Another Garden Update

So, it is a bit ironic that the week after I post pictures of our thriving garden the "storm of the year" shows up in Arkansas (in our neighborhood to be exact) and wipes pretty much the whole thing out. The huge event happened while the kids and I have been in Utah, but from my conversations with Greg he says it was quite the storm. Imagine thunder and lightening right on top of each other, hail threatening to break through the windows, rain coming down in literal bucket loads. More water than our neighborhood knew what to do with. There was a house down the street from us on the corner that had water coming. There was a river down the street (one of the pictures below will show the water line on a mailbox.) Greg went out with the neighbor at about 2:00 am to assess the damage. Thanks to our french drain, that took all the water away from the back of our house, the damage we survived was limited to our garden, oh, but that poor garden.

This is what the hail and rain did to the corn. Just as the ears were beginning to form

More pictures of the lovely garden, but what a beautiful morning to follow such a crazy storm

Our lovely pumpkin plant that was destined to grow a blue ribbon pumpkin!

The wind snapped trees in half and there were a couple trampolines that were picked up and carried over fences.You can see the water line on this mail box. It is hard to imagine that much water coming down the road!

Garden Update

Here are a few pictures of our growing garden. The corn has definitely taken a beating this spring. We had a huge rain storm last night and the last 3 rows of corn are laying flat on the ground, hopefully they will bounce back. Sadly the peas didn't produce, fresh peas are the only way I 'do' peas, so we'll definitely try them again next year. The pumpkin plant has taken over the garden, and has tried to spread out over the garden wall. We have to keep reminding it of it's place. The carrots are coming along, and the lettuce has been fun to watch, it is just beginning to curl down into what I would expect to become the head. We have lots and lots of green tomatoes. I was hoping I would be able to enjoy one freshly picked tomato before we left for Utah, but I don't think it is going to happen. Darn. We are having so much fun with our little garden and can't wait for the corn! I can almost taste the corn smothered in melted butter and salt and pepper. Yummy!

(Garden. My marigolds are going crazy this year. I've never had them grow into such huge clumps! )

(Pumpkin, chives, carrots, lettuce and green onions)

corn, corn, corn and more corn!

Okie Dokie

I realized today that I sounded a bit bummed on my last post. I admit, it probably wasn't the best time for me to be telling you all about it, the 'mommy guilt' was still hanging pretty heavy. So, here is an update on my Bryn.

Things went pretty well with the extraction. The biggest complaint Bryn had was that she couldn't eat before we went in to have it done.

Once we arrived at the Surgical Center she wanted Greg to take her back into the room where he was able to hold her while she breathed in the gas. Once she was asleep he came back to the waiting room and it was probably only 30 minutes or so before she was waking up and we were able to go back with her. The Doctor said that everything went just as expected. The tooth was broken in 3 other spots, so it was more of just taking the puzzle apart and then convincing the root to come too. The only hiccup was that they decided they wanted to put an IV in her, but after sticking her 4 times and being unable to find a vein they decided not to. Her poor little arm has quite a few bruises. She woke up pretty easily, and wanted to go home right away. On our way out the nurse stopped us in the lobby just in time for Bryn to get sick. Thank goodness for tile floors!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We just tried to catch up and make sure she was happy. I am glad kids bounce back quickly, but I think a bit of Bryn's sweetness was knocked out with her tooth! :) Now we just wait for 3 or 4 years for the next tooth to fill the space!

Message from Bryn

Translation:

Hi Friends. I lost my tooth today. Cheese.

We were just leaving the swimming pool this afternoon. Bryn had her towel wrapped around her and was running to catch up with the other kids when she tripped over her towel and landed face first into the sidewalk. I didn't see everything happen, but I remember the sound, and I knew then that something had happened to a tooth. She stood up with a fat lip and scrapes on her nose and cheek. Her tooth was still in place but as I looked closer I knew it wasn't going to stay that way. On the way home she would say "I got it out, here mom" and I would put my hand back and she would place another piece of her tooth in my hand. Not a fun feeling. Luckily we were able to get her into a Pediatric Dentist within the hour and he pretty much told us, as nicely as he could, that there really wasn't anything that we could do. It looked like the tooth had not only broke off almost flush with the gum line, but it was pushed back up into the gum as well and with that combination there just wasn't enough of a chance for the (remaining) tooth to survive any sort of crown. He referred us to a Oral and Facial surgeon to have the remainder of the tooth extracted and we went straight there. On the ride down the guilt really set in...my beautiful little girl. I know there wasn't much I could have done to prevent this from happening, but isn't it my job as her mom to make sure it doesn't happen? Anyway, we arrived at the surgeon's office and spoke with them for 5 mins then they sent us home because they couldn't use the anesthesia if she had eaten with in the last 6 hours. So, tomorrow morning at 8:30 we take our little girl to have the rest of her front tooth taken out.

