I scream you scream.....

Even after nearly 7 years of marriage, there are still things that Mike and I don't know about one another.

Today we decided to get serious and talk about something that we had been putting off for too long. Ice cream. What we like, what we don't like. It was raw and honest. Think you know what each of us had to say?

Click on the link below to find out!

2010 Gonzalez Family Ice Cream Preferences Quizlet!

Be sure to click on "Show the Answers" when you get your results.

Have fun!

The Beach...the waves kiss your feet....the sand is your seat....

Paige and Mommy headed out the "The Lakes" today with the beach calling to us. Its a great beach and it was a gorgeous day. We played in the parks splash pad (fountain thingy), swam, built sand castles, splashed, danced, laughed, went potty on a big potty twice, shared our toys with a baby, ate lunch, and layed out on the beach. Papa and Uncle Ben joined us after a while too!

Pumpkins July 12 (and a B'dazzled birdhouse)

Paige is having a summer fling with Elmer's school glue and B'jewels. She made 4th of July Goodies for the three of us and Auntie Jessie, Uncle Jaden, Uncle Ben, Auntie Katie, Papa and Grandma...AND was disappointed that Kirby (Auntie's dog) didn't need a foam can cooler covered in B'jewels & Glitter & Stickers. This weekend we painted and B'dazzled a birdhouse for the back yard. This fling has the makings of a 'lets cover things in glue & glitter' lasting love affair.


Here are some updated pumpkin pictures from today, July 12th. You can see that the leaves that were hit with the mildew are just not ever going to be the same. Luckily the secondary vines look healthy enough. No apparent damage from the vine borer I spotted earlier this month, but I applied pesticide tonight just to be safe (organic-orshmanic).

huh......

Apparently these female flowers show up as quickly as they die....

Yesterday I had 2 ONLY and I looked HARD for any others....

This morning I have 5?!?

They are really small still...(smaller than a pea) with the exception of the first two (up to marble maybe).

I'll keep my fingers crossed...they are about the same size as the first 8 that shrivled up and died....

OH! No sign of any squash borer eggs or damage....for now :)

Males are doing just fine as you can see.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

UPDATE:

Since Paige is napping I headed out to our pumpkin patch and started poking around again. In between swatting mosquitos and trying not to cry I found another female flower! Here are some pictures that show how the plants look overall plus the two females. You can see there is a lot of leaf damage (presumably from the mildew) but there are a few good vines...

By the way, the yellow flowers are fine. They are only open and pretty for a few hours in the morning...it was 4:00pm and MUGGY when I took these pictures so.....

ALSO
Last week while I was fertiliz-insecti-fungiciding I spotted a HORRIBLE red-moth-bee-monster.

Turns out its a squash vine borer.

And they are bad. Very bad.


IF my insecticide wasn't enough to prevent this horrible thing from laying eggs on the vines then I'm in BIG trouble.

So....

Now I'm on the lookout for tiny eggs, tiny holes, and something called "frass".

And.....

If I find any of the above mentioned items, the only way to rid/save my plants is to locate the area of the vine where I suspect the squash vine borer larvae to be, cut it open and (blech) remove the worm (BLECH)!

ORIGINAL POST:

The good news is the heavy rains we've gotten this weekend provided a nice refreshing drink for the pumpkin patch.

The bad news is it doesn't matter because most of the female flowers have shrivled up and died.

The good news is at least I don't have to worry about the wet weather kicking up the powdery mildew because dead plants don't care!

The bad news is I have to look at said dead plants for several more months.

The good news is despite all the trauma there is one ONE little female flower that seems to be thriving. We still have a chance to get one pumpkin....so....I guess I'll keep you posted....

Here she is. No pressure little lady.....