Feelin' Fine

We had a nice relaxing weekend and loved visiting with old friends, but as always, it's good to be home. I have this mini-job where I am in charge of a locally-run scholarship. This is the busy time for this job, and one aspect of my job is to mail out almost 1000 fundraising letters. They are all printed for me, but I have to stuff them, label them and stamp them. This took me way longer than I thought, but I finally finished today and it feels so good. It was one of those projects that when you think of something you'd like to do, in the back of your mind you know you *should* be working on this, so now I'm trying to think of all those things I wanted to do. Oh yeah, clean the house...we have dog-hair tumbleweeds blowing around. But seriously, now I can start to think of some fun springy projects I've been wanting to start. I really want to get out the sewing machine, at least just to make these. What fun summer pants!

Today was beautiful and I was so inspired by my work getting done that I decided the kids and I were going to run all the errands I needed to run sans car! I had 2 stops to make "on campus" and 2 stops to make "in town". If you know Sewanee, you know they really are one in the same, but all in all I probably walked over 5 miles. We stopped to have lunch at school with Daddy, and after we were all done and almost home, we stopped at the "ship park" (there's a giant wooden ship there with a slide and stuff). We were gone about 4.5 hours and after the park (H) fell asleep in the stroller for the rest of the trip home. *A* was loving all over him and kept snuggling up to him and kissing his head. Right now she's torturing him in the bathtub...I guess the sweet wouldn't be so sweet without the sour.

Garden Goodness

Right now, these are all we have growing in our yard, but I'm counting the days until I can start our vegetable garden again. The season starts much later up here than back in Georgia. Case in point, our daffodils just really all came out last week, and back at our old house they've been out for over a month. I've been told we could have a deep freeze anytime in April, so apparently the end of April is the first chance we'll get to plant outside. The other thing we have to worry about up here is the huge population of deer.

The kids and I went to a local growers' open house Saturday. We order online from this local co-op every once and a while and attend the weekly farmer's market when it's in season (April-September), so this was a nice way to meet the farmers and see what they will have to offer in a few weeks. I've been slack on ordering seeds this year, so I was so glad to find out many of the farmers will be offering seedlings soon.
The kids enjoyed running around sampling a variety of foods: fresh baked bread, field greens, homemade chocolate bonbons, and yummy breakfast sausage. They also enjoyed seeing the baby goat and chicks. I'm really excited about all the local food options up here, and can't wait to have some from our very own yard.

I've been inspired by the local food movement lately, so I'm re-reading this book. I started it before we moved last year and now that were in a place where there are so many more local options, I think I'm going to get a lot out of it. If you haven't read it, go to get it. I love anything by Barbara Kingsolver, and this is a non-fiction story of her family's quest to only eat locally for a year. It's more than I think we could do, but if we could pledge to spend more on local food than at the grocery store, particularly during the summer months, that would be really fun! Speaking of fun, we're headed down to ATL this weekend for a birthday party and our favorite consignment sale. Hope yours is full of cake and fabulous finds too!

Time Flies!

Well our glorious Spring Break has come to an end. The kids are already missing Daddy being with us 24/7. The strange thing is though is that we only have a little over a month until the end of the semester! It's hard to believe our first year of seminary is almost done! ^J^ has been asked to do all these jobs over the summer since he'll be doing his CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education-like a chaplin internship) locally. Last night we had a great picnic/fish fry at the park with other families with small kids. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but there were 11 kids under 5 running around together and enjoying a beautiful Spring evening. It was a perfect way to end Spring Break.

Yesterday while I was feeling slightly under the weather, *A* decided she was going to give herself a piano lesson on our keyboard. She started by trying to write music on a piece of paper. ^J^ helped by drawing a blank staff and she filled in the notes.
Then she sat down and "played". (H) wanted to join in the fun too so he tried making notes and *A* informed him he wasn't doing it right, so she gave him a lesson on how to draw the notes. Then they both played.(H) preferred the drums after a while and don't you just love his outfit?!


This weekend was also perfect for bike riding. We got a free bigger bike for *A* a while back from Sewanee's classifieds, but needed to get training wheels for it. Here's *A* helping Daddy fix her new bike.
We also purchased a bike trailer Saturday from a friend at a super deal. The kids LOVE it (and each other),
and ^J^ likes to use it to cart back all the books he gets at the library. They need to name a wing after us with all the late fees we rack up. Ok, we're off to run our Monday errands and get geared up for our week. Have a good one!

