Do I really even need to say anything :) Simply my heart on two legs, my world! Perfection with curls...and the list goes on and on.
Love this kiddo with all our heart. She makes the sun brighter, the rain bearable and the days awesome :)
She's growing every day, learning so many new things...she amazes me with her thoughts, her actions..with her heart and her way of doing things.
I'm one lucky Mommy :)
2
garden beds..early start cool...almost done. We've planted four types of lettuce, red cabbage, kale,broccoli, onions and three types of tomatoes (German queen, Mr Stripey and Big Boy). Transfer pots have had calcium added to them and ready to go. Garlic is coming up!
We got today almost 2000 heirloom seeds in the mail :) Corn, beans,tomatoes and lettuce :) Some we won't start this year but the GMO deal has alot of farmers/gardners worried about seed access. Since our plants are heirloom we will also have seeds from our plants for next year.
Kaya's had a ball planting and getting dirty :)
We have this popping up on our seed rack..picture one is a week and half old..picture 2 is about three days after it was planted
My awesome anniversary gift from Steve :) The man knows how to win me over lol Some women like fancy jewelry, some think it's got to be an expensive dinner others demand a cruise...he can win me over with a homemade seed rack lol
He did awesome on this. I helped him frame it because there was no way he could handle doing the whole thing by himself with noone to help hold boards etc but we had a blast doing it. Kaya helped to measure and wore her adorable safety glasses :)
It's 6ft tall, 4 ft wide and 2 ft deep. Will hold 600 give or take seed plants. Has moveable lighting to adjust to size of plants. He added a basket on the front to hold seeds and a basket on the side to toss gloves etc. He has hooks on it for tools and a surge protector so all I have to do is flip that off. The shelves come off to allow bigger plants in winter. The bottom shelf is for storage of supplies and the top is where I put our old garden related antiques. He converted an old Army foot locker to hold supplies and we can stack bags of soil on top of it. He built it and placed it next to our sink in the garage so I have access to water etc.
To say I love it ..and him..is an understatement!!
Weather gets nice and the Henderson Hacienda gets busy!
So far we've :
Converted an old garden rack into a bulk pantry shelf and converted an old half pallet into a rotating can good holder! Simply put a back on the half pallet, altered the bottom and attached to the rack. We will use this in the garage. Going to put air tight totes on the shelves to hold flour,sugar, potatoes etc. I freeze my flour and sugar before storage to decrease the chance of it developing bugs etc. In the can good section we will probably do just corn on one side and another veggie (probably can beans..not sure yet) on the other. Items used in higher amounts in winter once we run out of freezer corn etc.
Steve turned an old shelf into an awesome storage shelf that he hung above my sink by the seed rack (picture to be added). He simply painted it white then green then drug it over gravel etc to distress it. Came out awesome. Another heart warming plus? He put my Granny's/Great grandma's canning etc utensils on the rack. Have been wanting to display them just didn't know how!! Top row first two items are can grabbers and the last item is an OLD masher for potatoes etc. On the bottom shelf is an old fashion cup that you use to drain tomato juice etc into your canning jars. The other decorative stuff is odd and ends we had. The dried flower is butterfly bush from our flower beds.
Bottom picture is the 30ish foot flower bed we are installing. We had the old bucket, Kaya and I picked out the purple flowers, we transplanted some already had flowers/butterfly bushes....and planted a smoke tree and 60 gladiola bulbs :) Busy day on that project but we had fun. We have about 20 ft to mulch and then we will edge it..and it's done :) We also caught two awesome bushes on the 50% off rack and planted them beside the house. Steve is remarkable with being able to save plants others would toss!!
