More About the Move

So you already know that we are moving. But what you don't know is that we are moving to a little bitty town in central Texas. Seriously. Little. Bitty. As in 3300 people little bitty. Yep. No middle ground for us. We go from the gigantic metroplex to little bitty. Kinda like we went from our teeny tiny, below the growth chart first child to our I can't believe how big he is, top of the growth chart second child. Like I said...no middle ground for this family.


So anyway, I'm a little nervous about this. Ok, I admit it, I'm a lot nervous. I mean seriously...Walmart is 45 minutes away! I have to become much more of a planner. There will be no last minute trips to the store because it is almost bedtime and we forgot to get more milk. And no running to get medicine for the kids when they get sick in the middle of the night. We have to make sure we always have things on hand.

The other day, I asked Brent if he thinks there will be anyone our age for us to become friends with. I know, I know...silly question...there are after all 3300 people...of course there are people our age.

But I do wonder if there is anyone our age with young children like ours. After all, even here in the metroplex, nearly everyone we know with children the same age as ours are nearly a decade younger than us. And big cities tend to have more of the older first time parent thing going on. Small towns...I guess we'll see soon enough. Can you tell I'm a little concerned about fitting in. Well, actually, not so much with fitting in as I am with making true connections.

And then, when I was already thinking along these lines, someone, who shall remain nameless so as to not be yelled at by his family ;) asked me if I am worried about having my own identity. Because the Grelle family has been in this small town for so long and they are well known there. I answered, no. We are a different age than the rest of the family and we will get to know people closer to our age. We will meet people at church. We will get to know people and will be known as ourselves. So no, I am not worried.

But then I started thinking...I've never lived in a small town before. And a niggling seed of doubt crept in. Thanks a lot nameless one ;) Is that really how it works? Will I be given the chance to be my own person? Or will I be only known as being part of a group?

Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE being part of this family, and I am proud to be known as one of them. But I also want people to get to know me and like me...or even to dislike me on my own merit rather than on the basis of who my family is. Does that make any sense at all? I am who I am...and that is how I want to be known. That will be possible, won't it?

It's All About the Timing

Do you remember this post? It was nearly 2 years ago, and we were disappointed that a job we were sure Brent was about to get didn't happen.

In the middle of May that year, Samantha's first babysitter had to go back to work and we had to start looking for a new babysitter. We looked at me staying home and giving up the hope of another baby, but when we re-evaluated our budget, we realized that with the perpetual salary freeze at Brent's job, and prices of everything going sky-high, we could not make it on only Brent's salary. So he started job hunting.

He called a company in the town where his parents live and spoke to the general manager. The GM did not currently have any openings, but he was excited to hear from Brent. He has been considering creating a new position and thought that Brent would be just perfect for it. He just had to run it by the owner of the company and said that he would call back after the owner was back from vacation.

We were certain that this would happen. Brent's mom and sister started looking for houses for us one weekend. For that matter, Brent and I started looking as well. We just looked on the internet rather than in person. We were so excited about the possibility. No, actually, we didn't think it was a possibility...we were certain this was going to happen.

Then a few weeks later, we heard back. The owner said no. We were so incredibly disappointed. And we went on with our search for childcare for Samantha. She stayed with Lezley for a little while, then she stayed with our next door neighbor for most of the summer (until they moved away from us!) And then we found Mrs Nancy. And Samantha has been with her since August 2008...nearly 2 years. And Samantha loves Mrs. Nancy, and she loves her friends.

I kept on working, and since I was still working, we decided that we would go ahead and do the whole in vitro process again. We did still have the insurance to cover it (since it was through my job) and we really didn't want Samantha to grow up without at least one sibling. So in November 2008, I started seeing my RE again.

In March I did all the medications, egg harvesting, and embryo transfer. On April 10, 2009, Good Friday, we told Brent's family that we were having another baby. We told my family the next day. And Jacob was born on December 11, 2009.

Then at the beginning of this month, Brent woke me up, at 5am, by saying, "Christy, DB (the GM's initials) emailed me and wants me to call him." It is amazing how quickly, mere seconds is all it took, that we got our hopes up again. Brent called after work that afternoon and they set up an interview for 4/16/10.

Could it really happen this time? We were excited, yet still somewhat cautious. I was able to clear my schedule for that afternoon so we all left on Thursday evening to go spend the weekend with Brent's parents. The interview was at 9am. We (Mom, Dad and I) still hadn't heard from Brent at 11am, and we were saying things like "Surely it is good news that it is taking so long." We really wanted to hear, though!!

