Rain!

It's raining this morning! That makes me happy and sad. Sad because I didn't get to go for my walk. Happy because we REALLY need rain. Maybe now the city will start sending in water, so we won't have to buy another truck of it. Jesse enjoyed the rain, he was out playing in it. Actually a friend of mine just said that the local news said that if the police catch someone at the car wash washing their car, they will take them to jail! I'm not sure how true it is, but it sure is funny to think about. We've only had a few rainfalls since last November.
Jesse was sitting on my lap this morning and he said, "do you have poinky cheeks?". Then he reached up to feel my cheeks and said, "no". I asked him whose cheeks are poinky and he said daddy's are. I'm glad he didn't find mine poinky!
And then later, Jesse was using my bathroom and I heard him say, "I'm sorry mommy". I went to see what the problem was and he had unrolled almost the whole roll of toilet paper. As I was rolling it back up explaining that he only needed a little bit he told me, "but I wanted that" (pointing at the cardboard roll in the middle). He likes to put them on his arms and act like a muscle man. He sure keeps me laughing.

Don't listen to Seth, Jesse!

I now have a walking partner and I am so happy about it. I love walking to stay in shape, but haven't been able to do it since I can't go alone here. The lady (Kerri) that moved into our old house, across the circle, likes to walk too! So this morning we started walking. We plan to do it regularly. I enjoyed it so much!
Tonight when we got home from church, the boys were hiding in our closet trying to scare Stu. When they came out Jesse had peed his pants. I was fussing at him for going in his pants instead of the bathroom that was just steps away and he says, "Seth wouldn't let me!". Come to find out, Seth wouldn't let him leave the closet to go to the bathroom or it would ruin scaring Stu. It was funny! So I told him next time not to listen to Seth, Go to the bathroom!

planting a garden

Our Back Yard

My little garden

Extra garden space between the trees

Front yard

Other side of the front yard

Stu finished moving the dirt this morning, so right after lunch me and the girls started planting the garden. We have one little garden space and then there are spaces in between the trees along the walls. We planted tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, green beans, okra, squash, zucchini and cucumbers. I just wish I had some jalapeno seeds. I haven't found any hot peppers here yet. It's hard to make salsa with green peppers, just not enough zing! Although Stu likes it better that way. Speaking of HOT, I was so excited to find Hot Fries at the store yesterday. I bought me a bag to enjoy and I'm not sharing. If only I had a Dr Pepper to go along with them. Also on the subject of hot, it is starting to heat up around here and the humidity is going up. It's not unbearable yet, but summer is coming. The last few months were very cool at night, but now Stu is considering if it is possible for us to get an air conditioner for one room. I don't mind the heat, but I could do without the humidity. 

Yard day

Jesse taking over the raking

Seth playing the piano with his goggles on (not sure why)!

We planned today to do some work around the house. First off, Stu checked our cistern and discovered we were almost out of water again. With the lack of rain the city hasn't been sending water in very often. So with the cistern almost empty he decided to crawl down in there to get a padlock out that had fallen in some time ago. While he was in there he found something that needed to be fixed, so that took him most of the morning. Then we had to order a truck of water. That costs us around $40. The main thing we needed to do today was to spread dirt over our grass. Over time the rain washes the dirt away to wear there is only coral, so you have to spread dirt over the grass to fall through to build it back up. Not sure how well I explained that, but hopefully you get the picture. We had called for a truck of dirt in the morning and they said it would be here after lunch. It finally came around 3:30, so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working in the dirt! Stu was filling the wheelbarrow and dumping it on the grass, I was spreading it with a rake and Delayna was busting up the clumps. After a while Delayna started filling the wheelbarrow and Jesse decided to rake. I attached pictures but I'm not sure why they are at the top instead of under the writing. The yard looks horrible right now, but hopefully we will get some rain this week and it will be back to normal soon. When we finished that we had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It wasn't exactly the family day the girls had in mind, but we spent it together! :)

Cage for Jesse

I have decided that in order for me not to die early of a heart attack and to keep Jesse safe, I need to keep him in a cage! That boy is a climber! Twice this week he climbed on top of our wall, which is about 6 ft. high. And once he went right over to the neighbor's yard. Today he decided to climb up on our roof! I found out later that Seth told him to climb up there and jump into the pool. Thankfully he didn't jump. That is the second "roof scare" since we've been here, I don't think I can handle another one. I have to keep an eye on him at all times, which makes it hard to get anything done. I think God must have about 10 guardian angels around him. Oh, by the way, did I mention that Stu lets the girls jump off the roof into the pool? That is where Seth got the idea from. I don't let them do it when the boys are awake, but I guess the boys must have seen it once.
Since I've had my heart attack for the day and I've felt really bad today with this cold, I am off to bed!

