Changing Seasons

Well, hello!  So blogging has been #offthebeam for a while, but as we begin to enter a new season, I find my brain including thoughts I would like to write down.

What is this new season?  Well, let me start with our latest, and now permanent, season.  We ended our first foster to adopt placement on April 7th by finalizing the adoption of our two sons!  They had lived with us for about a year and a half before we adopted, so our day to day didn't change much, but the finality of things has been glorious.  I have never included pictures of the boys faces or names on this blog.  And even if it's late in coming, I would like to introduce our boys.

We had a great big celebration party after the adoption, which was such a sweet time of celebration.  Since we had a captive audience, we made speeches.  Here's what I said:

"I get to talk about our sons! After we adopted the boys, I realized that unintentionally I had not used the word “son” very often, but now is it such a special name to use. I'll start with Moses. Moses is a loving, funny, and smart boy. He gives lots of affection, likes to quote movies, is a great singer, loves school, will do just about anything to get a laugh and shows concern for others. He loves to read, play outside, and eat at restaurants. Moses is eager to be a helper at all times and is proud of himself when he accomplishes something new. He also loves his brother well.

One of the neat things about this process was the ability to know our kids before we chose names for them. We were able to choose names that speak to some of the things that we pray for them and hope they will grow into. We chose the middle name Cohen for Moses because it means brave. Joshua 1:7-9 says “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Moses the brave. Moses Cohen Cave

And now for Aaron. Aaron is an independent, energetic, and sweet boy. He is a fast learner, loves music, always wants to be outside, can't play with enough cars, and enjoys swimming. If you are sad, he wants to make you happy. He loves books, anything with wheels, and is happiest with a stick or rock in his hand. Aaron wants to do everything big brother does and has one particular laugh that only Moses can get out of him.

We chose the middle name Callum for Aaron because it means gentle. James 3:17-18 says “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.” Aaron the gentle. Aaron Callum Cave"

The following photos were taken on adoption day by my very talented sister-in-law,  Check her stuff out here.

Moses Cohen

Aaron Callum

And now for the new.  At the six month post-adoption mark, we had to decide if we would continue to foster or not.  We prayed and sought the Lord, and the answer is yes!  So, I'm in nesting mode again, and we believe we will be available to accept a new placement by the end of this year.  Maybe a little sooner.  

Glad you were curious enough to read.  (Especially after such a long time!)

Holiday Happenings

Happy MLK Day!  And Happy New Year!  And Merry Christmas!  And Happy Thanksgiving!  Oh, and Happy Halloween, too!  Somewhere along the way in the last year and a half blogging has moved progressively lower down my list of priorities.  But every now and then I get a hankering to write a bit.  Today is one of those days.

For those wondering about our pending adoption (which was scheduled for November), it's still pending.  We were all set to adopt our sweet boys on November 22nd in celebration of National Adoption Day, but some more legal stuff came up and put a stop to that.  We currently have no idea when we might be able to finalize the adoption, but we are hopeful that with the beginning of the new year, the folks working on the case will find a renewed sense of devotion to closing out this case.  At least, that's what we are praying for.  We would love you to join us in these prayers!

The weekend of MLK Day was perfect weather!  We did a little painting, tore out our old sink and put in a new vanity, and had a lovely day at the zoo.  If the boys were telling you about the zoo, they would say, "With Matt! With Matt!  We took Matt to the zoo!"  I also enjoyed teaching the boys about Dr. King.  (Martin Luther King, Junior is quite a mouthful when you are little.)  We talked about how he used his words with respect and people listened to him.  We talk a lot about using our words instead of using our hits these days, so I was thrilled to tell the boys Dr. King's story.

For the new year holiday, Lolli and Pop (my parents) came to stay with us for a few days.  We got to go to the museum with them, exchange Christmas gifts, and even tried to hold them hostage here with the help of some icy roads.  

On Christmas Day we ran away for family vacation!  This has been our tradition since The Hubs and I got married.  We stayed in a cabin, went hiking, cooked hot dogs over the campfire, and all sorts of fun things.  I wasn't even mad when it rained 75% of the time we were there, because friends, by the end of December I was all for sitting around and not doing anything.

Christmas Eve was spent with Tim's family.  The day consisted of Oma and Opa playing at our house (you don't get a break when you're a grandparent in this casa), a Christmas Eve service at church, a delicious dinner from Josh and Janet, and lots of presents.  We might have gotten The Best Christmas Present Ever- a year long pass to the zoo!  Oh, and we sent out our annual digital Christmas card. (Included here, in case you missed it.)

