Meet the Tomato Horn Worm

Every year I put in a small garden. A few tomato plants, peppers, green beans, maybe some lettuce, and this year some squash since Devon and Beth had extra plants. I usually plant it and forget about it for awhile. I would not call myself a green thumb by any stretch but it is always fun to get in vegetables, and now that the boys are getting older, they love to watch everything grow and help pick the produce. I sent out Henry to pick some green peppers the other day and he came back in telling me "I HAD to come out and see something."

It was a Tomato Horn Worm. When I was growing up, we had a HUGE garden. And I'm not joking... in my little 5-yr old mind, it was the size of about half a football field (or maybe a third!... correct me if I'm wrong Mom!). We had tons of every type of vegetable. And all of us had responsibility in the garden. That worked out well since there was always 6-8 kids available! One year, I distinctly remember Devon had to build the mounds for the melons, put the seeds in, and then Meg and I had to come behind him and cover the seeds with dirt and water. I also remember picking green beans FOREVER and then getting to watch Star Search on Saturday night with Ed McMahon while breaking off the ends on all the beans we had collected. Our thumbs would get so sore.
Ok... I'm digressing. That was just a short memory lane walk for my own record-keeping :) All of this to say, I clearly remember these worms on our tomato plants. They can destroy your plants if you don't take care of them. Hen found this on our green pepper plant and it had white little eggs all over it. So I told him to call my mom to find out what it was. Of course, she knew and, Mom, you were right. It is the parasitc wasp that lays its eggs on this worm. If you are interested in more, check out this.

Easy dinner

We took the boys to Young's Dairy Farm on Saturday (more pics later... they are all on J's iPhone right now). When we ret'd home, we had an easy dinner since we ate so much "junk" while we were there. Aunt Beth will appreciate this - we had popcorn and pb/apples for dinner. We chased that with some apple cider! :) The boys loved it and I loved it b/c I had no mess to clean up. Oh, and I have given the task to Wyatt to show Myles books. He actually does a pretty good job at it.

A job well done

When it comes to home projects, my dad is the man for the job. Really... he can do anything. I find it stunning and quite amazing - but he acts like it's just an ordinary thing. There is really nothing that he can't eventually figure out - and when he does the job, he does it perfectly. We have employed him in his retirement a few times now for projects in our house and we have never been disappointed. This past week, he came to our house for 4 days to put up new base moulding after we had the new flooring put in. Long story short... we had to buy all new hardwood trim for our kitchen, entry way, and office, sand it, stain it, and polyurethane it. THEN we could actually cut and put in. It's is a lot of detailed work... measuring angles, matching up multiple pieces flawlessly, and then measuring again and again. I had a great week visiting with him. Not only did I get to work along side him, Henry did too, and I also got to ask him lots of questions that I've never asked before so I was able to get to see a piece of him that I had not seen before. It was a wonderful time (for me... he might say something different since he did most of the work!!). Thanks DAD! As always, a job well done and we so appreciated it.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Jonathan makes breakfast every Sunday morning. We LOVE it!

Miles with Myles - Volume 3

Myles had a cardio appt and a 2-month checkup recently. His heart is looking really good. His blood vessel has closed, but he still has a small hole that has gotten smaller, but not completely closed yet. The doctor said we'd wait another year before we checked it, and if at that point it is not closed, they will have to do surgery. But he seemed to be fairly confident that it would close on its own. So, we'll just cross that bridge when we get there. His 2-month checkup was great great too! At this point, he still has lower muscle tone, but he is actually on target mile-marker wise of where he should be with his age. So that was really wonderful to hear! He is smiling and wiggling all around now. Like we've been saying, he is SUCH A DOLL!!! He is so cuddly, smiley, and pleasant. And he sleeps 9 hours a night!! He has graced this house and the boys continue to adore him. Wyatt continues to put everything on top of him that he can possibly find. (See last pic.) I'm still slightly convinced he thinks Myles is a babydoll :)

10 days

We spent 10 days and 10 nights at the Berry's while they were putting our floors in (after the kitchen damage). I know, a long time, huh? That's how we felt... There are way too many details that I won't bore you with. We are back home now and still waiting to get some finishing details done. But, all in all, we had a great time at the Berry's. One of the highlights was this nice picture we made to welcome Devon and Beth home (they were actually on vacation while we were staying at their house). There's an interesting backstory... the main details involves a school on fire, a principal, students on a bus, and big rain clouds sent by God. (I just drew what Henry told me to...)