Outside fun with friends!

Today was a fantastic day! I am not much of an outdoorsy kind of girl, but I spent almost the whole day outside.

This morning I went to McWhorter park with Ruth Anne, Laura, and Chelsea. I hadn't ever been there before, but I really liked it. Lois Jackson is my favorite, but they don't have bathrooms.

Anyway, Benjamin, Isaac, and Ethan had fun riding their bikes and sliding Hot Wheels down the slide. Isaac was all Evil Knievel and flying down the hill. At one point Isaac slid down the metal pole from the top of one of the play things and declared, "I did it, but I almost died." We laughed a lot at this!! Luckily, all children managed to leave without breaking any body parts...or dying. I consider that a successful day out! Olivia and Benji (Ruth Anne's) did a lot of swinging and hangin' with the Mommies.

Olivia loves swinging!

Benji does too!

After the park we had lunch at Mazzio's. Livi was a wee bit tired.

She ended up laying on her tummy in the stroller with her rear end poking up. She slept through getting in the car, out of the car at the restaurant, into the stroller, and a good amount of time at the restaurant This is VERY unlike her! Trying, unsuccessfully, to eat wood chips all morning is tiring work!!

When we got home, I let Benjamin play with the the neighborhood kids and Olivia went down for her nap. I felt all excited so I decided to tackle the (small) flowerbed that I have been neglecting for about 2 years now. I weeded it, raked the leaves out and bagged them, dug up the Oleander and transplanted it elsewhere, turned the soil, planted a red bud tree in the center, flattened the soil back, and then planted Heather. I told the lady at Lowe's that I needed a plant that "wasn't going to go down without a fight." To say that I am bad with plants is being kind!

Here is Oleander in it's new location

The red bud tree has been living in a pot since my sister-in-law gave it to me 2.5 years ago. I have not watered it, or even looked at it, since. I have thought that it was dead several times now, but it miraculously comes back every year. However, now that I have touched it, it will most certainly die!!

And this is the finished flowerbed.

Stephanie showed up right before I put the heather in. Then Laura came...then Sherene. They all dropped right down and helped me put the plants in. It was greatly appreciated!! (thanks guys!!) Then Ted, Chad, and Steve came over too. It was a regular ole' reunion at my house. I love that sort of thing!! I always wanted to live in a neighborhood where your neighbors were also your friends instead of strangers you try to avoid.

I love when the neighbors feel free to come over whenever they want. That sort of thing has never bothered me. Sherene has shown up on her own twice in the past few weeks. Once to play in the rain, and then today. A few weeks after Laura moved in she walked over one afternoon and we spent about 2 hours just chitchatting. I felt very blessed that she felt comfortable enough to do that. Stephanie and I frequent each other's homes several times a week. Linda opens her home monthly for chai parties. Perhaps I'll invite her here for tea! Jan and Lew keep up with neighborhood safety issues. And all of the children play every afternoon at every house in the neighborhood!! The children here are kind, honest, intelligent, and fun!! This is huge to me!! So, if you're reading this and you live here, thanks for being a part of making this possible.

There have been people who think it is very frightening that we live "on the south side" and can't see what it is that keeps us here. Neighbors like these are what keep us here!! We trust God for our safety, and he has provided, and then we enjoy the rest.

And, heck, who wouldn't want to live in a place where your afternoon ends like this...
A man rode by on a horse.


I channelled my inner Stephanie and yelled to him, "May the children see your horse?" He rode right over into the yard, told me he didn't speak English, and motioned for Benjamin to come to him. He put Benjamin up on his horse and walked him around the front of the yard. Then he put Jasper up on there with Benjamin. They were two VERY happy boys. At this point, Stephanie and her family came over again. The man also gave rides to Lucy, Brandon (new kid in neighborhood), Amara, and Beth Rose.


The neighborhood together again!
The children tried to feed the horse some raw carrots, but clearly the horse feels the same way I do about raw carrots...YUCK!! So, the children all begged for carrots. Yes, you read that right!!

Benjamin really enjoyed his...as you can tell by his orange mouth!

And Olivia was not about to be left out!!!

Olivia enjoyed her outside time immensely!! Here's an outside picture just for fun!

Oh, and my plums are growing again this year. Last year, being the kind animal lover that I am (HA!!), I sacrificed all of my plums to the birds. I'm a giver! Here is what they look like now.
While in the backyard, I noticed two things: my dog runs three paths in the yard and the clover that we hand dug out of the yard a couple of years ago is all back. Clover is the one plant that I cannot kill!! Argh!

Well, that was my long, rambling post for today. It was such a great day. I enjoyed all of the wonderful weather....however, my skin is quite pink. So, tomorrow I may be singing a different tune!!! Either way, I love my outside day!!

