Pictures are worth 10 months?

Yah, so slacker could be a word you might use to describe my 10 month absence or sabbatical or dumb- that is what I called my computer a few times this last 10 months. As I was explaining to Rayah that she might make foolish choices but mommy never calls her names just the choices she makes...she retorts, "Why do you call the computer names?" Busted!

Our lovely computer that is now been stripped and demoted to preschool games only decided to stop loading pictures, well honestly it decided to stop doing a lot of things and therefore blogging became more than a challenge...yeah, that takes care of the time until May. You see my delightful husband understanding my frustrations and lack of example to my children of patience saw the need for a new computer. The one we had I must say, it served us well for almost 6 years. We bought it cheap in KY when we moved for seminary so it has paid its dues, that doesn't excuse its deplorable behavior but it does give me a little more mercy towards it. Anyway, on Mother's Day daddy killed 2 birds with one stone- make Momma happy and get the fam a working computer. So alas this new machine is like night and day over its predecessor.

That however doesn't really excuse my last 3 1/2 months of no blogging, for that I have....yeah, no excuses. Just out of practice I guess. So here in my photo motif of randomness is some moments of October 2009- June 2010.

The layout is bad to say the least and the pics are random but here ya go:)

Annual Camping at Silver Lake (we won't talk about it as this was probably the only pic where we are smiling:)---now we can all laugh....now that almost a year has passed)

In October we had some backyard work done. It was the time where we had to actually hire someone to do the work and it was ALOT of work--demo, laying concrete, drainage, grading and a retaining wall. The guys were fabulous and it turned out great and started us off on the rest of the many weekends in our yard. I have now lost track of the truck loads of debris that we have taken out and the hours of sweat that we have put in. My blessed husband:)....I promise Jeff it will end soon.

One of our "fences" my dad and I spent all day taking down and clearing out. I, literally, don't think anyone had been back to this part of the yard in 30 + years. Ivy, boards, chicken wire, random tree branches, chain link....you name it we saw it and all intertwined together. Great sermon illustration on sin. I was thankful for my dad helping me systematically take the chaos down.

Now this beautiful pile was dumped in our driveway 2 weeks ago--25 cubic yards of top soil. The good news is this means we are actually building our yard and not tearing down anymore...well, at least most of it. The bad news is that we had to get all of that into our yard with 2 wheel barrows, and 2 shovels....my shoulders hurt just thinking about it. My sweet sister spent 1 afternoon with us, along with Jeff, Jory and myself. Then the next day from 9-1 I tackled it with "help" from the girls and then Jory helped me clean up the last 30 barrows or so. It was the best though to see Jeff come home from work (thinking he was going to have to finish up) and see that there was no more dirt.

This is the latest stage...ready for irrigation, sod, planting areas, all in due time. The play structure (that was the girls' present a year ago...and then we decided to actually plan out the yard) was finished in June and the girls spend so much time out there it is great. The back garden area and the side area will be our next big projects to tackle once the grass gets in. All in due time and when the money can get saved. We were hoping to have grass in already but with all the rain this past spring we never really set foot in the backyard until May. Maybe by next year (and my next post:)) we will have another picture to show you of green stuff in the middle and maybe even a plant or two.

now for randomness....

The girls having "sleep overs" in Ellie's room - I walked in to cover them up before bed and found this sweet site. Whether or not they will ever do that again while they are conscious we will find out but at least 1x I can prove that they like each other.....unless they were dreaming about someone else....aaaahhH!

Halloween- Dorothy, Minnie and our China Doll

Easter- making bunnies out of widowed socks. Those dryers are killers you know!

7, 5, and 2....Queen Frostine, Miss Mint, and Princess Lolly...our Candyland Birthday Party

The kids played a real life game of Candyland and when they came to a "land" they had to do a challenge before moving on. At Lord Licorice's land they had to drink a cup of water thru a licorice vine. The girls had a ton of fun and I got a "This was the best party ever!" from a guest....because she got to eat tons of candy and cake too....sorry mom!

