Santowski Farm

It has been so much fun actually growing our own food!  I think it is ridiculously awesome to eat something that I grew in my backyard.  This has been a good year for our garden, and here is the latest update:

I don't do bell peppers, but Nick loves them!  This plant is crazy, you can see all of the peppers growing everywhere.  It has gotten so heavy that it was falling over.

Nick has been dying to grow even one ear of corn.  Well, we got 6!  He was so excited, and I have to admit it is rather amazing that we actually grew corn.  It's good too!

On another note, I grew some flowers from seeds!  It has been lots of fun watching them grow and bloom.  I promise they look better in person!

Throw some paint on it...

I am by no means an artist!  However, I love to paint.  One day Nick just said here, handed me a canvas, and said just try it.  I love that man, and I have been painting since.  It is a fun hobby, so relaxing, and I thoroughly enjoy it.  Everything I do is completely abstract.  It is a fun way to decorate because I get to use the perfect colors and combinations to match any room.  Here are few of my creations:

This is in our master bathroom.  The next one I did when I lived on the second floor at my apartment complex.  Nick and I had a blast squeezing paint from my balcony onto the canvas on the ground.  It is now in my 'eclectic' laundry room, but was originally in my apartment bedroom.

Here are a couple more that were for Nick's apartment, but are now in the previously mentioned laundry room.

Finally, I am practicing something for my sister-in-law.  I didn't want to actually put it on stretched canvas until I had a chance to figure out what exactly I was doing.  So, here is my spread in the living room...

Painting is definitely a hobby of mine now, and I love it!

And so it begins...

Today was my first real day of summer with no work!  I am excited to rest, relax, and just enjoy my time off.  When school starts back up it is going to be interesting since I am teaching at a new school next year.  I will no longer be at St. Joseph...I am going to be teaching in Houston ISD.  I am excited and nervous, but right now I just want to enjoy my summer.

There are several projects that I want to tackle, and yesterday my aunt added to the list.  Apparently she had every intention of making me a wedding scrapbook, but just never really got down to it.  She gave me all kinds of stuff for it though, the book, paper, stickers, pictures, etc. so now I have everything I need to get it done.  I am not a huge scrapbooker.  I am more of an album or frame kind of girl.  The goal is to have a wedding scrapbook completed this summer!

Dutch Apple Bars

Nick and I decided to bake one night this weekend.  Dutch apple bars were what we came up with, and they turned out wicked awesome!  I meant to take pictures throughout the whole process, but got distracted and busy so here are a few...

Slowly coating the apples before placing them on the crust...

Before we put in into the over to bake...

Fabulous finished product!

Bittersweet

Friday was my last day with my students, and today and tomorrow are in-service days.  As excited and ready as I am for summer, I will truly miss my kids!  I could never have asked for a better group of kids to be my first class, and I will always remember them and miss them.  We have all vowed to stay in touch, and I hope we do because these kids are beyond incredible and I am truly blessed to have had them in my life!

Some of my students with their paper plate awards!

Awards!

The school year is almost over...it is so very close I can barely stand it.  I have 3 1/2 days with students and 2 in-service days left until a glorious, relaxing summer!  However, I will forever miss my students.  These kids have no idea how incredibly special they are to me, and how much each and everyone of them have touched me!  I was incredibly spoiled in my first year of teaching to have such small classes with such amazing kids.  That is why I am now in the process of making awards for each and every one of them!  They are all about their personalities and inside jokes we have had as a class.  I am doing a 'paper plate award', which is something my dance team did.  It is basically just a funny, cute award on a paper plate.  Also, I am doing candy awards...for instance, Franky will get a Snickers with a certificate for always making the class laugh, or somethin' like that.  I am excited and having fun, but stressed with trying to get everything done.  With as much as I am ready for summer, I hate to leave these kids!

It is still very much a work in progress, but they are turning out so cute!

Potato Love

Garden Update:  We have potatoes!  I think it is the coolest thing ever that Nick and I actually grew potatoes.  We had potatoes for dinner, and will have some with our lunches today. We have also eaten lots of strawberries and tomatoes.  I have a few limes that are getting close to ready, our pepper plants looks great, and I finally have a cucumber vine.  So much fun...here are some pics.

Part of our potato crop and couple of cherry tomatoes.

Look how big our potato is!!  So exciting!