Another Awesome Weekend!

We had an amazingly productive weekend!

Get ready for a long post..

We had a lot to get done around the house, clean up the garage, rake leaves, fix a sprayer in the kitchen sink, winterize my garden, etc. The most important task was to clean up the garage so that we can park both of our cars inside. Last week we had a night of frost, it wasn't fun for Mommy to sit in a freezing cold car in the morning and wait for the windshield to defrost before heading to work. Luckily for us, on Saturday, the kids took a long nap, so we had plenty of time to work on it. We threw out a bunch of junk and had to move a few items into the basement, until we get more time to go through it. A lot of the items are bulky and need to be either sold or donated. It'll take time, but the hardest part is done! I'm very happy to report that we accomplished our mission and both of the cars can now fit in the garage! Yay! :)

We also managed to fix the sink and take care of couple other things on Saturday, including going over to our neighbor's twice to play with kittens. We were cat sitting for the last week, and Saturday was our last day to spend with them. Ashley was a great helper! (Too bad I didn't take any pictures; they are the cutest, cuddliest and very playful cats.)

Sunday was another very productive day, thank god for the extra hour, because we really needed it. The kids were up early, so we managed to eat and get outside by 9:30! It may not seem like anything to most, but Ashley and Katelyn don't start eating breakfast before 9, 9:30, so for us it's an accomplishment in itself! We started the day by raking leaves in the back, and made a big pile right under the slide. The weather was perfect! No wind, and sunny! The kids had a blast they'd slide down right into the leave pile! And Katelyn, my fearless monkey, decided that she didn't need any help to climb the big ladder to get to the top of the slide. She did it all on her own for the first time! Here's a video of them playing in the leaves:



The day was going to perfect, kids were happy playing outside so I decided to seize the moment and clean up my garden for the winter, something that was on my list to do before the winter sets in. I pulled out all of the dead plants and raked everything clean. Then I realized it was still early and I had time to move our blueberry bushes. They've been living inside my garden since the beginning, but I haven't gotten enough blueberries from them because the birds eat them before I can get to them, so I can no longer justify having them inside the garden fence. While the kids napped (or more like Ashley napped and Katelyn entertained herself in her crib) Mike helped me to dig them up and transplant them along the side of my garden outside of the fence. They look good in their new home, and now I have a lot more space in my garden to work with! A win-win situation! I'm planning to install couple raised beds in the spring where blueberries used to be and move my strawberry plants there. It's a constant battle with critters in our back yard. The moles are living inside my existing strawberry bed, and I don't know how to get rid of them. I'm hoping that by moving them to the raised bed I'll get rid of them.

We had a great gardening season this year, the best one since I started my garden. We were picking tomatoes and peppers in October. And I still have radishes, lettuce, and herbs growing that we are picking right now. My raspberries are doing fantastic as well. Katelyn loves to munch on them in the garden. There are still a few more berries on the bushes, but a lot of them are now mushy because of the frost.

I've planted garlic for next year, and I have already designed my garden layout for next year! I hope to get a green house some day so that we can grow even more stuff. I'd like to try growing a couple of new plants next year, like asparagus and potatoes! Stay tuned.. I may have to start a separate blog to record my Gardening adventures. :)