Radishes, Beans, Corn and more Corn!

We attempted a very tiny garden this year. I wanted to start small so that I would hopefully be successful. So far the only thing that we have been able to pick are radishes. I got the garden in really late. Everything else is growing just not ready. I am counting it a success since I didn't kill everything! Here are the boys picking our radishes.

Our generous farmer gave us a HUGE bag of green beans. I decided to try and be "Susie Homemaker" and try freezing them. I was so happy that we ended up with 8 quarts to freeze and enough for dinner. Yum!

Farmer Bobeck also gave us about 8 dozen ears of Sweet Corn. Move over Garwoods, Bureks and Sweet Corn Charlie's! This sweet corn is to die for! Yum!!!!! We ate it for about 3 nights straight and then I started freezing it as well.

Here are the official "Corn Shuckers" working hard.

Getting them all ready to boil and freeze.

I ended up with 10 quarts of cut corn (49 ears) and 18 cobs to freeze plus about 4 meals worth to eat this week. Oh how I love summer food! The boys LOVE corn on the cob. They grabbed these off the table and started munching away. They weren't even cooked yet. Oh well a little corn bug never hurt anyone. :)

Hope you are all getting to enjoy some good Indiana produce this summer!

A perfect summer night

We enjoyed a fun summer night with our friends the Nguyens and Brickers the other night. The weather was perfect for the kids to play outside.

Enjoying snow cones on the front porch. Otherwise known as "the cage!"

Just 4 years ago we were all DINKS (Double Income No Kids) and now we have 4 boys, 1 adorable little girl and another unknown on the way. Wow how time changes things!

Great idea Ben!

Luke opted out of the water games and just stuck to mowing.

At risk of getting in trouble again. I couldn't resist!

The "Great" LaPorte County Fair 2009

For those of you who haven't experienced The "Great LaPorte County Fair". It is a sight to see! It really is "GREAT"! :) I literally have been to the fair every year of my life since I was about 2 days old. My mom took me just a few days after I was born. My brother, sister and I all were 10 year 4-Her's and my parents were leaders for many years. I love the fair and could spend all week there if it weren't so exhausting!

Pioneer Land is an addition to the fair from about 12 years ago. It really is a highlight of the whole experience. My parents volunteer and dress up as pioneers. There is an authentic log cabin, school house, post office, blacksmith shop, herb garden, washing shed, candy shop, and an Artisan's barn. There are even oxen that are walking down the road. The kids love this area of the fair and could stay there all day.

Here is my whole side of the family minus my brother-in-law, Andy and nephew, Jeff. Notice my dad's get-up. He worked as a printer and rope maker this year.

All the cousins minus Jeff.

Lyla and Gray

My sister Lee-Ann and her kids. You can view her blog and shop here.

Gray and Charlie watching the tractor parade. My favorite part of the day! I have to admit that I do love "playing" tractors. I would love to have a "Minneapolis Moline" and "Oliver" tractor to add to our tractor collection.

Sawyer showing off his monstrous corndog.
Some popsicles to finish off the day.

Charlie-isms

A few funny things Charlie said today...
- He ran by me and pointed to an imaginary object and said, "Don't step on that Mom. It's a dead deer with lots of blood on it. I'm going to make a swamwich (sandwich) out of it." Nice! Love that I have boys.
- While running errands with Ben today he pointed out two random trucks that had the same wheels as his Papa Hughie's truck. Who notices this kind of stuff???
-Tonight in the bathtub Charlie had had enough of Sawyer picking on him (yes, Sawyer is a bully.) and he yelled at Ben, "Dad this kid is driving me crazy! Get him out of the tub!" Apparently he heard me mutter the same basic thing under my breath about the two of them earlier. Oops!

Up first...

What a good sport we have!!! This dashing picture does accent this young man's large eyes and chins. Hey same as me! Don't we both look like we are going, "Don't smile, don't smile!" I will also testify that this looks nothing like the real person! (Remember I said I wouldn't publish your name. This is totally confidential!) :)

Thanks for submitting your photo! Keep them coming!

a

Laugh with me, not at me!

So apparently I have heard some claims that there are WORSE driver's license pictures out there. Really?!?!?!? Is that possible!?!?!?
I think you all need to prove it! If you have a bad license picture, email it to me at
amandatonagel@yahoo.com and I will post it for the world to see WITHOUT your name! Megan this means you have to send me yours!!!! :)

By the way... don't worry about the comments on my picture. You won't hurt my feelings. I know that the picture is hideous! :) The comments are what is fun to read for me. Bring them on Ryan!

