My Garden

I planted a very small garden a few weeks before we knew that we would be moving. My attempts at gardening in the past have been, shall we say, entirely unsuccessful. I do not have a green thumb or anything resembling one! I can kill an indoor houseplant in no time flat. Adam is much better at gardening than I am, but he didn't have the time to devote to it when he was in dental school.

There is a raised bed in the backyard of the house that we are moving out of this week, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Of course I didn't know that we wouldn't be living here when it was time to harvest the veggies, but it's still been fun to do. I hope to plant some things in the house that we're moving to. It stays quite warm well into the fall here in Georgia, so I think I have plenty of time to grow some tomatoes, beans, and that sort of thing.

Tomatoes

A teeny weeny green pepper!

Broccoli that isn't doing so well...neither are my weeding skills, as you can see from this picture!  Aphids like the broccoli and I'm not sure what to do about it.  

I didn't plant this, but there is a peach tree right beside the garden.  I'm sorry that we're not going to be here to pick them when they are ripe!  The tree is loaded.  There are two other fruit trees beside it...maybe apple or pear.  I'm not sure.  

Moving

It's moving week!  This is one of the very few times since we've been married that I can honestly say that I'm glad I'm not pregnant.  It's nice to be able to lift boxes without worrying about harming a baby in my tummy.  The children and I are transporting as many boxes as we are able to during the day while Adam is at work.  He is able to work a lot faster and more efficiently than I am, so I'm sure he'll get a lot done in the evenings.  The children are helping me a lot...especially Joshua.  He's really good at packing boxes tightly into the van and truck!  Speaking of boxes, I think those two in the lower right of the van in the picture above are ready for the trash can after this move!

We're looking forward to getting settled and doing a lot more of this soon!

Happy Birthday, Esther!!

Esther turns 6 today!!  As you can see, she was quite a chub when she was born. :) 

Esther has always been our most emotional child...she's either really happy or really upset.  In the past year, though, she has really mellowed out and has really developed a sweet and very even keeled personality.

Esther is very outgoing and loves to please!  She is constantly asking what she can do to help and she is an excellent helper!  

She loves to do school.  Math is her favorite subject, but she is also getting really good at reading.  She can often be found with her nose buried in a book or reading out loud to her younger siblings.  

Esther is such a little mother!  She smothers Joseph and Peter with affection and attention.  She has tried to smother Noah too, but he wasn't so thrilled about the idea. :)  Esther and Joseph get along especially.  He responds well to her and she loves to take care of him.  The other day I tapped him on the head and said, "Who is this?" and he said, "Joseph. I'm Esther's boy." :)

Happy 6th Birthday to our sweet Esther!!!

Improvisation

When you don't have any snow all winter long, you've just got to improvise!

Distractions

My sister-in-law, Alyssa, shared this blog post on Facebook the other day and I thought that it was too good to not pass on. I've never read this blog, so I can't personally vouch for any of the other information on it, but this post hit the nail on the head.  I do not have or want internet on my phone for several reasons, so my phone is honestly not a problem.  But this post can apply to so many other things...cleaning, cooking, email, Facebook, etc.  I am certainly guilty of becoming so absorbed in what I am trying to accomplish that I don't even hear my children sometimes.  By God's grace alone, this isn't a huge problem in my life, but I realize that it could quickly become one.  Reading this really made me evaluate how I spend my "extra" (haha!) time and how I incorporate the children into the day-to-day, nitty gritty aspects of running a household.  Yes, it might take a little longer to let my 7-year-old mix up the bread dough herself, but the rewards for both of us are so much more important that the few extra minutes I might have saved by doing it myself.  I really encourage you to go read it!

Joseph is 2!!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, funny little Joseph!  What a happy little guy he is.  He is very low maintenance for a 2 year-old (compared to our other children at this age).  He loves to talk (very LOUDLY!) and he has an amazing vocabulary...probably due to the fact that 99% of our waking hours involve at least one person talking, and usually several talking at once!  He'll ask me the same question over and over and over, not stopping to take a breath or to give me a chance to answer him. :)  One of his favorite things to say is, "Hey Mama!  Watch 'is!" :)

I asked Joseph what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said that he wanted to go to the park, eat pizza outside for dinner, and eat chocolate cake. :)  We took a picnic to the park, I pulled the pizza crusts out of the oven a few minutes ago, and his cake is baking as I type.  What a fun blessing Joseph is!!

We're Moving!

We have recently been blessed with the opportunity to move to a much larger space.  Since we moved here back in August, we have been renting a relatively small house and most of our belongings have remained packed up.  To make a long story short, we will be moving in a couple of weeks to a very large house on 33 acres.  It's very similar to what we envision our down-the-road dream house to be!  There is a pool in the back, a creek on the property, and it is close to a river as well.  The owners are moving out of town for a year and have graciously allowed us to rent their house for a more-than-reasonable amount while they are gone.  The timing is perfect for us.  We're going to really enjoy our new abode and thank the Lord for providing it for us!

Following Papa through the woods

Peter likes country life. :)

Exploring the field

Following Papa down to the creek

The back of the house

The creek and the horses on the other side

It will be so nice to have this in the backyard!!  We enjoyed our swimming lessons last summer, but since 3 1/2 hours is a bit far to drive a couple times a week this summer, I am grateful to have access to a pool right out our back door.  

Four Months!

Peter Edwin is four months old today!  That happened awfully fast.  I don't know how much he weighs.  He's not exactly chunky, but he is still nursing well and refuses a bottle, so I'm not worried about his weight.  Peter is such a happy and easy baby!  He takes two good naps during the day and sleeps 8 to 9 hours straight at night.  He goes to bed early, so we still get up for a feeding around 4:00, which is perfectly fine with me. :)  Like our other babies, Peter loves his bed.  He was very fussy the other night.  He was clean, full, warm, etc. and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.  I tried nursing him again but he didn't want to.  I finally just put him in his bed an he immediately started sucking on his fingers and went right to sleep!  I've tried hard to get Peter to take a pacifier, and he does take it sometimes during the day, but he has rejected in favor of his fingers at night.  The self soothing is very helpful, but it looks like he'll be joining Esther and Joseph in the stop-sucking-your-fingers club in a couple of years!