I know I am going to hear a lot about her finally fitting in with the locals here in Arkansas, so I'll get that joke out of the way before anyone else tries it. (Truth is that I am a bit sensitive about this topic right now and I don't think I could really handle hearing this joke right now anyway.)

Tonight as I was tucking her in bed I she said she wanted her tooth back to be a tooth. Poor girl. I hope things go well tomorrow. Just makes me a little nervous.

But then again, I was just reading on my cousin's blog about their friend who just lost their 1 year old little boy this week... kinda puts things in perspective... after all, it is just a tooth.

Kindergarten Celebration

Tanner has officially graduated from Kindergarten! Ok, so it really happened a week ago, but I am a bit slow. Tanner's class and 2 other kindergarten classes teamed up for a play presentation of "Bugs." It was quite cute and all the kids had their own speaking parts.

Tanner's lines were:
All this talk of food is great.
I can't wait to get started.

He performed them like a pro! I was so proud. He must be related to someone who is well schooled in the art of dramatics. (Wonder who that could be....can you think of anyone Dad?)

They also performed a few really cute songs. Tan is the second from the top on the left hand side. We weren't sitting in the perfect spot to get a great picture of him, but I swear you can hear his voice on the yelling parts.

After the program we went back to Tan's classroom for awards and a yummy picnic. There's nothing quite like hot dogs at 10:00 in the morning. :) Tan was one of 6 kids in his class that passed off all 300 sight words. We are so proud of him and can't believe what an awesome kid he is.

The last day of school was on the 2nd and I was really concerned about keeping Tanner entertained this entire summer, but I have to tell you, this past week has been so incredibly fun! I love having my 'little boy' around. He is such a great help, (so far) he is so willing to help out, and Kade absolutely loves him so it gives me more time to get to other things. Now I am not quite sure what I am going to do when I have to send him back to school at the end of the summer, but we just won't think about that right now. We'll just look forward to a fun filled summer of sun (if it ever stops raining) friends, swimming, visits to the library and splash park and visiting family and friends in Utah. We can't wait to see everyone!

Interview Time

I just started asking Bryn a bunch of questions this morning and thought it would be a priceless thing to have record of.

Brynlee:

Tanner:

(Sorry about the craziness, but he is who he is, and we love him for it.)

Finally Time

So, I am really tired of seeing "Happy Earth Day!" when I log onto my friend Stefani's blog,but it didn't take me long to realize that I haven't been much better at blogging lately. So, Stef, I've added a post, now it is your turn! :)

This past month has been a good and fast one. Here are some highlights.

1) In between rain storms Greg put in a French Drain. I had never heard of this before we moved here, but apparently it is quite common because anyone who walked by while we were out digging would casually say "Oh, so you are putting in a french drain, huh?" Then they would ask if Greg was out for hire... he quickly said they couldn't pay him enough to want to do this again. Let's just say it hasn't been one of his funnest projects since we have moved here.

2)Mom and Dad came and visited us. Yea! We were so happy to have Nana and Bamps out to good ole Arkansas. It was a quick trip, but we had so much fun while they were here. I know that the kids didn't get their fill of them, and neither did I. I think they were amazed at how much Kade has grown in the last 7 months... He definitely isn't a newborn anymore. What a chunky monkey. He is such a sweet kid. The day before they left Nana and I went to pick Tan up early from school, then he ran a quick errand with us to the Neighborhood Market. On the way there we broke the news to him that Nans and Bamps would be leaving the next day, he broke down in tears. So sad, you could tell it broke Nans heart because once we arrived at the grocery store she bought him anything he wanted, chocolate striped cookies, sure, M&M's, sure, Chips Ahoy, sure. He knew she was eating out of his hand. :) We love you Nans and Bamps. I think the only thing that keeps the kids happy is that we have booked our ticket to Utah for the summer, so we have something to look forward to now.

3)While Nana and Bamps were here Brynlee got her first Big Girl Bike. Man it didn't take her long to catch on. I went for a walk with her the other day and could barely keep up. This girl can haul!

4)Tanner (finally) had his last soccer game. I love watching Tan play, we have decided that his niche is defense. He loves to defend the goal! All it takes is the other team to head in the general direction of the goal and he is all over the ball getting it headed in the opposite direction. It is so fun to watch him enjoy playing. He is our little stud.

5) We planted our garden. The kids had a fun time planting the garden and they have done amazingly well at staying out of it since it has been planted. We planted about 2 weeks ago and so far the corn, carrots, peas, lettuce, onions and tomatoes have all sprouted and are doing well. Well, I guess those are the highlights of the last month, the cracks can mostly be filled in with, rain, severe weather and even a tornado that did some damage to Tanner's school and a private school that is located in the parking lot of his school. Here is one final picture of one of the funnel clouds that came from the same storm as the tornado. It never stays too quiet for too long here.