Warning: A photo heavy post!

In honor of Mother's Day tomorrow, I am posting a bunch of my favorite reasons to be a mom. ;) We had a fun day at our friend's house the other day, and now the kids are begging for a cart pony. I already vetoed the snake, but could be very convinced of the pony. I have it on great authority that if the children are all outside with the pony, the house stays clean. It's worth the try!









And now: in order of age... a few of my favorite reasons to be a Mama!

Angela... age 16...





Matthew ... Age 15 ...



Josiah ... Age 12...



Anna ... Age 9 ...



Emma ... Age 7 ...



Sara ... Age 5 ...



Nathan ... Age 4 ...



Mercy ... Age 2 ...



Bethany ... Age 10 months ...



And now, at the risk of bogging down your computers, but because I have so many beautiful photos of my children taken while they and friends were playing with cameras, some of my other favorites from the last couple weeks:













These all show Emma so very well... her personality is wonderful!

Garden Club 5/ 8/ 09

Good morning garden friends! Anyone else having this horribly WET week that we are? I am sure that once the sun in out our plants will grow like gangbusters, but right now they are a little soggy!

We did have ONE quick moment of sun... I blogged about it Here. The gardens are mostly weeded, except for the one which has corn in it... since corn and grass look similar, to say the least we need to wait to see which is which.

My peas look wonderful. My beans are growing, and the strawberries are flourishing. My broccoli and cauliflower are weak. I doubt they will be doing much. My peppers look good, but the tomatoes are still weak. We'll see if they grow or die.

Something is getting into the side garden, through the fence we put up. I suspect it's rabbits. They seem to like one of the three boxes over the others... all I have are stems left in them. Cucumbers, tomatoes, anything... just stems. Anyone have any ideas for keeping the critters out? It is right next to the house, so I thought the dogs would do a lot to keep things out, but maybe not.

It seems that Mr. Linky is on strike today, so just leave your links in the comment section.

Hope you are doing well!

I've been wrong before...

But after walking out of the doctor's appointment yesterday when I was treated rudely by a receptionist, I returned to the practice which delivered my last three babies. It's 15 minutes farther away, but no issue now.

So I went to my appointment today. Remember it's the first time I've been seen this pregnancy? I thought I was 19 weeks. Turns out I am actually 20 weeks! Gotta love when a pregnancy goes this quicky, huh?! The midwife decided to see if there was a cancelation in the ultrasound department. Wouldn't you know there was one in a half hour? So I had an ultrasound too!

I was convinced we were having a boy. I even had a favorite name. But we have to start the process again, as we saw a perfectly formed GIRL!!!

If we saw right, the count will be 7 girls, 3 boys.

All you people having boys... raise them right. We'll need a plethora of Godly men to marry these beauties in a couple decades.

A Busy Time on the "Farm"

Spring has come to central Kentucky... and we are BUSY!!! We have raised several batches of chicks in our bathrooms, and now they are all out in the henhouse, pecking away merrily. I really think that chickens pecking in a field is one of the more peaceful things on God's Green Earth.

Our gardens are in (mostly), and enjoying the bountiful rain we have gotten over the last week. Our yard was looking so nice, but was quickly beginning to look suspiciously like a jungle. It stopped raining yesterday. I THOUGHT it was going to clear up, so I was waiting for it to dry a bit before weeding, doing a little more planting, and getting the yard mowed. Until Eric looked at the weather report and saw that there was supposed to be a second set of rain coming for the next few days... so we dropped everything and made hay while the sun shone. Well, actually, while we got the garden and the yards under control.

(As a side note, the rain started as I was writing this, so I suppose it was a good idea.)

Our other big project (besides just living and getting things done with 9 children running around) is the Bible Bee. We downloaded the study guide last Friday, and... OH MY WORD is it going to a a wonderful challenge for the kids. There are a LOT of verses to memorize. I'll be posting a schedule when I figure out exactly what each child needs to memorize for their age group. I think there will be a minimum of 13 verses a week for the younger children, and 10 additional ones for the older ones... and by verses I mean sections of verses. Many of them are between 3 and 11 verses long! So we have been getting busy going on that.

As far as a Mercy update (since I have been remiss in updating our blog), she continues to do well. Her heart is obviously feeling better without the added pressure of the blood flow needed for the hemangioma. She is gaining weight and developing beautifully. She has been off the prednisone now for almost two weeks, for the first time since she was 10 weeks old.

We do think that the hemangioma is slightly puffier again, but that is the only negative thing to report.

On the 18th - 19th I will be taking her up to Cincinnati to have a full run of tests... the first since we started the propranalol. We will have an echocardiogram and EKG scheduled along with a meeting with our cardiologist. The next day we will have an MRI, a blood test to see if her body is making whatever the prednisone took over, a bone density X-ray (due to long term prednisone use), and a meeting with our WONDERFUL vascular doctor. Add a 4 hour trip each way, and it will be a long series of days no matter how I do it.

I need to go... I have my first appointment for the new baby. I am 19 weeks. Ahem. Yes, I know most people see their midwives by now, but well- we've been busy. I guess that's the difference between baby #1 and #10. Haha.

Have a great day!