{ Lanie's Garden Harvest }

Well hello everybody!!!  I decided to start a garden this year!  I knew it would be a BIG commitment but I was up to the challenge.  So, in early May I planted all my little seeds; tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, yellow squash & cabbage.  Everyday after school, I'd go and check my little seedlings to see how much they'd grown while I was at school.  I loved watching my little seedlings grow.  SO. MUCH. FUN.  As the weeks passed and school ended, almost everything I had planted had grown SUPER well.  My squash plants were the exception.  They grew only a few squashes (BUT, they were SOOO delicious) and then those nasty Squash Bugs arrived and just totally ate up my squash vines!  Now, you guys know that I normally love bugs - really I do!  But good golly, not those bugs!!  I was so mad at them for killing my squash plants.  Then after my squashes died, the same thing happened to my cabbages!!  I wish I had taken a photo of the cabbages to share with you guys.  The cabbage worms made the leaves on my cabbages look like Swiss cheese.  Yessiree, holey Swiss cheese!  And I was pretty sure no one wants to eat cabbage that looks like that so I had to toss them in the compost pile.  Grrrrrr!

Anyway, today I picked a tub-full of cucumbers and potatoes!  Whoo-hoo!  There was only one tomato ready today so that is going to be all for me.  

Just look at all my cucumbers and potatoes! I have red potatoes, white potatoes and golden potatoes.  My favorites are the golden ones - they are called Yukon Gold.  (Hee hee, every time I say Yukon, I think of Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, lol!!)  Those Yukons make the BEST mashed potatoes ever!! 

So, I'm going to head inside to the kitchen to wash all my veggies.  I want to have some fresh cucumbers and tomato with my lunch today!  Let's go cause this tub is super duper heavy!

Washing all the cucumbers and potatoes was a big job but I finally finished and got them in bowls.  Then I washed my one lonely tomato and sliced it.  I added a slice to my cheeseburger.....and then I ate the rest right off the cutting board ~ YUM!

Just look at those fresh cucumbers!  I have so many that I think I might make some refrigerator pickles or maybe some of my granny's cucumber & onion salad.  Ohhh noooo, I cannot decide!  Golly gee, you know what?  I might not have to decide......I just might have enough to do BOTH!  That's a good thing cause I am not so good at trying to choose between two things like that.....it like totally stresses me out!

My sweet Lulu was with me in the kitchen and all of a sudden she started hopping up and down to get my attention.  She ADORES cucumbers and I could tell she REALLY wanted one bad!  She knows I could not deny her one and since I had so many ripen at the same time, I figured I could spare one for her.  :)

Lookie how cute my little Lulu is!  I just love her to pieces.  She sat up to beg for her cucumber!  Awwwww. ♥ 

Finally, I can get to my own lunch!  I added my final touch of fresh cucumbers to my plate and viola, here is my lunch!

Yesterday, I brought in my first watermelon from my garden.  It was a fairly small one but I picked it anyway.....I was a little impatient since I'd been watching it grow for months and months.  It had the longest vines you've ever seen!  I really didn't realize how much space a watermelon plant would take up when I planted that one little seedling.  So anyways, I cut it up and put it in the fridge to have for today.  I like watermelon best when it's really cold so I put it on ice and set it out on the side table.  That way if any of the other girls come to the kitchen for lunch, they can have some too!    

Aren't these slices just the prettiest color?  I love the contrast of the red flesh with those big dark seeds.  You might wonder why I didn't grow a seedless variety.  Well, think about it!  That would have taken all the fun outta having seed-spitting contests so it's a good thing mine do have seeds.  I know Trey will especially enjoy spitting seeds with me! And he might be a boy but I bet I'll win.   :)

Lulu, the bouncing fluff ball, begged yet ANOTHER cucumber from me!  Darn her - she knows full well I cannot resist her cuteness!!  I gave her one more but good golly, her little tummy would have popped if I'd have given her anymore! Silly Lulu. 

 
Hey, before I go, I wanted to share just how excited I am about my potatoes!  I got them all washed at the same time as the cucumbers.  Now I need to get them all peeled cause I want to make a humongous bowl of potato salad for dinner tonight at the dorm.  Most all of us here love potato salad.  I like to put eggs in mine.  Do you?  Some people don't like to do that cause it makes the overall color a little yellow, from the egg yolks.  Gosh, it doesn't bother me one bit!  I think it's all yummy together - especially when you mix it all together with my favorite mayo - DUKE'S!

Peeling, peeling and MORE peeling!  Then chopping, chopping and MORE chopping!  It's a LOT of work!  Whew.....it's like I have a bottomless bowl for my potatoes!  I haven't even started on the rest of the cucumbers yet.....I'm gonna be here for hours!

