Not ANOTHER fence

For those of you that don't know, we've moved a lot in our 6 years together. And once again we are doing all the same things we have done before. Wood floors and the never-ending fence.

We have two black lab (mutts really) that need to run, however Lucy likes to run AWAY. So we are putting in another fence so that they can run as much as they want, lose some of their chub-chub and be all around happier dogs.

But poor Shane. This means another few months worth of weekends out of his life putting in another fence. He's tired of it, I'm tired of it, the dogs are anxious for it. Now all that's left is the pickets.

Notice the bulldozer in the background. We are at the end of the neighborhood. It's been wonderful, however, phase III is now going in and that means lots of mud in my house. Needless to say, the carpet is going next month and wood floors are moving in. And my poor husband will be laying down his 4th house worth of flooring.

I think we're done moving for awhile. At least until this fence falls down and the hardwood is all scratched up. Maybe, just maybe we will stay in a house long enough to enjoy the fruits of our (Shane's) labors. Until then- I will gaze at my husband through the window of my kitchen and dream about days when he's not always out in the furthest most corner of our backyard.

The last two weeks...

My Mother's Day Gift. Shane and the kids made this garden stone while I was at Bunko.

A
mini-sized bench for the kids. It makes our tree look enormous!

Reece hates the grass and he was pulling on Avery to try to get back on the bench!

A rare picture of them both smiling and being sweet.









Avery is very shy and it is almost impossible to get her to smile for the camera. This was a rare moment that she kept posing for the camera. My sweet sweet girl.

Caroline Elle is here...

It was amazing. I had to race an hour and half to try and get there in time. Amanda had invited me into the room a month ago and there was no way I was going to miss my little niece coming into this world. And WOW! It is so totally different watching a birth than when you are the one having the baby. I can't believe our bodies can do that quite frankly.

Caroline is perfect: 6 lbs. 1o oz. 20 inches long. Lots of dark hair. She'll get to wear bows pretty soon!

And yes, I still want more kids after watching. Just not for awhile yet! Amanda got an epideral. It was like we were all just hanging out. My kids came so fast I was just lucky that Shane didn't have to deliver Reece in the car! We just talked and joked around. Manda wasn't in any pain, just tired. I was pretty jealous. My first epideral didn't work and the second one wasn't even a possibility it happened so fast. If we do have another baby I am going to the hospital a week ahead of time just to get the epideral started! HA!

It was a really special gift for Manda to let me in there and I am so thankful that I got to be part of Caroline's life from the first second.

Steven Curtis Chapman- Prayer

This was on Angie's blog. Her husband is in Selah.

"I can't think of a faster, more efficient way to mobilize prayer than to post this here...
Please, please pray (right now!) for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. Details are still in process, but it appears that one of his sons was pulling into their driveway this evening and did not see his sister (5 year old Maria..adopted from China) in front of him. She was struck by the car and killed.
I have met him, but do not know him personally, although his reputation as a Christ-centered man precedes him. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now.
Please pray specifically for peace tonight in the midst of the storm. Feel free to leave those prayers here in the comments section, as well as any scriptures you feel you have been led to pray for them. There is power in the living word of God...power that a dear family needs tonight."
Thank you-
Angie
www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com

Organic food basket

Shane and I get a weekly food basket from our Doctor, who runs an organic farm. Spring has really picked up when we start getting the baskets again. I can finally stop buying the half rotten food at the grocery store. I'm having to learn to use lots of new greens though. Tonight was swiss chard sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and mushrooms. VERY TASTY! Shane even loved it! We grilled some Mahi- Mahi and a baked potato. Super yummy! Did I mention fresh flowers every week too! Shane loves that he's off the hook! I think fresh flowers in a vase on the kitchen table every week should be a must for all moms! It certainly cheers me up! For those of you wondering, it works out to about $25 a week for May thru Oct. And we get everything from roses, to squash, strawberries, to herbs, and potatoes. I plan my meals around whatever is in my basket that week. Something that has really helped me is buying the Organic Cook's Bible (thanks Mand!) because the pictures help me identify somethings I've never seen before.

A little bit of Ave.

Lunch at the zoo. Mommy and me in the wagon.
My favorite animals, the flamingo.

Cuddling the Daddy at the FLOYD jamboree. Mommy painted my toes just like hers. I love to get my toenails painted. I am pretty girlie!

Carrots anyone?

So I had this great idea that I was going to clean out the fridge and organize the pantry. Yeah, bad idea, I should have just left the old food in there. While pulling things out of the fridge and putting them on the "island" a bowl of baby food carrots fell out of my hand. The joyous thing about it was that it went EVERYWHERE! The ceiling, the floor, up under the table, all over the cupboards, on the blinds on the window, on the pantry, and IN the pantry (yes, it squeezed through the little crack in the bottom so that I had to clean that floor too), and of course ALL OVER ME! Don't I look so happy! This was also the day I changed Reece's diaper only to realize the diaper drawer downstairs was empty. Ran upstairs and WOOO big surprise, Reece had marked his territory everywhere. FUN TIMES!

After much cleaning, the whole kitchen not just the fridge, things were relatively back to normal. Oh wait the ceiling! Yeah 9ft ceilings were a great idea! Six weeks later and after much debate over whether or not the builder left us ceiling paint or was it the same as the wall paint, my ceiling is finally not orange!

Note to self! DON'T BOTHER CLEANING THE FRIDGE, JUST CLEAN THE WHOLE DARN KITCHEN!

Mother's Day Portraits at Church

Mimi and Nini,

As part of your Mother's Day gift we are ordering you an 8x10 (if you'd rather a different size let me know). Minus the drool on Reece's shirt, my braces, and neither of them smiling; I thought it was a pretty good shot.

Getting so big and such a personality!

Dear Stanley

I heard you were worried about us and not sure why I haven't blogged for awhile. Your grandson has given me quite a run when he decided to stop eating solid food (except for apples and graham crackers) and only wanted his bottle. Avery then decided that she didn't want to be pottytrained and so that whole thing started over. Did I mention that Florida was cold and the week and half at my parents everyone had the flu? And not all at once. So that every day someone new was either throwing up or recovering. FUN TIMES!

I am happy to say we are coming out of the abyss! Reece is eating more "people" food now and Avery is halfway potty trained again.

We'll call this weekend.