*Piggy Tails

Madison has a large head. We found this out when she was about five or six months old. She has great hair to cover this beautiful head of hers. It's thick and getting longer. At the ends it has just a slight curl to it. Love it! It is getting longer as I said and so I wanted to try doing piggy tails, full head pig tails not just the partial ones that I do. So...

I guess Madison's biggest problem is that I am such a perfectionist! However with a little wiggler they didn't exactly end up even. I couldn't even attempt to redo them she was not going to have it!

This next picture is Madison telling me she is done! As she tries to put the lens cap cover on my camera! :)

Me and my baby! Man I love this kiddo! She is so stinking cute.

*Spring has sprung

This has been a busy Saturday. When we got up Brice went outside and found that the Robin's birds nest that was in one of our front trees had fallen out during the windstorm last night. Then I saw what made me so sad... three broken eggs on the sidewalk. I was so impressed with this little bird's nest. It was very tightly woven around the outside and then the middle was so soft and cushy (is that a word?) It made me think about life, women and those that suffer a miscarriage in their pregnancy. I wondered does a mommy bird feel bad when her eggs are smashed? She must.. all the work that she goes to preparing a nest to lay those eggs. Anyway.. I kept it. Don't know what I am going to do with it, but I was just so impressed with what this little bird had done I couldn't just throw it away.

Later this afternoon it was time to start the garden. We had gotten a few starts from IFA, but I had started my peas inside. They were getting really tall and so I wanted to get them in the ground and the trellis next to them to grow on. I was just waiting on Mother's day and the weather to get warmer. Today was looking beautiful from the start...


Madison, Sadie and I headed out to the yard. I decided to let the chicks out to run around the yard. They love to just explore. Sadie is really good to just sniff them. The chickens get a little nervous with a 100 lb. dog sniffing around them so the will often fly away when she gets to close. Sadie at this point things they are playing and so she chases after them. Poor chickens. They just might die of a heart attack one of these days.


Here is everyone in the garden inspecting it for bugs, or dirt, or whatever might be found.




Here are my chicks doing their job.. eating the ants that came up when I pulled out the weeds.

I looked up from planting to find Madison being my good helper. Here she is picking up the Sadie treats. I am always amazed at what she watches me do and then I find her doing it! Scary really.

As I got to the bottom of my row of planting I looked up to see my chickens eating the peas at the top of the row! Brice had quite the laugh as I was running up the row trying to get them out of the garden! This is what my peas looked like before the chicks got to them, and.....

This is what they looked like after... darn chicks!!! Ate them right down to the dirt.

I am hopeful they will come back, I guess time will tell. So here is the start of my garden.

We double the size of the garden this year. It's twice as big as it was last year and I am thinking that next year I want it even bigger. Ann keeps telling me that I am just like Flossie. The other day she said "I think Floss had the wrong daughter." I can't help it. I have really caught a bug for growing my garden, and I am so excited for my chickens to start laying eggs.

We came inside and I started to get dinner going. Madi is normally right at my side, wanting my attention. It was pretty quiet so I went looking for Madison. This is what I found:

She had pulled my computer on her lap (like I do), opened it up AND had turned it on. I am telling you this kid is so dang smart! I think she is going to be smarter than me in about a week.

When she noticed that I had noticed her she was trying to quickly get away! :) Anyway... what a busy day! I need more than one Saturday in my week.

*A matter of perspective!

This has been another interesting week for me. It has been a hard one! It started with a HUGE fight with my husband and has ended (almost - Friday is close enough) with a revelation. It is the third week that I have been back to work full-time. I hate it! I miss my baby, I miss the freedom of being able to do whatever I wanted to do during a given day. I hate that things are not getting done around my house the way I like them done (despite Brice's AWESOME work around the house this week), it's not the way I do it. I KNOW this is what I am suppose to be doing right now. I know this as sure as I know my name. BUT I don't want to. That is my life! I want things my way and on my terms. What the Lord is CONSTANTLY trying to teach me is that it HAS to be His way!

It hit me yesterday as I was talking to someone about working full-time again, that I am going about this the wrong way. I am walking the path that I know I HAVE to take, but I am dragging my feet. I am WHINING and COMPLAINING the whole way! Not quite a year ago I had this same realization (how quickly I forget these lessons and have to relearn them!) that it is not just ENDURING the trial, but finding the JOY while learning from the trial! I know this trial will not last forever! I know that one day things will go back to the way they were and I will get to spend more time with Madison and play with her and watch her grow and explore the world. Some days it is just easier than others to see the sunshine through the rain!

I was reading a blog that I follow, cjane. She just had her second baby and is having a hard time finding her groove again! She was saying how vulnerable she feels. How out of control and just not together. I remember feeling feeling that same way. All women do! She said that she remembered she felt that way when her first came along and that she had to find her way through to get back on familiar ground and that's when it hit me for the second time (within 16 hours of each other) that it's just a matter of perspective. We ALL have trials. We all have times when we feel lost, out of control and so close to feeling helpless. We are not though. We are NOT alone and NEVER should we be hopeless. How grateful I am for the gospel. I am so grateful to know that I can get on my knees and pray to my Heavenly Father and ask him to help me through the trial. He gives me strength when I think or feel that I have none left. I'm also grateful for good friends that pull me out of my slump and try to push me out of my funk! I have so many blessings! I just need to keep my eye on the prize.

So.. this week has come to an end (again it's Friday) and I am hopeful that I can keep my perspective and endure this trial the way that my Heavenly Father wants me to. I'll keep you posted on that!