So, I'll say goodbye now since there really isn't much more to say except that my hands are gonna be super sore after all this peeling and chopping.  That's okay though cause it feels really good after you have accomplished a big task like this.  And it's especially rewarding when you get to eat yummy food after all that work!  I think it makes it taste even better, don't you?

Thanks for stopping by!  I am hoping to have a few pumpkins from my garden this year too!  They are still not ready to pick but soon!  ~Lanie ☼

18 Inch Doll Outfits & 18 Inch Doll Accessories by:

Lanie is wearing Kit's "Hand-Me-Down Bib Overalls" by American Girl®

Lanie's Tye Dye print Tee Shirt is from the 2012 Hiking Outfit by American Girl®

 

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{ More Head-in-a-Hole Fun for Christina! }

Hello Peeps!!  For those of you who are new to our blog, my name is Christina.  I'm, well, sort of known more my my nick-name; Crazy Christina.  If you want to know why, well you'll just have to read over the stories on our American Girl doll blog that include me and that should explain it pretty good indeed!  I don't know why it should be classified as crazy though.....I just like to do fun things but sometimes I guess they might be considered a bit crazy too!

So, we were at the beach a couple weeks ago and you know me - I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those standin head-in-a-hold cut out thingies.  Two years ago I found two of them on our beach trip.  You can read about those two silly ones here.  I didn't find any last year and I was super disappointed.  So, this year I was determined to find at least one of them to pose in so Cindy could take a picture of me in it for my scrap book.

It was getting close to the end of our vacation and I still had not found one.  We needed some cookies for beach snacks so we headed out to the grocery store.  As we pulled in, I squealed (rather loudly) with excitement.  My poor sister!!  You'd think she'd be used to me startling the heebie jeebies outta her by now but oh, no......Cindy jumped and screamed out loud herself.  "Christina!!  Can you NOT??"  she huffed at me.  I pointed out the window and when she saw what I was pointing at, she rolled her eyes and was like; "Really?  Have you not grown out of that obsession yet?"  Um, no and I don't plan on it.....it's fun!  And the best thing about this one was there was actually TWO literally right beside each other!!  SCORE!  So, I hopped out and scrambled up the deck, climbed up the cut-out and stuck my head in it.  These were two characters that I have never done before and I just knew they were going to be a super addition to my scrapbook.

Here I am as a rather portly ole pirate!!  Argh and ahoy, matey!!

And check this out!  It's a SHRIMP, lol!!  How crazy is this one?  Hey that reminds me of a shrimp joke I heard just recently; Why wouldn't the shrimp share her treasure?  Are you ready for the answer?  **Because she was a little shellfish.**  Hahahaha!!!!  Get it?  I know, a little corny but funny anyway! 

All though I only found two head-in-the-hole stand-ins this beach trip, I was SUPER excited!  Have you ever had your photo taken in one of these?  I bet you have!  What was the craziest head-in-a-hole character you have ever seen?  ~Christina ♫

18 Inch Doll Outfits & 18 Inch Doll Accessories by:

Christina is wearing the 2015 Flamingo Dress Outfit by American Girl®

 

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{ Lanie's Sea Glass Collection }

Hi guys!  Lanie-bug here.  Shew, it's been soooooooooooo long since we have shared on our blog!  We have each been super busy.....I bet you all have been too!

Today was SUPER hot outside and normally I don't give a rat's patootie if it's hot outside but today was different.  I was extra tired and decided to have a stay-inside kinda day.  Only problem was, I was so totally bored just sitting inside!  I started thinking about my very special beach on the Chesapeake Bay where I find my favorite things to collect - sea glass!  I have not been able to go yet this summer and it's looking like I might not be able to go at all.  This made me a teensy bit sad so I started day-dreaming about all the fun times that Trey, Isabelle and I have had on our last few trips to the bay.  You can read about those trips here, here and here!  With sea glass on my mind, I decided to pull out my entire collection and look at it all.  So I braved the heat and went outside to my camper cause that's my special hangout where I keep my treasures - and, well, also some snacks that I don't want the other girls to find!  Ssshhhhh, you gotta keep that a secret between you and me! 

I have a guide that I keep up on my bulletin board in the camper that tells me which colors are more rare to find.  I got out all my little pieces and organized them by color on my camper table.  I don't have many rare colors but I do have a couple very small pieces of red which I am very, very proud of!  I have lots of browns, whites and greens.  Even though the greens are quite common, I still love that color - probably because of where they came from.  Did you know that most of the green colored sea glass comes from old Coca-Cola bottles?  Yep, they sure do!  I still have not found any orange or purple.  Those are super rare and I'll probably never find either one of them but I will continue to look cause the hunting is just as much fun as the finding!! 

What about you guys?  Do you have a special collection of treasures?  If so, what is it?  ~Lanie ☼

18 Inch Doll Outfits & 18 Inch Doll Accessories by:

Lanie's is wearing the 2012 Hiking Outfit by American Girl®

 

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