Dentist visit

Well, I started off running again today, no, not literally (dad)! The girls had a dentist appointment this morning. They each had one cavity to be filled. YAY! I think that was the first time in a long time that they didn't have more than one. It was an easy relaxing visit compared to the last several with the boys. Jesse screamed and had to be held down and Seth cried quite a bit with his root canal.  So this time I was able to just sit and read a book. Although I about froze to death with the air conditioning. It made me dread furlough, I am not looking forward to being there in winter.
As soon as we got home from the dentist I finished up lunch. I had left it all ready for Stu to get started for me. We had 4 chickens on the grill, so it was smelling good. We had our new neighbors over for lunch. They are missionaries that moved into our old house. They are from Mississippi so it was nice to hear a strong Southern accent. Jesse terrorized one of the little girls though. He put his spiderman costume on as well as the mask (that covers his whole head) and ran at her screaming. She burst into tears. They said she is afraid of anyone in a costume. So we tried to get the boys to at least keep their masks off while they were here.
The girls had art class this afternoon. Delayna is working on her third painting. She is doing excellent! I just wish I could slow her down a little, the canvases and paints aren't cheap. She sure loves it. She is also doing great at guitar. She has many talents. Juls gets bored with all that stuff to quick, but she is great at helping me around the house. She will take the boys and entertain them for hours so I can get some work done.
Stu is at a men's activity with the church tonight. I have "gripe" (a cold) and am ready for bed, so I am going to put the boys to bed, Although they won't stay there. Jesse will sneak into my room and sleep on the floor which is where I find him every morning, unless he has crawled up into our bed by then. He even told me I could sell his bed cause he didn't want it. By the way, he finally got rid of his old raggedy puppy. He threw it away at church one day and said he wanted a new one. So now he sleeps with "Rocky".
Good Night!

Busy day!

Wow! Today I was running all day long! Me and Delayna left at 9am and went to Bravo (a grocery store) first, did a bit of shopping and picked up Maribel and her sister. Maribel is a deaf lady in our church and her sister is the seamstress that is making the dresses for Gloria's wedding. So once we got them we went to the fabric store to buy the material. From there we went home and had lunch, I had put something in the crock pot so it was ready for us. Then right after lunch I took Joy to PriceSmart. I was home for a short time and then me and Juls ran to the airport to get the mail. I have been busy since I got home, but I can't remember what I've been doing. I was just able to sit down a few minutes ago and I am exhausted!
We had new neighbors move in today! A missionary family moved into our old house. They have twin 3 year old girls. That is the second missionary family to move in to our neighborhood this month and we have one more coming next week. It is really nice to have so many friends so close by. The kids especially love it!
Now, I'm of to put the boys to bed, then maybe I can relax. :)

Here we go!

Well, I've decided to try my hand at a blog. My main reasons are so that I can keep my family updated better and as kind of a journal for me to look back on. I doubt I will be able to post everyday, but I will try to post regularly. So here we go.
This week we started a diet of no gluten, no dairy and no beans to try to help Jesse with his Crohn's. He has been really whiny (is that a word) and clingy lately. I never know if it is his stomach hurting or not. He still has fluid on his ears, which he has had for months, but the doctor said it is not as much now.
We are planning our furlough for August to February. Stu has been busy scheduling meetings. We have a van lined up to use through Baptist Transportation Ministry so we will be flying into Kansas City to pick it up. Then we will drive up to Canada and spend the month of August there. The girls are thrilled about getting to go to Camp Y.E.S. and seeing all of their friends.
I have also been busy helping Gloria with her wedding.  I am going to buy the material for the bridesmaids dresses tomorrow. Delayna is very excited to be a bridesmaid.
Until next time...