And Brent was offered the job. And it is just a little over the amount we had to have in order for me to stay home. And we are so grateful. I will get to stay home with my babies!

I realized the other day that if Brent had gotten this job 2 years ago, there would be no Jacob, because there is no infertility coverage in the new insurance. It's all about the timing. It is perfect.

And a little more of perfect timing. Brent's insurance ends on his last day of employment. Which is this Friday, April 30. My job only adds new coverage on the first of the month. So by getting everything turned in this week, we are able to transition the kids insurance coverage to begin May 1. That's right...there is NO GAP in their coverage at all.

Then, my insurance ends on the last day of the month in which I have worked any days. My last day of work is June 3, so we have coverage until June 30. And Brent's new insurance begins on July 1. Once again, there is NOT A SINGLE DAY of no insurance coverage. What incredible, perfect timing.

Learning to Wait

This is from a scrapbook page that I wrote in early 2006.

For as long as I can remember, I have known that I should be a mom someday. My picture of the future has always included a husband and children.

After college, it started to seem that my dream would never come true. I went for several years without even one date. That was a very hard time, at least in the beginning. However, those years were invaluable to me. It was during this time that I learned to grow as a person on my own. I found a way to serve God and be part of His family where I was and how I was. It wasn’t until after I was completely comfortable with this role that Brent and I started dating. When I wasn’t even looking for anything or anyone, God sent Brent to me.

After we had been married for about a year and a half, we decided to start trying to expand our family to include children. Remember, I had always wanted to be a mom, but after Benjamin stayed with us for the first time, I started telling people that I had found the job that I was created to be, and that was to be a mom. It has been nearly four years since we decided to try to have a baby. It has been a huge struggle to see, month after month, and year after year, that my prayers are not being answered. At least not in the way I wish them to be. It is also a struggle to not be jealous when I see so many people around me welcoming precious new babies into the word, but, somehow, I have still been able to rejoice with each one of them.

I thought that I had come to an acceptance of the possibility of never having children. After I had surgery in October 2005, though, I got my hopes very high very quickly, especially when so many people told me of their experiences and getting pregnant the month after surgery. My doctor is not so optimistic and does not think that I will get pregnant unless we do in vitro. Now I am facing the possibility of my never being a mother. Can I handle this if it is God’s answer? It is very hard for me to accept that thought. What I need to remember is that God can and will use me wherever I am, and that I need to be able to say that where I am is enough as long as He is with me. I’m not there yet. I can accept that I may never have children, but I can’t say that is enough for me. It still feels like there is something missing.

In trying to comfort me on Christmas day, when I had just found out that I was not pregnant, again, someone told me that even if I don’t have children of my own, I will always have children around me. That did not help at all at the time. Since then, however, I have found myself thinking about that statement more. Maybe she was right. I do have the blessing of nephews and nieces and my friends’ children in my life. I have to decide to work with and be thankful for what I do have rather than wishing for what I don’t have. I have to allow God to be ENOUGH to fill me completely and then I will be complete. Then I will have learned how to wait on the Lord.


Some things have changed since this was written, but I still need the reminder to allow God to fill me and to wait on Him.

Family

Today (well actually every day, but I am telling you today) I am extremely grateful for our family. They are so good about taking care of us.

This past weekend, our brother-in-law came up solely to help get some projects done at the house that we need to have done to put the house on the market. What's that? You didn't know we are moving? Well, yes, we are. I will give you all the details in another post in the next few days. Anyway, back to Dave...he also made his trip home nearly twice as long by taking a trailer load of stuff to Brent's parents house before he went on to his house. And his wife agreed to be by herself with three kids, one of whom is a 2 month old, for the weekend while he came to help us.

Last Wednesday, Brent's mom came to drop off the trailer and boxes. She originally planned to stay for only a day, but then decided she would rather spend the night in the middle. And while she was here, she did ALL of our laundry and stayed up much later than we did to keep packing boxes. This is also the same woman who came up EVERY SINGLE week of the last 7 weeks of my pregnancy with Jacob to do things like laundry and cooking that my doctor told me I couldn't do. Then yesterday, she made the 2.5 hour trip just to bring a load of boxes to us and then turned around and drove home.

My parents have also offered to come help...I am just hoping that we will be done with everything before school is out, which is when they would be available due to my mom's job.

