Ariana is dying to play out in it, but the past few days have been way too cold.  The previous weekend, she and Russ built a snowman family, and since they’re still standing, she wants to add a few family members – she always tends to think big!

The snow on the garage roof is slowly sliding down, but not breaking off, so it’s overhanging the roof a good twelve inches.  The house is the same way in a few spots.  I’d sure hate to be under it when it falls.

David's favorite were the pigs.

They liked him too!

Ariana like the ducky races the best.

She couldn't get enough of them!

Even daddy liked them!

They tried some steer roping too.

The mazes themselves were a bit, okay, more than a bit muddy in places due to all the rain we got on Friday and Saturday, which of course we hadn’t even thought about when we headed up.  Luckily though, although there were quite a few close calls, none of us actually fell in the mud, and they provided a hose to wash off shoes, children, et., before heading out.

All in all it was a pretty good day for all!

His Jr/Sr High has 750 kids

of the 750 kids, 260 kids were absent yesterday due to the flu going around our area

The Facts According to Mom:

I have one very sick child at home today, David.

I have one child who saw the opportunity for a day off and took it, simply because her temperature was one degree higher than normal this morning, Ariana.

We have over an inch of snow – and it’s only mid-October.

36 quarts of grape juice concentrate.

28 pints of grape jelly.

And Russ still doesn’t hink we have enough – he’s planning on going to pick more grapes on Saturday morning.

Woobie and his peanut butter jar...

What showed up at our house when all the grandkids were supposed to be having a sleepover at Neenie and Poppy’s….

The Kids in the garden cart, clockwise from 12, Sydney 8, MacKenzie 1, Ariana 6, Braden (Jakey) 7, Lauryn (Coley) 5... What a handful!

And how they left…

Happy Tuesday!

Hopefully better than ours! This gardening thing is somewhat harder than we thought. Although we didn’t expect a big haul this year, we did expect our garden to look like a garden, not just a big dirt patch in the middle of our spotty lawn.

We have spinach, lots of yummy spinach that we’re already cutting and eating! Too bad the lettuce didn’t follow suit, but it’s starting to come up somewhat.
The strawberries are doing much better than expected.
We have corn, that’s doing good!
We have peas, although not a whole lot, because they were one of the things that I didn’t expect to grow well, because dad has never had any luck with them.
The bugs totally ate off all of my green beans, save one, and all of my lima beans… Dang bugs, those beans were coming up pretty good too! We may try replanting them tomorrow too, if I can find seed.
Only one hill of cucumbers has sprouted, but we are planning on replanting those tomorrow night.
Our carrots are starting to appear – or well, turn into something we recognize as carrots (thanks to my mom), good thing I didn’t pull those ‘weeds’!
The garlic and onions are coming in well.
All of my tomato seedlings, save two died before they ever made it into the ground. Guess sitting them under that bench didn’t block the sun as well as I thought it would, instead it turned into an oven and baked my poor seedlings… Well, it was a learning experience and next year I’ll know better. But the two tomato plants we bought at Wal-Mart are doing good, as are the two pepper plants.
My herb or kitchen garden is looking well, although my seedlings looked pretty sick when they went into the ground, they’ve really perked up, except for the rosemary… All those seedlings died, and the new ones I started are dying too, guess I just don’t do well with that herb. But I did buy a nice looking plant at Wal-mart that is still living, although it doesn’t look any bigger than when I bought is a few weeks ago… My corriander is looking alive, my dill seems to be thriving (too bad I won’t have any cukes to pickle), my basil is looking slightly better, and the spicy basil seeds that I just planted straight outside are coming in spottily. My thyme may make it, but my chives and parsley are looking great!

All in all, I don’t think it’s going to be a total washout. We are learning lots, and we do have somethings looking great.

As for other Price Family News, not a lot going on…

The kids are out of school for the summer, Ariana made it into first grade, and David we are sure has made it to eighth, although his report card hasn’t yet come in.

David turned fourteen on the very last day of school, and got a swimming pool for his birthday, that took almost two weeks to get set up and filled, now it’s going to take another two to get it totally clean, because our water got dirty while we were filling it… What a mess! But the kids enjoy it, and swim most days that it’s over seventy and not raining. I don’t know how they stand the oh so cold water yet, but they seem to like it!

Ariana’s lost her second tooth and had another visit from the tooth fairy.

Russ and I work during the day, and work in the yard/garden/pool in the evenings and weekends when it’s not raining… But in the end we’re hoping that it’s worth giving up our lives for… Oh wait, we didn’t really have lives before we started the yard work…

So how’s everyone else?

Guard Dogs?

Going on lately around the Price household.

We’re still being held prisoner by yard work, which seems like it’s never going to end… All that hard work, but when will we ever have time to enjoy it?

The weekend before last we had the nastiest bout of the flu that I’ve ever had, at least that I can remember, I thought I was dying, but I seemed to have gotten hit with it harder than anyone else. Russ got it pretty good too, but the kids just mildly. It was horrible, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

For Mother’s Day we did absolutely nothing. We watched movies, napped, lounged and really accomplished squat. It was a great day! We all needed it to recover.

Tonight it’s more yard work, and tomorrow is looking like the same… Oh why, oh why, does my husband have to be such a perfectionist.

Oh, our huge stone at the end of the driveway has been engraved, and looks wonderful! Bill Wyant out of DuBois was the engraver, and we’re thrilled with his work!
And we’re happy to say that we have the biggest rock he’s ever done! Of course, I never thought I’d live to see
my name carved eight inches high in solid rock.

My garden seeds are starting to sprout, and all my landscaping plants are coming in, so we still have a ton of work to do before it all comes together. I believe the landscaping is going to take years
before we get it the way we want it. But I guess at least it will give us a hobby…