The Raised Beds

Here are the frames (4' x 12') that Dada built for the veggie gardens. You can see how precise his work is. Those bricks are so level you could build a house on top as a foundation!

This one is pre-leveled brick...

Completely Random Photos

This boy plays so hard. When he crashes, he is OUT. I had to go make sure he was still alive, and I found him sleeping like this. =)

Here's our boy and his beloved geriatric dog. She's 4 now and in her golden years...

This is our Christmas cactus that was gifted to us from a friend. It bloomed when he gave it to us and then hasn't again until... nope, not Christmas. Not even Thanksgiving like my Nana's. This one waited until St. Patrick's Day! It was absolutely gorgeous this spring.

Is this a mom's purse, or what? I switched out my winter purse for my spring one and what an unholy mess I found! Should make a good "I Spy" puzzle, right? "Can you find three crayons? Can you find two lollipops? How many granola bars do you see?"

Getting dirt for the garden

We got a whole pile o dirt to get into the gardens. Okay, I suppose it is actually "compost" and not just "dirt", but you get the idea.

Of course, Dada had "helpers" who managed to only whack each other once with the shovels...

Seedlings and a what the?!

Dada's got plants growing on our landing under some grow lights. He has lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, and garlic and onions:

Itty bitty basils

And what in the world is a crinkle-nosed Liam doing in the Kid Laundry hamper!?

Liam's clues

The Easter Bunny left Liam 5 clues this year to find his Easter basket. Turns out it was in the microwave! "How ridiculous!" Here's Liam in his new "chocolate" hoodie from PaPa, with magnifying glass in hand, figuring out his clues:

Carrie's clues

The Easter Bunny also hid clues that lead to Carrie's basket. She had 7 clues to figure out and find before she could get to her basket. Imagine her consternation when her basked had been hidden in the microwave as well- she didn't see it in there when Liam found his! What in the world!?

Easter 2010 photo op

Easter silliness. It's just so them!

And some Easter kisses, of course. =)

Easter clothes 2010

We4.5, all ready for church

Grandmama calls this her Audrey Hepburn pose. All she needs are silky fairy wings!

The littlest kids at church talked about how God is my hero, hence the cape. Is that a superhero pearly white smile or what!?

Who knows what that caped crusader is doing behind me... looks like he's having wardrobe issues. It was super windy on Easter!

Gardens, con't

Here's both beds all finished. Dada has his soaker hoses in place and held down by using pieces of wire hangers.

And here is handsome Dada in front of one of Liam's "flowerful" trees. Aren't they gorgeous!?

Spring Break 2010

I packed the kids up for Spring Break & headed for my parents' house. We left Tuesday the 6th and stopped at Nana & Pap Pap's on the way there. We met up with uncle Andrew, who helped take off their storm windows, and had Wendy's for lunch =D It was great to visit, and of course the kids helped themselves to the next door neighbors' swingset and sandbox. Good thing they're so much fun! I hope it's not as long between this visit and the next one.

Andrew (Hinrew) came with us to Grandmama & PaPa's house and we all went out to eat. It was kids' night at Ponderosa so there were balloons everywhere, along with someone who was twisting balloon shapes and face painting. Carrie got a Batman logo across her forehead, nose, and cheeks. I do have a picture of that, but it's on my phone... both kids got balloon swords, of course. One yellow, one blue.

We got to my parents' house and set up a playdate with Lisa and her girls, Ivy and Emma. They came over and we big girls had tea while the smaller kids played with all the plastic kitchen toys Grandmama keeps for us. And the Blue's Clues set. And the bazillions of books. Once Emma figured out that her mommy wasn't going anywhere, she was content to watch Liam especially, and played with lots of things. Ivy was a little less social this time, but no less of a joy to spend time with. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures *kicks self*...

We checked out the playground at Alameda park. It was our first time there, and I think it's going to have to become a staple of trips to Grandmama & PaPa's. Again, I didn't take pictures, but it is two separate, huge play structures with a row of picnic tables in between them. The kids got there and kind of froze in their tracks at the size of it. You could see the wheels turning: where do I start? I want to try everything! Bonzai! And off they went to tackle as much as they could at once. We stayed two solid hours and never did get our library trip in. Guess we'll save that for another time!

