Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy since we came back from our trip to Houston. Here are just a few of the things we have been up to.


Garden Party Bradshaw style.

We took the opportunity last monday, shortly after we got back from our trip, to start another garden. We forgot how much we enjoyed this. We decided to make a bunch of small garden boxes so that if it happens we need to move we can just pick them up and take them with us. it took us all day to build the boxes and for family night we planted everything. Just after we planted them a cold front came in and it got below freezing everyday for the rest of the week. We made a make-shift green house out of pvc pipe, a large plastic sheet and a bunch of rocks. we got the idea out of the square foot gardening book and it worked really well. Our plants survived the cold.

Lorin and Gary are planting some onions.

Ethan is planting Broccoli.

Brynn is planting some cauliflower

Late Night Visitor

Last Wednesday was crazy. It was activity day and I spent a good part of the day preparing for it. I had to scarf down my dinner, which Gary was gracious enough to make that night, grab Lorin and run out the door. The activity went well and the girls had a great time. By the time we finally got home I was totally exhausted. At about 11:45 that night I am on the computer and Gary is fast asleep. I hear the doorbell ring. At first I didn't move. Nothing good can come from a visitor at 11:45. then of course, I woke up Gary. He is very tall and though a teddy bear he has the ability to intimidate others who might be a threat to his family. We crept up to the door and saw that there was a cop car sitting in front of our house. As it turned out we had left the door open when we got back front activity day several hours earlier. A concerned neighbor called the cops to make sure there wasn't a prowler.

Before I continue with the story you've got to understand that our car was totally disgusting. We still haven't cleaned it out from our trip to Houston. It looked like a garbage can had exploded. To top it off Lorin's dinner was sitting on the seat she had been sitting in. So the cop escorts me over to the car and points his flashlight on the dump that is the inside of our car. He then asks me if there is anything wrong our out of place in the car. I said "No, it is always this messy." He looked at me and just started laughing. The cops were very very nice and understanding.

I should be more embarrassed but I'm not. This is made obvious by the fact that our car is still a mess. Oh well.

Furniture Hooray!!!

My furniture arrived!!! I previously had all of my sewing and jewelry stuff crammed into my very small bedroom along with Gary's desk and all of his stuff for school, and our very large dresser. Combine that with the fact that there is no storage in that bedroom besides a very small closet I had to make some changes. I moved all of my sewing and jewelry stuff out into the family room. I love it for so many reasons. 1. I have room to move around. 2. I have a place for everything. 3. I can sew and I know what everyone is doing because I am right in the middle of it all and not hidden away in my room. I love the furniture i got. I love the lines of vintage furniture. I love that it is all solid wood and well made. I love that she painted it to look a little distressed. That works well for our family since we are hard on our furniture.

I put a denim curtain inside of the cabinet because sewing patterns are not very pretty to look at.

Helping Hands

On Friday Ethan came home from school with a new warm winter jacket. We are not used to cold weather, not that Abilene is cold compared to a lot of places, but it gets below freezing quite often during the winter. We are a warm weather family and poor Ethan did not have the right coat for this weather. One of the aides in his class brought a coat for Ethan that was once her grandson's but that he grew out of. He got it on Friday and it is Sunday and he has not taken it off since then. This is how he looked when he climbed out of bed this morning, in his pajamas with his coat on.

On the same day Lorin came home with a huge bag of food. I guess we made it on some list for poor folk and she will be bringing food home twice a month. I have some mixed feelings about this. Mainly because we have got food everywhere. We get food stamps and the state has been very generous in that regard. It is about twice what we spent on Groceries when we were actually making money and buying our own groceries. We have been stocking up on food storage with that extra money and there is literally food all over the house. I know there are others who could really use that food. I don't really feel right taking it.

Pierced Ears!!!

she finally did it. We told Lorin we would pierce her ears after she got baptized. She wanted them pierced so bad but she has always had an issue with needles and getting poked. We have taken her twice to get them pierced and each time she was just way too frightened to go through with it coming home disappointed and sad. Yesterday Gary asked her if she was ready to get her ears pierced and this time she gave him a very confident "Yes."

Since we were getting her pierced we decided to go ahead and do Brynn while we are at it. Some may object. She is only 2 after all but after talking with my friend Sarah while we were in Houston who always pierce her baby girls ears I was convinced. First of all morally we see nothing wrong with a single piercing in each ear so it is a given that it will happen eventually. Secondly, we avoid all of the drama that surrounded Lorin's desire to pierce her ears and her fear. Thirdly, its just easier to get them all don at once. Line them up and bam bam bam bam. The girls came home beaming. They love their new pretty ears. Both were very brave. Brynn cried only a little bit until she got a lollipop and all was forgotten. Gary took the girls to the store afterward and Brynn showed everyone who walked past her new earrings. She loves them. The are very princessy after all.