Garden Dreams

Since we have lived at this address successful gardening has been elusive. Garden Dreams But still I try! I am going to track the transformation of our garden plot. Boy, I hope something grows, or it could be embarrassing! I took a short class on gardening from a good friend and master gardener a few weeks ago. It condensed all the masses of information into small and understandable information for me. Usually, I read so much and then know too much, but not enough, to tackle the whole project. This time I am going to try to do it step by step. Not skip the hard steps. That usually leads to failure :) I started covering the grass with newspaper to kill it. I only got part of it covered before it snowed, but that is all right. We are planning on taking out that tree and bush as soon as the ground and weather allows. Whew! It looks like a lot of work to me. I can do it. And Nate is on board too! I really want this to show the girls how things grow. They get so excited about the whole amazing process. I think this will be a way to show them delayed gratification and how hard work produces something fun!

We were young!

As Valentine's day approaches I am finding it fun to look back at old pics of Nate and I. I think we can really say "We were young then." Yes, I know we are just in our 30s, but we live a lot differently then when we were in high school or newly married. I am not wishing for those days again though! These days are proving to be the best ever. Nate and I were laughing, looking at old pictures because we could remember how the clothes we had on felt. Most of the time, gross! Due to our inexperience with fashion and nice clothing, we didn't know any different. We are so glad we can go to the store now and have an idea of what we like and what we don't and we don't always have to go to Goodwill, although we just got some bargins there that we LIKE.
Anywho...we look young and in love in these pics! July will bring 14 years of marriage and 17 years of being together. I got the best guy!

Kid Treasures File Boxes

This is my latest attempt to organize the kids many paper treasures they have or give to us. Recycling them was not the highest option on my five year olds list on what to do with her precious art work from school. Not that I hadn't kept some, but bringing home three Christmas art projects from school a day was getting a little overwhelming for this mom. When I thought about it, I realized that there will only be a short season of their precious lives that they will be giving us many pieces of art work a day. So I made files for each child with tabs for each year of their lives. Then we can file all the art work that would be sad to put in the recycler. I am anticipating it to be fun to look through each year with them as they grow. And maybe they will want their art file when they are grown, but even a bigger possibility is that I will want their art file when they are grown!

Happy Day!

Ava howls

Ava created her own funny howl. She tips her head back and squeaks out a long owwwww. She makes us laugh!

Happy Birthday Ava!!!

This is the girls at the Cheesecake Factory. We went there for lunch. Ava was served ice cream with sprinkles and whipped cream, which she loved!

We celebrated Ava's one year birthday in KC at the Eastwood's house. Here is what she is doing now that she is one:
Moving
crawling all over the house, going up the stairs as fast as she can, standing up is her favorite past time, taking a few steps with her walker toy
Talking
she is so quiet, but I think she says a few words, just really quietly...bye, bye, ouch, uh oh, ohhhh
she signs words like, MILK, bye, bye, Hi, all done, more
Eating
she likes to eat dairy products and sweet potatoes, anything else is a challenge to get her to eat it. I want her to be done nursing, but she is not. She is allergic to something we have been feeding her lately. We are guessing it is the soy yogurt. It has to be the soy or the fruit in it. Not sure about the best way to figure that out right now. She gets sick if we feed that to her, so we won't be testing it again. Now I have to decide if I should giver her soy milk like the other two girls or if I should do cow's milk.
She is a blessing to have and we are excited for the next year of her life. To see her personality blossom and see how she makes a difference in our family. We love you Ava!!

On the road to blogging life

So, it has been about a year since I have added anything on here. Of course, I have the best of reasons, three of them! Ava. Stella. Naomi. Now the youngest is almost one! Tuesday is the big day. I have plenty of material for our blog, just finding the right time to give to it will be the challenge. Everyday I have a whole post written in my head it seems, but it quickly floats out and to where they have gone, I have no idea.
My goal is to now add something here at least five days a week. It might be just a quick what I am thankful for, a funny picture, quote, or discussion we have had here at home. I guess I say that to warn you if you are reading this that it might not be entertaining to you. Which, a side note, I don't know where this blogging desire comes from, because it is kinda like a journal and I don't do much journaling. I don't because I don't want anyone READING it...somehow it is ok for the whole world to have access to this though??? Another warning: sometimes I don't make sense and you will just have to live with that on here.
Enough disclaimers. Today I am so thankful for those three reasons I haven't been blogging for the last year. Yes, they are work and I sacrifice a lot of me for them, but that is why it is so great. The challenge of giving my life away without getting my selfishness in the way is an ongoing battle within me. God has been great this last month in helping me in that area. Plus coming out of baby land has done wonders for my body. A LOT less physical pain, less hormones going up and down daily, more sleep, rational thinking, or just plain old THINKING are all things that have been a welcome return! Now I am thankful for my challenges and "suffering". It has just begun to give me the sight for compassion to flow out of me more. It reminded me of the verse with all the comforts in it. Lets see, what is that...2 Corn 1:3-4 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. Yes, I have definitely been on the receiving end of comfort from God! It feels like I am rambling from one subject to the next, so I will just pick some pictures to post with this. Happy Day!

Ava's here!

After the longest and hardest pregnancy and labor, Jesus blessed us with Ava Jade Hart. Born Monday, January 19th at 10:17am. She weighed 8.1 pounds and was 20 inches long. I am so thankful that she has been a peaceful and easy going baby. Even though she has been sick with colds for most of her two month old life, she still sleeps well and doesn't cry much! We have not decided who she looks like...maybe a mixture of the other two girls, but definitely a new set of eyes! We are thinking they came from Nate's Grandpa Sexton, because they are similar to some of his cousins eyes. Time will tell with that, I guess. She will grow into her features and they will all belong to her soon, but it is fun to compare while she is so small. The past few weeks have been sweet to see her awake more and smiling and talking to us. The girls are loving her in their own special way. Naomi just likes to be with her, while Stella is more of a hands on girl. The first few nights Stella would be in our room at least three times to check on Ava. That is three SEPARATE times in the middle of the night. She is going to be one good momma when she gets her chance! It is exciting for us to think that this child completes our family. All sorts of things seem simpler! Please join us in praying that Ava will know the Lord and have a great impact on His kingdom!