Garden Lesson #1

So my Grandpa Allred and Grandpa Blackham had amazing gardens.  I remember working with both of them in it and enjoying the produce they provided.  My own father had a garden as we grew up in Georgia that we all worked.  My Grandpa Allred is the master gardener in the family and it is well worth the trip in August to get some of his famous corn.  Even in his old age every year I ask him if he is going to plant a garden and he says he is not up to it.  Yet, every year he can't resist planting just a few rows of corn and a few tomato plants. 

I had a really small garden in Urbana and once we moved here to Bolingbrook we landscaped a small 5 x 20 foot garden in.  We have really enjoyed the produce every year, even as small a garden as it is.  Every year as I tend the garden there are so many lessons I learn about life.  It is truly therapeutic for me.  I know we're suppose to let our kids learn and work with us in the garden but it is my time to think and work there. 

I am going to record a few lessons I learn there, more as a journal than a blog but I feel they are so important for me to remember.  This morning I tended to my garden.  I have really needed to cage my tomato plants.  Tomatoes are a vine and so they do best when they have something to climb up instead of crawl all over the ground.  Some gardeners cage them from the get go as seedlings.  This year with the baby I'm running really late and have not had a minute to run out and fix them.  When I went out this morning they were not looking so great but once I started putting the cages around the plant and adjusting the branches I was amazed with how much they've grown even in my neglect. 

I was thinking how we are here in life dealing with the hustle and bustle and sometimes we are thrown a curve ball.  We have an unexpected challenge and as much as we don't want it we are forced into a situation.  As I moved some of the branches to climb up the cage I broke a few of them.  I thought I bet this is how God feels.  He knows what is best for me and it is very painful sometimes but as the master gardener He is helping me grow and be a better person.  As the summer progresses I know these tomato plants will grow taller than the cages and be huge.  If I don't cage them and fix their branches to grow properly will over take the whole garden and the tomatoes will be all over the ground and choking other plants. 

Another part I couldn't do this morning because I need Rick for is to stake the cage.  I have him hammer a large wooden stake into the cage and deep into the soil to anchor the cage against the storms we have here.  I thought how that is like faith.  If we have a deep anchor in God and the gospel he will anchor us against the storms in life.  I am so grateful for my little garden, for the produce it provides, the therapy it provides, and the lessons God teaches me there.

Rachel graduates Preschool, Pre-K

Rachel was in Pre-K, for kids with late birthdays, this year.  They met 4 mornings a week at the Park District.  It has been a great class for her and she has loved her teachers, Mrs. Veronica and Ms. Joni.  They held her Preschool graduation May 17th. 

 Here is Rachel hamming it up before graduation.

 Here is Rachel graduating, whew, we were worried she would pass!  Just kidding, she loves school.

 Grandma Blackham came with Andrew, Jaina, and I to see the graduation.

Here are her great teachers Ms. Joni and Mrs. Veronica.

This is our carpool buddy Andrew.  Carpooling saved me the last little bit of my pregnancy and when Jaina was born.  Thanks Mrs. Barb and Andrew Preimesberger.

Mother's Day 2013

For Mother's Day this year we had the stomach bug but the kids (and Rick) did their best to "shower" me with gifts.  Each kid made something in a class for me.

Rachel's preschool class had a special Mother's Day Tea Party for us. 

Anson's 2nd grade class also had a Mother's Day event for us.  We played a cute BINGO game and they sang songs.  Aaron made a cute bird picture in school.  Andrew even made a cute plate in nursery that I had lunch on that day.  He was so proud of putting stickers on it!

Rick cancelled meetings, yeah Bishop, so he could make me breakfast and dinner.  I also got a 2 1/2 hour nap in there, which was amazing!  We had his parents, Medalith, Alex and Isabella over for dinner and my parents over for dessert. 

I love being a mom.  It is the hardest and yet most rewarding thing I will ever do.  These past couple months as a mom with a newborn have been difficult but I remind myself of how many years I prayed for this exact experience.  I am so lucky to be mom with such full arms!

Baby Jaina is born!

