years ago this was a flat grassy area but with a little quite a bit of work it's now one of my favorite places to be during the spring and summer.

(Those potatoes look too close together but they are actually about a foot apart!)
I picked up our seed potatoes and onions for planting a couple of weeks ago, got the potatoes cut so each piece had an eye bud (or two or three) on it and then we got a lot of rain so I have had to wait for the garden to dry out again. We added a ton and a half of lime, literally a ton and a half, a couple of weeks ago and spent some time working it into the soil. I learned something new....it takes quite a while for the lime to break down and benefit your soil so from now on I will add the lime in the fall and wait until spring to fertilize...I love learning new things about gardening, I just always wish I had learned them the year before!

Yesterday was the big day! My sweet husband laid my rows for me on Wednesday evening and started laying out the taters and onions yesterday morning. They had nice big eyes on them from sitting for a couple of weeks plus the cuts had dried well which decreases the chances of rotting in the ground.

I had help, lots of help from Dirt Cat....the rolling on the ground wanting his belly scratched even managed to cover a couple of the potatoes for me.

So there they are all covered up and waiting to pop through the ground!

I love this time of year! We are leaving for Spring break on Sunday. We are going to North Carolina to my husband's grandfather's cabin. His aunt and uncle still live there and his mom and stepfather are driving up from Florida to meet us there. They haven't seen the boys in almost 3 years so they are in for some excitement!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend!