Strawberry Fields Forever

Went Strawberry picking today. So much more fun than I would have thought.

They were $1.20/lb. The girls were a big help. We picked 13 lbs and I purchased an additional 10 lbs. We will be eating strawberries all year!

The Strawberry Fields

The girls helping out

I Spy a Pepper!!!

Okay, it is starting to look more like a garden. I was getting nervous for a bit.

We've got:

Onions

Peas

Peppers

And my most successful Basil plant ever!

Flowers are blooming

After some nice long, hot days, the flowers are starting to bloom.

Hello Kitty Cake Pops

Hello Kitty Cake Pops-My daughter's favorite!

A little more difficult than just dipping in melted candy. Did turn out pretty cute though!

Had to form the balls into ovals for her head and attach white chocolate chips for her ears.

Ugh Oh! The black cookie pen we had would not write on this candy.

Husband saves the day by running to Target for some Wilton icing in a tube.

Worked like a charm!

Chocolate Cake Pops-Love Them!

Took a break from gardening to make snack for preschool. We made Cake Pops from Bakerella.

They were FABULOUS. Easy enough for the kids to help and so much fun choosing sprinkles.

You can get the full recipe here but here are my highlights. So here's how we did it.

Baked a cake from a mix (gasp!) in a 13 x 9 pan. Let it cool

and then crumble into a bowl.

Added a can of chocolate frosting. Hey, these are for kids, they

do not appreciate my "made from scratch" cakes.

Continue to stir until thoroughly combined. Mine started to

look like truffles.

Roll in balls on wax paper. I got 46 out of this batch.

Melt some candies. Dip the stick the lolli stick into the candy and then

stick into the balls. Freeze for an hour (this made it so easy for me to dip and shake without the ball falling off of the stick).

Dip ball into melted chocolate and decorate. Stick in styrofoam block

to dry. We chose pink, white and lavender candy melts and then colored some

white melts sky blue.

As you can see, the kids loved them.

Week 1-Something is Growing

Some of the seeds have germinated and are peaking through.

Oh this is so exciting! It has been 7 days and very little sunshine and yet

stuff is still growing!

Parsley, arugula, turnips...

Parsley

Arugula

A whole row of radishes

A beautiful raspberry plant from the market.

We have Visitors

Found these prints today dried up in the mud. The kids were

very excited. I am sure a raccoon visiting the bird feeders.

Stay out of my Garden!!!

Sunny and 70-Looking like Spring

Starting to dry up a bit. Looking okay. Rosemary seems to have grown a foot!

Blueberries starting to flower. Flowers blooming.

I feel so impatient. Only 5 days in and I want to see something grow!!!

Rosemary is looking good.

Blueberries

Strawberries are turning red

A little yellow blooming

More rain

Had rain and thunderstorms through the night. Only puddling in certain areas so may have to avoid those next year if fruit is ruined.

The drainage puddle on the right is drying up.

Tomatoes and peppers seem to be surviving the excess water.

Rain

Wow, did it rain. Don't know if some of the tomato or pepper plants will make it. Tried to walk in the garden and my boot got stuck in the mud. We'll see...

Sunflowers are growing