Hats

Beanie's class is doing a mail project, and she has sent letters to people asking them to send mail back to her class. Of course she sent one to Tracy! He replied with a box full of traditional Afghan hats for everyone. She was so excited! Her teacher said she carried the box around hugging it and calling it Daddy. :( Here are pictures of the kids in their hats.

Sprouts!

I am so excited! I just realized that we already have some tiny tomatoes in the garden, and the edamame have sprouted! There is just nothing better than home-grown tofu!

Extreme Home Makeover

For reasons unfathomed by most men but eerily familiar to all you women, I am compelled to spruce up the old home place before Tracy comes home on leave next month. Thanks to Princess Jackie, Princess Wendie, Aunt Kim, and three little elves, we painted the entire downstairs, the upstairs hallway, and the master bedroom and bath in TWO DAYS! Added to the work that Uncle Marco did in the kids' rooms over Christmas, our house is now looking more like a home!

Here are some pictures of the elves, hard at work.

Gotta have some fuel!

Stir it up...

Painting the magnetic stuff on...doesn't work so well with textured walls :(

Belly ho!

Tonight, Bitty just ate and ate and ate some more. He was stuffed!

The Bikini Garden

I tend to favor costuming myself in swimwear when I work outdoors, dating back to my high school days when I used to mow my Granma's yard in a stringy two-piece. Come on, I'm a busy mother of three! I say, sunbathe while you weed!

Aunt Kim helped me get all the plants in while the kids were gone, and after they came home we planted our seeds. When I came out, ready to work, in last year's retro two-piece, Beanie said, "It's a Bikini Garden!"

Re Up!

Tracy re-enlisted for three years recently. We are so proud of our soldier!

Poor Jack is Daid

One of Grampa's many tasks is to preach funerals when the need arises. It just so happened that one of the church members passed away over the weekend, and naturally the kids were very curious about it. Pook and Bitty even went with Grampa to the funeral home to visit "Poor Jack Guy". Bitty was fascinated by the idea of burying him and told me on the phone that "We have to get Poor Jack Guy in the ground!" Bean learned the story by heart: "His wife pushed him in there in his wheelchair and he crossed his arms and breathed and then he just passed." Thankfully, they all slept through the service, so there were no untoward, though well-intentioned, comments.

Leaving the cemetery, Bean noticed the veterans' monument. She asked about it and Gramma explained what it was. Then she said, "That's what's gonna happen to my Daddy. Everyone who goes to war dies." Gramma reminded her that Mommy and Daddy have both been to war before, and that we came home safe and sound. She cheered up some at that, but she is still worried. :(

Spring Break!

I took the kids to OK to spend spring break with Gramma and Grampa this past weekend. The traffic getting out of Austin was atrocious. Seriously. It took us 2 hours to go about 30 miles, and the access roads were backed up even worse than the interstate. When we finally got to a place where we could stop to grab a snack (2 hours in, one county away), the only offering was a Chik-fil-a, which was full of three busloads of baptist kids. Oh. My. God. Even Beanie commented on how badly they behaved! She said, "Mommy. We are in public! We don't act like that." Good girl!

By the time we got to Hillsboro everyone needed another break. Pook and Bean had refashioned their long-sleeved shirts into halter tops and wanted to know if they could go in that way (in the rain, at fifty degrees). I said, "Sure. As long as you have your jacket on and it is zipped up to your chin." :)Note the bare arms. 5 and 6, going on 20!

Playing with Jagger

Breaking Ground

Now that we are in our own home, and have some room to play, I am thrilled to be putting in a garden! I've worked for a couple weeks to dig out a 100 square foot rectangle, 6-8 inches down. It is a lot of work! I'd like to dig about twice that deep, because the dirt is really in bad shape, but I just don't have it in me. I'm not counting on any bumper crops this year, mostly just planting to improve the soil quality, but next year...watch out!

Saying Hello to Daddy

I had to bring Bitty home today because his school thought he had pink eye. It's only allergies, but I can understand their caution. In this picture, he is waving hello to Daddy. What a sweet baby!