Rachel, Lizzie and Gardening

Wow, what a time we have had. We all got ill during Christmas, but had fun with Dave's brother who came to visit us and had a brief visit with my brother when he stopped by. The boys are back at school and Rachel is continuing with her education now too. Things are going pretty well.

Rachel lost her first tooth the other day. It was really cute. She came in and was talking with Dave and I one evening as we were getting every one in bed. We were looking at her loose tooth and I commented that it looked like all she had to do was pull it and it would come out. I got a tissue for her to use to hold on to her tooth easier. I wrapped the tissue around her tooth and it almost fell off into my hands as I did it. I helped her grab the tooth that way and it fell out. She started going into hysterics. At first I couldn't tell if she was hurt or if she was just happy (because it was more like a scream than a laugh). I asked her if it hurt and she shook her head "No" and kept laughing. After she calmed down a bit she said that she thought it was going to hurt and was really surprised that it didn't. It was really cute.

Lizzie loves her brothers and sisters. One day as I was getting her ready for a nap she didn't want me. This is very odd because she is a HUGE "Mamma's Girl." She was in position for a diaper change and was telling me that she wanted Hannah. Not that Hannah can change her diaper, but she wanted her still. So, Hannah came in and played with her a bit while I changed her diaper and got her ready for her nap. When some of the kids are away, Lizzie often runs around the house calling for them and looking for them. I love it when my kids show love for each other. They all do it, and I think Lizzie is the one who feels the most love from them because she is still a "baby" and doesn't make them as mad as easily as they do to each other.

Gardening season is coming upon us here. We planted our tomato, pepper, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, egg plant and okra seeds for FHE on Monday. We will be trying egg plant and okra for the first time this year. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a good way to prepare them since I have never done that before. We are going to be trying some new techniques for gardening this year. We will be making a raised bed garden. I will construct 4 or so "boxes" that are 4 feet wide by 16 feet long and 8 or so inches tall. We will make some good soil (hopefully) with the compost that we have been making over these last few years of living here and a few other additives. We are very excited to try this new method and hope it works out well. We can start planting some things out doors in another month or so for some of the cool weather veggies. So, I guess I better get going on those boxes. I love the spring!!