Time Outside and Kids Growing Up!

Well, so much for the posting binge I was planning on doing! I guess we are just so busy living life that I don't have much time to post about it!

Now that the weather has been so nice lately, we have been spending a lot of time outside! We have been doing some major overhaul work in the gardens, getting rid of ground cover and such in order to put some veggies in. Here is Fabio working in the back garden, getting it ready to plant. And then Joshua planting the beans. And Dominique getting in on the action too.










































We also got two bird feeders up so far and one bird house. We are gearing up for a unit study on birds that I am planning for this fall! So far, we have had a lot of woodpeckers on the suet feeder and we have some birds building a nest in the nesting box. :) The kids have been enjoying watching them from the sliding glass door.













And I *finally* got a clothesline hung up! Now one of Joshua's favorite "chores" is to help me hang up the clothes. I love hanging clothes out! They smell so nice and fresh! Dominique enjoys helping too. Her job is usually to hand Joshua and I one item of clothing and one clothespin.









And on the front of the house Fabio has been busy too! I forgot to take a "before" pic of the jungle we had here previously, but it looks SO much better! The other side of the walk gives you some idea of the overgrowth. That bed is done now too, though! Yay! Now we plan to mulch and put down a *couple* of little plants/flowers here. No more ground cover!







And speaking of my kiddos growing up, we moved the bunk beds into their room a couple weeks ago! Joshua was still in a toddler bed, and Dominique was still in a crib, but no more! Now they are BIG kids in bunk beds! They LOVE the new arrangement and I like it too. I have to admit that I got a little teary-eyed the first night we put them to bed here! They are growing up! And do you believe that they were ASKING to go to bed the first few nights??? Now, getting them to go to SLEEP was another matter, but at least they wanted to go to bed!



Here they are, all excited about their new piggy bank! Joshua has been wanting one for a long time, and I told him we would look for one at a garage sale. Well, he started praying that we would find one, and we did! You should have seen Joshua's excitement ~ he kept saying, "Gloria Deus!" (Glory to God!) It is neat to see a child's excitement when God answers prayer. We should all get that excited and give the credit to God when He answers our prayers, even the simple ones!

Another night before bed. They are getting to be such good friends! The other day we were talking about the story of David and Jonathon and I asked Joshua who his best friend was and he said without a moment's hesitation: Dominique!
Then a few days ago, Dominique woke up from her nap before Joshua. She ran down to the basement calling for him, so I informed her that he was still sleeping. She got a little pouty face and said, "Eu quero Joshua!" (I want Joshua!) They love to play together and some recent favorites are hind-and-seek, peek-a-boo with Israel and dolls. Yes, Joshua likes to play dolls with her, but she also likes to play cars and army guys with him. Yes, they still bicker (daily), but I am enjoying seeing them grow as friends and pray that their friendship will continue for life!

And as Israel grows I hope he too will become good friends with his siblings! They both love him to death, and it is obvious that it is mutual. He thinks there is nothing in the world more amusing than watching them play and run, and Im sure he will be playing and running with them in no time! Here Joshua is carrying Israel on his back in the ergo carrier. I definitely wouldn't let him carry him this way for longer than five minutes, but it was cute for the pic and they both thought it was great fun!

Well, I think I am going to give up on back-posting, and at least try to stay some-what current anyway. So, more when I have time!