How the garden is doing...

Well...hopefully it is warm enough! Everything is wrapped in old sheets and plastic to protect the little plants from the high winds and expected frost and snow flurries tonight. We have already lost a cucmber plant and the top 9 inches of a cherry tomato plant, and the other plants look like they have seen better days, but hopefully they will weather the storm all right. Brody's toys are acting as height so that the grapevines and the corn dont get smashed by the plastic. The hose, tree stakes and folded lawn chair are just weighing it down. We were trying to get the plastic stapled on and as soon as we'd finish the wind would just rip it off. Ahh!! This produce better taste good - it takes a lot to get it to grow!

PS - It is looking great though - the potatoes, beans, peas and cantaloupe are doing excellent!

Remember this...

The picture is disturbing - but it is of my arm. I have others that are worse but are a bit more graphic (I will spare you those). Those that knew me in 2003 may remember how awful I looked. I had a rash that covered my ENTIRE body. It was terrible - I remember wanting to die when Brandon put lotion on me. I thought I was on fire. It was really that bad. Many drs vists, ER visits, lotions, creams, perscriptions, change of diet, change of clothing, allergy testing, biopsies, etc. later all they could tell me was - "You have atopic dermatits" (or a fancy way of saying dry skin or excema) Then in March of 2004 it sort of went away for awhile. I would have episodes every now and then but nothing too bad.

Well...its back! It isn't as bad, but it is on its way and spreading. The good news is though - I was accepted into a clinical trial at Presbyterian Hospital in Plano for a drug that should help control it. I was a bit weary at first (after all I don't want to be a lab rat) but, it is already been tested and on the market - now they are testing a gel formula. I am on day 5 of my 7 day wash out period (I can't use anything on my skin). So the rash is growing nicely and I will see the dr and start the trial on Monday. It lasts 2 weeks and I will be paid some money. The money is really secondary - if it works that is payment enough for me!

St. Patrick's Day

Our morning:

Picnic lunch at the park while playing with friends and feeding the fish. Then home for the kids to nap and mom to do laundry.


Our Afternoon:

Frosting sugar cookies as a St. Patrick's Day treat. I was disappointed to learn that my 101 cookies cutters did not include a shamrock. Bummer. Flowers to simulate clovers will have to do.

Our Evening:

Traditional corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots - topped off with green water. It was a hit with Ella - not with Brody. UNTIL, Daddy named his food all trains and then we had to stop him from shoving all of it in his mouth at once. The meat was James, carrots were Thomas and potatoes were Percy. I decided not to force the cabbage on him - we had already almost encountered a sweet potato incident (in honor of Aunt Stepy). Both Brandon and I were glad we didn't have to enforce the no treat rule for not trying to eat some dinner. Both kids had cookies - both were very messy (as seen in Ella's photo). Both kids got baths. And, lastly...both kids got tucked in by daddy. It was a great day.

Out with the old...in with the new

Remember this...

its our hand me down table from Brandon's parents neighbors. Brandon and my dad refinished the table top before we got married. It has seen more than its share of abuse, and most recently became the victim of a three year old with a crayon. No need to get angry though...this was already on order:

A new table and chairs that will actually seat our whole family! We even have a leaf and two extra chairs! Our old table was down to two chairs and we were using folding chairs for the rest of us. We love sitting down to dinner, and it is a pleasure to wipe it clean after each meal. Our old one was chronically sticky. Just to top off the sweetness of a new table, was that my husband insisted we buy new dish towels to clean it with. Even better! Tattered old towels are now become rags used for cleaning and my new towels fit nicely in their assigned drawer. The cherry on top is that the new towels seem to be able to wipe a food covered Ella clean in no time!

Spring has Sprung!

Not much has been going on lately. Days are mellow and pretty low key. Brandon and I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Not one of my favorite tasks, but I think it went okay. Grandma and Grandpa made the trek from Frisco to watch the kidos during the meeting while we were on the stand. Personally, I think they had more fun than we did. By a long shot. I shouldn't complain though, we did make it a whole year in a new ward before we were asked.

Brody is ALL about trains right now. He eats, sleeps and prays for his trains. It is very cute, but at times tiresome to hear the boy in the backseat yell - STOP mom, I hear a train coming. It is surprising and catches me off guard sometimes, but then other times it is hilarious. In Sacrament Meeting on Sunday Brody turned to my dad and said..."Grandpa, there is a train stuck in the mud...we got to get out of here." This was after he had already told us that this was terrible and we had to get out of here. Do you see a pattern? The poor boy lives for nursery, but at this point does his best to just get through Sacrament Meeting.

Ella is constantly showing us that she is no longer our little baby. So sad. She has quite the personality and is still very much attached to me. She loves babys (alive and dolls) and brushing her hair and teeth. Her newest habit, that is really weird, is that she likes to bite peoples toes. She'll walk by and see your toes and go for them. I don't know if she thinks they are a good chew toy, or if she thinks its a game, but it makes us laugh. And hide our toes.

Our big girl!

AND -- the exciting news of the day is we have "above Ground" potato sprouts! Now I know something is growing under there! I actually dug around one a couple of weeks ago to see what was going on and saw that there were shoots coming off of it, so my curiousity was appeased. But while planting more plants today I saw the sprouts in the dirt. From what I understand about potatoes, they grow underneath the ground but there is a really pretty plant with flowers that grows above ground. I am so excited to see it all grow!

The potato sprouts are hard to see, but they are in the middle of the photo

Today we planted the vegetables that couldn't be planted when it was still cold. So we've added tomoatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, corn, peas, green beans, green and red peppers, cantaloupe and grapes. We also got another strawberry plant. We originally planted 4 strawberries and I think that only one survived. The nursery said that it was because of the cold - but when I originally bought the plants there a month ago they said it was okay and it hasn't froze since we planted them. So we aren't sure. We are still experimenting. I also lost my brocolli and cabbage. We are trying the cabbage again, but decided to give up on the brocolli for this year.

Notice the third vegetable bed - a product of too much dirt!

Last month we bought an apple tree. a pear tree and an oak tree. The fruit trees are starting to blossom leaves. Every time we go out to water we get excited to see each new leaf popping out. We tried on Saturday to get some willow trees for the side of the yard where the sun goes down to try and give some shade - but the guy we buy trees from was sold out. He is a grower from a couple hours away, so we have to wait until he comes again next month.

Brandon had the day off today so he did the first mow of the season. The yard does look nice, but Im not entirely ready to devote our Saturday mornings to yard work!

The "back nine" all cleaned up.

A Conversation with Brody...

Happened while we were driving

M: Brody, look do you see that doggy in the truck?
B: Yeah.
M: Do you like dogs?
B: No, I don't like doggies.
M: Why not?
B: I don't like doggies because they eat me and taste me and lick me. I don't like doggies.

I thought his description of dogs was pretty accurate. Like father, like son.