We had dinner at Eat N Park with uncle Rob & aunt Jana. Rob was sweet and DID take pictures of us pregnant ladies together. Joe got to come goof off with us at the restaurant too... the kids are going to think he's a regular there! It was so much fun to see so many people in only 4 days!

We left to come back home on Friday the 9th, and on the way out we stopped at Mar & Jim's house. They've just put their house on the market, so they were in the middle of the whole cleaning/painting/organizing deal, but they dropped everything to let the kids play the Wii and brandish Alyssa's light saber and feed Blue the Duck his frozen peas. Liam called to Jim, "hey big guy!" and added his request... I forget what it was, but it sure cracked all of us up. The kids didn't want to leave, as usual. Good luck with the house selling, guys!

Dada and Triskal were glad to see us home safe & sound. We had a fantastic time with pretty decent weather and lots of hugs & love. Great Spring Break!

I told Care Bear to pack for her Spring Break trip to Grandmama & PaPa's house, and this is how she came downstairs:

We got to have dinner with uncle Rob & aunt Jana while we were there. There are cousins in those bellies! Jana was 24.5 weeks in these photos and she looks fabulous! Don't know what I was thinking... should have taken off my support wrap. Oh well.

Here's me at 32 weeks. Only 8 left to go!

Happy Easter 2010

'Twas the night before Easter,
and all through the house
the only creatures stirring
were the milk chocolate mouse,
the dark chocolate rabbit,
and the huge Hershey kiss;
they were all sugared up
and thus bedtime did miss.

Okay, the parents were still up,
(the dog slept under the table)
until Mama declared
that she just wasn't able
to keep her eyes open
for even one minute more;
she touched up a basket and
shut her bedroom door.

So Dada it was who encountered the Bunny,
who told him to get up to bed with his honey.
He told tired Dada that he'd do the rest,
and to remember the reason for Easter,
and be blessed.

For Jesus had died on the cross for our sins,
and that beat out any peeps or candy from bins.
So accept with open hearts the gift that He gave
and to extravagant love become like a slave.

Happy Easter weekend, everyone!

Guilt

So I'm feeling a tad guilty because our dumptruck o dirt came today and I can't help shovel it out of the driveway...

Say what? Guess I better back up a little bit.

We decided that this was the year to have raised vegetable gardens. So poor Dada has spent lots of time in Home Depot and Lowe's buying wood and paving stones and stakes and today, our dumptruck o dirt arrived. There's a nice, big pile of compost and stuff and bags of peat moss and fluff and more stuff that all have proper names that I can't spell yet. And so I feel guilty for not being able to help. Yes, I realize I'm 30 weeks pregnant today and yes, I know I shouldn't be lifting, but STILL.

My consolation is that once Care Bear gets home from her last day of school before Easter vacation, she will be more than thrilled to "help" Dada shovel dirt. It's a bath night anyway.

I did, however, hang out kid laundry and kid sheets today. It's 75F here right now and as usual we have lots of wind. I figured it would be a waste of a day if I DIDN'T get them all out there. While I was folding the kid laundry, I noticed that every pair of underwear that girl has worn lately was a size 4T. The poor child will be seven years old next month and can still wear 4T underwear because she STILL has not grown a butt. Liam is already in 4T underwear, hehe!

Liam said something inappropriate this morning and I told him so. He informed me that it was "outappropriate", which I guess makes as much sense as anything else! That kid cracks me up every day.

I will be sure to get some photos of the kids "helping" in the creation of the gardens, as well as later when there are weeds to be pulled, etc. We've gone the whole nine yards- we have grow lights on the landing where I put the Christmas tree, there are bazillions of seedlings for peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and basil coming up, and we still have more planting and transplanting to do.

Happy Spring, happy Easter, and happy Spring break to everyone before you all scatter to the corners of the Earth. Be safe and be blessed!