Consider the Lilies

I haven't done an update on the 1000 Things Challenge in quite awhile, so I figured it was time. I have been working on it a little here and there. I had a little over 100 things that I had collected from around the house as of yesterday morning.

Yesterday I did something I've been putting off. I purged the baby & girls clothes in storage. Both my closet and Kordell's were filled with clothes. I've been saving everything because... well, that's what you do when you have lots of kids right? But I have been thinking - maybe it's the Holy Spirit pressing something on me - but I felt like it was time to let it go. At first the idea seemed foolhardy. I mean, what will we do if I get rid of all those clothes? But a gentle voice kept whispering in my ear... "Consider the lilies, consider the lilies." So yesterday I bagged it up to go to the rummage sale. I kept just a couple of sentimental favorites and the bare essential newborn things. And that was all. 5 garbage bags full, 460 items are headed out of my house.

So what will we do for clothes as the girls grow? I don't know, but God will provide.

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." ~Matthew 6:28-29

Lumberjack

Last Saturday, Teagan decided it was time for Kordell to learn to chop down a tree. We had this ugly little tree in the corner of the backyard and it had to go. I'm so proud of my hubby for turning it into a learning opportunity instead of just getting out the chainsaw.

The girls & I were in the house out of harm's way, so I can't tell you exactly what transpired, but we heard a lot of chopping. Then a bunch of hooting and hollering when it came down. I went out to photograph my lumberjack finishing it off.


Kordell was so proud of himself! He's been talking about it ever since. "Here, Mom, let me lift that. I chopped down a tree you know." Heehee. He's turning into such a fine young man.

Garden Update - late July

Time for a garden update! Look how big it's getting! We've harvested most of the broccoli and lots of chard & kale. The tomatoes are just starting to blush. The basil can be picked anytime. The eggplant are starting to mature. And the lima bean has a few teeny tiny pods forming. No action from the peppers, aside from lots of blossoms. I am hoping they pick up speed here pretty soon.

Wook at the wittle baby eggpwant! Isn't it cute?
The nasturtiums are taking over! But they are so beautiful and tasty too! Yup, I eat flowers. They're spicy, but good once you get over the whole "I'm eating a flower" thing.
My bean looks so neat climbing the garden fork. It's supposed to be a bush bean, but it wants to climb. It's starting to get pods! I'm excited to see what happens.
Hope you enjoyed the visit! Come back soon!

More Sandbox Fun

I'll tell ya, that sandbox was a great investment! Kordell says its the best gift we've ever gotten him! It keeps the kiddos busy for hours. And I like playing in it too. :-) Even Hosanna has gotten her feet dirty.

Kordell made a sand chair. You should see the sand in that boy's room!

Mess Maker

Mess maker, mess maker, make me a mess...

Look what Hosanna discovered how to do! Not only can she empty the toy boxes, she can also empty the bookshelves! She's getting ready to crawl too. Any day now she's going to take off on me. Then I will really be in trouble because my whole house will look like this!

Birthday Bash

Travel back in time with me... 3 weeks ago we had a joint party for Kordell & Ruby's birthdays. We did something a little different this year. We decided that our backyard was missing something - namely, a sandbox. So our gift for both of them was a BIG sandbox. Here's a picture right after Teagan finished construction. (notice they were playing in the dirt inside the box - no sand yet.) The box started out 14' square, but that was really way too big. We ended up at 10' square and it's just about right.


Seeing as how the cost of all that lumber blew our whole birthday budget, we asked guests to bring sand instead of presents. What fun it was to dump all that sand in the box!! They got quite a bit. I'm just shocked that no one got sand in their eyes with as much as was blowing around.

Here are the birthday kids with their cakes. Aren't they adorable?
Blow out the candles! Kordell got all of his on the first pass, but Ruby had to take a few tries at hers. She did really good though.
Here they are enjoying the cake. That's Gilman on the left, and Kordell's good friend Shay on the right. Crossing my fingers that she's the one... nothing like an arranged marriage! LOL
Anyway, it was a great day. We had 30 people here and everyone had a blast. The weather was absolutely perfect, which is good because we would have been a bit cramped in the house. I think we should do the same thing next year. The sandbox isn't quite full yet you know.

I'll be back...

I know, I know. I've been neglecting my blog again. We've been a little busy and now I'm quite sick, but maybe I will have some time to sit down and work on it whilst I recuperate. Trust me, I've had lots of bloggy thoughts running through my head, I just have yet to sit down and do it. So, updates are coming - hopefully soon.

I leave you with a picture of my beloved garden from a couple of weeks ago... one of those things I meant to blog about...

Smoozies

I made the yummiest smoothies this morning! (Ruby calls them smoozies. It's so cute!) I got the recipe here. I used fresh chard & kale from my garden instead of spinach. I also used my own canned peaches and used the honey peach juice left in the jar instead of water & stevia. They turned out so so good. Ruby gobbled hers up and Kordell did eat his, even though he saw me put the greens in. It sounds crazy, but try them!!

The only bad part... I think I'm going to have to pick some more strawberries. I only have enough in the freezer for 10 more smoozies!! :-O