The Gardening Bug~Has It Bitten You, Too?

Yep. I have been bitten by the gardening bug again. It's been a couple of years since I've tried anything, but we have the perfect place for it in our backyard and I just can't stand it if we don't at least try this year.

We have wonderful farmers markets here because the area we live in is full of beautiful farms (both Amish and "English") and last year our sweet neighbors shared much of their garden bounty with us. So we were very blessed with lots of fresh produce. You may remember that I learned to can tomatoes last summer because we had so many from our neighbors' garden. We sure have enjoyed those all winter long!

So far my gardening experience is extremely limited. The first year we tried it everything was in containers. Then we graduated up to a raised bed. The next year I experimented with starting seeds. But last year I tried nothing at all ...and I was a little sad about that.

This year may be a total bust, but I at least want to give it a shot. Every time I have gardened I have learned something more about it.

This year I haven't heard my hubby mention anything about building raised beds (he's been pretty busy lately), so I'm guessing we'll sow directly into the ground. Our gardening neighbors have graciously offered to let us use their tiller (bless them!).

I am, however, going to start the tomatoes and bell peppers early so they can be transplanted rather than directly sown into the ground. Not that I really know much about the 'how's' and 'why's' of this, but that's what the package said I should do.

And, boy, did I have fun picking out those packages of seeds! The kiddos helped and we came away with seeds for not only tomatoes and bell peppers, but jalapenos, onions, okra, sweet peas, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, summer squash, zucchini, and sunflowers!

So this afternoon the kiddos and I plan to get busy starting those seeds and maybe mapping out our soon-to-be garden. So exciting! (I'll have to remind myself of this enthusiasm when it's so hot outside and I have to go pull weeds and water).

How about you? Are you an experienced gardener or a novice like me? Are you planning a garden this year?

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The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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