Two Mowers are Better Than One!

I really enjoyed myself today...even though I was doing something that is most certainly not enjoyable for me.

We have really been slacking on our yardwork (cough4monthscough). So, today Kevin was going to tackle it alone even though the idea of it was overwhelming. I told him that I hated that feeling and offered to help him. He said that I didn't have to do that (he knows I loathe yard work), but I know that sometimes a big job is easier to do if you have someone else there. Kevin agreed and suggested that I run the mower while he goes along behind me with the leaf vacuum. It still took us almost 3 hours, but it looks much better today. We still have to run the weed eater/edger thing against the wall, but it's almost there.

There was just something nice about being able to be a help to Kevin. He often seems like he can do everything by himself. He later said that there is no way he could have finished it today without me. That made my heart happy. I guess I can be a helpmate even in the yard. xo Kevin!

In the end it was all worth it. Now the yard looks like this:

Mr. Hero Saves Wife!!!

That's right. He did it! I knew that I would be typing it soon enough. Actually he did it a few days ago. I HAD to go out to the laundry room to get the Christmas decorations. So, being chill like I am, I calmly walked to the laundry room door and banged on it like a crazy lady. I knew that this clever tactic would scare my nemesis away and I would not have to deal with him. Imagine my horror when I opened the door and he was lying there at my feet!! Apparently crackers stuck to the trap with peanut butter was a smashing success (ha!). How he managed to tear himself away from this treat is beyond me. But, I really don't care. He is no more. *whew*

Because he lives...

....I will not walk into my laundry room. That's right! The rodent is not lying in the trap as I had hoped. Kevin has relocated one of the traps in hopes of catching him warming up by the dryer. Cross your fingers!

Luckily for me, Kevin is willing to save me the trauma of walking into that room and seeing the creature and is toting the laundry back and forth for me. I can handle that.

In other news...today the boys (Benjamin, Josiah, and Jasper) decided to dig a hole. This was not just any run of the mill hole, mind you! This was a hole that started on both sides and met up in the middle. It would have worked too if it weren't for the excited jumping on top of the hole when they got close. Now, while this may sound boring to some, to a group of boys this is great fun. We're talking about fun that keeps them busy for an hour. It also helps to keep my garden aerated. So, we both win! Nothing like a little child labor disguised as happy play time! (j/k) They were proud of themselves!



Today I also worked with Benjamin some more on his math. For those who don't know, Benjamin only goes to school for 1/2 day. The school does their academic stuff in the morning and uses the afternoons for centers and playtime. I figure I can save money and he can have playtime here. In the afternoons, I do some work with him at home as well. Today we worked on double digit addition. He wasn't so sure about it, but I knew he could do it. He loves math. He surely didn't get that from me (I may have to call it quits after this double digit addition). I showed him 2 problems and he just caught right on. He did the rest on his own and got them all correct. He was just tickled with himself...well, and Mommy was tickled too!
Well, this blogging thing isn't so tough after all. Sweet!

The $300 rat

I must preface this story with a confession...I'm a chicken. I am a turn off the lights and run to the bed, jump at every noise, needs a night light sort of chicken! So, there, I said it!!

A few weeks ago I went out the the laundry room to switch the clothes around. I heard something rattle around in the storage area. So, knowing good and well that it was a rabid, scary monster that was out for an 8pm snack (ME!), I ran back inside to get Kevin. He came outside and looked around a bit (add swooning here) and then concluded that my monster was really a rat. To prove this to me, he produced a bag that used to contain my favorite Christmas wreath. This is the one that I made by myself. The wreath used to have VERY large acorns glued around it and was wrapped in a red and gold ribbon. (Note the use of past tense) Well, the rat ate every single acorn off of my wreath!! All I was left with was a bag full of cracked shells, destroyed straw, and pretty red and gold ribbon.

Kevin was sure that he had scared the big, bad rat out of the room. I was pleased. He's my hero!

Fast forward to tonight. I go to the laundry room to get the Christmas lights out of the storage area. I open the door, flip the light switch, and see my tormentor scurry up a pipe into the upper area of the laundry room. I did what any brave soul would do...I screamed, ran back inside, and grabbed Mr. Hero again. Upon investigation, he learned that the monster had torn up 2 car seats. I can hear you saying that I can simply replace the padding. That was my thought. But, in the monster's quest to hit me where it hurts, my wallet, he ate the STRAPS to the car seats!!

So, being a lover of animals, I decided to kill him. Okay, so I don't love animals. But, I also don't love having to buy another car seat. I went out to Lowe's to buy rat traps. Mr. Hero filled them with little rodent temptations and set them out in the laundry and storage rooms. Now we wait......

Hopefully tomorrow's post will say "Mr. Hero saves wife!"