These people have helped us in countless ways over the years...they sacrifice their time to take care of what we need from home repair to babysitting...and I am incredibly grateful.

I just can't imagine having to make it on our own without them. I don't know how other people manage when their families aren't involved. And I am so incredibly grateful for ours.

Confessions

Today is Not Me Monday, but I don't really feel like Not-Me-ing, so I am just confessing flat out. Here we go:

I always said I would never call my daughter princess. In fact, before I had kids, I would hear people call their daughter princess and think "Don't call her princess. You are going to make her prissy" But then I had Samantha...and I started calling her princess from very early on. And I call her princess at least twice every day, usually much more than that. You have even heard me call her princess here on this blog.

So now I work to remind her that she is a princess because she is a daughter of the King, and as she grows I will work to instill in her the kindness, graciousness, humility, generosity and love that she should show as His princess daughter. And hopefully she won't be prissy ;)

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The only thing that keeps me from eating Samantha's chocolate Easter bunny right now is that it has milk in it.

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I put Samantha in lots of pink and she has quite the bow collection. This is in spite of the fact that I said I wouldn't do either. But with her short hair, she needs the pink so that she doesn't get called a boy by random people every day. And the bows are just SO CUTE on her. Not quite as cute as hats...but still very cute.

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I really don't like it when Samantha says "Thanks" rather than "Thank you." I'm not really sure why...it just sounds nicer to me. So I correct her on it fairly frequently. I really had no idea where she got the "Thanks" from. Then one day, mere seconds after I corrected her, I heard myself say "Thanks, honey" to Brent. Yep, I am where she picked it up...and it turns out that I say it ALL THE TIME. I am working on it now.

You can see what everone else is confessing and/or not-me-ing here.

Pillow Talk

If I am able, I find it very amusing and sometimes enlightening to listen to Samantha as she plays in her room. Especially when she is in her bed making every effort not to go to sleep. Here are some of the things I heard yesterday.

"Stay there, guys. Stay right there. Then I heard a crash as the books she was attempting to put on the shelf all fell down.

"Yes Jesus love me. Yes Jesus love me."

"mumble mumble mumble RIGHT NOW mumble mumble...sit time out!"

"Dark ow-tide. Sun go night-night. Moon go night-night? Don't want night-night."

Her Education

Samantha "helped" me one day while I was giving Jacob a bath. (Translation: I let her use a very small cup to pour water on him as long as she didn't put the water any higher than his belly button. It kept her happy and saying "I helping" and it kept Jacob from being drowned by his over zealous sister.)

After a little while she pointed to his p**** and asked "What that?"
(Note: Hopefully the asterisks aren't too obnoxious, but I didn't want someone googling those terms to find my blog, so all words that I wouldn't want a search to find have astericks in this post.)

I took a deep breath - I don't really want to start talking about the differences between boys and girls yet - but I need to be truthful with my child. So I told her. "That's his p****. Boys have a p**** and that is where they go peepee. Girls have a v***** where they go peepee."

Then she wanted to touch his p****. I told her no. I said that we only touch his p**** to clean it. And we only touch her v***** to clean it because those parts are private. Then I thought a little more and told her that if anyone ever touches her there, she needs to tell Mommy or Daddy. She said okay.

Wow...I didn't think that we would already be talking about things like this. And it makes me sad...and a little scared...that we live in a world in which my child really does NEED the knowledge that she must tell Mommy or Daddy if someoen touches her private parts. I wish the innocence could always be there and not be vulnerable to evil.

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A few days after this bathtub conversation occurred, we were in the car and Samantha said, "Mantha have p****" I told her no, Samantha is a girl. And girls have a v*****, not a p****. She replied, "Mantha want p****." Brent and I nearly died trying not to laugh out loud.

And then a little while after that, she walked into the bathroom when I was getting out of the shower and getting dressed. She looked at me as I was putting my bra on, pointed to my chest and said "That your p****?" Once again, supreme effort not to laugh as I explained again that girls don't have one and what the proper name for a lady's chest is.

And she is only two...wow.

Blessings

Life hasn’t always gone according to my plan. Scratch that. Life has rarely gone according to my plan. But most of the time, if I sit back and relax and wait, I end up enjoying the ride. At the very least, I learn something from it.

I married much later in life than I had planned. But my husband was definitely worth the wait. I am blessed by his being my partner. But even if I had never met him, and never married at all, I was also blessed by the time I had before him to grow and mature on my own.

