10 years in the pumpkin patch

To my 10-year-old girl at the pumpkin patch...

We created this celebration in honor of your special day.  Friends, cousins, dirt cake.  It was all planned.

Your girlfriends were just as crazy and funny as you.

Your baby brother had so much fun (and looked really cute) in your honor.

Your Aunt Amanda made your night with a Justice gift card.

You went down the slide 500 times.

So did everyone else.

You other baby brother nearly broke his arms playing with the giant volleyball, in your honor.

You contemplated moving into this quaint little home.

You conquered your fears.

Baby girl, you are my precious treasure.  I am so thankful to be a part of this whole growing-up thing.  You are such a unique and beautiful person.  I can't wait to see what the next decade brings.  Love you sweet baby! 

One more shout out...

to my father-in-law, brother-in-law and husband!  We finally purchased a storage building to help with our crowding issues.  See, this old house came with zero storage.  So we have had to make due with an attic and the garage.  Oh the garage.  It is a nightmare.


So the same brave men who tackled the wall also did the back-breaking work of pulling up a fence to allow the movers to bring the building into our backyard.

The day we moved the building was the one day out of the entire month that it rained.  Those poor guys got soaked!

The hard work is done.  Time to drop the building.

Careful!

Whew!

And he's stuck.  The guy was a bit of a crazy driver.  He nearly ran over the guys a few times.  Here he is spinning his wheels in our backyard.

Levi strapped on a hat and ran out to see the action.

"Looks alright to me mom!"

And here she sits.  We have to let it settle before we put a ton of weight in it.  But we are so happy to have a place for our junk! 

Of course Matt has plans for shelves and storage on the walls so we still have some work to do.  But it's a start!

The wall.

When we moved into this house a little over 2 years ago, we were disappointed to find that our large side-by-side fridge did not fit into the spot that had been built into our cabinets.  So we ended up putting it in the garage, making plans to buy a smaller fridge. 

Well, I went back and forth to the garage for about a year before we finally bought our new appliance.  You can really get used to just about anything.  I was so excited when our new fridge was delivered.  It slid right into place and was just what I wanted.

  I stood admiring it wondering how long it would take me to stop heading to the garage for food.  I stepped forward to open the doors and admire the inside.  The refrigerator side swung open perfectly, revealing the last time I would ever see the inside truly clean. 

 I pulled open the freezer door and stared in horror as the handle hit the wall behind it, leaving only a 6-inch gap to access the freezer space.  NOOOOOOOOO!  I cried.  I know it's silly, but I did.  I finally had my fridge but I had to turn things sideways and maneuver them around to get them into the freezer.  I know, me and my first-world problems.  But still, I was disappointed. 

Fast forward another year and bring in my sweet father-in-law, husband and brother-in-law.  Bless them for having the ability to fix things.  And bless them for letting a hormonal women have a say in how they fixed it.

This is Rod.  My father-in-law.  He was amazing and so sweet to come and help us.

We had a support beam problem that they had to figure out.  This was the first solution.

I kinda like the fridge here guys.  Easy access

This is the huddle.  They do tons of this.  They have to put their bald heads together and figure out a problem.   There's lots of talking and sometimes, laughing.  I love to see them like this.  

This was solution 2 which hormonal wife was so relived to see.  They cut away the angled piece and put a header in to take the weight.  So much better!

Here it is with the trim.  It is much more in line with the style of the rest of the house.  I am so happy with it!  Now, on to clean up the mess!

 Thanks to my sweet family for getting this done!  It still needs finishing and painting but mama is satisfied.

The faces...

 

We had some exciting news to share with our kids.  So we took them to the park and had them sit on the grass together.  As their daddy was telling them the news, I shot pictures. 

Here they are waiting patiently.

Levi split, so we just told the big kids. 

Here's the shock!

Now the awe.  Except for Zadook.

Now the jubilation.  Except for Zaddok.  He didn't seem to be processing the information.  As few seconds after we took this photo, Zaddok said, "What did you say?"  Poor guy.  He hadn't heard what his daddy had said and was trying to figure out why everyone else was so excited.

This photo was taken right after daddy repeated the news, "Mama has a new baby in her tummy!"  Zaddok got it that time.

They were so excited!  We are all so excited!

Dog pile mom and the new baby!

When Jolie came to me to get a hug, I looked down at her and she had big tears pouring down her face.  I was afraid she was upset.  I asked her if she they were sad or happy tears.  She assured me that they were happy!

Sweet girl!  The only problem is that she is sure it is a girl.  She wants a sister so badly.  We are praying for a healthy baby but also that the desire of Jolie's heart, to have a sister to share her life with, would be recognized.

What blessing we have! 

Lots of blessing.  Thank you Father for the blessing of children.  May we be good stewards of that blessing.