Landscaping!

 

It's in!

It's little and cute and has huge potential!
(Something akin to 5' tall and 5' wide potential!)

And Mommy dug lots of holes.

And used a pick axe.

And dug more holes.

And raked leaves to make leaf mulch.

And tripped on a rake when it was getting too dark to see.

Then raked some more leaves.

And carried those leaves to the beds on tarps.

 

This afternoon, my pillow looked lonely.

So I kept it company.

 

365 Project to be continued.

Another time.

 

:)

365 Project | Week 42

May I make an observation? (I suppose since it's my blog, the answer would be, "Yes," but anyway ...) We have just completed the 42nd week of 2012. We, therefore, have only 10 weeks remaining. Somehow, that really doesn't seem quite possible. Just sayin'.

 

We are thankful for the blessing of a "normal" week with the only unexpected adventures being of the fun variety. ;)

 

Day 288. Our friend Tony took our family's photo for the church directory, and all of our crew was looking at the camera with a pleasant expression the. first. time. Miracles do happen. :)

 

Day 289. We have now completed 28% of our school year ... 51 days to be precise. We're loving homeschooling. The kids ... Mommy ... Daddy ... the whole family. So thankful the Lord's enabled us to do this. One of the myriad of fun benefits--the kids pull out the art supplies of their own volition and build on previous art lessons.

Day 290.  Mommy had been waiting for this day! After our Day Out with Thomas, I spent about a week creating a photo book "narrated" by Matthew. It arrived in the mail this week. Matthew was so. excited. He was excited just to see Thomas the Train on the cover, but when he opened the first page and saw his own picture, then heard Mommy reading, "Hi! My name is Matthew ..." his whole face just absolutely LIT UP. :) He still gets the biggest grin every time I read that first sentence. :D

Pure delight! :D No asking for smiles for this picture!

As much fun as it was reading it together, though, Mommy was very thankful that Hannah could take over the multiple readings of Thomas and Me while I prepared dinner.

Day 291. Fall colors are just starting to peak through in our yard. :)

Day 292. We enjoyed a somewhat spontaneous field trip at the zoo with our friends this week! The littlest crew members didn't make it on top of the tube for a photo op, but we all had a great time. :)

And while Mommy enjoyed an evening at Ladies' Bible Study, Daddy held things down on the home front. Matthew took care of keeping things neat and orderly. ;)

Day 293. And yet another very spontaneous event ... and a huge blessing. I had tried to get tickets for a free children's play based on The Little Engine that Could, but called a couple hours too late. About two hours before the play, however, a friend who had been able to get tickets for her family offered to trade one of our "big kids" for her 17-month old! We decided that Peter would particularly enjoy the play since it was about trains, and Hannah had the fun of "babysitting" Matthew and Mark. No pictures of Peter, but he declared that it was "the best evening ever!"

Day 294. When Matthew heard that the big kids had been blessed with mugs of hot chocolate after some energetic leaf raking, he put in his own request. "Kuh [insert garble here] oh." When repeated attempts to communicate verbally proved fruitless, he decided to get more practical and simply retrieved his desired item. The can of cappuccino. :D Ahhh! Now that [garble] makes sense! And from Matthew's perspective, if Mommy drinks it every. single. morning. before school, it must be good! :D

 

And *hopefully* within the next couple weeks we'll be able to share some pictures of brand new plantings around the foundation of our home. We borrowed some books from the library this summer to get some landscaping ideas appropriate for our region and the abundance of shade around our home. I came up with an initial plan, but the heat of summer is not the best time for planting. However, fall most definitely is, so this weekend while Daddy and the kids did some general yard work, I went to a local nursery. I was blessed with a very knowledgable representative who was not only familiar with every. single. plant. in my plan, but was able to take me to each one across the couple acre lot and also show me other options suitable for our situation. With some more revision based on what I learned, we now have our "final" plan and itemized shopping list. Hoping to do some ground prep this week and buy some plants this upcoming weekend ...



365 Project | Weeks 40-41

It's a double-header, folks! :) I started working on my post last week, but time ran out before my post went up, and I never got back to it. It's just been that sort of week ... or rather, couple of weeks. :) The pictures continued to be taken, however, and very much reflect the every-dayness of our lives. :) Enjoy ...

 

Day 274. Daddy caught this picture of a vulture which decided to find lunch in our yard.

Day 275. Matthew is learning to use scissors ... thus every coloring page is now fringed. :)

Day 276. Meet Tiny, adopted by Hannah. Sadly, it seems that our snail habitat is not suitable for baby snails, and he was only with us a few days.

Day 277. The cooler weather has brought out our soccer player again. :)

Day 278. Miss Hannah-bug peeled her first potato! :)

Day 279. Story-time with Mommy :)

Day 280. I don't believe a little girl could possibly be more excited about a birthday party than Hannah was for her friend's. :)

All of the girls had fun "rock" climbing--Hannah's about 18-20' up in this picture!

Day 281. Nobody's disappointed with French Toast on the Sunday evening dinner menu!

Day 282. Mommy's latest experiment: homemade laundry soap. I enlisted my eager helper to grate my soap, a task I was not sorry to delegate. :) I followed this recipe, and thus far, it seems to be working really well. :) I'm actually still a bit amazed by that, to be perfectly honest.

