Spring Craziness

Okay, here we go with the garden again!  I love the feeling of getting things planted and knowing that one of these days little green shoots will start poking there heads miraculously through cow poo and rotten food (that would be fertilizer and compost).  Man, is it a lot of work to get to the point of having seeds finally in the ground!  And the work is far from over...I guess we value things more when we've put a lot of work into it, which is soooo true when I take my first bite of a homegrown tomato or when the family is eating a meal that came from the garden, such as beet greens, potatoes, and our own "Biff loaf".  I guess we didn't plant Biff, but God did loan him to us for a season and now he's in our freezer.  Now why thatis not hard for me to say being from the city, I don't know... I think partly because of my parents' influence, neither of them originally being from "the city" (Boston, to be specific), and partially from living with Max for so long and knowing that it is the best beef we could have (or any other game meat we might have on the table), and I'm very thankful for it, as is Max.

I really feel like I've accomplished something not having Max here, yet still getting about a quarter of our large vegetable/fruit garden planted.  It may not be a big deal for anyone else, but I've learned a lot being married to Max and living in the country, and I know I have soooooo much more to learn.

Today, in the midst of getting the ground ready, the sprinkler system set up, and getting beet seeds (a lot of them!) and swiss chard seeds planted, JB cut his foot pretty badly.  The kids were playing outside while I was gardening but I wasn't paying much attention to the three eldest and the youngest I knew was safely with Gramma Shell (who is visiting while Max is away...thank you God!).  With much resistance from JB, he got Hydrogen Peroxide dumped in the cut, then had to get a large skin flap cut off, then had to deal with me finding out when he had his last Tetanus shot (which, thankfully, was fairly recent), and finally had it bandaged.

He felt much better once the antibiotic, bandage, and sock were on, so I went back to gardening, at about dinner time.  I put Gramma Shell in charge of dinner because I was going to get these seeds planted!  Being the wonderful grandmother and mom-in-law that she is, she fed the kids, then went out and planted like 50 trees with Evelyn towing along behind her.

My planting seeds experience this evening would have been kind of funny to watch, except that I thought I was going to have to throw a pregnant kitty.  Let me explain...I had soaked the beet and lettuce seeds thinking I was being so on top of things, but quickly realized that wet seeds are a pain to get in the ground!  I decided to use the dripper lines as row markers, which wasn't such a bad idea 'cause it saved some work of having to string lines around sticks (I did learn something from last year's gardening!).  I added some of our compost, which for some reason had lots of feathers, avocado pits, and mango seeds in it (mangos have huge seeds!)...now I'm just waiting for the avocado and mango trees to sprout, not to mention the dove trees (ewww).  Anyway, after a few rows of having wet seeds stick to the tip of my fingers and being very frustrated, I found that if I threw the seeds into the dirt, I could plant them much faster.  Granted, many of the seeds got planted in clumps, but at least they are planted, and I'm pretty sure they will come up and give us delicious beet greens and young lettuce greens, that I can then thin viciously.

As I was throwing seeds into the ground, our very pregnant kitty, Moo Moo, came and started wanting to be affectionate.  This is normally a welcome thing, but my Mike's lemonade (all I could quickly find for refreshment...that's my excuse anyway) and bowls full of precious seeds-in-water were balancing on the wall of the raised bed and I was already having a hard time aiming my wet seeds at the little valley-rows I had dug.  For the first several times that Moo Moo came wanting attention and walking stealthily along the wall, but still endangering my drink and my seeds, I placed her gently behind me.  My frustration was mounting though and I have to admit, I tossed the pregnant kitty.  Like any other kitty, she landed on her feet, and like the loving kitty that she is (not like any other kitty), she still loved me and stuck around, though not right in front of me nor near my seeds or drink.

Well, that was part of my day.  The first part consisted of home schooling, trying in vain to get the kids to pay attention on the first nice day after 4 days of overcast skies and chilly temps.  It was a beautiful day today and I'm so thankful for the craziness, as long as it's not craziness that sends us to the emergency room (close call today) or gets my Mike's knocked over, or means that I'm stressed out.  This kind of craziness is actually a bit refreshing...

Benaiah's prayers...

Most of Benaiah's prayers this week while Daddy has been away, have been that Daddy would fix his tractor.

However, tonight he thanked God that "Daddy was the boss of some people and that Mommy was the boss of no people, only the boss of children."  True enough....and fine with me!

 Some sidenotes:

We usually equate Benaiah with a lion, except that the Benaiah in the Bible killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day for no apparent reason.  Hence, the photo above...although the lion tied up on the stone reminds me of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, which is why I took the picture.  Benaiah was the one that tied up the lion, I just put in on the stone for the picture.

