Last day of the year!

Wow, what a year! I don't even know where to begin. I have been so blessed this year and have so much to be thankful for. Aiden is truly a blessing and can't wait to see what kind of adventures await us in 2012. So goodbye 2011, you have been a blast, but 2012 brings new opportunities.

Happy New Year!

Sad Broccoli

So after doing some reading both Anthony and I came to the same conclusion, I SUCK AT GROWING BROCCOLI. In years past I have planted to late and it has gotten to hot for Broccoli, this year I planted it to early and the cold weather got it. UGH. I am going to try again in the fall, MAYBE! Either way, my brother and I ate it tonight and it was still very tasty. Atleast now I can rip it out of the garden and plant something else. I guess that is the bright side of my broccoli failure! On another bright side my brussel sprouts are doing beautifully, along with my broccoli rabe. I am beginning to think gardening is WAY more luck, then skill!

Garden Update!

Everything is coming along nicely! However, Anthony did some research and found that soon my Broccoli will be a complete bust. UGH! I always say this but I am going to give broccoli one more try and then give up! Here is the Brassica's bed, other than the Broccoli, everything else is growing quite nicely!
We are starting to harvest Lettuce regularly and I have enjoyed a few salads from the garden. The radishes are coming along nicely this year and are quite tasty!!
My Cauliflower is going to suffer from the same thing my Broccoli is suffering from(more on that later). But here it is in all its glory!
My poor 3 Tomatoes!! That one is still rather sad looking, but I am going to fix that as soon as it stops raining! Time for the tent look!!
Here is the broccoli.....bolting its way to the sky....NOT GOOD!
Finally got everything planted in this bed and the corn and potatoes are already coming up!!!
These red cabbages are coming along slowly, and aren't doing as well as the green cabbages, but this is only my second attempt at cabbage. Last year, the really awesome St. Louis bugs got them! Hopefully the slugs won't get them this year.
I have a few tomatoes coming, here is the biggest one. I still have to plant more tomatoes. I would like to do that this weekend, but don't know if I will get lucky enough to do so,
So what is left to do....plant more tomatoes, plant my squash, zucc, and cucumber starts and put up tents around these things so they don't die of frost bite!!! Ugh, I miss the southern weather!!!

Broccoli Questions???

For the past 3 years I have tried to grow Broccoli but have always failed. First I couldn't even get the darn plants to grow, the next time they grew into small broccoli plants, but were eaten in one night (literally one night) and last year I grew huge broccoli plants but never got any broccoli heads. Now I love broccoli and my family does too, so there is a lot of disappointment when I fail in the garden. So this year, I once again have a new garden and this time a new climate, well this is what I have...8 small plants, growing quite nicely.
However, should they have little broccoli heads already?
Here is a close up, and all the plants look like this.
Is this ok, what should I do, if anything. I beginning to think I may like broccoli, but it sure doesn't like me!!!

Garden Update

Sunday and Monday were such beautiful days that I did my best to get more stuff into the garden. I was pretty successful, I got a whole another bed planted. All I have left is the squash, cucumbers and of course the rest of the Tomatoes. Below are all the beds.
Here is the potato, onion and corn bed. Yes it is all there. On the left side of the bed you can see a volunteer potato plant. More on the subject later.
These are red cabbage plants they are just now starting to take off. The rest of this bed will be squash and cucumbers.
Broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts are coming along very nicely, more on the broccoli situation later.
Here is the first bed I planted as you can see, still no peas, apparently I have failed on the pea situation. Ooops!
I still only have 3 tomatoes, but maybe this week I will get some more. Two of them are doing really well and the other one is really stressed. I am hoping with some better weather it will come around.
Gardening in the northwest is proving to be a little more fickle than the other places I have lived, however the plants are definitely getting enough water. UGH!

Aiden's First Party

Last weekend, my mom, Aiden and I headed across the water to Vashon Island to celebrate the Hampl-Newman boys first birthday. It was great fun and the boys are just as cute as can be. Here are few pictures from the party. Starting with Jack being a ham!
Baby Aiden is very serious at parties!
The boys getting ready to blow out their candles.
Happy Family!!! They made it through their first year with twins! Now that's something to celebrate.
Jack trying to take off his birthday hat!
A big yawn from Aiden, partying is exhausting!
Michael being very good about his birthday hat!
Grandma Jeanne and Jack with Aiden and I. Baby Aiden is cat napping, parties are very tiring!
The beautiful birthday cake!
Grandpa Peter and the boys!
It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun celebrating with the boys and their friends and family!

