Salsa

Have I mentioned we're also growing tomatoes?!  Well we are and we have a ton of them!!  We decided to make some salsa using several dozen cherry tomatoes.  Why is salsa, especially when it's home made, so good??  I don't have a recipe.  I'm pretty sure we just googled salsa and made the one where we had all of the ingredients on hand.

Don picking the tomatoes

Food processor in action

10 seconds later and the salsa is done!

Watermelon

We finally admitted to ourselves that our watermelon wasn't going to grow any bigger and cut it off the vine yesterday.

This is probably the most expensive watermelon ever to exist.  We enjoyed a whopping 2 bites after watering, organically fertilizing and, generally, babying it over the past several months.

But, hey, it looked, smelled and tasted like a watermelon so it was a success!

The watermelon, cut in half.

Don enjoying his bite.

PHFR & ETC

The garden is producing so many delicious tomatoes lately.  We have been eating a lot of caprese salads with our dinners.  It is so nice to have such fresh and healthy food to go with whatever 30-minute meal I quickly prepare after work.

Pretty:

Tomatoes from the garden.  We picked enough to share with a neighbor today.  I wonder if they will actually eat them?!

 Happy:

I remembered to Embrace the Camera.

Momma Bear with my cutie pie!

 Another reason to be happy is that M's uncle Stephen was in town for the weekend! 

M, showing off for her uncle, hanging on the monkey bars!

Stephen and M enjoyed time at the park together going down all the big slides!

M loves her uncle Stephen!

Funny:

So, this isn't in fact super funny, but M has been learning to climb (darn that boy at daycare who is teaching M this new trick!).  Her latest mission is to climb into her water table.  She hasn't quite accomplished this, yet (thankfully), but she is trying her best!  This picture literally cracks me up.

What's the big deal mom?!  I'm just playing with my foot in the water.

M: "Sock. Foot."  Momma Bear: "Yes, dear, you are very smart.  You are wearing a sock and your foot is in the water."

Real:

Fun and games were only part of the reason Stephen came up to see us.  He was also kind enough to help Donnieboy with some yard work!  The border of our property is made up of about 18" of hard dirt, with tiny rocks mixed in.  So, Don loosened the dirt and Stephen sifted out the rocks.

Don supervising.

This is seriously back-breaking work.  I know because I tried helping.  Once.  Hence the need to call in extra help!

 

M keeping an eye on things from her swing.  Eating raisins.

Not quite sure what the previous owners were trying to accomplish by putting a gigantic sheet of plastic under the dirt and rock, but the boys got it out!

M eager to help out!

 Up next for the border is grass!  Fresh dirt and seed are down.  Now we wait and see what grows!

Check out where I got the idea for this post here.
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</center>

Fruit of Our Labor

I've been documenting the progress of our vegetable garden and I am just so happy with how everything is turning out despite it taking so long to finally get going.  Here are some pictures:

Our first, and biggest pumpkin.  Such an odd shape.  Will make for a silly jack-o-lantern.

Second pumpkin.  A bit more normal.

Third pumpkin.  The smallest one, but the best-shaped.  Hope it continues to grow!

One of two giant zucchini's.  It is almost ready to eat, just need to find the perfect recipe.  Any suggestions?

Our teeny tiny watermelon is getting bigger!

Lots of cucumbers finally starting to grow.  Can't wait to make cucumber water and rub these on my eyes. HA!

Last night we picked some ripe tomatoes to put in our salad.  That was so fun!