We had our hearts broken yesterday as we read these two blog: link and link. The plight of the orphan with special needs in some countries cries to every parent. Pray for us as we continue down this adoption process that God has been slowly taking us down since before we got married. Pray for the children who are unloved and suffering.
Anna’s quote of the day
Did you know? I was a little baby a long, long time ago. And before that I was a little dog.
Filed under Everyday Stuff
The Product of Time Home
Brian stored up some time and took time off early this July! We STAYED HOME. We did home projects. It was fabulous. Let me share some pictures!
From left to right in this photo: Cherry tree, Apple tree, Cherry Tree, Apple Tree, Fig Tree. (A Van Cherry & Lambert Cherry… and Braeburn & Fuji Apple)
In other words: Papa’s tree, Mama’s tree, Anna’s tree, Razzie’s tree, Maggie’s tree.
We aim to prune them to keep them small.
Most of the trees were fairly large. I simply call this a fig stick.
We have some funny little succulents in our front yard pots. (They want to spread like crazy, so you can have some if you want.) Right now they have pretty little bright yellow flowers:
Looking around the left side of the house at the back yard, you can see where our neighbor is digging up part of his sprinkler system to move it over so that we can put in a fence. Get that? A fence! No more escaping children or pets! Yippee!!!
One of the most awesome things Brian did was install a drip watering system for our garden. He even buried everything that he could so that it is all built in and beautiful!
I’d like to insert a picture of a very odd tomato plant into this series. at one point it lost all its leaders (or whatever you call the growing parts) so the leaves just grew and Grew and GREW. Some of the leaves are as big as both my hands together. It finally found a bud or two and started growing up again. 🙂
Pretty pea plants:
The sweet timer system we installed. We’ve got it set to turn on for an hour every day about 4am. We hope that’s the right amount. 🙂
The other thing Brian did was his special “pet” project. He’s a tea drinker and he loves growing herbs and things. Many of the perennial herbs are somewhat invasive and are safer to grow in pots. So along the side of the house, Brian has installed a bunch of nice pots and a drip watering system for them! The hard-working man even dug a hole under the sidewalk to bury the main hose line to the pots so it looks lovely! He dug through a sugar and colony. They were pretty interesting to watch, but not nice to get close to.
Here is looking from the back yard down the side of the house:
Turn to the right (towards the back yard) and here are the rest. The large plant on the corner is a bonified tea plant. Brian can tell you its latin name. The other larger plants are some cuttings from his mom’s yard which have recovered nicely!
Some of his sprouts, transplanted outside. (they are really tiny)
Some stones gathered for a future project:
Keep in mind that Brian did this through the week where it was sweltering outside! He woke up early on his days off and worked while it was cool(er).
I got a gallon of peanut butter and a gallon of molasses from a coop. I think I saved money. I’m still figuring it out!
If you haven’t been by lately – invite yourself over for dinner or lunch sometime! Please do!
Filed under Everyday Stuff
Stealing an idea from Emily who got it from somewhere else….
Passing it on.
On blogs we tend to show our perfect self, but we all know that I am nowhere near perfect. So here is my list of 25 things that make me human:
1. I almost never wash Maggie’s pacifier.
2. I have eczema or something all over my face, neck and a shoulder. It itches and won’t go away.
3. I stub my toes MUCH more than the average human. My toenails are always broken and ugly.
4. I don’t wear makeup. Even when I should. Except for church, because I want people there to think that I am together.
5. I vacuum about once a week… maybe. Even when there are clumps of dog hair. It’s gross, but by the time I get the clutter off the floor, the kids are whining and hanging on me, you know?
6. I am clumsy. Drop stuff and have my husband laugh and tease me funny.
7. I hardly ever buy organic… even for the kids.
8. I am over-obsessed with my budget.
9. When I am stressed out, I want sugar. Straight sugar is best. Spoonfuls of chocolate milk mix is fine.
10. I ignore the kids to sit at my computer when I want time to pass quickly. And that happens every day for at least some period of time. :-/
11. My vacuum makes the house smell like a wet dog when I turn it on.
12. I step on people’s toes so often (on accident!) that I start thinking people are looking at me like a big weirdo. (you aren’t, are you?)
13. I use cloth wipes in the adult bathroom. There is disposable toilet paper for the rest of you who are freaked out by that.
14. Half the time, it seems like my head is mush and I can’t string thoughts together more than two or maybe three in a row.
15. I got stretch marks on my butt when I was pregnant. (sorry, I’m starting to have trouble thinking of things)
16. I am too quickly judgemental of other people.
17. I think that people who have babies in hospitals just don’t get it. But I guess that’s alright.
18. I don’t like being in labor. Mentally I am a wuss when I am in labor. While in labor, I honestly don’t believe that it’s possible for a baby to be born out of me and I get a little frantic with the pain. Obviously, it works out.
19. Anna is allowed to wear her self-picked “outfits” out of the house and to the store, etc.
20. I let Anna get a cookie every time we go to the grocery. (free from the bakery) Maggie gets one too.
21. My kids cry at the same time regularly.
22. When they do that, I just guess what to do.
23. Parenting for me involves a lot of guessing.
24. Work gets in the way of enjoying my kids 90% of the time. I regret this. I haven’t fixed it yet.
25. I am a very disorganized person. I lose stuff constantly. If I don’t have a list, I wander around lost and get depressed. Depressed is not fun.
I had a list today. I got quite a bit done. I am not depressed. It is beautiful outside and I love my girls and I love my husband. Life is good. Life moves on!
Filed under Everyday Stuff
Progression of a first tooth photo shoot.
I posted a blog just yesterday but had more pictures to share. Scroll down for the other recent photos.
Anna’s rocking her princess dancing dress! She makes me smile!!!
Anna participated in the watermelon eating contest in her third Swart Hoedown! Nobody told her it was a race – just that it was a watermelon game. She was a little confused, but happy to participate. (If we had hyped it up as a race, she would have been too nervous to agree to participate) She and the girl next to her just stood there and enjoyed their watermelon while staring at the adults and big kids cheering and yelling. (This was the 0-8 year old contest)
When you’re cooking lasagna, the ratio of noodles (cooking in the pot) to sausage and hamburger sauce should always be like this:
This is a whole series of photos trying to get the elusive “first tooth” photo.
This is fun mom! You want a tongue picture, right!?
No, that’s not a tooth, that’s spit shine.
What’s Anna doing?
Chewing on the finger Mom’s trying to use to pull down her lip and push up her tongue:
You are so funny mommy! (You can see her swollen gums anyway)
WE GOT IT!!!! It’s blurry but I don’t care at this point! First tooth visible, second tooth too low to really see, but it’s there.
Filed under Everyday Stuff