Day 283. Would you care to visit the Island of Sodor? :) It's lots of fun ... and will keep you occupied for hours. Particularly if you're under the age of 8. :)

Day 284. My littlest guy with his cheesy grin ... squinched up eyes ... Thomas jammies ... and monkey grass berries from church. Yep. That's him. Isn't he kissable???? :D

Day 285. Who wants to eat breakfast alone? I had to laugh when I saw that my early riser found an effective means to remedy the problem. (Now to work on remembering to put our dish in the sink when we're done ...) ;)

Day 286. A rousing game of dominoes ... it's fun to be able enjoy such games with the majority of our crew these days. :)

Day 287. Here's our crew at the apple orchard ... hopefully, more pictures to come of a thoroughly enjoyable family outing. :)

 

And that be that. :)

We're thankful for God's blessings.

Each and every day.

365 Project | Week 39

We are thankful for a fun week filled with a particularly special adventure and no particularly unexpected surprises. :)

 

Day 267. Fall decorations ... turn into railroads around my house. ;) Compliments of Matthew. For the record, most anything can be turned into a railroad ... tomatoes, carrots, shovels, rocks, trucks, books, buddies ... yep, most anything. ;)

Day 268. However, those same fall decorations were incorporated into an art project which then turned into a brief photo session. (Matthew, unfortunately, was napping.)

Day 269. I am thankful for my hubby who's willing to read a story to the kids, even when he's mentally worn from a long day at work.

Day 270. A blissfully squabble-free, fun sibling time in the sandbox ...

Day 271. This picture is long overdue ... Daddy surprised Mommy and Hannah with matching aprons for Mothers' Day this year ... we've been enjoying them ever since. :)

Day 272. Peep! Peep! Our crew was very excited to spend a day out with Thomas! As you can imagine, we have many more pictures, but since this Mommy wants to focus her efforts on making a photo book for her munchkins, the pictures may or may not make it to the blog. :)

All of the attendants were so friendly and kind ... and ready to volunteer to take family pictures!

The kids were so excited, and we had so much fun watching them "meet" Sir Topham Hatt. Translating his experience with cows at Chick-Fil-A, Peter informed me that "it's probably just a person in a costume," but Matthew obviously thought he was meeting THE Sir. Topham. Hatt. Too. excited. for. words.

Day 273. And then the wonderful thing about an all-day family outing on Friday ... you have Saturday to recuperate. :) A general fall cleaning and purge ensued, along with Mommy's seasonal clothing swap. I am so thankful and glad not to have the "school" wardrobe in addition to the "everyday" wardrobe anymore!

 

And thus went our week. We are thoroughly excited to have our upstairs bath completely functional again ... Mommy and Daddy both have a few "finishing" touches (i.e. chair rail and curtains), so "after" pictures will be coming "after" it's finished. But functional is more than enough to smooth the daily routine. :)

365 Project | Week 38

Sunday afternoon naps. I'm not a big fan. Rare is the day that I wake up refreshed. So I generally ignore heavy eyelids and relax with a blog update. (Yep. I find it relaxing.) But this Sunday even toothpicks would not accomplish the goal. We saw the wee hours of the morning for various and sundry reasons, and I knew sleep would be essential if I was going to make it through the rest of the week. So, sleep I did. And blog I did not. ;) For those who missed my post, that be the reason why. For those who didn't, it's okay. :)

Day 260. This was a rather random shot, but my hubby made me laugh as I walked into the kitchen and found his grinning face pressed against the kitchen window, a feat which requires standing on the carport roof. Once he accomplished his goal of making me laugh, he wandered off. As I continued watching out the window it struck me that I should never once ever wonder why my boys like to walk on the stone walls. For the record, they do NOT (yet) walk on these walls (about a 10 foot drop on the other side ...)

Day 261. During the night, we were visited by a giant with a 24-inch foot! When I asked Peter what he thought the giant looked like, he proudly exclaimed, "Me!" :) Yep. My young man likes to dig holes. And thus, he digs. Just. because. And laughs all the way through Ruth Krauss' book, A Hole is to Dig.

Day 262. Much rejoicing this evening! Missions for Kids (TM) has been nearly a ten year project. It's a four year children's church curriculum, and Year 4 and Year 1 are now "publishing-ready" (minus getting some permissions resolved.) Years 2 and 3 are written, but need some formatting updates. My goal is to have it ready for sale by the end of 2012. Praying. And needing to give it some focused time.

Day 263. So if I share the last piece of popcorn with Daddy, does it make up for eating the majority of the preceding pieces? ;)

Day 264. Yet another edition of random yard ornaments. :) Actually, we discovered a significant amount of mold in the basement this week. Sigh. Thankfully, however, our neighbor specializes in mold remediation, and we were able to get some clear answers about resolving the problem. In the meantime, we went for the natural method, i.e. sunshine. And, oh yeah, hard work. Thankful that God is not surprised by these things. And given Chris' work load, we're very thankful that our neighbor's method requires significantly less hands-on time than ours did.

Day 265. We are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fall weather! :) (And eagerly anticipating the exodus of the local mosquito population ...) ;)

Day 266. I was thankful for the opportunity to attend our church's ladies' seminar this weekend. (And thankful for my eldest child's assistance with alphabetizing the 80+ name tags for which I was responsible!) :)

And such be a few of the pieces of our life. :)
Thankful that God's grace is sufficient for both the big and the little challenges.

Sunshine and Smiles

The kids enjoy the sunshine ... Mommy loves the smiles! :)

 

 

Thankful.