We struggled with infertility for years. I was blessed to have friends who had faced similar struggles and who helped me through the cycle of grief, and hope, and anger, and despair and grief again, month after month. I was also blessed to have time with my husband, for us to have the time to do things together and enjoy each other’s company without a million other things distracting us every day.

I was blessed to have insurance that helped pay for the cost of in vitro so that we were finally able to have a baby girl in January 2008. I am blessed by her presence in my life every day. Even when I am ready to strangle her. Then I was blessed by the birth of our son in December 2009.

I am blessed to have a job. One in a field that gives me job stability and security when my husband’s field is neither.

There are blessings in my life every day. Sometimes I just forget to watch for them.

I whine about having to work and be away from my kids, and I forget that having the ability to work is a blessing and that having a job when many do not is also a blessing. I lose my patience with my daughter’s whining or her independent streak that says “Me do it!” And at that moment I forget to be thankful for the blessing of my children, for how happy they are and for the incredible lessons they teach me. I forget that my daughter’s exasperating ways are a sign of her independent spirit and her security in our love.

I whine about not having time to myself or to do fun things for myself, (I am typing this as I pump. Lately my pump time seems to be my writing time and my “me time” for the most part) but I forget to be grateful for the blessing of dishes to wash which means that we have food to eat, and clothes to wash which means that we have clothes to wear, and medical bills which mean that we have good medical care. I forget to be grateful that the things that ail my family are things that can be treated.

I whine about having to follow a strict diet for my son’s sake and forget to be grateful for the blessing of being able to breastfeed this baby. And I forget to be grateful for the fact that I live in a place where I (or actually my sweet husband) can find alternatives to the foods I have to give up.

So today, I am focusing on what I usually forget. I am thanking God for the trials and the blessings and the lessons. And I will try to remember that no matter what, whether I can see it or not, there will be a blessing in the journey.

Peony

I planted these two peony bushes four or five years ago. Now they are finally blooming for the first time.

This picture was at about 7am yesterday morning.

The next two are the same flower at about 11:30am yesterday. It's amazing how it went from practically just a bud to a full bloom in just a few hours.


I'm so glad that the bushes are blooming now...during our last spring in this house. And I will definitely be planting peonies again at our new house :)

Bluebonnets 2010

We spent the weekend with Brent's parents. They have a field FULL of bluebonnets so I finally got bluebonnet pictures of Samantha (this was the first time ever!) and Jacob got his first bluebonnet pictures as well. Whew! Now you can't throw me out of Texas ;) And, by the way, aren't the kids adorable?!

To Wash or Not To Wash

So, I'm seriously considering cloth diapers.

Before kids I always said that I would use cloth if I was staying home with the kids, and since I'm not staying home, we just went straight to disposable. But now I am really thinking about cloth even though I'm still not at home with the kids.

My thinking along these lines started because we are having SOOOO much FUN with potty training. (Yes, that was completely sarcastic!) I tried training pants (the cloth, thick underwear type), and that was not nearly enough. But I know the diapers are much more absorbant AND there would be a waterproof cover over it. And Samantha would feel the wetness and yuckiness a lot more than she does with her diaper.

And also, in looking at cloth sizes, I would be able to use the same size for Jacob, and he would probably be in that size until he is at least a year old.

Of course, then there is more laundry to do. But I've been reading about wet bags and it seems that would make washing a lot easier by keeping diapers in them until wash day.

Brent isn't so sure about the whole idea, especially about changing cloth diapers. But he hasn't seen the new covers, that pretty much look like they would work like a disposable. And he hasn't seen the shaped diapers with elastic at the legs.

Our babysitter said that she would be fine with it, as long as we are also using them at home (for consistency).

So what do you think?
Have you used cloth? Do you like or dislike the idea? Leave me a comment to help the debate in our house.

I am SOO glad that we have a good size back yard with a fence. It makes it so much easier to let Samantha play outside, because I don't have to keep her within arms reach like I do in the front yard. So Samantha has been enjoying lots of sandbox time lately.

And as she came inside yesterday, she told me "Mine sandbox in mine shoe. Help sandbox out shoe, please." (Wasn't that adorable? Well, if you actually heard her, it was!) So we took her shoes off and dumped out the tiny bit of sand that was inside.

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And some other cuteness we have had lately:
While sitting at the table eating dinner:
Me: "Samantha, turn around and face the table, please."
Samantha then turns around and rests her chin on the table then looks up at me and grins.
I had a very hard time not laughing out loud. And I wonder if she thought that was what I meant, or if she is already developing that type of sense of humor.

