Oldie But Goodie: Hallow's Eve 2008

Here is Hallow's Eve of 2008: St. Rose of Lima, a cow, a bumblebee, St. Kateri, and St. Martin of Tours

Royal Playtime

Here is the Queen and her maid servants sitting on her throne.

Zucchini Anyone?

This year has been quite a learning experience, when it comes to country gardening! When we buried the pool there was 6 ft. chain link around the perimeter, so we decided to move the fencing to a sunnier, out of the way spot and put the garden inside. We knew there would be more garden hungry critters in the country than in the city. Since we had so many projects this spring our garden kept getting put off until "next weekend". So Memorial Day weekend we decided we better do it now or not at all. After dumping manure and tilling our desired spot, we planted a variety of our favorite things and a couple things we wanted to try. We have never started our tomatoes or peppers, which are our favorite things from the garden, from seed and have always reaped a nice harvest. We also said this year we'll be thankful if we get anything, it was our first "big" garden experience. So as the weeks went by, we kept a careful watch over the garden. Our pea pods and beans came up, but between the climbing vines with nothing to climb and the kids letting the dog in to "hunt gophers" we have a small harvest. The corn, pumpkins, and watermelon are doing okay, but because of little rain, gophers, and minimal weeding on my part and "oh kids you just pulled up the plant" good intention weeding from the children they are struggling slightly. The cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers never made it out of the ground. The zucchini, summer squash, and lettuce, on the other hand, are THRIVING!! I think we have had zucchini or summer squash every night for dinner for the last two weeks and we can't pick them fast enough. The funny thing is, they were those vegetables we were just going to try out because it would be yummy to cook up a few this summer. All in all, the garden has been a lot of fun, and who doesn't like finding ripe, ready to pick vegetables, even if it is ANOTHER zucchini, from the garden. We are looking forward to fall when we can harvest everything else, including the apples from our trees, and will wait in joyful anticipation for spring when we can try it all again.

Bless us O Lord, and these Thy gifts,

which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty,

through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Always Room For More

So here it is...the new van! After buying our old van again in repairs and much back and forth discerning whether or not to get another van or upgrade, this seemed the most wise decision. It was one of those situation where you wish God would just come down and tell you His plan for the family and what the best choice would be. But, of course, we have that lovely little thing called free-will that God allows in His infinite wisdom, so here ya go! As much as white was not my desired choice, I am very thankful that we have a van to get us from point A to point B, God willing, safely. Outside of the miles per gallon, I really feel like a road trip, which are one of my most favorite things to do, when I am behind the wheel, like the whole world is at my finger tips! We are hoping to never have to buy another van, since we have some growing room. I am happy to be able to leave that in God's hands.

One Path Leads to Another

Here is a couple more project before and afters. Imagine dirt with an ugly cement path (which is now those center blocks in the picture) along the flower bed (on the bottom right) that no one used. That is what the front of our house looked like. I have never really been one to care much about the looks of our house. My plate has always been full enough just raising the kids and I can't wrap my mind around buying flowers that die in a few month to never return. For whatever reason the front of our house really started bugging me! As we were ripping up the cement around the pool I asked my hubby to save the good pieces of cement for the front. He was not digging (ha-ha) the idea, but after much pleading he agreed, but didn't make any promises that there would be much worth saving. That said, I made sure I was out at his side, gently reminding him to dig with care when using the Case.

After the pool was finished and my body recovered I started assessing the front. One thing let to another, and before I knew it, I removed the exsisting path out of my way and started digging out the area where the new path would be. I had truly created a demolition site in the front. When my dear, hard working husband came home he was less that thrilled with new "project" I had made in the front. My husband is a planner and I am not! So the path had become MY project. After a couple weeks, not much progress had been made on the front path and we were having company out for the 4th. Oops.

I woke up one morning to noise out front. I went out to find my husband outside with his leveler and his shovel fixing the mess I had made weeks earlier. All planned out and thought through. Even though our plans were slightly different, the end project was, indeed, much nicer than dirt. I am thankful for all my husbands hard work! If it were left to me, I would still be working on the path.

Our next project was on the calendar for next summer, except we needed more dirt for our path project...Down by our walk out there has been a lot of mud run off from the rain over the last few years. My husband had been down there digging and had found a slab of concrete under a few inches of dirt. He wanted to move some of the dirt so there was a better slope away from the house. He took the Case down to get more dirt for the path. As he was scooping the dirt up he tapped the poorly done retaining wall and it buckled a little.

