Gatlinburg Gathering

As we drove home from the Gatlinburg Gathering on Tuesday, we Halseys came up with a top ten list that we wanted to share with our blog readers to describe a bit about our fun weekend in the Smokies.

Top Ten Things Learned During Farner Reunion 2012

10. Abigail has long & strong fingers that can make some pretty loud snaps.

9. Benjamin whistles pretty much nonstop (sound like anyone else we know???)

8. Hannah may look little, but she knows how to polish off some yummy cheese pizza.

7. Clara could spend hours in freezing cold river water, swimming around on her tummy collecting rocks.

6. AJ's happy & secret hiding place is in the sling worn by his mommy. We are thinking that he may like to have such a secret hiding place available in 10-14 years, but at least he has his own room!

5. Uncle Andy H. put a manly spin on tie-dye and Aunt Gracie decided that the best way to grocery shop is holding your new nephew instead of pushing a cart & checking a list.

4. Aunt Ruthie and AJB are bonafide Gatlinburg experts. They knew all the best places to hike, swim and explore!

3. Uncle Bonnet really can cook! And, prefers fruit to vegetables (at least that's his quick answer!). Aunt Kristi likes rainbows and her magic milk continues to mesmerize, giving her cool points for years to come!

2.  Earl has a very hard tail and also has a way of making each kid feel like they are his absolute favorite!

1. Farners living different lives in different parts of the country still have lots of fun together!!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

For the past few years, we have planted a small, backyard garden and have had a little success. Mostly, it is a fun project that the kids like to help with and we might have a few things grow! This year, we decided to put a bit more planning and effort into the garden project and have had lots of success. We moved our sandbox to a new location in the backyard to give the garden a sunnier spot. Also, we decided to rent a plot in the new community garden to support the new venture sponsored by our garden club and to enjoy visiting with other gardeners. 

 At the end of April, we planted wildflower, squash and carrot seeds.

At home, we planted green onions, parsley, basil, strawberries, corn, cucumbers, green beans, watermelon, bell peppers, two kinds of tomatoes, lettuce and some more wildflowers.

 This is our backyard garden a few weeks later.

 At the end of May and beginning of June, Clara beams over the produce she's harvested: a couple of dinners worth of green beans, several cucumbers, green peppers and lots of cherry tomatoes!

 Here she is with her first strawberry!

 This picture was taken last week when we realized that our squash plants at the community garden have been very successful! We have since gathered a large bag of squash and have boiled it, put it on pizza, grated it to add to a frittata and eaten it raw!

 This is just some evidence that Benji cares for the garden, too. :)

He really loves pulling weeds (especially using the hoe) and watering.

 And, here's our backyard garden a few days ago. As you can see, it's a little out of hand! We are way behind on weeding and our large tomato plant (Park's Whopper) has completely taken down the stakes that are supposed to hold it up. We are still collecting produce on most plants and it has been so much fun! We cannot wait until the corn and watermelons are ready.

Here's the backyard flower garden with the mums and butterfly bush, surrounded by the wildflowers that Clara planted.

Year End Milestones

Joyfully, we recently wrapped up our first true academic year!  All God's Children Preschool finished up first, with an adorable program including songs, poems and Bible verses from memory.  Hannah's verse was Dueteronomy 6:5 "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength."  She practiced it often at home and we're so proud of her hard work!  This year she excelled at writing all of the letters, some numbers, her own first and last name, learning about the weather, days of the week, can count to 100 and is beginning to read!

The following week, our big kindergartener finished up with what seemed to be one special event after another!  Kindy 500 pictures are on Facebook and that event alone provided lots of excitement.  A pace car from the Indy 500 was on hand, the national anthem and Back Home Again in Indiana were performed, the kindergarteners took a parade lap and the fans were many!
Field day was also a lot of fun and Abigail came home with the stinkiest feet of her life!  There were water games (which explained the wet feet) and a picnic lunch that she told us all about.
Abigail finished the year strong, after the setback of her concussion and broken wrist in March.  She's confidently going into first grade, reading well, telling time and counting by 2's, 5's and 10's plus having begun basic addition and subtraction!  We were very happy with her first year as a Needham bulldog.

 And last but not least, Andrew recently took his first and second bottles with no complaints!  It may not seem like a big deal to some, but for us, it's huge!  Abigail wasn't a big eater and really didn't mind bottles too much but Hannah hated them and subsequently stressed me out.  She was just attached to Mommy and we certainly like that, but the necessity of feeding her without Mommy home was stressful for quite awhile.  AJ did great!  He ate slowly but without complaint, and that's all I ask.