Christmas for grown-ups!

I've decided that there really is such a thing that can cause that giddy, excited feeling in an adult that was once only claimed by small children . . . . . gardens. It's this crazy thing - you have dirt, you put a seed in the dirt and say a little prayer that something will happen if you pour water on the dirt. It's absolutely mind-boggling, but in a matter of weeks, green stuff GROWS! Seriously!
This was my first attempt at a garden, so I kept it small. I actually have no idea what I planted, but I got corn, 5 million tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, thousands of peas (a favorite of the kids!), and the most enormous pumpkin patch ever! I didn't really know how big these plants can get - those seeds are so tiny, you know? So, now the garden is growing all over the place, but it's like Christmas everyday!!
Jake has loved helping me pick the veggies! He tries to feed it all to Bo, our horse. This is in my friend, Kim's, garden. He picked a few tomatoes that he shouldn't have and he was really excited about it! Sorry, Kim!
I just think her dog is so funny in this pic!
Jake and Jack liked hiding in her corn.

They congratulated themselves on a garden well done!

The peas were our favorite. The kids would go out and just plop down next to the plants. I really don't think more than a few actually even made it into the house!

Jake would get a pea and go hide on the other side of the garden so I wouldn't "catch" him eating them all up!
Living with a field means that you need to have cats to keep the mice away. Sometimes, the cat will bring her catch closer to home. I am so dang grateful that our cat likes to eat her mice right in front of us. I especially like that sometimes she leaves a little for us to discover. It's so great to learn about the insides of mice. It's a great teaching tool. I really, really, really can't tell you how much I absolutely love that the kids are fascinated by what the cat is eating. It's just awesome.
But, I DO love my corn!



Jake loves to go out and pet Bo. It's a little scary because Jake would run right out there and hang onto Bo's legs if I'd let him. He's completely obsessed with horses. I love that Bo actually knows when Jake is at the gate - he rushes over to sniff Jake every chance he gets. One more thing about my crazy-man Jake. He's the dirtiest kid ever. He could just THINK about an oreo cookie, and his entire face would be covered in cookie sludge. He has lots of "mini-baths" just to keep the rest of the house clean. He's so messy that I'm afraid I might still have to be doing this when he's 18 years old!