Gardening plans are already taking shape.This is the current plan for the garden. The red is tomatoes--grape, cherry and full size. The yellow is corn, the brown is compost, the orange is summer squash or zucchini, the dark green is banana and bell peppers and the light green is bok choi and cabbage. The corn, bok choi, cabbage, and summer squash/zucchini will be new additions to the tomatoes and peppers, which I grew last year.
Last Saturday, I added a truckbed load of compost to the garden and was able to till on Sunday. I also planted the bok choi and cabbage on Sunday. Addison really likes cabbage, so we are looking forward to her watching it grow. She also wants to help me plant some tomatoes this year.
I tend to grow lots of tomatoes, as I am a supplier for family and friends. Last year, with all the spring rain, we had a bumper crop of bell and banana peppers, many of which we chopped and froze for use during the winter. We still have several bags left! Kate also made several batches of stuffed peppers and froze those.
I think this year, if we have enough squash and zucchini, we will slice and freeze them so we can enjoy them over the winter. Finding quality produce is always a challenge in winter, so it’s nice to have good stuff already prepared in the freezer! We are really in the mindset this year to not waste any produce, since we have a tendency to let too much spoil on the vine. We will be freezing, canning, chopping, cooking and giving away as much as possible to avoid throwing anything away.
I’m going to try corn again this year. I tried to grow it several years ago, and the stupid squirrels destroyed them all in a matter of days. This year I'll be armed with my Red Rider BB Gun and my killer attack dog to fend them off.
Also, this will be our first full year without our big apple tree. It was starting to rot and literally split in half during a wind storm last summer, so we took it down minus the stump, so I won't have nearly as many apple trip hazards hiding in the grass this summer, even though I now have a mole that will probably make me wish I had a paved backyard before the summer is over.
--Aaron
One Saturday while I was working, Aaron took the girls downtown to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade. They both seemed to enjoy it and have been playing with the beaded necklaces they received ever since. Addison loves looking at all the balloons!
Uncle James buckles Addison in.
The girls put stickers on each other. 
The family at the waterfall (Addison's favorite part of the walk).
coming...
Whenever I pull the camera out, Avery zooms over to me. 
I don't know when she got to be so fast! Here she is doing "So big". 
while Avery plays with her gumball machine. One is supposed to drop the balls in the top and push the lever to get them out at the bottom, but Avery is fond of pulling them out of the top as well.
