This year's garden

This year, I haven't done nearly the planning as I did last year. I decided this morning that during my afternoon holiday, I'd go get some flowers. I didn't know how many, or what I would put where. I did know I wanted another rose and cucumbers.

So, I went to my favorite garden center and found flowers: petunias, daisies, verbena, and a rose. I also got some herbs: cilantro, dill and chives. And of course I got the cucumbers.

When I got home, our neighbor (not Holly) had her normal passel of kids over--her own, her nieces and nephews, and I'm pretty sure a few just come over that are no relation. Anyway, one little girl asked if she could watch me plant. Fine, I said. I was planting the herbs at the time, so I had them smell the leaves of each herb and I told them what they were and how to use them. I was pretty proud of myself. (Oh, and I say "them" because one little girl had grown to two girls and three boys, ranging in age from 5 to 10, most closer to 5).

Then, suddenly, it was not fun any more to just watch. Everyone wanted to help. Which was okay, because at the moment I was struggling with getting my rose planted. Well, before I knew it, the rose was done, as well as all the flowers, and all I had done was enough to show them how to plant. I showed them the proper way to get a plant out of it's plastic pot, how to carefully separate the roots, and how to cover it with dirt. I planted two flowers, and suddenly, each kid is at a different pot, planting "their" flowers however they saw fit. And, they didn't do too bad of a job, I have to admit.

They all begged me for the petunias. They asked how much they were, and could they buy them from me. I told them to ask their mommas to take them to Wal-Mart to get some petunias. I'm sure their mommas will appreciate that. But, at the end, we had a little dirt left over, so I asked each kid to fill one of the little plastic pots with dirt, and I gave them all seeds I had left over from last year's gardening experiment. They planted them and I watered them, and each kid took one home! I hope they have better luck than I did!

So, at first I was pretty proud of myself, able to handle five and sometimes six kids in a garden. Then I got a little frustrated, because I was reminded how self-centered kids are--especially young ones. But I think they had fun, and maybe they'll want to garden a little. And it was pretty cool, all in all.

I hope my plants grow! If not, I'm totally blaming it on the kids. :)

Happy Birthday!

We all celebrated at John & Karen's house. Bekah made the cake and it was SO yummy!

My dad laughed because he got to hold Ian first.

My mom looking upset because she wasn't the first to get a hold of Ian.

Little did either of them know that Jon and I got to hold him first!

Ian working on tummy time!

Look at how high that head is coming up!

Jon and I headed for the Stockyards today.

This horse was beautiful, and the longhorn was NOT wanting to do the walk around the block they do twice a day.

This guy was really pretty.

My handsome man! Taking me to Riscky's BBQ for lunch!

...and 5 pictures later....

I, however, never tire of the camera.

I'm so distraught about being in jail....and did I mention I dyed my hair red?

This little girl was the cutest, riding the bull like a pro!

Another sad post

Sorry for yet another sad post....Wesson died today. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Kitten update

Smith died this morning. Wesson is doing worse--acting like Smith was a couple of days ago.

Little kitties

If you are the kind of person who prays for animals, please pray for my kitties. They have had upper respiratory infections since we got them, and they are both getting worse. Smith doesn't have much more room to get worse, and I really don't want to lose another cat. Wesson has been our trooper, but even he is not wanting to eat now. The vet's done everything he can, and so have we. Pray that we'll keep working hard to get them better, that we'll have the energy we need (we're doing 2am feedings, and if this is any indication, we'd never make it as parents of a newborn!), and that the kitties will have the will to brave it out and get better.

General Update

The kitties are still sick. :( No real change from yesterday. Smith is still pretty sick, though I've noticed little improvements: he's making better eye contact, has stood up more today, went to the bathroom on his own, and hasn't needed glucose but once today (four times yesterday). Wesson is still Mr. Sneezy, but he wanted to play a little today. Mostly they've just slept! But, they're stinky and grossie, so I think they're headed for another bath soon.

And, on another front, Jon and I are going to dinner with a seminary professor to talk about church planting tonight. He's the head of the Nehemiah Project at Southwestern, and will probably be an invaluable resource to us. I'm excited about our conversation tonight.

At work, I'm ALMOST done with a website that persists in acting dumb. There are some bugs I just can't figure out, and I've spent the whole day today on it. Very frustrating.

I donated to the Arbor Day Foundation, and got 10 free trees! I gave 5 to Holly, and we planted them a week or so ago. And our crabapples are starting to get leaves! Hooray!

Other than the trees, I haven't planted anything, yet. I'm thinking we might be done with frosts, but I'm not sure. I know a few things I want to plant, though.

I got a bike rack and basket for Christmas, and I got it put on a couple weeks ago. The weather has been too cold/rainy for biking, so I'm looking forward to a day pretty soon when I'll be biking to the park with a picnic in my basket! I'm so excited!

Anyway, I guess that's about it. I have Spring Fever, and I really want a vacation. I'm taking next Monday off, so hopefully that will suffice.

Things I've learned today

1. Roughly two thirds of the casualties in the Civil War were due to disease.
2. Until about WWI, all prior wars had more casualties due to disease than they had actual victims of battle.
3. Kittens can have low blood sugar levels when sick.
4. Glucose is like syrup in a syringe.
5. When kittens are dehydrated, Pedialyte can be a bettery hydrator than water.
6. For as bad as Pedialyte tastes, kittens don't mind it so much. (Seriously, have you tried it??)
   

My husband knows all about war, and he still has the soft side to buy his kitties Pedialyte. What a great guy.

HOORAY!!

So I haven't posted in a week, which is unusual for me. Sorry about that. It's been a really tough week. Even my dreams have been bad. Evidently losing a kitty and facing an unknown future aren't good for the psyche. Anyway, it hasn't made me up to chit-chat, and the tag I got from Teresa...well, I tried to fill it out, but it just turned out depressing. A lot like this first paragraph.

So...on to lighter things! First, it snowed! A lovely white, fluffy snow! It was beautiful.

And second, well, I'll let you watch the next video to find out.....

So yes, we have two kitties, Smith & Wesson. (I think they'll always need the ampersand, don't you?) They're from the Humane Society, and kind of pitiful. I thought we'd seen it all with Friday, but evidently we hadn't. We are familiar with Amoxyl (that you all took when you were kids, and yes, the kitty version also smells like bubble gum), and we give them extra nourishing food in a syringe, as well as give them droppers of water. The food (for my parent's information) is a lot like what we gave Mitten when he was so sick. And the syringe is because their nose is stopped up so they don't smell/want food. Anyway, they'll be up and at 'em in no time, I'm sure. In the meantime, we're enjoying their cuddliness, and hope it lasts when they get to feeling better!

I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more of this crazy pair! I officially have a new label for all things Smith & Wesson (though Blogger didn't seem to like the ampersand design choice). And probably pretty soon I'll have that tag from Teresa done, this time on a little bit lighter note!