The day we, especially me, had been waiting for, for 9 months finally came Monday, April 8, 2013.  Jaina DeMille was born at 2:57 a.m. weighing 8 lbs, 1 oz and 20 inches long.  The last few weeks of the pregnancy and of course since have been a blur of inactivity on my part.  We are trying to get relatively back on course since the baby was born.  Every week we seem a little more normal, even if very sleep deprived.

Just a few labor details...my water broke, unlike all the rest of my kids, here at home.  Usually I have crazy long labors and they have to break it at the hospital.  So Rick called my mom at 9:30 Sunday night and told her to come over.  My labor started at the hospital about 11 that night by itself.  I watched a movie and Rick did some work until about 1.  He suggested I get the epidural since I've had terrible epidurals in the past.  I was concerned about slowing the labor down since I was between a 2-3 when I was admitted.  They administered the epidural at 1:30 and I was a 4.  At 2:30 I told the nurse I wanted the meds increased because I was having to breathe through each contraction.  She checked and told me it was time to push, no more meds.  So the epidural didn't really work, for the important part, bummer.  Good news it went really fast because I could feel every part of it.  So my normal 24+ hour labor was only 4, yeah!

Here we are right after she was born.

The kids came later that morning with Grandma Blackham to meet Jaina. I have to mention Andrew's first impression of her was to ask why she wasn't talking to him.  He was so excited to meet her.

Rick brought me home from the hospital on Wednesday.  The kids, especially Andrew, were really excited to have me and Jaina home.  They were all itching to hold her and play with her. 

Rachel can't get enough of her.  She is always in her face ready to hold or play with her.  She loves her to pieces!  She has increased her hand washing 5x just to be ready to hold her if Jaina is available to be held.

Aaron was a little more reluctant to hold her just because he was worried about not doing it right.  It took a few days and a prod from his school teacher for a picture and we got one.  Funny part was a soon as he held her she filled her pants.  She has since been held and again filled her pants only for him.  That's love!

Anson is always wonderful with babies.  He has a gentle and quiet way about him when he's around them.  He has proven to be a big help with holding her so I can get things done.   

Here is Andrew holding Jaina.  It is a continual "taking turns" around here to let the big kids hold the baby.

 

And Jaina a week old having some wake time.  "Hello world!"

 

We love our new baby girl.  It has been very hard with 4 plus a newborn but hopefully as she gets older we'll get better at everything.  I try to enjoy every newborn stage because I know it goes by so quickly.  Even still it is exhausting and so time consuming.  Rick has been a help as much as his schedule permits.  He has been great to take her whenever I need sleep, even if that means no sleep for him.  We've also had a lot of Grandma help trying to juggle the big kid schedule and running errands.  Our ward and a few friends have also been so much help from running kids around to helping with meals.  I don't know how people do it otherwise.  We look forward to resuming life in the coming weeks.  We've tried to keep her home and healthy as much as possible but it can't last forever.  We'll just have to do the best we can and have low expectations of everything on the homefront.  

It is such a blessing in my life to be a mother to such beautiful children.  There were so many years I didn't have this blessing.  I remind myself of that on a regular occasion so I don't get too overwhelmed.  They are each such a blessing from God.  I love being their mom and being able to bring them into the world.

Anson's 8th birthday and baptism

Yesterday was such a wonderful day I couldn't wait to get the pictures up and blog about it.  Anson turned 8 and in our church that is the age we believe God considers them old enough to make their own decisions about being baptized and knowing the difference between right and wrong.  Anson was so excited about getting baptized.  He had an interview with our Bishop a couple weeks before and could not sit still the whole time.  He came right home and made this adorable lego setting of him and Rick in the baptismal font with people watching .

As the day approached he became more and more excited.  He got us up before 7 to get going on presents and festivities.  (Originally his plan included sleeping in.)  We gave him some lazer tag guns, a DS3 game and a book.  I think we'll need to invest in more lazer tag guns, they were a hit for all the boys in our home!

The baptism was yesterday as well at 4 pm.  Here he is with Rick before being baptized in their whites.  

Here is our family at the baptism.

Anson has a wonderful 2nd grade teacher this year, Michelle Kubiak.  We had invited her and she had called earlier that day to let us know she had a conflict and would not be able to come.  She miraculously made it and we were so glad to have her.  Anson lit up when he saw she made it.