Thanksgiving was pretty low key.  My parents came here because Tim's new job bases their schedule off the stock market.  And did you know, it doesn't close much?  Another low key factor was me choosing to buy dinner instead of cook it all myself.  Some might call me a cheat, but I'm ok with that.

For Halloween, the boys were ninjas.  I'm talking the cutest ninjas ever.  They ran around yelling, "HI-YA!" for several days.  And The Hubs collected his Daddy Tax from their candy baskets so he enjoyed himself, too.

Does that catch us up?  Probably not, but at least it's a start.  We hope you had a great Fall and holiday season and would love to spend some time with you this year.  Blogs are nice, but time spent together is better.  :)

Glad you were curious enough to read.  

Summertime

I realized the other day that if I didn't blog soon, our boys would be adopted before I got around to it. That's right... ADOPTED!!  I'll fill in a few details about that later, but mostly wanted to give a few glimpses into our days now.

Overall, things have been good for us.  They boys are growing and learning and just generally being cute.  Until the times they're not.  But that's not news to anyone who's ever parented (heck, just been around) two and three year olds.  They have finished school and now we're in full summer mode.  I'm not going to lie, I was scared.  So I made a crazy weekly schedule for us to follow... for my sanity more than anyone else's.  I've got to have some structure.  A plan.  My children added the word "syllable" to their vocabulary, and I did a happy dance around the kitchen.  And then summer really got busy and all my well laid plans flew out the window.  I haven't given up, I've just backed off a bit... for my sanity.

The boys are doing gymnastics once a week, which is hilarious.  Big Brother's entire take away from each class is dependent on the trampoline:  "You did such a good job!  Was that fun?"  "I did NOT jump on the trampoline."  Little Brother's class is a mommy and me style class that I love.  It's fun to watch them learn and grow and develop skills.  But I repeat, it's hilarious.

I know if we could show you pictures, our boys would just make you melt.  Since we're not quite there yet, I'll just have to talk about them a little more so you can paint your own pictures.  We borrowed a book from the library called Ninja! a couple of weeks ago.  One of the boys' favorite lines from the book is, "I am a ninja!"  I had put the book on the dining table thinking that little hands would not get into them unless I was supervising (you know, these being borrowed books and all), until Little Brother wandered into the living room with the Ninja! book.  I said, "Oh, no.  Did you climb on the table and get the book?"  His response?  "I am ninja!!"

During the World Cup I was cheering for Germany, and while we watched the final the boys were cheering with me.  Still to this day, Big Brother will say, "I'm Germany!" when playing any type of sport.  He also will randomly yell at the top of his lungs, "GO GERMANY!"  Usually in a public place like the grocery store.  In other sports news, we took the boys to their first baseball game.  I cannot express how much it thrills me that my boys are into this.

We got a package in the mail the other day so I asked the boys what they thought might be inside.  Big Brother thought it was a "new teethbrushing," and Little Brother thought it was a "motorcycle."  I don't know what goes on in their heads, but it is a normal thing for me to be surprised by what they say.

And in other news, not related to the kids, my garden is growing.  This is a miracle.  I have never grown anything in my life.  And I busted the window out of our car.  Apparently I got a little too rambunctious with the weed eater.  Mercedes was singing in my head for at least 24 hours.  The Hubs and I also celebrated our third anniversary.  We went to this place that had several high ropes courses up in the trees.  Probably not your typical anniversary celebration, but perfect for us Curious Caves.  Oh, and I donated my pony tail and now have awesome hair.

My bad.

Love birds

And finally, our adoption update.  The last time I wrote about our case, we were waiting for May 12th.  It came and went uneventfully, thanks to the lack of urgency in our particular court.  We had to wait for paperwork that should have come in February but actually got to us in July.  Once those papers came through, we were able to start the process for adopting the boys.  It's more paperwork and more waiting, but it looks like we might actually be finished and finalized in a month or two.  I'm a little hesitant to put that timeline in writing, though, because we have learned not to expect a quick turn around on anything.  We are so excited to adopt for so many reasons!  We will have more freedom in decisions we make for our boys, we will get to give them our name, AND we can have a regular ol' babysitter stay with them while we go on a date like normal people.  ;)

This is what happens when your three year old takes your picture on date night.

