Garden Updates...

Well I haven't planted any of my plants outdoors yet. The weather is still nasty and there are frost dangers. I don't want to waste all my work by planting them too early so I have a jungle in my house. My tomato plants are all blossoming so I will have early tomato's YAY! Emily and I planted squash, cucumbers, melons, zucchini and pumpkins the other day. They've all sprouted except the melons. We bought the dirt for our garden beds last Sunday so as soon as it stops raining I can fill the garden beds up :) I borrowed a book on composting at the library today and I'm going to educate myself so I don't have to buy fertilizer and dirt again. Next year I should be a pro! I think I even have Chris talked into building me a greenhouse :) This garden business is so much fun. All our plants are heirlooms so we'll be saving our seeds for next year. We are selling our extra plants to help with the cost of all this gardening I've been doing. I just can't wait to get everything outside!

This is my bedroom window...

We already have a blackberry... it's green now but it will be black when it's ripe.
My blackberry bushes and strawberries in the background

Emily's window... lots of peppers and a few tomato's

Lots of seedlings

Another Flashback!!!!

Our latest show was another theme show. The theme being pre-1970's Country music. I love the theme shows cause dressing up is so fun. I was pretty nervous about this dress though. It was perfect for the era and theme but yellow is not really my color. It all went well though and I'm glad I don't have to sing about Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boys anymore.... Here's some pictures we took of the band ;)

Nikki and I, with Tyler lurking in the background.

This picture reminds me of an old time wedding photo lol!!! Chris ruined his reputation... This was the first time in his life he'd worn a cowboy hat and boots... poor fella.

The ladies of the group, me Skyla and Nikki

The MO Country Band

Back Row: Russ, Chris, Scott, Bob

Front Row: Skyla, Brett, Kristie, Nikki

The Dudes... Chris, Russ, Bob, Scott
Russ was hungry and trying to steal Bob's hot dog...

Who's the banana in the middle???

Russ, Nikki, Chris

Russ & Chris

Chris and I again.

Ode to Christopher!!!

I have to say I think I have the best husband on the planet :) He's my best friend in the whole world. I just wanted to take a moment and say "Chris I love you" :) Chris loves to fish... I mean LOVES to fish. No matter the weather, or if the fish are biting... he just loves to fish. He also likes to bang away on his bass guitar. I lock him away in his man cave and grumble about how loud that thing is even with the door closed, but you know I wouldn't trade it for anything. :) Taylor thinks he's pretty great too... That baby boy loves his Daddy! We all love him, he's a great guy. Maybe I should have waited for Fathers Day for this post... Nah he's not my Dad lol.

I Love Music

If you're an American Idol fan you'll have to check out my youtube site! I got to go to a Christian Women's Conference last weekend and I got to see MANDISA! and Stephen Curtis Chapman. It was a lot of fun. I spent the weekend with my friend Theresa we really enjoyed the conference. It was uplifting to hear the testimonies of so many Godly women! There is one video of Mandisa giving her testimony.

Daddy Fan!

Ok so Chris is trying to pretend like he's not happy but if you know him you can tell he's such a faker!!! And if you don't know him you can tell by the huge smile on Taylors face. He loves his Daddy!!!

Chris forces a smile :)

Check out my green thumb...!

I am so ready for spring!!! On February 5th we planted our tomato seeds and they are getting so big! I have never been able to grow from seeds before. My plants usually get spindly and die. My tomato plants have already formed their true leaves on most of the seedlings. I have 28 seeds that have yet to sprout because I planted them late. I also planted my pepper seeds about a week ago. They haven't sprouted yet but I have them enclosed so they will germinate faster. I am quickly running out of room. I put some shelves up in the windows on the south end of the house and in front of the glass doors. As you can see from my pictures it better get warm fast so I can plant. If my last seeds sprout and nothing dies I will have 228 tomato plants! I plan on selling the extra's that I don't plant. Emily's bedroom window.
These are my berry bushes. When I took pictures of them before they didn't have any leaves. Some of these are even blossoming right now. I have one plant that doesn't seem to be doing anything... I think I killed it :(

Peppers!!! The top two rows only. There are five seeds per container. As they begin sprouting I will have to move them to their own containers... Hence the problem I am having finding here to put them!

More plants in my window... as you can see I had to get creative finding containers... then I read somewhere about using foam cups... As long as I save them to use again that is because I want to be friendly to the environment.

