handsful

Last Saturday was Abbey’s Sophomore prom

This is Abbey’s second year going, and she went by herself again. She was meeting up with several friends, so it was all good.

We snagged her dress from a consignment boutique here in town, and got it for a steal. Course, we then had to get it a little altered, but it was still less than the prices we were finding in stores. Yikes.

Honestly, this dress was just made for her. She’s stunning…

Went jewelry shopping on Saturday and found just the right pieces.

Some people just HAD to pose with her.

Including her goofy daddy. It’s a shame she doesn’t resemble him at all.

Abbey’s friend Kathryn came over to help her get ready. She tagged along with us to drop her off, (we were taking her home) and Abbey convinced her to join her in a shot.

Posing with one of her friends, Daniel. Her other friends were fashionably late and we weren’t able to get a group shot. She said she had a wonderful time, and couldn’t decide which she liked better…this year or last. She’s never been good at making decisions.

Can’t believe we’ll most likely have FOUR going to prom next year.

Wish I would have taken a “before” picture of it. Picture knee-deep weeds interspersed with taller, dead stalks of who-knows-what. Randy took his new (to him), beloved green tractor and mowed it all down. Then, we hooked up with a local homeschool dad who came with his big ‘ol tiller and turned it into this lovely patch of dirt.

We measured it tonight… 26′ wide x 110′ long. Gracious. The previous owners installed a sprinkler system specifically for the garden…we tested it out tonight. The heads need some tweaking, but Randy will get it working correctly.

Now, the question is…what do we plant? I have a couple of tomato plants already, 1 strawberry plant, and 1 bean plant. They were all started in pots. I’ll admit, other than having a fairly small garden years ago that consisted mainly of tomatoes, I’m a newbie here.

Other questions…how much space does each type of veggie need? What CAN I plant this time of year? What fertilizers (if any) do we use? How do I keep the weeds at bay? (other than lots of hands working to pull them) Do we jump in and fill the whole garden this year, or start small? I feel like googling “basics of veggie gardening” and printing everything I find.

Thankfully, we’re told that the local mom ‘n pop garden center just a mile or so from us will help a TON. I’m hoping they take mercy on us :)

*Diversion* While taking the garden pics, I managed to catch the mama bird flying out of her knot-hole nest. She works hard, flying in and out all day long. Wish we could peek inside to see those little guys! We can sure hear them.

So, any garden experts out there? I’d love your tips and advice on this new venture of ours! I’m excited (and nervous) about getting started…

She’d been giving us hints for years. Wanting to have her daughters in law and all her granddaughters out for an afternoon at the Tea Room in town.

Last Saturday, she thought it was only Dee Dee and Anna Grace, taking her out for a birthday lunch.

She was so wrong. Dee Dee called us last week to see if we could make a last-minute trip to Raleigh. We pulled it together and hit the road.

Soon, all us girls were on our way to pick Ann up at her house. If only I’d gotten a picture of her face when she glanced in the back seat and saw all of us smiling back.

Next stop, the Tea Room in downtown Wake Forest.

Once we arrived, some of us enjoyed trying on all the interesting hats. Some of us look horrid in hats, and skipped that part. Ahem.

Abbey called this one her lemon-head hat

We talked, we ate yummy food, and drank lots of tea. Croissants, scones, salads, soups…Lainey had chocolate raspberry tea and strawberry soup! She was in heaven.

We also spent a good amount of time posing for pictures. In our hats…or no hats. The waitress graciously took shots of all of us.

Love that hat on her!

Ann wasn’t the only one in for a surprise. Dee Dee and I fully intended to pay for our own kids and Ann, but she wouldn’t hear of it. With tears in her eyes, she insisted that her birthday was complete…we had given her the one, best thing she’d ever asked for and wanted to treat us all. To see her that happy was such a blessing for all of us. Family truly is the best gift of all.

Happy Birthday, Ann. We love you!

Lainey, in all her silliness, taken last night on the back deck.

She’d been growing it for a little while.

But, then Marley started working on her to cut it short again. Back to a “bob length”, that she had several years ago. She even went as far as BRIBING her with 5 bucks. We nipped that idea, and told Lainey that she should cut it only if SHE wanted to. And, to our surprise, she decided to go ahead with it. So, we were off to see Miss Donna…

And, there it goes…

Looking unsure

And, done!

She couldn’t stop giggling and dancing around when we left. She danced to the van, danced into the grocery, danced IN the grocery, etc. I think she decided she was pretty happy with her new do. We sure are. Can’t believe she could get even cuter than she already was :)

It’s that time of year again. The time to remember the sacrifice our Savior made for us, and to rejoice in the knowledge that He is, indeed, risen!

Not nearly as important as that, but not to be left out…it’s the time to gather at Gram and Pa-Paul’s house for the egg hunt extravaganza :)

21 total people, lots of eggs, even more silliness, great food. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!

Ready, Set, Go!

This year, all our big kids were “hiders”, so we only had the two “finders”.

And, they worked it!

The big kids were helpers…big bro Ethan shakes down the egg from the tall branch. See it falling?

Gram’s egg hunts are involved…she has exactly the same number of eggs per kid, and puts a certain color/symbol on each egg. As the kids hunt, they dump their finds into big baskets. Then, we all gather inside to divide up the eggs. Here, Dylan is emptying his basket so he can head back out!

A lot of what goes on at Gram’s involves laughing. Being goofy. Randy and Tony have this part down pat.

And, one of the best parts is hanging out with our family.

Gram always does a scavenger hunt for the big kids…a series of clues that leads them running around until they find their giant, treat-filled eggs. Here, Payton reads the first clue.

All the kids. We were missing Samara, she was still back at college. Caleb wasn’t supposed to be there, but he surprised everyone when he walked in the door.

As usual, it was a fantastic day. Caleb brought 3 friends with him, and our good friend Amanda enjoyed the day with us, too. Sadly, I got no pictures of us with her! Oh well, we were having too much fun to worry with posing.

Thanks, Gram, for a wonderful day! We know you put tons of work into it :)

We got a very special package in the mail yesterday…

We told the guy at the door what it was, and he seemed genuinely excited for the little guy jumping up and down in the hallway.

Lightening McQueen was the choice this go-round. See that cool knee joint?!?

Getting all suited up…

Time for a test drive. Right now, he takes big steps and then kicks it to make the knee joint straighten again. As he gets used to it, this won’t be quite so clumsy. In the picture above, he’s still sticking it out to the side, as he’s gotten used to doing with his stationery knee.

And, here he is doing the kick-thing.

He was very excited about trying it, and gave it all he had.

But, by the afternoon he was getting scared of it, because he fell once or twice…and, it’s kind of a violent fall. So, he’s gone back to walking by swinging it to the side. We’re giving him some time. He fell today because he didn’t think it would bend, but it did. We’re hoping he’ll come to the conclusion that practicing with it bending might be a better idea.

The foot on his other leg. Amazing how a very-well made (but man-made) foot can look worn down like this after 8 months, when our intelligently created feet last a lifetime. Had to put that out there :)

Comparing feet. Oh, like you don’t do this at home…

He still wouldn’t bend it much today, but we encouraged him to a few times. It’ll take some time for him to warm up to this. But, he will.