He got a decent one, too, though.

Glad you were curious enough to read.

Confession

I drive a minivan... and I like it.  There.  I said it.

Before children I fully intended to fight the inevitable minivan much harder than I actually did.  (I say inevitable because I've always known I'm too cheap to own a fancy SUV with a third row.)  I thought, "Surely I can make it to 30 before giving in.  Who wants to drive a minivan in their 20s?" Pride much?

But can I just say- it. is. awesome.

In case you don't know, I am tall.  I hated having to bend myself in half to get the boys in and out of the car.  And I practically had to crawl out of it with my ridiculously long legs after riding in it.  Also, the third row doubles as a changing table.  And I can fit my groceries in the back, even with the stroller, rather than having to pile them in the passenger seat because there was not a square inch of room left in the trunk when our double stroller was in it.  Plus, when we went on vacay we just popped the back row out of that bad boy and loaded it up.  The Hubs even said, "It feels like we're cheating," because there wasn't stuff in our laps.

Did I mention this is my Mema's 1999 minivan with a tape deck and fluffy seatbelt cover?  Don't worry, I've never claimed to be hip or trendy.

So there.  I drive a minivan, and yes, I like it.

Glad you were curious enough to read.

A Day in The Life

Somewhere in the last week or two we seem to have shifted into feeling a little settled.  I can't really pinpoint when it happened, or what is different, but the boys are doing really well and I seem to be getting the hang of our new routine.  So I thought today I would regale you with the tale of our morning.  Which, of course, requires some backstory, so here we go.

On Saturday, Little Brother fell with his face on a toy.  As the toy was being introduced to his face it busted his bottom lip and cut his upper gum.  Fun times were had by all over the next few hours as we spent part of our Saturday at the ER.  We were given a phone number and told to call the dentist on Monday to schedule a follow up appointment.  Which I did.

On Monday, I scheduled a dentist appointment for Little Brother at 8am on Wednesday.  "Great," I thought.  "We can do it early and still get him to Mother's Day Out reasonably close to 9am."  I was told to call insurance before we arrived to get this new dentist's name on our account.  Which I did not do.

Thus began my morning.  At approximately 7:24am I made my first call to the insurance company when I realized I hadn't followed instructions.  The card definitely says 24hrs/day, so you can imagine my surprise when I said all the right words to the computer and pushed all the right numbers to navigate my call to the right person only to hear a recorded message tell me I had not called during office hours.  I still had 36 minutes before they could help me.  I also had 36 minutes until I needed to check in at the dentist with a confirmation number from insurance and my boys might have still been in their jammers.  Great.

So now I'm the lady in the waiting room with the huge double stroller (because it's just easier when they are contained) who doesn't have a confirmation number yet and isn't answering the gentleman at the front desk when he calls my son's name because I'm on the phone with insurance.  Yeah, that's me. Oh, and then there's barely any service in the office and my phone is about to die so I'm wandering the room for pockets of service while trying to push the right numbers to navigate my call and then asking the nice lady to repeat my confirmation number because I only heard the first three numbers and the last  two.  Ok, got it.

After that, things went well with the dentist.  They have all these cool vintage video games and toys, so the boys were totally happy, until Little Brother needed an x-ray.  I had to sit with him in the chair, hold him down and let them get a picture.  Then he had to get in the big chair to let the dentist check out his gum.  Thankfully, we got good reports all around, he was just mad because we held him down.  I would be too.

Now it's time to leave.  Both boys are screaming as I put them in the stroller because they have to leave the toy cars behind.  We LOVE cars.  But the dentist gave them each a balloon shaped like a sword.  They made it from the office to the outside of the car.  As I was putting bags in the car I heard the first pop.  Little Brother decided to chew his sword and all that was left was the tiny curve of the handle.  The next thing I know, he's grabbed Big Brother's balloon and Big Brother is screaming.  Then came the second pop.  Little Brother bites again!  There was no refrigerator to hide behind and I wanted to laugh so bad, but I held it together for Big Brother.

Little Brother goes into the car.  Big Brother goes into the car clinging on to the tiny handle left of his balloon.  And my shirt is wet.  Which means Big Brother's pants are wet.  So, out comes Big Brother, stripped down to t-shirt and socks with diaper and pants on the ground beside.  On goes a new diaper and (thankfully) the shorts that were in his backpack.  Back goes Big Brother into the car, along with the wet pants and diaper in the floorboard, because parking lots don't have trash cans and why would I have anything to store a wet diaper in?  Oh, wait.  I'm the mom.  Oops.

