Spring & Stuff

...has sprung and brought us snow! Even though I'm not a lover of snow or winter, I must say it was gorgeous this morning as it was all over the trees and everywhere. We went into church, and when we came out it was bright and sunny--almost a summer-looking sky and the snow was already in fast melt. As I type, it has almost melted away to reveal that green grass underneath.

What else...we have been enjoying the first steps of getting the garden/landscape ready to plant in a few weeks. New urns & a fountain have been purchased. We have moved a bridal wreath bush and some sedum to different spots. We have plans to move some more items as well as line our pathway with brick edgers. In garden news....Aliyah is happy to have some of her seedlings sprouting! We have about 1/3 of the cups that have sprouted. We'll see how many more grow. In the meantime, we have purchased some Marigold seeds as well as wave petunias to plant in the next few days. If I am correct, Marigolds & Petunias sprout and grow much quicker than impatients.

This has been an interesting year in the way of people visiting the area. We've had a sitting President (Bush--twice & Obama--once) visit, Extreme Home Makeover, Michael Jordan, and most recently Mikhail Gorbachev. He was in Peoria on Friday to speak at the Reagan dinner. Interesting, he is one of the first world leaders that I remember learning about (aside from Reagan) as I was in 5th grade or so learning about the Cold War and Communism.

My parents went to a garage sale yesterday and found the girls some American Girl items. They found a Bitty Baby crib for $5 and a BB changing table for $3. This is great because Aliyah had a crib, but not Keirah. When we were going to buy it for Keirah for Christmas, it was sold out. The changing table has been a huge hit with them also especially since Keirah is such a little mommy. She loves to pretend to change the diapers. The prices couldn't be beat that's for sure!! They also found them some Gymboree clothes (mostly for Keirah). I'm not one who likes going to garage sales very much, but I love it when you can find good stuff like they found yesterday!

Yesterday, I went to a thing called the Home Life Cafe'. It was about life in the home and discipline. Anyway, the girls were so excited because they had to take sack lunches with them. They haven't ever had to do this b/c Aliyah doesn't go to traditional school --she is homeschooled, and obviously Keirah is only 2. Aliyah told us what she wanted in her lunch. We went to pick them up and Aliyah still had a lot of hers left (probably b/c she eats like a small mouse). As I went to pick up Keirah, they informed me that she ate ALL of her lunch--I had to laugh. I'm sure she did! They are so different. Keirah can tell me a good portion of the names of kids in her class (that's probably like me). Aliyah can tell you the names of a couple (that's like Josh). Kiki tells me details like what color carpet square she sat on, that Rachel was crying, they watched Veggie Tales, what they had for snack, that they turned out the lights during the movie, that she played with Play-Doh, puzzles, etc... Aliyah knows details, but only shares them as she sees necessary. Every now and then she talks about it a whole bunch. My parents/grandparents knew she could read because they see her pore over books for hours and get corrected if they mis-read a word, but hadn't heard her read to them until recently. Josh tells me this is how he was as a child. She is all about asking questions like...how do they get the movie on the DVD, what's a laser do, how does the weatherman know it's going to snow etc...Josh gives her scientific answers which she loves.

Well, my little household chores are calling me--LOUDER & LOUDER! Time to get them done!