Pray

There is a 2 year old little girl named Olivia who is in a fight for her life right now. Read what happened here. And here is the main link for any updates. Please be praying.

Amy Beth, the author could also use your prayers covering her at this time in her life. Here is why.

Thank you, friends.

Warmer Weather

We have definitely been loving the warmer weather lately. Samantha always says "ow-tide" almost as soon as we get home in the evening, and I am so happy to be able to say yes. So here are some pictures of the outside princess and her outdoor activities. Enjoy!







By the way, just in case you were wondering, the headband actually used to be mine until Samantha claimed it. Yes, it really does fit both of us! And she insists on putting it on herself every time.

Mint Oreo Balls

One of the worst things about no dairy (beside missing cheese)is no chocolate. But that problem is no more :) For starters...Did you know that oreos don't have milk or eggs? Yes that is right! I discovered that happy fact about a month ago. Yes I was VERY happy. And I have been singing "Ice cold milk and an oreo cookie..." at random times at least every other day since then. My two year old has even started singing that jingle, and she has NEVER seen that commercial. Is that sad, or funny? I'm not sure.

Anyway, back to the point. We went shopping at Sprouts this past weekend because I read that they carry some of the dairy substitutes that we can't find at our Walmart or Kroger. We came home with soy yogurt, soy "cream cheese", veganaise (like miracle whip but with no dairy or eggs), soy "cheddar cheese" slices, coconut milk kefir and dairy free chocolate chips. You have no idea how happy I was about all of these!

Sometime last week I read in the newspaper about oreo ball recipes. I had those before when a friend made them and they are SOOO yummy. Oreos crumbs mixed with cream cheese and coated with chocolate. MMMMMmmmm!

So I decided that I would try a dairy free version. I started out with 4 ounces of the soy "cream cheese", a half package of mint oreo cookies (crushed with a rolling pin into crumbs), 1/2 tspn mint extract, and a package of choclate bakers squares (read the package carefully, some have milk but some don't...and it was a LOT cheaper for that than it was for the chocolate chips!) I mixed the cream cheese, mint extract and crushed oreos. I ended up adding more oreos, and ultimately used 3/4 of the package. The mixture was still very soft, so I refrigerated it for about an hour, then rolled balls of the mixture and placed them on waxed paper. The balls went back into the fridge for an hour.

I melted 2 bakers squares, following the directions on the package. (I did end up using the whole package, it just works best to do a small amount at a time so that you aren't reheating the chocolate too many times.) The chocolate wasn't quite sweet enough, so I added about a half tablespoon of powdered sugar, then microwaved it for about 10 more seconds. I dipped each oreo ball into the chocolate, rolled it in crushed peppermint candies and placed in back on the waxed paper. Then they were refrigerated for at least 3 hours and came out looking like this.

Not quite as good as with real cream cheese, but definitely yummy! And I had chocolate again :)

4 Months of Jacob

Our sweet little boy is not so little! He is 4 months old today and weighs 17 lbs 10.5 oz (90th %). He is 25 inches long (50th%) and his head is 17 inches (90th%). He wears mostly 9 month clothes but there are a a few (very stretchy) 6 month pants that are just right for him. Yes...he has very short legs, especially compared to his body length and circumference.


He rolls from tummy to back and from back to tummy, but still doesn't do so very often. He will turn himself all around when he is on the floor, he just doesn't roll to do it. He will support most of his weight by standing in my lap, but gets tired after a while. (And who can blame him? There's a lot of weight to support there!) He now reaches for toys and brings them to his mouth when he manages to get ahold of one. He has laughed (I think he has at least) a couple of times, but smiles almost all the time. He coos and gurgles almost constantly and is a very social baby. He loves to look at and talk to his sister and that makes her very happy.

We have put him in the bumbo seat a few times and he does great, for a limited amount of time. Then he gets tired and starts slouching, so we move him back to the floor or our laps. He even found his feet while he was sitting in the bumbo today :)

He is still having problems with his eczema and we are still trying different things to try to get that cleared up.

We are loving getting to know our sweet boy more and more and are grateful for another month of him in our lives.

Who I Am

I made this scrapbook page several years ago and felt like sharing it today. It almost all still applies except that now, rather than hoping to be a mom, I am a mom :)

In case you can't read it on the picture, here is the text:

When someone says, "Tell me about yourself." What do I say? How do I convey who I really am?