We made it to school and found a trash can.  Big Brother dropped off the cookies he made for his teachers.  And I'm still wearing the pee shirt.  Oops again.

Never a dull moment.  I so wish I could show you their sweet faces and beautiful smiles.  I know they would brighten your day, just like they do for all the strangers we meet at the grocery store.  They always tell everyone hi and I can literally see people's countenance change because of the kindness of our kiddos.  It's a great reminder to me that we have lots of joy to share with the world.

Invitation to date night at my favorite coffee shop

New "packpacks" from Lolli and Pop!

My boys at the balloon festival

Big Brother loves to cook

Little Brother thinks he's funny

Taking Daddy's shoes for a spin

Glad you were curious enough to read.

Family of Four

Where to begin?!  I guess I should first say that we have multiplied and are now a family of four!  On August 11th, we had two little boys come to stay with us, and we are two weeks into our new normal.  

Because this is a foster situation we won't be sharing too many specific details about our sweet ones, but we did want to let everyone know we're all alive and kickin'.

A few things we can share- Big Brother is 2 and 1/2 years old with one of the best giggles you have ever heard.  Little Brother is 1 and 1/2 years old with a rival giggle of his own.  They are sweet, happy boys and they definitely keep us on our toes.  They love cars and books and being outside.  And as you can imagine, quite age appropriately, they can have a few fits here and there.

They arrived on a Sunday afternoon, construction on their bathroom started Monday morning, and by Wednesday The Hubs was in bed with a stomach bug, followed by me on Thursday.  We were so afraid the boys would get it so I followed everyone around with Lysol for several days.  They never got it, but did decide to share a good ole head cold with me.  Awesome.

Because of said construction, we were quarantined to the kitchen for the better part of the first week and a half.  They played, ate, and napped in there with no trouble.  And I was beyond thankful to learn that they can sleep through loud power tools during nap time.

The Brothers share a bedroom and we hear them talking with one another at night over the monitor for a while before they fall asleep.  It's pretty darn cute!  They also love going to church and playing in the nursery, which is a really good thing since we are there so much.

Big Brother loves to eat pizza and Little Brother loves to eat just about anything you put in front of him.    We have been blessed beyond measure by friends who have brought us meals and done grocery shopping for us while we were sick and figuring out how to do life with two toddlers.  Seriously, we could not have made it these last two weeks without our amazing, supportive friends.

This weekend, we had our first grandparent visit!  Lolli and Pop (my parents) came Friday and Saturday.  They are pretty smitten with the boys and Big Brother has not stopped asking for them yet.  We loved that they were here to lend some helping hands... we even got to do the yard work that had been completely neglected since our little guys came.  Next weekend Oma and Opa (Tim's parents) will get their turn.

Prayers are still very much appreciated as we all continue to learn about each other and how to live together.  Parents are tired, boys will be boys, and everyone has gone through a lot of change in a short amount of time.  Often, this job feels too big for me, but I gratefully remember that I serve a God who is Love, Peace, Unchanging, Provider, Strength, Victor, All-Knowing, Creator, Wise, Faithful, Merciful, Gracious....

Five minutes after arrival.

The normal dinner crime scene.

My view these days.  Oh how I wish I could show you their faces!

Glad you were curious enough to read.

Goose Creek

The Hubs and I recently returned from a trip to Goose Creek.  We went to visit the Emory family with five college students, Team Reams, and their seven month old, Baby E, in tow.  15 people sleeping under one roof, and it was awesome!

We had so much fun I don't even know where to start.  How about the beginning?  We arrived on Saturday evening to a wonderful meal cooked by the amazing Brett.  In fact, amazing might be an understatement.  Yall, she cooked all our meals for the whole week.  I know I said there were 15 people sleeping in the house, but very rarely were we the only ones eating in the house.  Brett rocked all the meals and even pre-made food for when she was going to be gone on vacation at the end of the week.  I think it's safe to say we were spoiled.  (Somehow I didn't manage to get any pictures of her.)