More tomato seedlings!

This is an artichoke plant. I planted four of these I'm not sure how they will do in our area.

This is what my bedroom window looks like.

I plan on using raised garden beds this year. I am going to use the square foot gardening method with some alterations :) Wish me luck :)

YUM Cookie Dough!

Ok maybe we went overboard... Misty an I have been into cooking in bulk lately. We've done pizza, eggrolls an yesterday we did cookie dough! WOO HOO. I think we made 14 batches! There were six bags and two batches in each batch plus we cooked one double batch. We took some pictures so be inspired!!! Yes we tested each batch for quality control :p It was good! I was sick from eating too much dough lol.

Taylor had a day too.... Poor guy fell asleep in his jumper... He just couldn't stay awake another minute.

Sincerely 1950's!!!

After watching the Video be sure to check out the pictures in the post below.

Bring Back The 1950's

In case you didn't know... Chris and I love to sing. We play with a band called MO Country ;) Well last night we had a 50's theme show. We sang music from the 1950's and everyone dressed up. It was so much fun! I really liked dressing up. I found my clothes at a thrift shop and did my hair 50's style. It was so much fun. If you want to hear some of our show you can see some video clips on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/KristieSue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPcBX0ve3H0

Chris and I before the show. He's Buddy Holly!!! :p

Brittany and I :)

The Band!

The Ladies

This picture was Chris's idea and it turned out really cute! He's got a real smile!

Nikki and I... I didn't

wear the glasses for the show they were too distracting.

Emily took this picture

Brett was happy... The kids got to keep the giant lollipops.

A Day At The Park!

We had a really nice day at the park yesterday. The sun was shining and it wasn't freezing cold. We had to get out of the house. We are all so ready for spring and being cooped up in the house with four kids can get CRAZY! To start out with we almost had an episode... Brett started to have a fit so he got to go sit all alone at the picnic table. I told him I was going to take his picture while he was pouting so everyone could see. I don't think he believed me...

Brett Pouting At The Picnic Table...

Brett Still Pouting...

And still...

.....

This was so sweet. Logan decided to go over and talk to Brett to try to encourage him to stop crying so they could play and have a good time.
And it worked :) Brett stopped pouting and it was time for fun.

Emily on the swing.

Emily taking a picture of me on the swing.

Emily is getting really good at her picture taking.

This is another picture Emily took. It's my favorite of the day.

Taylor getting to play with the big kids.

Me taking Taylor down the super big slide. This slide is really tall so I couldn't let Emily take him down.

After a long day at the park he was ready to have his bottle and nap.

Winter Depression...

This time of year is always a struggle for me. I thank God that he's shown me this weakness and I'm able to fight it. It's hard to fight when you don't even know there's a battle taking place. It was about four years ago that I realized I have this weakness. For some reason I just tend to get depressed around this time of year. Maybe it's because I am longing for spring who knows. I just know right now I'm am at a low point.

I've struggled with drugs and alcohol in my life. I've been sober for ten years... there has been the rare occasion that I've stumbled with alcohol but God has always led me back to him and my stumblings don't last long. I haven't had a relapse in over four years thanks to the fact that I finally realized my times of depression were a cycle. I am able to ask for prayer and tell my husband that I'm struggling and this has helped me get through some hard times.

I know without a doubt that if I didn't have a constant friend in Jesus that I would never be where I am right now. He has kept me together when otherwise I would have fallen to pieces. The Bible says he will never leave me. I believe it. I am so thankful that my salvation is not dependant upon my own feelings. Right now I feel worthless. I feel like nothing I do is good enough. I feel ugly. I feel numb. I know that these feelings will pass and it's all part of being human. I know these feelings are not reality. I'm not worthless and I do matter. Knowing and feeling are so different aren't they?

I used to think that depression was a choice, that people chose to be depressed. I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I don't choose to feel this way. If I could will myself out of this depression I would do it right now, but I can't. All I can do is pray and wait it out. I have to be strong and not give in to temptation and self pity. Does anyone else go through this like I do? I'm not even sure why I'm sharing this other than to say thank God I have Jesus, without him how lost I would be.

One of my favorite hymns....

Without him I would be nothing...
Without him I'd surely fail...
Without him I would be drifting...
Like a ship without a sail...

Jesus Oh Jesus...
Do you know him today...
Do not turn him away...
Oh Jesus Oh Jesus...
Without you how lost I would be...