The highlight of all of this was seeing my father in law dying laughing the other morning when he saw it and Ben threatening to put it as our computer wallpaper. Oh my... this thing is never going to go away.

peace out.
a

A good laugh

Here ya go! Hope it makes your day!
Let me know if anyone hears of any contests I could win with this awful picture! I hate thinking I had to actually pay $21 to get this done! And... I have to keep it in my purse for the next 6 years!!! Ugh!

Go ahead, Make my day!

Actually a few days...

There have been a few things over the last few days that have given me a great big goofy grin on my face.

1. My best girl Josi Bricker called to tell me that she named her baby doll "Baby Mana (Amanda)". Ohh... It totally melted my heart. She kept saying, "Baby Mana, Baby Mana" and then she said, "Love you Mana!" I fell asleep thinking about how cute that was for me!

2. I had the WORST driver's license picture taken yesterday. Seriously if there was a contest I would win hands down! I am tempted to take a pic. of my license just to give you all a laugh. What is so ironic about this is that just the other day I heard on "Rachel Ray" they were giving tips about how to get a good license picture. So... I actually took the time to do my hair and put a shirt on that would look half way decent. When I got to the BMV I was expecting the worst- long lines and tons of upset people. Wrong! There were only 2 people in there. I had the nicest teller and she complimented my belly. :) When she went to take the picture she told me I couldn't smile or show my teeth. Hmm... ok whatever. She then took it and said, "Yup looks good." Hey that was easy. I waited a few minutes for it to print and when she handed it to me I thought it was a joke! I look like I just saw a ghost. The picture is just of my prego face and nothing else. My eyes are bugging out of my head and I look beyond dumb! I would understand if there were long lines and other things going on but really couldn't she have just taken ONE more picture! Ben died laughing when he saw it. It really is THAT bad! I have to live with it for 6 more years too! Oh my... at least I can laugh about it!

3. And finally... I am now 26 weeks pregnant and still feeling good. I had another midwife appt. yesterday and all checked out fine. Heartbeat was at 153 bpm. All over the place! He/she is keeping me guessing! Ben has officially put his stamp of approval on the birth center (Thanks Ryan!!!) So assuming I am physically ok with everything (not anemic, gestational diabetes, breech...) we will be having our third baby there. I am so excited about this!

Is this Heaven? No it's Iowa!

A few weekends ago we made our annual trip to Iowa to visit our wonderful friends- The Grady's. This shirt of Matt's always cracks me up. I love it!

The Grady Family is one of those sets of friends that you only see once a year but it feels like you were just together the weekend before. We are so thankful for their friendship over all these years.

We originally all met at Grace College where Matt and Ben lived on the same hall. We have been close ever since.

When it came time to name Charlie we knew that "Grady" was the perfect middle name for him.

Here are all our kiddos together- Sawyer, Dawson, Addison, Charlie and Lucas. We can't believe that the next time we see them that we will have 6 kids to watch over! Wow how things have changed! Addison is hoping for a little girl to play with. (Me too!) :)

Lucas and Sawyer Lucas and Charlie loving all the John Deere toys.

Working in the barn.

You can't go to Iowa and not wear a John Deere hat!

Papa Grady took all the kids for horse rides.

Matt's family owns a beautiful farmstead. Ben's favorite spot was the old basketball court. My favorite was of course the farmhouse and the chicken coop filled with old milk jugs.

These boys are just too stinkin' cute!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend Grady family. See ya next summer!

The Grady's also have a blog. See our side bar on the right for a link to "The Grady Five".

More cousins on the way!!!!

See here!!! We are very excited for more chaos at family gatherings!!! :)

Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo

Last week Ben treated us to a morning at the Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo. If you haven't been there before it is GREAT for kids. It was rated one of the top ten children's zoos in the nation. It is a little pricey ($40 for our family) but a lot of fun.

Charlie really liked the goats.

Check out this hilarious goat. He kept smiling at us and showing his teeth to the boys!

Sawyer wasn't too impressed with the goats. The only thing he cared about was that they were pooping. (The kid is obsessed with poop.)

The zoo just recently opened their "African Adventure" section. It was awesome! You really did feel like you were in the Sahara.

We were cheap and didn't let the boys feed the giraffes but we enjoyed watching everyone else do it. He really was this close to us. You could reach out and pet them if you wanted.

In front of the sea lion show.

Sawyer missed the last part of the zoo. Too tired!