Someday

For the past 3 years I have wanted a greenhouse and I know that someday I will get one, but in the meantime I have to be creative. So here is creativity at its finest. I have learned that if you put the seed trays with lids in the grass that it keeps them warmer then placing them on the pavement or on a table. So here they are in all there glory....in the grass!Also I have learned that pre-sprouting seeds is the way to go. However, one must be careful when doing this, because if you forget about them this is what happens. You get crazy little seedlings. With Baby Aiden around I tend to forget about the garden, but I am trying to spend a little time each day. I don't know if all these seedlings will survive but I am hoping some of them will! I am hoping to get these out in the garden in a few weeks, if they don't make it however, we will be buying starter plants. :)

Future Farmer

Baby Aiden is ready to help in the garden!

Garden Update

I believe these little seedlings have been in the ground about 2 weeks now and they are coming along quite nicely.

Here are the red cabbage plants they are the slowest to get going I am not sure why, as I have never grown cabbage before.

Baby Tomato plants. These are heirloom and I am hoping that the season will be long enough to get tomatos off of these plants. The plant in the front seems to show some signs of stress and I am assuming it is due to the weather, although the other two seem to be fine. I will keep watching it and adjust as needed.

Anthony's pepper plants are all planted and sitting in the sun! I am hoping that having them in pots will help keep them warm enough. I used mushroom compost in the pot and on top as mulch so I think that will help too.Are lonely Artichoke! I love Artichokes, so I am hoping to get a few!

Here is the brassica bed, it is coming along nicely. The purple Brussel Sprouts seem to be growing the best, which I am VERY pleased about.

My first planting of peas was a COMPLETE flop. Who messes up growing peas...aparently I DO! One of three things could have happened, either I planted them to deep, the seeds were bad or lastly in the monsoon we had they could have gone bad. So I replanted some new seeds in hopes to get peas this year!

In the meantime the lettuce and radishes are coming along nicely. Hoping to have fresh salads soon. YUM!

Well there is the garden so far. I am hoping to plant potatoes and onions this weekend. Anthony will be home to help with Aiden, which will free me up to be outside in the dirt! YAY!

College bound

GeoTagged, [N47.37128, E122.54653]

He may only be 2 and half months old but he already has his college picked out. Go Huskies!!!

Baby's Nutrition

1. Smart Fats
2. Best Carbs
3. Proteins
4. Young Tastes
5. Fiber
6. Vitamins and Minerals
7. Iron
8. Calories
9. Raise a Lean Baby

Pepper Plans

My husband loves peppers, I love my husband, therefore, I grow peppers! In the past peppers have been super easy to grow and I have high hopes for this year but living in the Pacific Northwest may prove a bit challenging. Last week I bought multiple plants in hopes that we will have some success. This year I will be growing them in pots due to a space issue in our small backyard garden, so they will live in a very controlled environment, which I think will create better success. I am hoping to plan them either tomorrow or Monday. Stay tuned for more details and progress.

Old Lady!

Recently I was invited to play in an Alumni Girls Waterpolo game. I was super excited and then I suddenly realized that I was 10 years older, really out of shape and just had a baby 8 weeks. Scary I know, but what the heck you only live once. Everyone in my family joked that I was going to drown and there was a part of me that thought they might be right. So last Monday my hubby, brother, baby and I all headed to my old high school for the game. Can I just say, it was a blast and it was just like riding a bike. I remembered everything, the rules, how to grip the ball and most importantly how to tread water and SWIM! Here are a few pictures from the big day, I hope that we can do this again really soon. What a great work out!
Here is a few from the actual game! The only thing I wanted was to wear my old number...#14! And I did!

Aiden cheering on his mommy. He was such a good boy and sat through the whole game!

Here I am practicing before the game and discovering that I do actually remember how to play!

My hubby that this was the best picture of the day! Me almost drowning!

I am so glad that I was brave enough to go out and play, it was great fun and hope to do it again!

Bathtime!!!

When we first started bathing Aiden he hated it, and I mean HATED IT! Now, it could have been the sponge baths we gave due to his umbilical cord drying up, but nonetheless he hated them but now he LOVES them! As you can see he is all smiles!
Daddy singing rub-a-dub-dub to him! One of his favorites.

Getting all dried off! He is even learning to enjoy the lotion, it has taken sometime to teach him lotion is not poison.

All dry, and a cloth fuzzi bunz diaper on! He is getting a little chubby too! That is not the normal changing table cover, but while Daddy was changing him, we had an accident. So a blanket works just as well!

All done and still smiling! Thanks Daddy for doing bath duty, so I could take some really cute pictures!
Hope everyone has a great day!!! I know I will with this smiley little boy!