Landscaping Take 2

We've been working pretty hard out in our yard this Spring. Do you remember this post I shared on April 3rd? Well, I have some new pictures to show our progress!

Remember, this is how the walkway looked when we moved in back in January...

This is what the walkway looks like today...

This was an old abandoned sand box. We are guessing there used to be a box. We dug up all the sand and hauled it off. Then we slowly started planting some plants who like the shade.

This is what the old sand box area looks like today. There will be more color as the marigolds, impatients, and hostas grow and bloom.

This picture shows you how the rock continues on around the house...

I really am learning as I go. I may have planted some things that won't do well in certain areas. But, I will learn from my mistakes and make some adjustments next year!

Landscaping Take 1

When we moved in our walk-way looked like this:

This Spring, our walkway looked like the picture on the left. Some sort of "viney" tuberous plant was taking OVER!!!! The picture on the right shows what our walk-way looks like now. We pulled up all the old weed barrier, mulch, and dug up all the yucky plants. Then we laid down new weed barrier and a very pretty rock! Heath's experience from working one summer on a landscaping crew came in handy.

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The kids even helped out quite a bit. It was a fun (but exhausting day)!

Landscaping Take 2 will be adding some color to the walk-way!

More About Our New Home

This bay window is one of my favorite things in our new home. I have this vision of seeing my children sitting in it reading lots of books, and sketching lots of pictures. I think I read too many Austen novels that put these types of ideas in my brain...

I took this picture of the kitchen while standing in our big dining room. Having a separate dining area verses an eat-in kitchen was an important thing on our list!

We are doing our final walk through on the house on Tuesday, closing on Thursday, and moving on Saturday. On Friday, I will probably be going over and doing some cleaning. Should I line my new kitchen cabinets with shelf paper? Is that NECESSARY? Opinions please...

Our New Home

We hope to be closing on our new home on the 28th of this month! I haven't shared this on the blog because we were waiting on inspections to go through. So, if everything keeps moving along, we will hopefully be moving into our new home in about 2 weeks!

Pumpkin Carving

We chose our pumpkin, and brought it home. Dad began carving while K watched.

The children were disgusted by the pumpkin's "guts."

Well, K wasn't grossed out for long. She dove right in and helped clean the pumpkin out.

We saved the seeds to roast another day.

Dad asked the children to draw a design of a pumpkin. Dad chose to use T's eyes, L's nose, and K's mouth.

Not bad for his first time EVER carving a pumpkin!

Of course we had to go outside and light it up

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We ended the night by eating a piece of pumpkin pie, of course!

End of School Celebration!

We started off our celebration with a little Guitar Hero!

BBQ on the deck!

Water Gun War!

We ended our celebration by staying up late to catch lightning bugs!

Mother's Day 2009

Heath started taking the children to pick out gifts for me 4 years ago. It's always fun and hilarious to see what the children pick out. You can see the nice glasses K picked out for me. I got a set of 4! L gave me the lovely red, white, and blue necklaces you see around my neck. Tyler's gift was helping Dad cook a special Mother's Day dinner! Oh, and I almost forgot the HUGE bouquet of flowers the girls picked for me while we played outside yesterday afternoon! There's nothing like a bouquet of dead weeds...LOL! But, it was truly a labor of love. The girls worked hard so they would have a BIG bouquet to give me!

Truly, I do feel blessed, loved, and appreciated every day. But, I do enjoy a little special lovin' and attention on this day we call "Mother's Day!"

Mother's Day

This is my 5th Mother's Day without my Mom, and my 2nd without my Grandma Gay.

When I was thinking about what photo I wanted share, this one immediately came to my mind. I had to really dig to find this photo. I knew what box it was in (my college memorabilia box) so that helped! While digging through the box, I found A LOT of letters written to me by my Mom and Grandma! They were faithful pen pals during my college days! I shed quite a few tears going through these priceless memories. Sometimes I get tired of grieving the loss of my Mom and Grandma. But, if grieving = remembering, then I'll choose to keep on grieving!

This Mother's Day, I'm going to  take the advice of my sweet friend, Angie and share a fun story about my Mom with my children. I actually think this would make a WONDERFUL Mother's Day tradition!  I'm thankful for the memories, even when they cause me sadness. I only cry because I love them and miss them so much! I'm thankful for the hope, peace, joy, and excitement of I have of seeing these two precious ladies again in Heaven one day. 