Today is our 6 yr anniversary. Funny how this morning is starting out the same way it did 6 yrs ago..overcast and rainy. Hopefully it will shape up weather wise into the same beautiful day we had that day! Can't believe we've been married 6yrs together almost 9. We've had some big hills to climb, some serious things in our life, lots of joy, the birth of a beautiful little girl..and we've done every single step as a team. We often as women think of anniversaries as "our day" and alot of people think in terms of gifts. When really it's a couples day and the gift is right there on your left hand. Women tend to feel a man has to always show appreciation and we often expect it in the form we want...when sometimes it comes as a simple "great meal" or "Love you". We also need to show appreciaton for our husbands. Without them we are not a complete unit, we would not have our child(ren) and our lives would be different. I'm thankful for Steve's calm, blunt nature that balances out my sometimes worrisome nature. For his loyalty, his love, his ability to always see me in the "can do anything" light. For his confidence, for being my shoulder and my rock. For being a good husband and a fine Daddy. So here's to many more years of happiness and laughter :) In turn husbands need to remember to appreciate their wives and I'm very lucky to have a hubby that does :)
Easter is today and we decided to break kosher and do it our way. Steve's family doesn't include us on this holiday, one of us in the house usually has to work and we don't really do much on this holiday with my family..sooo why not do it how we want :) We decided no huge meal with ham etc but instead we are grilling everyone's favorites. Big red hotdogs for my Mom, ribeyes or sirloins for me, my brother and Kaya, and a porterhouse for Steve. Going to fix a few sides, a pan of homemade brownies and that is going to be the meal. Need to finish up some stuff in the house (I know I know..but starting a 7 day work week tomorrow I have things that have to be done and it was too pretty to be cooped up all day yesterday!) May go visit my Dad depending on how Steve feels (Last night was shot night and he worked outside all day....) Other than that just us here together. :)
My Lent project was interesting. Did I do perfect? No. Did I have a few upsets? Yes..one minor, one major. Did I learn anything about others and about myself? YES. Am I going to stick with it? Yes. My minor breakdown lol came from just being tired and letting others get under my skin. My major one came from being fed up with certain ones that ignore us till they need us and making me feel like a tiny dot on the map. But I redirected and got back in line (after a little venting to the hubby lol). I realized that I felt horrible and upset but they sure didn't. Why let someone else's emotions rule MY day and emotions? I have found out in the last 40 days that there are some in our life that love us but will not extend a hand/voice unless we always make the first step. When I stopped making the first step they found out that we would not hang onto their every word, do as they say and think as they think we should. I have found there are some that do not expect us to fix everything..it was ME that felt that need. All in all letting go of others issues/dramas has made me happier. Do I still get upset? Oh yes I cannot stand users and hypocrites. And I cannot tolerate someone that feels the need to dictate another person's life or makes someone feel low simply because opinions are different. I've also learned that I love people for who they are because I want to be loved that way. They may not do as I think they should..but I love them for them. I cannot change them, I cannot fix them and it's not my place to try. We all live different lives, different issues. As long as I go to bed every night with a clear soul that I have lived my life correctly and treated others how I would want to be treated...then I am happy. :)
Happy Easter to everyone!!!
Kaya was super excited to dye Easter eggs. We went with the kool-aid method and it worked really well. Smelled pretty great too lol We used cherry, lemon lime, strawberry, grade, berry blue and tropical punch. If you stired it up well then let the eggs sit in the mix for a bit, rolled them and let them sit again they made some interesting designs. Kaya gave it a big thumbs up :) Her Easter is stashed and ready for Easter day (Giant purple bunny holding a purse..in the purse is a chocolate baby Chick, mini Cadberry eggs and a new pink plaid skort and tshirt :)
We also went out last night for our anniversary since it is actually on Easter day this year. We had a great time. Went to a local bbq joint and it was great service, awesome food and good prices (even better we had a 10 dollar giftcertificate lol). Afterwards we took our time at Lowes with no little voice asking what every single item is (Kaya stayed with her Mammaw W and her Uncle). Figured out a few projects we are going to do. It was nice to just talk.
Some people think your anniversary has to be a huge expensive meal, some far flung couples trip or that it has to be ubber romantic with all the shindigs. That is fine if that is what the couple wants. We just enjoy being together, enjoy each other's sense of humor and enjoy the love we have for each other.
Kaya was certain she should get to come...since we "do everything as a family Mamma!!!" Good point but Mommy and Daddy deserve some time out too. We rarely get date night so we enjoy it when we do.
