Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Summer by the Numbers

This summer, I decided to keep track of how much our garden produced. The log then magically became a running tally of some of the things we did this summer...enjoy!

Strawberries: 1313 (and then we stopped counting...it seemed like a good number!)

Carrots: 117 (They were each the size of a green bean. The kids took them ALL to school today in their lunches. I am worried that bringing carrots--teeny tiny homegrown ones--in your lunch may have as much nerd power as bringing a liverwurst sandwich. (Thanks, mom. I have never fully recovered my social standing.))

Radishes: 3

Movies seen: 4 (I LOVE the Regal free family movies!)

Miles run by Kirs: at least a million

Miles run by the kids: probably a million and one
(I am one of those mean moms who makes my kids exercise. Every day. Poor, poor kids!)
(EmJ and Willie both improved their mile times by two minutes--EmJ 10:16, Willie 9:18, and Gus got to where he can run 3/4 mile without stopping.)
(Sam just wanted to play in the long jump pit.)

Dollars spent at Costco: 1232

Loads of laundry: I lost track, but that would have been a fun stat, no?

Books read: 9

Trips taken: 2

Diapers ignored for far too long: 36 (Okay, we started the summer fine, but then Reillee went into every-day-blow-out mode. Awesome. Oh, and Sam thought this statistic was for sport. I'm pretty sure that she does EVERYTHING with a purpose.)

Baseball games attended: 4

Softball games played: 9 (I got myself on a co-ed team this summer. So fun!)

Sugar snap peas: 30

Little eyes shielded from old naked ladies in the pool locker room: 2 (and then I decided to make Willie use the gender appropriate locker room)

Onions: 5 bunches

Green beans: 155

Tomatoes: 100 (More to come, but they are getting pretty groty.)

Arugula and spinach: 5 fat plants full

Buffalo steaks eaten: 1 (Can you believe I did that?)

Dogs with an underbite seen: 1 (I'm not sure why this was so funny, but a truck pulled up next to us one day. The passenger mutt stuck his face out the window and our whole family went, "That is the ugliest dog I've ever seen!" Then we tried to replicate his face...Luke said my impression of the underbite dog was dead on. I'm not sure if I should be proud or concerned...)

Blueberries: lost count, we got some, but not as many as I would have liked

Cauliflower: 2 pathetic, rotten heads

Trips to the Supermall for school shopping: 1

Trips to Famous Footwear and various other shoe stores to exchange Willie's shoes because he kept changing his mind: 4 (and then I put my foot down and said the Van's with the flames are good enough! I wish I had put my foot down on a more conservative shoe-choice day...)

Outings to Jetty Island: 2

Hikes: 0 (someday, someday)

Sunflowers: 4 (sunflowers are my new favorite, and the kids loved watching how fast and tall they grew)

Authors discovered: 1 (Luke frequently will read to me things he finds interesting, either from the scriptures, the news, his textbooks, or Mitt Romney's latest op-ed. Well, this summer, he got a taste of his own medicine as I read him nearly all of Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. Those books are serious fun.)

Weddings: 2

Ears of corn: 3 so far...

Most slugs seen on a morning jog: 23 (to clarify, the slugs were not jogging)

Quarts of peaches canned: 22

Quarts of applesauce canned: 18 (I added all of our pears to the applesauce, so technically it's apple-pear-sauce.)

Quarts of strawberries jammed: 6 (all from our garden)

Gallons of blueberries picked and preserved: 2 (the kids weren't in a picking mood, and the berries did not do well this year...oh well...blackberry picking was worse, we got only enough to make muffins before the kids quit!) (And, in the interest of full disclosure, I was sitting in the nice warm car while the kids picked in the rain. "You cannot get in the car until that bucket is full!")

Birthdays celebrated: 1 (Happy 34th, Luke!!)

Our garden was pretty pathetic, but we used everything it produced. Our summer was great, but I am looking forward to autumn, jackets, and the World Series.

4 comments:

Kacey said...

Way to go for keeping track of all the fun things you did this summer! I love it that you make your kids run with you- I think I may start doing the same thing!

zekesmom10 said...

"to clarify, the slugs were not jogging" Oh Kirs! You are cracking me up! Almost as much as Kelly's doo-dah!

And what a great idea to keep track of all that fun trivia.

Laura A said...

That sounds like a fun summer! And I would totally shlep out to watch you play softball. Give us a head's up next time!

PS- how do you make your kids exercise every day? I'd like to try that.

Carla Snook said...

this was a fun post to read. :) I am proud of all your produce and I love that the kids couldn't get in the car till the bucket was full. :) ha ha ha. Your kids are beautiful. I had fun seeing you and Angie the other day...oh...and I already contacted Lindsey for my car seat cover. WOOHOO. :) Thanks a ton for that. :) -Carla