Sunday morning we rearranged the house and had church.  The Emorys have started Hub Church right in their home and have a wonderful group of people meeting in their home.  They were ordaining their first elder that morning, so it was special to be with them and get to pray over he and his wife.  We're continuing to pray for you, Marcus and Allisha!  We were also able to hear the heart behind Hub Church and the thing that continues to stick with me the most is this: standard of living is not equal to quality of living.  This is something we know and believe, but it's great to have a concise way to say it and help keep us in check.

We spent our afternoon at the beach, which I was admittedly skeptical about, but ended up loving every minute of it.  This will be hard for some of you to believe, but the weather was so nice I had goosebumps... on the last day of June.  Who knew?!  (Sadly, I also have no pictures of the beach because I left my camera in the car.)

Monday we cleaned up a park and then passed out flyers in the neighborhood that evening to let them know about a park party the next afternoon.  It was really rainy the whole time we were there, but on this particular day, the radar showed storms all around us that would divide as they came to Goose Creek and reconvene on the other side.  Our God is big.  Christin did a wonderful job setting up the project and is probably one of the hardest workers I've ever had the pleasure of sweating next to.

Pulling weeds

Power washing... who needs a ladder?

Painting

What's a park party without snow cones and cotton candy?

And a bounce house, of course!

Tuesday morning, most of the team worked at a home to remove the back porch to make room for a new one and got completely drenched in the process.  I told you it rained a lot.

We played lots and lots of games.  Nothing like some good, friendly competition to bring out the fun in the Emory house.  I absolutely loved so much quality time with so many people!

We also had group devotions every night.  Different people lead us each day and it was a great time to reflect on how the Lord is moving among His people.  One night in particular, Tim shared about our obedience to the Lord through foster care and all the unknowns that go along with it.  After group time was over, one of the Hub Church men sat with us and told us of his family's journey through foster care and adoption.  Then he offered Tim his number so they can stay connected and encouraged.  We went to bed that night with very full hearts!  We had been praying for a man that Tim could turn to in hard times.  Jason, you had been prayed for and we are so thankful for you!

Wednesday, after making a stop by the local food pantry and possible future home of Hub Church, we got to go see Charleston.  So much history!  It was lots of fun riding around town and experiencing a new place.  And, of course, we got rained on again... the adventures just kept coming.

Anyone know this reenactment?

I want a porch like that.

Did I mention it rained?

Thursday was the Forth of July and we had lots of time to relax and play.  The boys bought (too many) fireworks because there are no laws about where to shoot them off in Goose Creek.  Needless to say, I was slightly on edge that night, but everyone made it through... eyebrows and all!  It was a really fun night with lots of games, neighbors, food, and laughter.

There were so many small, sweet things that happened throughout the week.  It was such a joy to be with the Emorys again.  We have missed them!  It was good to just sit and catch up.  They are such a special family.  They love each other well and their home is filled with so much happiness and laughter.  I've never been in a more hospitable house.  One of our students observed that they have really great attitudes and don't let much get to them.  Like the way that Sid cracked jokes as he cleaned up the GALLON of blue paint that spilled in his trunk, or the way Stacy couldn't talk because she was laughing so hard after getting soaked by the rain, not to mention how eager Wes, Will, and Bonnie were to share their home (and even give up a bed!) with us.  Bon Bon and I even got to sneak off for a fro yo date.  :)  The Emorys live out their love for God and love for others like we have been learning about at our church.  What a great example of Matthew 22:37-39 they are!  I know it wasn't really a vacation, but this is the most time The Hubs and I have gotten to spend together in a while and we loved it.  Two years and counting!  It was wonderful, as well, to hear the students talk about what they took away from our week in Goose Creek.  I'm so thankful they were obedient in the call to go and that they were listening while they were there. 

Speaking of two years, that's the span of time between the last two pictures I have with Bonnie.  Check this out:

Two years ago

Two days ago

We returned home on Friday and after all the students were picked up from the church we headed home.  As we drove I said, "Oh no!  We never made it to Mepkin Abbey!"  We grinned at each other and said together, "Guess we're just going to have to go back."

Glad you were curious enough to read.

Sample Platter

I'm going to combine several different topics into today's blog, so you will be getting a little bit of everything.  Think of it as a sample platter from your favorite restaurant.  :)

We finished our foster parent training classes last Saturday!  We learned many things in a short amount of time.  The Hubs describes it as drinking from a fire hydrant.  

A majority of our paperwork is done.  In fact, enough of it has been completed that we were notified yesterday that we are rapidly moving toward the top of the homestudy list.  No joke, they told us that we are within four to six weeks of verification.  That means the state will have approved us and deemed us ready to receive kids into our home.  We are still trying to take that time frame in... are we really ready?!

