On August 1, Thomas turned 4 months old.  This boy gets cuter every day!

Our family celebrated Catherine's first birthday. 

She has certainly come a long way. We are all so thankful to watch her growing and thriving.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Catherine

We had an eclipse party.  It was an amazing sight to watch.

The kids played in the pool.

 We made eclipse cookies.

Abram enjoyed licking the icing more than decorating the cookies.

Lilly and Lucy, along with their neighbor, opened a lemonade stand.  We were proud to be among their customers.

Thomas met a friend of the family.  They hit it off very well.

It was Lucy's turn to have a sleepover.  We had fun polishing our nails.

Phillip made this tray for me to hold the salt and pepper grinders.

Work is progressing in the remodel of the house.  The floors are down and the kitchen cabinets are installed.

The French doors and deck are finished.

July 2017

We celebrated the Fourth of July.

Thomas 

Abram and Lilly

Jonas, Lilly, Lucy, and Abram in the background

The garden was productive.

Catherine turned 11 months old!

We made the move into our new apartment. Work should start on the main part of the house in a few weeks.

Lilly spent the night with us, the first sleepover in our new space.  

July Gardens

Squash.  It's almost finished bearing but we've gotten enough to put several packs in the freezer.

These are the green beans with a container of tomatoes in the front.  We really didn't plant enough this year, but it was such a busy summer that it was all we had time to pick and can.

We have most of the tomatoes in the raised beds and a few in containers.  They've all had tomato blight and blossom end rot.  They look awful but they're bearing fairly well.  It's not the best year but it's not the worst, either.

Cantaloupes and watermelons

There are lots of good looking cantaloupes hiding in those vines and a couple of tiny watermelons.  The herbs are in the very front, overrun by the vines. I think we cut the cilantro too aggressively and it died, but the rest is thriving.

Corn, okra, pumpkins, and more green beans

This is the garden that is outside the fence. You can see the cardboard that we laid down as a weed barrier.  It's helped a lot. We have more okra that we can possible use.  Mark and Cindy have been picking some, and we've given most of it away to other people.  The corn did very well.  We had plenty for us and to share.  There are some kershaw melons but we haven't seen any pumpkins yet.

June 2017

This little boy turned 2 months old on June 1.  He is growing so quickly!

We got to spend some time with Catherine.  She is delightful! 

The kids got their dad one of the DNA test kits for Father's Day.  He's been wanting to do that.  The results aren't in yet.  😊😊

Abram loves holding Thomas.  I'm not certain the feeling is mutual.

Sam spent a week with us.  It was great to spend that much time with him.  He turned 10 this month. That's so hard to believe.

This creature spent a couple of days here before he went back to Virginia with Sam.  He scared me every time I walked into the room.

Sam met his new cousin.  

Jonas helped his grandpa dig potatoes.

Catherine turned 10 months old.  We are still amazed by the miracle of this child!

June Gardens

The corn is tasseling and the okra is growing.  Phillip took the cardboard from the kitchen cabinets and put them between the okra rows to keep the weeds under control.

The cantaloupes are getting started and the potatoes are almost ready to dig.

 The herbs

I've dehydrated some already and they need cutting again.

Phillip really likes these black eyed susans.  They're growing outside the flower garden but he won't mow them down.

I can see these lilies and hanging baskets from my kitchen window.  They are so pretty.  The baskets are all volunteers from last year. 

 Onions

Peppers

 Cucumbers

 Green Beans - We have little beans!

 Strawberries - We're still getting a few strawberries every couple of days. The blueberries are doing well, too. 

 Squash

 Horrors!  There's a Japanese beetle on the scuppernongs.

Phillip built a new arbor for the grapes.  They seem to be very happy with it.