So much to do and so little time!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated this blog! We've been quite busy. We closed on the house and started working right away. Mondays and Wednesdays I was taking Nick to school so on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, we would pack our lunches and head over to the house. Mike has been getting more hours at work (Yay!) but when he does get some time off he comes out with us. So far we've ripped up all the carpet and padding, and done quite a bit of plumbing and patching work. The pipes weren't winterized properly, but thankfully, there was only one busted pipe, and it was easy to get to. Mike finished repairing the wall from that, got the downstairs bathroom up and running, and cut down 3 dead trees that were too close to the house. I just finished the last of the painting that needs to be done and all the appliances are now in--including the HUGE refrigerator that had to go upstairs! Now we're just waiting for the carpet to be laid upstairs.

Since the carpet has been laid downstairs, we've started moving some of the kid's things into their rooms. Angel's room is almost finished. She got a remnant piece of carpet, which was installed right away so we picked up her bedroom set. It's an antique that she bought off of Craigslist. She's just waiting for Mike and I to get a new mattress set as she is getting the ones we're using right now. Michelle's bed is in, but we still need to move in her dresser and the things that are here at Grandma's. She was so funny when we opened some of the boxes of toys that have been packed for 10 months now. It's like she's meeting old friends again. :o)

A few weekends ago I also had cakes to do for church. One was for our Ladies Salad Supper. I made 100 cupcakes with flowers on them and a small cake that had a watering can pouring water on the flowers. Our theme was from Proverbs 31 and referred to an excellent wife being more precious than rubies. One of the ladies from church designed these cute invitations where she put tiny rubies in the center of each of the flowers, so we kind of ran with that idea for the decorations. Each of my cupcake flowers had a red m&m in the center to represent the ruby. That one was a lot of fun to do, but not as much fun as the one I did the next weekend. I've been wanting to try my hand at making fondant flowers for a while, so I decided that May's birthday/anniversary cake for church would be a good time to play. It took a few days to make the flowers, but it was so much fun. The exciting part for me was the fact that the image in my head actually came out on the cake! That doesn't usually happen. :o) Here's pictures of both cakes. You can see close ups of the flowers on our picasa website


My children blessed me on Mother's day each with handmade cards and $33. I thought it was an odd amount until I remembered joking with Nick that I would love to have $100 to pick out some flowers and herbs. I haven't been able to garden in 6 years, and now that it is warming up, I am itching to be out digging in the dirt. Anyway, the kids cards were wonderfully sweet, and Mike's card had the extra $1 to make it an even $100. I told them this is one idea I would love to become a tradition. It was so much fun to go out shopping for herbs and pots and not feel guilty about it. I even had enough to buy a small burgundy cherry tree that reminded Angel of the cherry trees in Japan, and two rose bushes. I already planted the herbs and am hoping to get a small plot dug out tomorrow so I can get the tree and bushes in the ground.

Speaking of the ground and our property, as things are starting to green up here, and we've done a little exploring around the place, it seems like we've inherited several acres worth of raspberry canes. I am so excited because I LOVE raspberries! I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure that's what they are, so it looks like I'm going to have to do some experimenting with raspberry recipes and learn to do some canning. I told Mike a few months back that I thought it would be neat if we could think of a name for our place and now I think we might have to call it Raspberry Acres, or something like that. :o)

I've saved the best news for last. On May 3rd, I got an early Mother's Day gift, and the best one ever. Michelle came to me and said she wanted to say that "special prayer". I got the awesome privilege of leading her to the Throne of Grace where she asked Christ to be her Lord and Savior. For me to know that all of my babies are now His children is the best gift of all!

On that note, I must go get ready for bed and another day of house prepping. Till next week (I hope), God's love and blessings.