Great News!

I found out today that I'm going to be an Aunt again in April 2013!  My nearly 5 year old blond curly head niece A asked Mommy and Daddy for a baby and they said yes (!!!)  I'm so excited.  This really is an answer to prayer - I didn't want her to be an only child.  As much as I adore my nieces and all the fun things you can buy for them, I'm kind of hoping for a boy this time for my Dad.  It's really important to him that the family name be continued, and my brothers are the last chance for that.  But we will be thankful and praise the Lord for whatever gender He sees fit to give us!

Yard work can be hazardous to my health!

So, purple is my favorite color, just not when it's here....

The weird thing about this is that looking at the foot/ankle you'd assume that the injury was to that area, right?  Well, not exactly.  I was watering my new plants and I tripped on the uneven flagstone.  I landed on the other side of this leg just under my knee and my upper arm.  The next day I stepped down wrong and this ankle turned.  My theory is that this lovely coloring is all the blood pooling at the bottom from all the other lovely bruising I have going on above this. Thankfully nothing is broken or sprained.  It is uncomfortable but ice and elevation help. Just proof that yard word can be hazardous to your health, especially when you're a clutz like me!!!

Weekend Warriors to the Rescue!

Here are some "before" pictures of my Garden of Despair:

Pretty much, it's former owners didn't put down landscape cloth + current owner's neglect = a mess.

Then, the Weekend Warriors arrive:

And they do what they do best.  Here are the "after" pics of the Garden of No More Despair:

Amazing, right?  What can I say.  The Weekend Warriors (aka Mom & Dad), are hard workers, perfectionists and love to garden.  We were out at a time on Saturday and Monday mornings that I usually sleep right through, but we had to start early to avoid the heat.  I pulled so many weeds Saturday that every part of me ached by Saturday night.  But now, I'm not depressed every time I come and go from the house to the carport!

After removing the problems.  Here is what we added:

Rain gauge (so I know when I can take off watering) + 2 plants + [very] little tree

Three plants, at least one had/will have purple flowers:

Add the little plant "starts" Mom and Dad brought from their plants at home.  I have affectionately named them The Stick Family.  Supposedly they have great potential.  I'm not sure they are going to survive 105* for a week and the afternoon sun every day, though.  I will do my best to keep them alive but I'm not too hopeful!

Here are some other things my parents helped me with this past weekend, in addition to the yard transformation:
Hanging of towel bars/rings.  Double towel bar took (no exaggeration) 2 hours to hang.  What can I say?  My Dad is thorough and exact. :)

Knobs on all the kitchen cabinets (brushed nickel to match curtain rod):

Hung up some pictures:

These are souveniers from my May 2011 trip to Ukraine to see the Yellow Hats:

This is an addition to my bathroom.  Love me some Anne Geddes babies!

So thankful for Mom & Dad's help with all this stuff!  Hope you had a great Labor Day!

I Support Chick-fil-a

I love Chick-fil-a.

Not just because they have great food (but they do).

I love them not just because they are a Christian company (but they are).

I spent most of my lunch hour today in this line not only because their food was worth it,

but much more importantly, I wanted to show my support for their support of "traditional" (biblical) marriage, as their president Dan Cathy made a statement about in the press (and is now subsequently of course being attacked by many groups).  If you can get to a Chick-fil-a today, show your support!!!

Look who's getting bigger...and even cuter!!!

It's been awhile since I've shown you a picture of Kaelynn.  She's now 8 months old.

 She's growing more and more beautiful red hair and has two teeth on bottom.

She "scoots" around right now and will be crawling very soon.

She and Mommy and Daddy had lots of fun on vacation.

I miss her a lot and hope we will be able to see her this fall, maybe for her first birthday.  Thanks for indulging my Auntie pride! :)

Go Team USA!

Well, I know it's been a while since I've written, but there's not be a whole lot to write about that anyone else would find interesting.  I've just been working hard and long hours at work (so thankful for my great job).  In a couple weeks there will be some excitement with a bath remodel (more on that to come).

But I am SO excited that the Olympics are finally here!!  I LOVE to watch them and will DVR probably every night.  The opening ceremonies are always amazing.  The parade of nations astounds me because I tend to get lost in my little American bubble and lose sight of how vast and diverse our planet really is.

My favorite summer olympic sports are gymnastics and swimming.  What do you like to watch?

GO TEAM USA!!

Our wonderful CA weekend

So I haven't re-capped our wonderful Memorial weekend in CA yet that we spent with my youngest brother S, his wife M and their 6 month old baby girl Kaelynn. 

It was great.  We first saw Kaelynn at daycare.  She didn't have a clue who we were but gave us a huge smile.  From there we went to swimming (Mommy & me) class.  She kicked her little legs in the water to get to the toy.

Throughout the weekend we had fun feeding her cereal or fruits & veggies, playing with her on the floor with her toys, watching her jump in her jumparoo, holding her, reading to her and just generally soaking up her 6 month old cuteness.  She's at one of my favorite ages.  Her little mind is just working a mile a minute to learn everything it needs to.  She is responsive to facial expression and makes her own.  Kaelynn is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen.  Even though her teeth were bothering her, she still smiled a lot.  Her red hair is too cute.

We saw a lot of this million dollar smile!

This last picture is hysterical.  We were babysitting and were desperately trying to get her to stay awake until bedtime so she wouldn't wake up too soon in the night for her parents.  She hadn't napped well and was exhausted as you can tell by her little eyes.  My Dad pulled out his phone and started playing songs for her.  She loves music and it worked, but doesn't it look like the poor little thing is saying, "really, Granddad?  Can't I just go night-night, please?"

What a sweet girl.  What a sweet age.  What a sweet time, making memories.  As always our time was too short, but I was glad we got to go.