If you are blessed to still have your Mother around this Mother's Day, please love on her and let her know how thankful you are for her! If you are facing this day with sadness because your Mother has passed away, I encourage you to share a special story about her with someone in your life! Remember her, and celebrate her life.

Happy Mother's Day 2009!

Bedtime Story

The children enjoy being read to. They especially love it when Dad is home and is able to read a book to them before bed. They take turns picking out the book and sitting on Dad's lap during the story. 

Dad learned a new magic trick today. He wanted to "perform" it for the children. I wonder how much longer the children will think he's a magnificient magician?

Thanks Uncle Jeff!

The children had some Christmas money from an Aunt, Uncle, and some cousins. So, on Friday, we remembered to take it with us so they could spend it! L chose some silver, sparkly shoes. K chose to get her ears pierced. T chose two new Star Wars toys. Mom and Dad were saddened that their girls made such big girl choices. Why can't the children slow down a little bit with this whole growing up business??!! L has worn her shoes everyday and everywhere. The first night, she had to be reminded to take them off before she crawled into bed!

Presidential Prayer

Heath wrote a blog for our church's website. I want to share a link to the blog here on our family blog. I encourage you all to go and read it.

Presidential Prayer: a meaningful moment or worthless words.

Heath also blogs at Heath's Tidbits. This is his devotional blog that he hopes will help people go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Bring on 2009!

Christmas is over, and 2009 is right around the corner. We enjoyed our first Christmas in Pennsylvania. We made a lot of precious memories together as a family. We witnessed joy and excitement in our children as they opened their gifts on Christmas morning. We also experienced joy in giving to others this year through participating in Operation Christmas Child, and have been praying for boys and girls all over the world who received the special packages this Christmas season. It's so easy to get caught up in the "I want, I want" mode at Christmas. I pray our family will be able to give more to others each passing year. 

As 2009 approaches, like many, I have been thinking about New Year's resolutions. This year I want to get a piano and start playing again. I also want to play with my children more. Sometimes I don't say "yes" enough to their requests because I think the laundry or dishes are more pressing. I want to say "yes" more in 2009, and I think I'm going to have a lot more fun! I want to read more classic literature. This has been a goal of mine for the past couple years, and I'm making some progress. In 2008, I enjoyed reading books by Louisa May Alcott, Charlotte Bronte, and John Bunyan. I also want to learn a little bit of Spanish before I leave for my 10-day mission trip to Peru in July!

So, what are your New Year's resolutions?

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

May 2009 be a year when you truly "delight yourself" in Him!

Some Christmas Pics by the little girls

Here are some pictures the girls took a few days ago. Some of them are on the creative side, I think. The close up of the homemade gingerbread man ornament is my favorite. Which one is your favorite?

Exciting Day!

The children received a package from our friend Ms. Jimmie Ruth! She told me the children should open them early because she sent some cute Christmas necklaces for the girls. The children didn't mind at all getting to open Christmas gifts 9 days early!

Thank you Ms. Jimmie Ruth! We love you and miss you! Please tell all of our West Helena friends "hello" for us!
One more exciting thing happened today. K lost her FIRST tooth! Kind of makes me sad, because it's one more reminder how fast my children are growing up.

Thankful Tree

L made one of these in her Sunday school class last week. Today, T and K made their own.

First trace around their hand for the tree branches, and then draw a trunk

Cut out leaves, and let the children write what they are thankful for.

Multiple Uses for a Light Saber

Who knew a light saber made an excellent limbo pole?

Little Workers

Well, we've been here in our new home for 6 weeks now. This week, we've finally gotten back into our all our "normal" routines. I have a weekly chore checklist I try to abide by. Each day of the week has a main household chore assigned for the day. For instance, if you come to our house on Monday, you will enjoy clean bathrooms. On Tuesday, all the bedrooms are cleaned (you get the point). Anyway, the children were cheerful little workers this week. I pray it continues, but I'm sure we may all have our moments. I like doing this teamwork thing because it holds me accountable to get everything cleaned every week. It also helps me train the children to be hard workers. Not just hard workers, but to also work with a good attitude. Dad and I have decided to start giving the children an allowance. Every Friday, if they have worked diligently and had good attitudes, each child will receive....get ready for this...10 cents!!!!! They are so excited about this!!! Would you clean bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, and kitchens for 10 cents/week???!!!! They're so cute:-) I'm going to love and enjoy this while it lasts!