After we got home our neighbors invited us over for a bonfire in their fire pit to roast marshmellows and the kids to color eggs. It was a nice time. Steve grew up with the guy and knows his parents well. We just had fun. Another big thing today was letting Kaya walk across our yard to the neighbors house by herself (we could see her) and play for about an hour. To some that may seem small but she has never got to do that and to be honest..I felt like puking a time or two lol but they all played well together and she was invited back anytime. I know it's good for her to have friends but it's also slightly hard to just let your kiddo be at another's house. But she had fun, didn't complain when it was time to come home. :)
March is MS Awareness month. I will admit as a family (as a person) that we didn't know too much about it other than it was a rough disease with no cure. But now that it's in our life front and center we know alot about it. It's not only chronic with no cure but sometimes to the naked eye it is invisible. Which leads to judging, opinions etc from the peanut gallery. I thought how would I approach MS Awareness? I could list statistics, medicines, routines. Or I could educate from speaking about how it affects us.
MS is a silent, invisible disease that usually appears out of nowhere. It's simply your body turning on itself and eating the protective sheaths off nerve endings. Depending on where it decides to dine during the episode ..will tell you what will happen. With Steve we never noticed the subtle signs (tiredness, leg aches, sleepless nights, headaches etc) because they are easily wrote off as something else. Then when the nerve that was hit was a speech nerve...we knew it was something serious. Once the sheath is eaten away at..the antibodies move on to another before the first one can fully heal. Antibodies are constantly looking for a food source (sounds gross I know but easiest way to describe it) and when they eat away completely at main nerve then you have a relapse..then a remission as your body tries to heal. Sometimes it's speech, sometimes walking, bladder etc. Sometimes your body heals completely sometimes not.
But what MS boils down to is being tired. Dealing with medical bills,insurance companies, shot companies, using a recycling company for used pens, shots, steroids, researching the latest item that might work. It's a diagnosis but not a death sentence. It's a Daddy that still is Superman to his baby girl..he just flies a bit slower some nights. It's pacing yourself when you have never paced yourself, realizing you just have to take a nap, it's altering plans on bad days. It's being lucky to have a spouse that understands and can pick up the riegns on family life and make things work. It's being lucky to have a child that understands sometimes Daddy's legs are tired or that sometimes he needs to sit a bit. It's dealing with people's opinions on a subject they do not live with, telling you to exercise more (not realizing that you do it every day) to eat this/not eat that. It's not being lazy. It's facing head on a situation that can make or break your marriage, your self esteem and your confidence. It's having family back off because they don't understand and if they don't see it..it doesn't exist. It's friends no longer calling because they think "you can't do anything". It's trying a new medicine that makes you feel like crap in hopes it staves off a relapse..or shunning new meds to try a homeopathic way and then worry that you might miss the "one" medicine that could have worked. It's supplements and vitamins. It makes you appreciate those that stand beside you, those that care enough to check on you/ask how you are..and it's learning that some never realize it's a disease BUT IT'S NOT YOUR LIFE in every single instance. Do we know that we won't hike the Grand Canyon in four hours? Yes...but it doesn't mean we WON'T hike it (we will just do it on our terms :) ) It affects your life in every instance. Will we have another child? Will the next treatment break the bank? Will insurance pay for this or that? Will this place take our insurance?
But honestly what MS boils down to is..a human trying. It doesn't shorten your life expectancy unless you have the last stages/roughest type. But all forms of it CAN shorten your life expectations unless you decide how to face it. We dealt with a tremendous amount of fear, anxiety, stress for almost 5 solid months. We faced the diagnosis, the bills, the shots, the anxiety over the shots, the training course, juggling my work to be there as I have to be trained as well, worry over how Kaya would take it, the hospital stay..and then when the shots started..we dealt with mood swings out the roof. The meds would make Steve so stressed that sitting a pan down wrong on the stove would upset him. The steroids made him fly like a hummingbird till the crash came...such high doses they do to prep your body for MS shots etc also cause you to withdrawal for a few days and become very emotional and upset over small things..all the while not feeling like he could get out of bed. It was him apologizing for getting upset, then being upset for being upset!! It was him having anger over the fact that I had to do all the outside stuff once dead heat of summer came on because he simply could not get out. But it was also the time we found out just how much we love each other, how strong we are and that we are in this (and every single thing) together! That Kaya knows Daddy has to do his shot on the weekend so if he has a side effect he can rest while I'm home and be ok to take care of her come Monday. She knows that Daddy is the same Daddy he just "has tired legs" :)
So I believe MS awareness just has to be taught by speaking the truth, listening to others that have it and how they cope...and by people asking questions. I wish some (especially family) would see that you can ask instead of pretending nothing is wrong.