We Belong...

...in the Zoo!

We went to Nashville for the day Wednesday to go to the zoo. It is a great zoo and we loved it so much we got a season pass. There were things we didn't even get to see so I'm glad we can go back when ever we want. Don't you love our attempt at a family picture? There is a more "normal" one but I like this one better! :)

It was a very nice day, mid-70s and after walking all day, ice cream really hit the spot!
For dinner, we found an Indian restaurant. Yum. We miss Indian food so much, so we're going to attempt a few recipes on our own. The restaurant was playing some Bollywood and *A* was in a trance! She loved it and I just know those moves are going to start showing up in her "shows" now. I need to make her a sari!

More Beach Pictures

(H) talking about the beach.
*A* made a friend (of course).
At least the weather was good for kite flying!
He loves the sand!

Why we went, running with abandon.

Home Again, Home Again, Tra, la, la!

We are home and it rocks. The beach rocked too. It was foggy the first 2 days we were there but it didn't matter. The day we were checking out it was sunny and 80 degrees. So we stayed until lunchtime and played at the beach and swam in the pool. It was hard to leave when the weather was finally perfect, but now I'm glad to be home getting things done, and knowing that we still have a week of Spring Break left. While we were gone, our old house showed 3 times so pray for someone to make an offer. Good things are happening there (we hope!).

I haven't downloaded all our pictures yet, but here's one of the kids and my dad the day we arrived. You can tell the sun was setting. They loved seeing him and they both wanted him to sit by them and hold their hands everytime we went out. Thanks, Granpa John for a great trip!
More beach goodness later!

"Are We Going to the Beach?"

This question has been asked probably 10 times this afternoon. I'm packing, she's excited. (H) is excited too, every morning he wakes up and says "beach today?".

Spring Break officially starts in 15 minutes (5pm...very odd), and we're taking a much needed break for a few days to go see my Dad in Florida. ^J^ has finished all his mid-term assignments and I know he feels great. I love that sense of accomplishment when you turn in something you've been working on for days and you get to just leave it all behind for a while. There are things he needs to do during Break, but for now, we're ready to feel the sand between our toes and watch the kids run with abandon.

Be back soon.

To Do:

1.) Freeze Meatloaf I made Sunday, 1st meatloaf I've ever made. Very Yummy. Recipe here.

2.) Schedule dentist appts.

3.) Clean out buckets kids found under the back porch stairs to prepare them for the beach.

4.) Pack for the beach.

5.) Do Bible study lesson, by 8am tomorrow.

6.) Organize meals for seminary family who just had an adorable new baby. Welcome Lilly!

7.) Fill out financial aid forms for next year.

8.) Send info to bank re: Mortgage.

9.) Finish stuffing envolopes for my new-ish job.

10.) Pack for the beach, we leave tomorrow. Guess I should stop writing now. More tomorrow...hopefully...If I'm packed.

A Bit of Sunshine

It's truly amazing how sun and warmth can change your outlook. Like many places, we had beautiful weather this weekend and spent most of our waking moments outside. Saturday we went thrifting and played at the kids' favorite park. Then we remembered how fresh air acts as a powerful drug because the kids took 3.5 hour naps! Whoohoo!

Sunday we went to a place called Natural Bridge to hike.
^J^ decided hiking wasn't nearly exciting enough so he climbed anything he could find.
The way the rocks were eroded made for really good hand-holds and ledges.
All of us had to climb over boulders along the path and the most exciting part was walking over the natural bridge.
There was a 30 foot drop on one side and a 50 foot drop on the other. Yikes!
There were caves everywhere too. Very cool!

Today we're suffering from post daylight savings syndrome. It's crazy how that one little hour can affect sleep so much! *A* didn't get up until after 9:30! Oh and with all this outside time, we've already had to break out the band-aids! Spring is on it's way!

No Time

It was another whirlwind weekend complete with our 5th snow of the season, and we recovered Sunday by staying in and nursing a fire all day. These photos are from last week when it was slightly warm and we're looking forward to being able to go outside and play again soon. It's supposed to warm up this week thank goodness. Ok, apparently naps are now over. I'm being tugged in two different directions so I'd better run.