I can tell you what I do: I am a juvenile probation officer, a scrapper, a stamper, a gardener, a crafter.

But that doesn't really tell what is inside me or what is important to me.

I can tell you about my relationships and my dreams:
I am a daughter, sister, grandaughter, niece, wife, auntie and friend.
I hope to become a mom, to live in a smaller city, to make a difference in my world.

That comes closer, but it still doesn't tell it all, the deep core of me.

Who I really am is: I am a daughter of the King. I am a Christian. I am who God created me to be.

That is really who I am.

The Last Time

Several years ago, I read an article in a scrapbook magazine ( I think it was Creating Keepsakes, but I'm not certain)that talked about the last times. It said that we always celebrate and document all the "firsts"...the first bath, the first word, the first step, but that the "lasts" slip by without our ever noticing. And that the lasts mean just as much as the firsts. I don't remember what all else the article said, but I do remember that it made me cry and it made me say that I would definitely watch for the lasts.

The firsts are what we are looking forward to our child growing into. The lasts are what we look back on and miss as they grow. And I've been thinking about it more lately. Especially since last night Samantha said "Hold me, Mommy" not "hold you." It was the first time for the grown up "hold me" to come out of her mouth. And I don't know when the last cute babyish "hold you" was. I thought I was watching for it, but it still passed me by.

I know when the last time she had a bottle was, but only because the next day I was gone the whole day and Brent said that she did fine with only a cup before bed. I have no idea when the last time she crawled was. I have no idea when the last time that I fed her meal to her was. And I thought I was watching all along.

The more I think, I realize this isn't jut about my kids, but about my entire life. I may remember the firsts, but again, when were the lasts? When was the last time I stayed up way too late talking to my friend before we moved to separate towns and completely lost touch with each other? When was the last time I watched my friend's baby smile at me before tragedy struck? When was the last time I hung out with my friend before cancer stole her life? And there are so many more that I can't even begin to name them all.

You never know when it will be the last. Even when you think you are watching for it, there is no way to know that this time was the last. Maybe that's the way it should be though. If I never know if this will be the last time...maybe I will remember to enjoy and even celebrate every time.

Nightmares

As I type, Samantha is crying in her sleep. A nightmare. For the umpteenth time tonight. No wonder the poor child isn't a morning person. Her sleep is always interuppted. And for that matter, so is mine. At least once every night, and usually 2 or 3 or even 4 times, she cries enough that I need to go in and comfort her.

Unfortunately, she probably gets it from me. I don't remember if I had nightmares as a VERY young child, but I do remember having them beginning sometime in elementary school. And then I continued having them as an adult, particularly when I had a major life change. When I left my college town and moved in with my grandparents, I had nightmares the entire 14 months I lived there. When I got married, I had nightmares regularly for about a year. After I had Samantha, I had them for 3 or 4 months.

She has had occassional nightmares for quite some time, but it seems like they have gotten much worse in the last 6 months. And she pretty much has them every night now. When she goes to bed doesn't seem to make much difference in how often she has nightmares, nor does how tired she is. I wish I knew what I could do to help her. But hopefully she doesn't remember any more about them than "'Mantha have bad dream." And hopefully she will outgrow them.


And in the meantime, she wakes up with her hair looking like this.

I still say she's adorable!

Cousins and Easter

We spent the Easter weekend with Brent's family. Yeah for seeing our family! Yeah for meeting our new niece!

Yeah for introducing the two newest members of the family to Brent's Grammy, and aunt and uncle!

Yeah for lots of outside playing and running time with beautiful, warm sunshiney weather!

Yeah for Easter egg hunts!

Yeah for the Easter bunny and Easter baskets!

And yeah for digital cameras so we can take TONS of pictures!

All the Grelle grandkids.

The girls

The boys

And the cutest little bunny you have ever seen! :)

In full force

It seems like just the other day it was winter. And really, it was. We had several inches of snow on 3/21/10. But now we have no end of sunshine, warm temperatures and everything bursting into bloom. Spring has arrived!!

Bluebonnets 3/5/10

4/2/10

4/6/10

Peony 3/11/10

3/22/10

4/2/10
I am SOOO excited! It has been 4 or 5 years since I planted the peony bushes and now BOTH of them have buds for the first time! :)
4/6/10

Daffodils 4/2/10



Vinca 4/6/10

Dianthus 4/6/10

Snapdragon 4/6/10

Sage 4/6/10

Johnny Jump Up 4/6/10