Here's the lion-boy himself at Garden of the One True God....I mean "Garden of the gods"...God provided it for His children to enjoy and "romp around in" and to reflect His own glory, I believe, not as a garden for the gods.  Just some thoughts...

Supporting Uncle Eli

In Colorado about a month ago....

Benaiah sayings...

Two things he said that made me laugh:

As I was cooking some scrambled eggs on the stove and eating something at the same time:
Ben: "Mom, what are you eating?"
At the same time realizing that the eggs were burning on the stove:
Me: "Shoot!"
Ben: "Can I have a shoot?"

The next bout of laughing was today during homeschooling....
Gloria ended up reading to me first instead of JB and as I was explaining to JB why, I said "you lost your opportunity when you were having a bad attitude."
Benaiah with a book in his hand that he wanted me to read to him said "Mom, I still have my 'tudity'".  It took me a while to realize that he was referring to the "lost opportunity" that I had mentioned to JB.

Cross-Country Skiing with Evelyn

I enjoyed three days in a row of cross-country skiing.  I didn't go very far, but it was really good exercise anyway.  This is the third day when I decided to pack Evelyn with me.  She seemed to really enjoy it even though she was in her marshmallow outfit.  She especially liked that two dogs went along with us.  Snow is melting now on these warmer, sunny days, so I think my skiing days are done for now:(. 

Sledding in Colorado

Expressions by Evie

This is her cheesy smile when I first bring out the camera.

 This is her saying "seriously, Mom? The first smile wasn't good enough?" 

Her eyes match her seat.  We are in Colorado right now while Max is in San Diego on a leadership training trip.

Owl Hooting in Pine Tree in Front of House...

The bright light in the video is a full moon behind the pine tree in which the owl sits.  The reason I took the video though, from our front patio, was to record the sound.  Otherwise, my husband might not believe me.  Wish we could sit in the hot tub together tonight with a full moon and owl hooting the background, but my honey is away this evening...This video with no light except the moon, was the best I could do, Max.

Interesting blog about Altus...

I found this when trying to look up a Mexican Restaurant here in Altus that I had never been to but will be going to soon...

http://altusoklahoma.blogspot.com/
I also found out about some other places in Altus and around Altus I had not known about, especially some neat-sounding little shops.

Comparing mom and girls as babies

Tamsey as a baby (about 30 years ago) - and my beautiful mom!

Evie as a baby (very recent)

Gloria as a baby/toddler (about 5 years ago)

I guess I couldn't find a lot of good pictures of Evelyn and Gloria that looked exactly like me in the top pictures, but one can still see some similar traits...we are mom and daughters after all!

Thanks Aunt Kristin!

Oh so adorable sweater!

Gloria shows off her knitted socks, mittens, and hat!

 Benaiah did not want to take of his knitted mittens and hat for a few days.

 ...not even when turned upside down!

Below:  father and son matching hats.  No cold ears in this family!

 Cuteness...

What an ensemble!

Colorado Christmas Visit - JB's Birthday and Christmas Day

 JB wanted a gingerbread house for a birthday cake, so Gramma Shell and Grandude made a model of their home out of gingerbread with cake on the bottom part.  You can tell, JB loves it!

 Gloria got her Elizabeth doll back from the American Girl doll hospital about a month and a half ago.  They have been inseparable ever since.  Elizabeth and Gloria both got horse dresses from Gramma Shell and Elizabeth got a black horse to ride as well as riding clothes.  I guess Elizabeth is feeling much better!

 Evelyn got a toy cell phone for her birthday and oh my! what a talker!  She would walk around and lay down all while talking on her cell phone.  Now that we are home I don't know where it is...maybe it got confiscated.  No, actually, I often wish we could find it because it keeps her so occupied.

A look of absolute glee and a bit of surprise on Benaiah's face.  He got a Lighenting McQueen cell phone!  He was actually a lot more excited about the actual cars he got on Christmas.

Colorado Christmas Visit - mini Grand Forks, ND reunion

We were stationed in Grand Forks, ND for our first operational base after pilot training.  Three couples whom we were with in Grand Forks at the same time are now stationed in Colorado Springs.  We are stationed currently in Altus, OK and often visit Colorado to see Max's parents.  Thus, we are fortunate enough to also see our good friends from years past in Colorado. 

Eight to ten years ago we did not have children for the most part, so we get together as a much larger group now.  JB and Benaiah are missing from this picture because their Aunt Cami and Uncle Eli whisked them away to see the Air Force/ Georgia Tech game at their house. 

QT Pie (s)

Handsome Boy

All cleaned up