On the subject of paperwork, I have decided that it is much like sleep for a pregnant woman.  Let me explain.  Although I do not have first hand experience of trying to sleep while pregnant, I hear it can be very difficult.  I have heard it said that your body is just getting you used to not having much sleep from here on out.  I do have first hand experience with the large amount of documentation that has been needed to receive our foster home license.  I am saying that the state is just getting us used to filling out paperwork for the duration of our time as foster parents.  There is going to be a lot to keep up with.  

I'm going to give my first "do not" advice to you as friends and family of foster parents.  Actually, it's more of a "don't expect us to..."  As we get to meet these precious little ones, we are going to be very careful about what info we share.  We are the guardians of them and their story, and if we don't pass the story on to you, then you don't have the pressure of also being a guardian.  It keeps you safe, us safe, and most importantly keeps the kids safe.  I know a lot of you are faithful prayers and we are jealous for your prayers, but please offer them on our behalf even if you don't know all the details of what we are dealing with or where our kiddos come from.  The Lord knows and we will trust Him with that!  

In my last post I talked about a video series that can help anyone interested understand the concept of Therapeutic Parenting.  There's some good info there.  I also included a sweet song by JJ Heller.  I'm loving her stuff so much right now... I can't resist sharing another one.  :)

My last soapbox of the day, I promise!  Love is necessary for what we are going to be doing as foster parents.  But love is not enough.  We are incapable of loving someone to the point of healing.  We will love them, yes, but we will also talk to them, listen to them, set boundaries for them, meet their needs, provide positive experiences and relationships, and do our best to parent them.  Our love is finite and fallible, but we know The One whose love is steadfast, unending, and perfect.  "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10  

A few pictures to finish off the sample platter today.  We've done more landscaping and had a couple of adventures.

Tim got to go camping with his family and caught this sunrise. 

A trip to the zoo is never complete without a little gator surfing.

Recycled pathway on the side of the house in the mud pit.

New light over the garage- one that actually works!

Finally filled in the hole with sod.

Recycled pathway in front of the house.

Got to throw a wedding shower in our backyard.  Fun times!

I'm not sure we can do anything the normal way.  And I'm ok with that.

Glad you were curious enough to read.

Need Some Sull? (Soil)

Spring is here, and so are some changes to the outside of our house.  There have been many slow difficult tasks involved, but there has been definite progress.  I was really hoping to have been working on other projects inside the house, but as these outdoor projects were time sensitive we had to do them first.  This is what our house looked like when we moved in:

Our main issue was that the sidewalk in front of our house (that connected the front stairs to the driveway) was preventing water from flowing away and instead sending it under the house.  So, step one was to get rid of the sidewalk.  Two borrowed (and both broken) sledge hammers, a pick ax, and a rented jackhammer later the sidewalk was gone.

Whew!  That was some hard work.  Next we removed the large bushes to the right of the steps and then I relocated the small bushes to the space around the tree in the front.

Let me take this opportunity to say that I have never planted anything in my life.  When plants are brought into my house they usually receive a death sentence.  But I've been trying really hard, so hopefully the plants indoors and out will make it!

The next thing we needed was dirt.  Lots of dirt.  As previously mentioned, The Hubs was working crazy hours, so this task was taken over by an ambitious Wifey.  2,000 lbs. of soil later, I was ready to plant new bushes.

The ground was ready, but as I know nothing about plants it took me a while to decide what kind of bushes to plant.  I'm also a bargain shopper.  I knew I wanted something that would flower and that could handle the heat, and finally found some Abelia bushes that will hopefully treat me right!  When I asked the man at the nursery if I could grow this type of plant, he asked if I could change a flat tire.  When my answer was yes, he assured me I could grow these.  Not really sure how the two correlate, but they already have these crazy shoots of new growth which is awesome.  Our neighbors have tons of beautiful plants and dug up three of something that I don't remember the name of for us to plant, too.

If only I had my camera on me when we tried out the sprinklers for the first time this season.  Apparently we jackhammered into one of the pipes and had a geyser.  I thought it was rather entertaining, but it took Tim a while to come around to the funny side of things.  He got it all patched up and now all we need for the front to be finished is some sod to cover the rest of the dirt.

If you made it this far, I'm glad you were curious enough to read.