A Tent in the Basement

I remember as a kid LOVING creating a tent in our basement and then sleeping in it. So, for something fun, I set up a tent for the kids to sleep in tonight. They were thrilled!

Just Like Mom

Sara Garms has been Daniel's favorite friend of the family for...pretty much his whole life. She is someone who was part of our youth group when we lived in Northeastern PA, she worked with us at camp, and now she is a student at Philadelphia College of Bible and living with us for the summer.

The other morning, my Husband and Daniel had the following conversation...

Dad, Sara is a lot like Mom.

Oh, yeah, Daniel? In what way.

In the way of cereal and patience.

This is a picture of Sara (when she was in high school) and Daniel (when he was one and a half).

Our Garden

I've wanted to have a garden for a few years now, but it just wasn't practical. But now...it is. So, after much sweat, and a lot of help from my children, and a lot of wheelbarrows of stones removed by my husband...I HAVE A GARDEN!
We worked on prepping the area on Sunday. Then Monday morning, the kids and I went and bought some dirt and plants. Each kid had a plant request. They worked hard with me, so I was happy to let them each pick something out. We have planted: Strawberries and cucumbers at the request of Hannah, tomatoes at the request of Jay, watermellon at the request of Daniel, and more strawberries at the request of Julia. At my request (haha) I also planted peppers, cantalope, basil, cilantro, mint, and oregano.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of our little garden.

Oh, the ugly light brown spot is the remains of a stump. John cut down a tree to make room for the garden. Next year the stump will be completely gone...

Julia At Boulder Field

We've been busy with a variety of things, the biggest of which is painting the basement of the church. It has pretty much consumed my life for right now, so you aren't getting a cute or funny story, just a picture of Julia in a field of boulders (yes, a whole field, probably the size of a football field) from a recent camping trip.

Enjoying the Backyard

We have been thoroughly enjoying our backyard this spring. (now this week has been chilly and rainy, but last week was beautiful!)

Notice the difference in the retaining wall in the background...we've been painting it, that and the deck and picnic table, and John filled holes in the yard with topsoil and spread seed and scattered straw. I'll post "finished product" pictures sometime soon-when the sun decides to shine again.

(No we don't have an extra kid...the little one is cousin Olivia)

An Edible Art Project

The kids and I recently made these edible flowers out of flour tortillas, a little cooking spray, and colored sugar. We baked them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until dry and crispy. They were really yummy. We'll definitely do this again perhaps in a different shape!

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we had an Easter Egg Hunt at church. We had 18 kids at church yesterday, 4 of which are under 4. They were released first so that they had an fair shot at getting eggs. Julia started out, picked up an egg, and had to see what was inside prior to dropping the egg into her bag. After picking up 2 eggs, she started to fuss. What could possibly be wrong? I wondered. Sometimes Julia has melt-downs, and I can't always predict when or why. This seemed to be one of those occasions. I encouraged her to find more eggs (which, by the way, were out in the open making them very easy to find). She was practically crying at this point and out-right refusing to pick up eggs. Finally, she blurted out, "WHY are they all yelling at me!" Then I knew, the older kids were watching the younger kids and cheering them on. To Julia, it just sounded like yelling...at her. I quickly informed her that they were cheering for her, and then moments later, the other kids were released to find eggs for themselves, and the noise ceased. Julia then wandered around happily finding eggs, opening them to see what was inside, dropping them in her bag, and then searching for more eggs.

Even now, a day later, her outburst of "WHY are they all yelling at me!" makes me chuckle.

The weather was perfect, and the other kids, of course, had a blast.