McAfee Kids' Veggie Stand

We opened the kids' vegetable stand in the front yard today and the kids are so excited!  We started by making painted signs then grabbed our baskets of goodies and opened up shop!  We have already had our first neighbor drop by and it was very exciting!  Here are a few pictures of day one of the McAfee Kids' Veggie Stand!  Please stop by for some goodies!

Cooper and Ivy work hard to paint the Sunflower sign

FREE VEGGIES (but they are accepting donations)

Ivy and the sunflowers

As the garden grows...

Now that the dreaded 13-year cicadas have died off, I was able to step outside without being attacked and take a few pictures of the family garden.  A ton of sweat equity has gone into this plot of goodies and I am thankful to Jason (and the boys) for their diligence!  They have planted many types of peppers and tomatoes, squash, watermelon, sunflowers, wildflowers, peas, cucumbers, cantaloupe, fig trees, etc.  We will all soon enjoy the bounty - and are looking forward to sharing with YOU! 

A section of native warm-season grasses and wildflowers

Sunflowers

Green Bell Pepper

Green Bell Pepper

Tomatoes on the vine

More 'maters

Summer Squash!  (my favorite)

Peas on Jason's trellis

Peas on Jason's trellis

The garden goes in!

Jason and the boys broke ground on the family garden yesterday and are so proud.  All three of them worked very hard with the tiller and carved out a great spot that will be home to much-needed veggie goodness.  We look forward to the fruits of their labor!

Cole

Cooper takes a turn

Cooper

Cole

Ivy gives direction

The land

Cole

Daddy comes in to add expertise!

Poetry: I am Cole Hubbard.

 

I am Cole Hubbard.

I am awesome, funny, and nice.

I wish I could be a football player.

I wonder why I couldn't.

I hope I can be one someday.

Sometimes I worry that I won't be able to.

But I feel better when I pray.

I know I can be whatever I want to be.

Maybe someday I will be one.

Until then, I'm happy who I am.

Outdoor Firestarters

I wanted to share these amazing firestarters that I make.  They have been so wonderful when we go camping because I keep them in a big bag and have them on hand whenever we need to get a fire going.  Not only are they useful but they are DIRT CHEAP!

All you need are cardboard egg cartons, lint from your dryer and paraffin wax.  I keep a bag in my laundry room and throw the lint and dryer sheet in the bag every time I do a load (which is daily)!

Cardboard egg cartons, paraffin wax and dryer lint

Stuff the lint and dryer sheets in the egg cartons

Melt the wax in a double boiler

"Double Boiler" (wax pan on top of pan of boiling water)

Pour the melted wax over each "egg" of lint

When it cools slightly, cut them apart

I like to cut them apart as soon as they are cool enough to handle so that the wax isn't so hard to cut through.  It is a bugger after it hardens fully.

To start a fire, light the cardboard edge of your firestarter nugget and you'll have a good 15 minutes of fire to kick-start your logs.

Now let's go camping!

House guests!

We had some very special house guests last weekend and it warrants a post.  My Uncle Dick and Aunt Liz arrived Friday and spent the weekend with us.  We spent the majority of our time together eating and playing board games.  It was super special.  Much to Old Uncle Dick's dismay, he could not win a single game but the challenge was worth the disappointment and we hope he'll return for a rematch soon!  

A Battleship challenge with Cooper

One special moment was when he shared his Passport to the National Parks with Cole.  We gave Cole the Passport system last year for his birthday after Uncle Dick told us about it.  He has over 40 passport stamps in his book and Cole was very excited to hear about his travels.  In a previous post, Uncle Dick had sent Cole an enormous collection of brochures about Civil War battle fields.  They both enjoy history and I'm glad they had this opportunity to share these interests face to face.  

 

One of many Rummikub challenges with Carse

Scrabble in which I dominated!  (tee hee)

Uncle Dick and Aunt Liz with the kiddos

Ya'll come back soon now, ya' hear?