Cake form?

here is what I am thinking for the form on the cake. I think I like doing a 14-12-8 design with teh 6" around - give me just the little extra cake that we might need.

Stuart - new haircut

I am trying to get a good portrait of Stuart....Joseph has promised to do it this weekend. I'll be doing pictures of all of us - Rachael is going to help

Our Strawberries

The top image is my pretty little bowl that Joseph got for me at Summerfest Art fair this year. The baskets are what we picked just tonight!! there are still a lot on the vines.... We are really excited.

the bottom are stuart plants..... they are really started to take off

Stuarts Compost Bin

Here is the composte bin that Stuart and his dad biult. It is part of the gardening merit badge. I have been helping Rachael with her yard. I weed wacked a huge portion of her back yard. My arms are killing me! But Stuart raked up the cuttings and loaded it into the bin. Now he just has to keep it up.

Our little Box Garden

Here are some images of our little box garden. We'll have to see how it does. The top picture is the boxes that we built out of discounted cedar fencing. The lumber yard in town discouted it because they were cut incorrectly for a client (they were 4 inches too short) So I picked them up for 60 cents a piece! each box needed 3 peices, so my garden boxes cost 1.80 each. We have a couple of tomatoes planted, a cucumber (I figure that the vine can come over into the bushes and the porch) and a watermelon.


There are some flowers planted as well. Those are for Stuart's merit badge. He has to plant 6 different flowers, 3 from seedlings, and 3 from seeds. He has to do the same with a vegetable. So we have Petunias, Marigolds, and Impatiens in the from box.

In the little pots on the stairs, there are all of the seeds. There are a mixture of flower seeds in one (I can't remember the names). One pot has a green bean, one has a yellow wax bean and the last one will have a crook neck squash. This way we can move them around as we need them - to give them space. My front yard recieves great sun for most of the day, so I hope that this works. We have a much bigger garden, with a lot of other items growing with our friends here. We will be very busy this fall. There is an abundance of corn planted and a lot of pickling cucumbers. We are planning on making a lot of pickles!

I am not sure why stuart had his picture taken here. This is my pot. I have a small herb garden started so that I can cook with fresh herbs. I am planning on drying some this fall as well, so that I will have them.

11yr old Scout Camp Prep

So here is Stuartin his Scout Uniform. He won't stand up straight - there is a camera pointed at him. But I'll get a good one soon. They had a pre-camp clinic for the boys on Sat. They got thier Tote-N-Chip cards, so he is allowed to have his pocket knife out of the package now. They also worked on indentifying animals and first aid. They will have thier camp out next weekend, with the dad's ( I have my first "packlist" - it seems like a lot of stuff that they won't use, but he'll load it in his frame back pack and take it!). He is really excited. Joseph is enjoying being involved in the scouting program again. Both of us are registered now as merit badge counselors. I am currently working with Stuart on the gardening merit badge. I'll post those images seperately.

Stuart is enjoying scouts, and is excited. I hope we can keep the excitement up.

The other pictures are of Stuart and his friend Alaric, at breakfast at the pre camp clinic.


I think he is pretty handsome in his uniform. (but he is still growing up too fast)