Posted in Homemaking

Well we got a cherry tomato last week, and a bunch ripened today, so our first good day of tomatoes came today.  Yummy.  We have two left that we didn't eat right off the bat, they will go into salad tonight.  Also, I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to Dave, and that I am so glad the girls have such a loving and affectionate Father.  The girls all made him a card and gave him a DVD he wanted.  I asked them to tell him a favorite time they had with him this year, but the request was a little too hard I guess, as all we came up with were things that they wanted to do with him this year.  They have had a lot of fun with him this year, and the oldest two are always talking about the father-daughter campout they went on in May.  Maybe next year we can talk about it before hand and write out some things.  Anyway, I hope everyone else had a great Father's Day.

Posted in Homemaking

The idea to keep busy was a pretty good one, because right now the house is looking cleaner than it has in a while, and I seem to be somewhat motivated to keep things in order.  We have been to two library progams this week.  The Creature Teacher, and a South African Folk Singer.  Both were great programs, and I am so thankful that I live near so many great libraries that have free summer programs.  I am actually enjoying the summer reading program, and I never really did as a child.

Posted in Homemaking

As I have been looking back over the weeks, I am noticing a trend of bad weeks and good weeks, and it tends to be every other week for me.  I am getting to the point where I am really uncomfortable, and would like to sit and do nothing all day.  So we have put aside the rest of the Pre-K for a while, and we are keeping busy getting out of the house.  We went to a friends house today, and yesterday went to the library.  We have 3 different libraries that we are going to programs at, so it is keeping us busy.  We also don't have a free weekend till the week before I am due, so that will keep things going there.  So if I try to have friends over, or go see friends during the next month, I should stay busy enough.

I always go into hermit phase, so I am trying to avoid it this pregnancy by scheduling things to do.  Hopefully this is going to work, I will let you know...

Posted in Homemaking

We got our first peppers two days ago.  I am still waiting on the cherry pepper to turn red, but we got to pick a banana pepper and a sweet dulce pepper.  We cut them up and ate them straight, and Stephanie especially loved the dulce pepper.  We also have a tomato starting to turn red...I can't wait.  I love fresh tomatoes.

We always say we are going to can tomatoes, freeze peppers and make something yummy out of strawberries, but they never seem to make it inside to do anything with.  We always eat them right as we pick them.  Hopefully we actually planted enough to get more than we can consume in a day...we will see.

Posted in Homemaking

Today is going a bit better, yesterday afternoon I got my motivation back when I thought about my house looking like this before I brought the baby home.  I realized that it was going to look way worse after the baby came home, so I better step it up now.

I also just gave up with one of my girls (who shall remain unnamed).  We called Dad and he talked to her, and I prayed, and in about 10 min she decided to go ahead and do what I had been trying to get her to do for 2 hours.  I am glad I am not in this by myself.

Hannah and I also got to go out last night for a "date."  It is so rare to spend time with just her, it was so fun.  She is so animated, and sometimes I miss her personality amid the chaos.  A good reminder to try to take time out for each of them every day.

Posted in Homemaking

Do you ever have one of those days that everyone seems to be acting up.  I wonder if I have brought this on myself, or it just is one of those days.  Each of my daughters have now done something destructive that they know they shouldn't have done.  I guess I do things that are destructive to myself everyday (sin), but what is the fascination with destroying the house.  Hopefully nap-time will allow us all some distance to start over and have a good evening...I am praying.

Posted in Homemaking

Just wanted to share about my Mother's Day.  Sarah and Hannah, my oldest two, went to the store with Daddy to pick out a stuffed animal for me.  They thought that is what I would like best.  I, of course, would love anything they got for me.  Hannah thought maybe a box of band-aids would be better in case I got an "owee", but they settled on a stuffed dog which they helped me name Annabelle.  They went shopping Sat night, and couldn't wait, so I got my present a little early.  Then on Sunday Dave let me go out to get a coffee and catch up on filling in the girls' Baby Memory Books.  I enjoyed the time alone to think about the last 5 years of being a mom, and all of the funny and exciting things they have done, as well as the milestones they have passed.  As all of our company has gone home, I have 3 very wound up girls today, and even to take this minute to write about them makes me thankful for them despite the whinning, yelling and fighting.  Hopefully by tonight they will be back to normal again, and I will be able to lovingly correct them until then.

Posted in Homemaking

I think I have finally hit the nesting phase, but since the baby's room is all set (she is sharing with big sister who just moved out of the crib, so I didn't take the crib down), I have been gardening like crazy.  I seem to always get a sense of urgency about this time in the pregnancy, and start getting all the odd jobs done.  I need it to be scorching or raining this week so I can get some indoor projects done too.

I  put in another two raised garden beds this year, because the strawberries are so much easier to weed in the raised beds.  We have tomatoes in one, and peppers in the other.  I am so excited for the peppers to come in because I planted some new kinds, like banana peppers and cherry peppers.  So I can't wait to taste and cook with the new varieties.  This is all the annual veggies we decided to plant this year, so we have less to take care of when baby arrives.

Posted in Homemaking

We got to pick our first two strawberries today.  I shared them with the girls, although I was tempted to not even bring them inside.  What a blessing to have a yard to grow strawberries in, and to live in Texas, where the first strawberry comes in April instead of June.