By Riley  , on April 8th, 2012  This year Amelia and I had the opportunity to build a box garden. A couple of weeks ago we installed the box we constructed and filled it with 1200 lb of various soil mixes. We planted tomatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, and rhubarb. We had a brief scare a couple of days later when there was a light freeze one night. We also got a raspberry bush, blackberry bush, strawberries, spinach, lettuce and jalapenos and are growing them in pots. We had suspected we needed a fence to prevent any marauding deer from attacking our produce but we were surprised when we found our pea sprout-lings nibbled to bits so the next day we crafted a fine classic tiki fence.
Later we discover a few pests so we got some ladybugs and praying mantises to hopefully take care of the situation.
Since the day we released them I’ve seen one ladybug crawling around in the garden and the mantises hopefully will hatch soon, maybe we can catch the event on camera.
Also, last fall, we collected a number of Japanese maple sproutlings, most of which survived the transplant and are growing nicely (some maybe too much). Here are a couple of them.
By Kathryn , on April 6th, 2012 So, we are definitely late to posting this, as we cut her hair weeks ago on March 18th. I’d been anti-haircut for a while, mostly because it has taken so long for Arcadia’s hair to grow, but it was starting to get a bit scraggly and it was time for a trim. Here’s the before:
Arcadia did great while Daddy cut her hair. She did move around a bit, causing her hair to be a bit shorter than planned, but it worked out in the end. Here’s the after:
 I think she liked it!
By Kathryn , on April 6th, 2012 First up, Tysen’s birthday present.
 Tysen’s been complaining for a while that he couldn’t find a Hawaiian shirt he liked. One day while searching the internet for sewing patterns, I came across a Simplicity Pattern 3852, bought it, and told Tysen I could make him a shirt. Well, months passed, and I still hadn’t made Tysen a shirt (mainly I was afraid of following a real sewing pattern and making something in an adult size). I think Tysen was even a little disappointed when he didn’t get a shirt for Christmas. So, I vowed to make him his shirt for his birthday (and better yet, for our joint birthday party). So, we set out to the fabric store and purchased shamrock fabric – fitting, don’t you think? I got the fabric cut one weekend, and sewed everything up the weekend before the party. Turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
Also sewn in March was this skirt for Arcadia.
I followed the Milkmaid Skirt pattern from crafterhours. The fabric was a remnant of corduroy I bought months ago in anticipation of making this skirt, I just never had the motivation to draft the pattern and put it together. With this new motivation to sew something each month, I went a little overboard for March and sewed 2 garments. I finished it during nap time, and Arcadia, upon seeing the skirt, had to wear it immediately.
By Sara , on March 31st, 2012
By Sara , on February 26th, 2012 Celebrating the Perszyk tradition of chasing the birds……
By Kathryn , on February 20th, 2012 If you didn’t figure out from my hint, my February project entailed sewing Valentine’s Day outfits for the girls. This month’s project was super easy since all I had to do was cut a large rectangle of fabric, sew it together, and make an elastic casing at the top and hem the bottom. This project was made even easier using my new serger to finish off all the raw edges. I’m sure I used a tutorial to come up with the initial measurements and order of steps, but can’t remember now. I had also hoped to get a photo of the girls in their outfits posted on Valentine’s day so we held a photo shoot early, but neither girl really cooperated. See for yourself.
So, once the girls ran around in their outfits, we (yes, Tysen provided some input) decided to add some embellishment to the girls shirts as they were a little plain. For Arcadia’s I added a ruffle heart and Hazel got an elephant with a heart, per Tysen’s request. Here’s how they turned out (again, tried to take photos of the girls in their outfits on Valentine’s day without much success):
 Arcadia's shirt
 Hazel's shirt Both girls really liked their outfits, and in the end, they turned out super cheap. Both girls already had the shirts and leggings. The skirt fabric cost all of $1.50 from the remnant bin at Joann’s and the gray felt and button used to make Hazel’s elephant was handed down to me. Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine’s Day!
By Sara , on February 19th, 2012 The pool has been resurfaced and we just added water. Next project is the landscaping. So c’mon down and swim……..
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2012.04.08 19:56:13 | 
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