handsful

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.

Don’t normally go together, huh? But, last night they did.

Alan, Randy’s college roommate and the kids honorary uncle, sent us Carolina Hurricane hockey tickets for Christmas and the game was last night. Given it was going to be a long time sitting in seats watching a game they probably wouldn’t follow well, we decided to find alternate plans for the littles.

I called my friend Sandi, who now lives only 7 minutes away. Her daughter Hollyn is one of Lainey and Dylan’s bestest friends, and Dylan and Hollyn have a special connection with their (opposite leg!) prosthesis’. Sandi was thrilled to have them over for their first-ever sleepover!

I dropped them off at 3:30, and Sandi kept them busy! First stop, the park.

In the meantime, we were settled into our seats at the game. Awesome seats, by the way, lower level and end zone! Since we had 2 extra tickets, the kids asked their friends Kayla and Ethan P to come. I promise EP was there, he was just camera shy.

Sandi scored major kid points when she opted to grab Tac*o Bell for dinner. Lainey is being a stinker, peeking while Hollyn prays. Dylan keeps his eyes CLOSED!

Abbey and Stormy…she’s had him since her first hockey game years and years ago. The game was going great, Canes ahead. We were digging our $1 hotdog dinner…we thought about bringing home a box for later. Hey, that’s cheap eats for this family!

Just the girls…we sent the boys out for snacks :)

After dinner, the littles watched a movie and crashed in bed. Late, from what I’m told. Hoping them have a little rest time later on.

Unfortunately, the game ended abruptly about 30 seconds into overtime. Oh well, we had a wonderful time and hope to go back again one of these days. Thanks a bunch, Alan!!

And, the kids are already planning their next sleepover…this time, with Hollyn coming to our house :)

A month ago, we had three houses. One we rented, one we owned down in Florida, and another we were buying. Here’s a quick timeline on what’s happened since.

3/9: We bought and closed on the house we currently live in.

3/10: We thought we had our home in FL rented. Randy called our realtor to take it off the market, and she informed us a family had already scheduled a showing – we honored that and ended up accepting their offer soon after (the renter called just prior to this to back out).

3/17: We moved into our new home.

3/29: We closed on the FL house, and did the final clean-up of our rental home. Here are the kids on the porch, tired from all that finishing up…

Re-cap: Within 20 days, we were able to buy a house, move out of a house, and sell another house. Our FL house was on the market for almost 2 years. Only God could orchestrate all of this! And, even though we didn’t exactly come out ahead on the sale of the house, we’re trusting God and believing that we followed His lead on all of this.

So, now I’m gonna revel in that fact that we have one residence, one home to call our own. All of our belongings under one roof – first time in a long time. To God be the glory!