Every May Rayah's school has a walk-a-thon to earn money and this year Rayah walked 53 laps! That is 13.25 miles!!!! She was a trooper, determined to beat someone in her class, and had sore legs the next day. We were so proud of her and Ash too (she walked 25 laps- 6.25 miles)

Also our sweet Ashie is now a reader. It is so fun reading with her and watching her just take off and now try and teach her little sister. Watch out Kindergarten, Here comes Ash!

And I am now an official elementary school mom....DIORAMA need I say more. The 1st graders had an animal report to do for the end of school and along with the report had to make a project. My over-achieving daughter decides against the drawing, the poem, the story and thinks the diorama is the way to go... "it's more crafty,mom". Yes, darling it was more crafty and honestly I can't bellyache because I told her I wasn't going to be one of those moms who does the project for her kid (I say that now), so we talked about what she wanted to do and some ideas and off to the backyard she went. With a little guidance (yes, it was minimal!:)) she did a great diorama.

End of 1st grade, can it really be true? She had a great year in a 1/2 combo class and a wonderful teacher who just retired. She is reading like an animal which I love, still loves art. Tells me how much she enjoys math and science and is a great writer. The Lord has blessed her with a "school mind" and a great creative side too. It is just hard to watch her grow and as exciting as it is I know that these days are not coming back. She had a crush this year- I should phrase this right- a little boy had a crush on her this year- little I love you notes and all. Jeff had fun with that one:) and PTL she just thought he was a great friend....I am not ready for this yet!

So last I wrote, we had a cat named Pete. He, uhh, decided to leave home and after going door to door we realized he probably wasn't coming home. The girls were pretty bummed and so this spring we went an adopted 2 cutie pies from my cousin's cat. We opted for 2- odds are better this time:). We adopted Football and Donut, yes, those were the fun names Cami's kiddos came up with and in true adoption fashion we kept them as middle names. Jeff thought Re-pete and Three-pete would be good but we opted for Poppy (Poppy C. Donut to be official) and Sam. So far so good, except that Sam is a total El Gordo and vacuums up his food along with his sister's who takes her diddly doddly time. I am thinking somewhere there must be eating disorder therapy for cats because Poppy is anorexic. We now feed her under the laundry basket so she eats and Sam can't get to her- we just have to remember to take the basket off.

They have been in the garage as I am not a house cat girl and we want them for outdoor cats for critters, etc. Anyway, we let them out a couple times and the have done fine and then about 3 weeks ago we let them out and we were outside for awhile and all of a sudden we couldn't find them. I thought, "This is it I am sticking with humans. Who would of thunk the girl who grew up with animals- 4h and stuff now can't even take care of cats?!"

I heard our neighbor's dog going crazy and I let myself into their backyard to find Callie, their German Shepherd, chasing Poppy back and forth through the bushes. I now get to join the game as I am trying to grab Poppy but can't get to her either. So with scratches now from the rose bushes I see Poppy stuck and Callie is going in for the mouthful, I say my prayers, grab Callie's collar and hold on for dear life. Praise the Lord my friend, Alyssa, was over with her kids and she grabbed Poppy while I was being dragged through the yard by Callie. Only minor injuries to the arm and shirt and one saved kitty, and one disappointed doggy. Sam we found an hour later hiding under the hydrangeas. Let's just say they weren't allowed out of the garage for awhile.

Actually just this week to be factual, and now they are great and have learned to stay away from the beast next door. Funny, Pete used to lay right by the fence and stick his paw through and scratch at Callie's nose and taunt the heck out of her...we will see how long it will take these 2.

Our Preschool graduate! She did so well and even let us clap. (You see Ash has this thing with clapping- it leads to crying - so we try and avoid it at all cost. To the point where she has decided she is not getting baptized or married because people clap. I think I convinced her that at her wedding we can just tell the guests not to clap, not sure if she quite believes me yet. The other weekend we were at 2 weddings that Jeff performed and there is my Ash, elbows high, fingers in her ears just in case someone claps for her dad. Yes, laugh all you will- even as I write this it makes me chuckle but in real life...aaaahhh!)

Here is my sweetie! She is a lover this one! So badly wants to be a big girl and quite a helper she is!

I think I scratched the surface of the last 10 months but at least it was a start:)