We had Grandma and Grandpa Somers, Grandma and Grandpa Blackham as well as Rick's cousin Larry, Amy and their kids Lucy, Jane and Annie at the baptism.  We all went to Culvers after the baptism so Anson could get shrimp for dinner.

Grandma Blackham is our family historian currently.  She made Anson a beautiful binder of his family history including pictures of several generations. 

Grandma and Grandpa Somers just got back from Peru the day before Anson's birthday.  They brought him a YELLOW jacket.  He LOVED it; his favorite color has always been yellow.

Anson wanted a chocolate cake with mint frosting.  We were not quite sure how mint frosting would go over so we split it and had half chocolate frosting half mint.  It was yummy!  Anson had gone out to find a new tie for his baptism.  It was tough finding one to fit him, but not look babyish.  This one had yellow so win all the way around.

We had a wonderful turn out at the baptism.  Anson was the only one being baptized and yet we packed the room of friends, family, and teachers.  We love Anson so much.  He came to our family through inspiration and has truly blessed our lives.  He is a great big brother and is full of so many wonderful qualities.  I couldn't be more excited and proud of him for being baptized.

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas to all!  The Christmas season is the best time of year to have kids.  Everything is wonderful and magical and it is so much fun to see their reactions to everything.  We had several events in the month of December that were fun and new.  

Our neighborhood and school friends, the Conoboys always invite us to go to their Christmas party.  We were finally able to although Rick had to leave early to get to a church baptism.  Santa visited and gave presents to the kids.

Here we are with Santa.  Even Andrew got into it and overcame his stranger danger fear and accepted his present from Santa.

As part of Rachel's birthday present Grandma Blackham took Rachel and I to the Nutcracker in Naperville.  Rachel loved it and it was fun to have a girl time.

Every year Grandma Somers makes some kind of Gingerbread creation with us.  This year we made two so one could go with Grandma and cousin Andrew back to her home.

Rachel also had her Preschool Christmas concert.  It was adorable but not many
pictures turned out well.

Christmas morning was great.  The kids still let us sleep in on non school days.  We finally woke up at 7:45 and asked them if they were ready to see if Santa had come.  Luckily he had come!

Andrew got a Captain America shield, which is hysterical to see him work it.

 He also got a bat cave and yes a few more cars.

Rachel's favorite party of Christmas is getting and giving hugs to everyone who gives her a present or she gives a present to.  That doesn't happen often in a family of boys!

Anson and Aaron got DS3s and a few games.  They were thrilled and were able to bring them on our road trip after Christmas.

I love Anson's face as he opens his gifts.

After a morning of opening presents, Grandma and Grandpa Blackham and Kristen came over.  For dinner we went to the Somers.  It was great to spend time with all of the family there.  It was great to have Aundrea, Andrew, Rob, and Laura home for the holidays.  We missed having Dave home as he is deployed right now.  It's great to be around Grandparents for the holiday to be able to spend time with all our family. 

Rachel turns 5!

Rachel turned 5 in December.  She counted down the days all year and was so excited to finally be 5.  She got to have her first friend party and was thrilled to pick a Pinkalicious party.   She loves the books and LOVES pink.  We opened a few presents on her birthday.

Grandma Somers made Rachel a beautiful pink, purple and beautiful blue quilt.

 We gave Rachel a new Leap Pad.  She loves reading ebooks and playing games on it.  

She was sick the day we were suppose to have her party so we were so glad all of the girls could com the following weekend, December 28th for our Pinkalicious party.

 Of course we had to read the "Pinkalicious" book to begin our party.  We had Ali Laub, Maddie and Catie Zafir, Lana Carlisle, and Lily Gliske at her party.

We played Pink, pink, pink, purple (Duck, duck, duck goose) to get our tiaras and wands.

We had a Pinkalicious pinata.

Aunt Aundrea helped us out with a Dance Freeze party.

We decorated our cupcakes and ate them after our lunch of pizza, grapes and pickles (all from her book-the girl turns pink from eating too many pink cupcakes and has to eat non-pink food to get better).

Here the girls are enjoying their cupcakes!

 It was a cute party.  We love our Rachel; she is growing up so fast.  She fills our home with joy as one of God's happiest spirits.  Happy birthday sweetheart!