The retaining wall had already been pushing away from it's original spot because the wall was built at the bottom of a slope and all the landscape rock was slipping down to the bottom and over time had pushed the wall a few inches out.

My husband wanted to fix it before it fell over and created more work. The little tap was another little piece of straw on the poor camel's back! My husband , of course, researched retaining wall for a while, and then, once again, started off to work. Here is what the wall looked like before, except it was still standing:

The wall took a few weeks of complete dedication, consuming all free time. We are all very happy with the end result, and my husband never ceases to amaze me! Here is the end result, there was only one wall at the bottom of the slope before, which was part of the problem:

So if anyone has any questions about landscape paths or retaining walls, don't hesitate to ask, we may have some helpful suggestions!

The Gift of Marriage

Yesterday I woke up and went out to feed the dog and was greeted by such warm, sunny weather. We haven't been on many "fun" outings since we moved, since all the fun has been had at our house! So I decided to embark on an ambitious endeavor with the children. We have some very nice bike trails near our house, so I decided a bike ride would be fun. I remembered, though, that the bike trailer hitch was on my husbands bike...so after a call (okay a couple calls) to my husband I figured out how to switch the trailer hitch AND attach the baby seat on the back. Which could have been avoided except we have had 3, yes 3, bikes run over by the Case. All of which, were drivable by the 5 year old. So once I managed to figure that all out, we packed a lunch and headed out. I was able to fit 5 children, 1 mom, 2 kid bikes, 1 adult bike with a baby seat attached, and 1 trailer with our lunch and all the rest in our van which was great, since I was not going to try and attach the bike rack to the van too! We parked about 2.5 miles from our lake destination unpacked everything and we were off. It ended up being a nice outing: we arrived at the lake, ate our picnic lunch, the children played in the water, and at the playground. The baby experienced the waves in the water, for the first time, and was quite curious. She quickly discovered one of her favorite things to eat, sand, so we moved to the playground where she discovered something new to eat...recycled rubber! We decided to sit on our blanket in the grass while the older kids pretended they were buying and selling tickets for the slide. After a while I decided we better head back before we all ran out of energy.

It was really hot on the way home and we were riding right into the wind. My bike gears were acting funny: I had pedal really fast and go no where speed or harder than I wanted to pedal with everything I was pulling speed! All the while watching my kids get farther and farther ahead and the little girls in the trailer playing with the camera, cell phone and van keys...and the baby trying to play peek-a-boo with my shirt! We finally made it back to the van, thankfully, and with rubber legs I packed everything into the van. As we drove home, I was very thankful for my husband...I thought if I had to do this all by myself all the time, life would be really hard. I thought about all the extra tasks, I did that day, that normally my husband does and I just felt really blessed.

The Pool Makeover

Here is the before picture of what the pool looked like:



Here is the after picture, once we got it buried (it was ALOT of work!):




Just as a little side note: There was so much horse manure in our barn when we bought this house that about 3 feet from the shallow end to the deep end is, you guessed it, horse manure! Our barn and both the entry ways are now clean, so it worked out very nicely.

Money Saving Creativity

Here is the leftover ladder from the pool we buried. My children pulled it around the yard for a few days, using it for various things, until my third born had this idea. I, of course, enjoyed watching my three oldest children get the ladder up, over the branch. They were very proud and informed me that, "even two people can ride at the same time!" I think we can put off the swing set for awhile.

Writing Sentences May be Better

Someone got a little bored in the corner...

Diving Right Into One!

Today I was helping one of my small children feed the dog. As I came back in the house, I saw this: Since she was having such a wonderful time trying to snag a treat (this blue bin contains the dog food) I couldn't resist running to get the camera. We are only one day into one and already I am getting a little glimpse into what is waiting for me this year.

Dear baby, may the days ahead bring you much joy and wonder as you discover the world around you!

Another First...

One year ago today I gave birth to my baby!! I can't believe it...what a year. We celebrated today with a spaghetti dinner, and of course, cake and ice cream. I enjoyed watching her scale my bed, turn around and go backwards down a step into the living room, have a first bubble bath and eat spaghetti and meatballs for the first time. All the while reminiscing about the milestones and joys over the last year. As well as reminding myself how quick the various small trials, that seemed so big in the moment, pass so quickly and seem so insignificant now. I look forward to the days ahead as we enter a new phase in our family life.

Thank you God for the amazing gift of marriage and my vocation to motherhood. Thank you for this sweet, meek and mild, strong and happy baby you have blessed us with. May we always guide her to love you more.