Last day of school

I realize it is almost August and most kids are starting to think about the first day of school.  However, I couldn't resist posting this cute pictures from back in May.  Eliana's preschool celebrated the end of the school year with a school wide picnic.  Adele's mom had to work, so she dropped Adele off at our house in the morning.  We played at the house until the picnic which was at Fancyburg Park.  Holly came to the park during her lunch break from work and took Adele to her sitter's after lunch.  We had a ton of fun that morning!  Eliana seemed a little disappointed at the picnic because her closest girl friend (besides Adele) didn't come, but she did spend a lot of time playing with "the nice Jack."  There were two Jacks in her class, one was the nice one and one was the mean one.  Although she did play with both Jacks at the picnic...
I think Eliana really enjoyed the school year and will be excited to go back this September.  At the end of the year, she talked a lot about the four year old class that she is going to be in, and all the things the "older" kids are allowed to do.  She will be going four mornings a week next year, which seems crazy!  But just a year after that she will be in kindergarten five mornings a week.  What a big girl she is!!

Going to pick up the girls on the last day.  William and Hannah were so cute holding hands.  They have become such good friends.

Morning of the picnic.  The girls were playing dress-up and William joined right in.  He also ended up with bunny ears.

I think the sticks were magic wands...  William is cracking me up!

At the picnic at Fancyburg Park.

My cutie eating her lunch.

Yard Work

The yard at our new house had been neglected for quite some time.  The first thing we did before we even moved in was work on clearing out some of the overgrown trees and bushes in the backyard.  We took four or five van-loads of brush to the composting facility after a day of major trimming!  David's family helped fill in some random holes in the backyard with soil and plant new grass.  We also planted several tress.  I've already killed one (oak tree in the back yard) and nearly another (dogwood in the front yard), but the third is growing strong (redbud in the back yard).  We have already replaced the little oak tree I killed with a red maple that is looking much better.  David and his brother Roger put in a little fence from our house over to the neighbor's fence, thus fencing in our whole backyard except for where it meets the driveway.  So it's been a lot of work!  I think one of the best transformations is the spot I now call the "Mary Garden."  David's parents and brother gave us a statue of Mary as a housewarming gift.  We placed her in what looks like was once a garden but had been neglected for so long it had junk trees growing all over the place.  So at first Mary was just sitting among tree stumps and weeds.  But it looks much better now!

Before: The tree filled weed garden in the backyard

After!! We cut down all the trees and I pulled out all of the plants.  Also, I have been taking all of the random rocks that we have dug up from different parts of the yard and using them for a border for the garden.  The rocks now fully surround the garden, but they are missing from the last picture below because William decided to "help" me with the garden by removing every single rock and putting it in the kiddie pool to wash. 

Can you believe this is the same space?  I hope to plant some hostas and other perennials in this garden, but haven't gotten there yet. 

And an updated picture of a day's yield from the garden.  The zucchini plants are slowing down, but the cherry tomato plant is just getting started!

The new home

Since David is starting his fellowship here at OSU, we decided to settle in a little and buy a house.  Unfortunately, the neighborhood that we really wanted to live in is very expensive, so we decided to purchase a fixer-upper.  Um, why did some of the least handy people think they should own a fixer-upper for their first house? We have learned so much in the little bit of time we have been here.  We have also been surprised with lots of fixes to this 60 year old house we weren't exactly expecting.  So we still hope to do some remodeling and making some big changes, but it's been slow going so far.  Some of the things we have done though are paint several rooms and plant a garden.  It's neat watching the house change little by little and think about the renovations we plan on doing in the future.  It makes the house feel more like home.

Eliana getting ready to help me paint - she's pretty excited!

She loved this!  This is the room Eliana and William are sharing, which we painted a very pretty light purple.

Moving to the new house, Eliana also got a new big girl bed.  Now Williams' crib is squeezed into the corner, but they spend lots of time together playing in there.

Our new raised garden.  I built it myself (from a kit) and then had my parents help me till the ground and add soil.  This picture is from a month ago when I planted the garden.

Look, I hung up a towel ring!  All by myself using tools!  It only took me 45 minutes and a couple of google searches.

I also painted our bedroom.  The walls were originally the top right color - a pink/beige color.  Then I picked out the green on the left and really didn't like it, at least for our bedroom.  David picked out the blue-grey (less purple in real life vs the picture).  I admit, I should have listened to David in the first place; he chose a very beautiful color.  So now the whole room is blue.

Our new house came with an awesome wash line that I love!  Got my garden and wash line.  I'm a country girl at heart.

Eliana carrying in the zucchini for the day. For a while we were getting 4+ squash a day!

This garden has gown crazy!  I've never grown plants so well!  I'm guessing the secret is the Mircle Gro garden soil we used.  Or that I'm actually watering the plants.

Garden's bounty - we have had a ton of zucchini, plus green peppers, jalapeno, and cherry tomatoes.  We also have regular tomatoes and eggplant growing which should be ready to pick soon, plus just a few herbs. 

Owning our own home has been quite an adventure.  Hopefully I will have some update pictures to share soon!

This and That

Just a few pictures of the last few months.  More to come as well!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Bond and saw the progress on the Homestead.  Grandpa let the kids join him on the tractor.

In April, Hannah Rose was baptized with myself and Uncle Ben as the Godparents. She wore the same dress that Eliana wore to be baptized! (I think - Abby, tell me if I am wrong).

My sister Rebecca and I are pregnant at the same time!  She is due about three or four weeks before me.  I'm at 18 weeks in this picture.

Baking with William (at the old house).

This is how everyone wears underwear, right?

So sweet - Eliana really likes to "read" to William.

We made William's crib into a cave-fort.  This kept them entertained for almost an hour!

Inside the cave-fort.

Sweet boy

Camping at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana

No, I have not given up on the blog.  We moved to our new house in mid-June, and I have been so busy with prepping for the move, moving, and unpacking that I haven't posted in a long time.  So here is a quick update.  David completed his Chief year and is now starting his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at OSU.  Currently he is working 6 days a week for about 13+ hours a day (not counting work done at home studying and working on his research project).  Plus the rotation he is in right now has him on call 24 hours a day - so any time at night he could be paged to come into the hospital to see a new critically sick admission.  He has been extremely busy, to say the least.  William celebrated his 2nd birthday with a small party of family and cake.  He celebrated again at camping this past weekend.  Eliana finished her 2nd year of preschool with a spring concert.  So far this summer she has had one week of swimming lessons and one week of VBS, which she loved!  We listen to the VBS songs on CD all the time, and Eliana still does all of the motions.  Each day had a different theme which Eliana really seemed to pick up on - God gives us Hope, God gives us Direction, God give us Love... She is excited for when her brother can go in a couple of years too.  Eliana has also been riding her bike a lot!  That seems to be her favorite thing this summer.  She has ridden it to the park several times and even over to a friend's house about 3/4th of a mile from our house.  I pushed William in the stroller.  We have met several of our new neighbors, and across the street is a family with three kids.  One of their daughters is 5 years old, and she loves to ride her bike too, so the girls have been playing together.  I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and feel HOT all the time.  A summer pregnancy is rough.  We have gone to the pool several times, which always feels nice.  And no, we still haven't picked out a name yet.  David and I just don't talk about it because we tend to not agree on names.
So skipping over all of the things I missed posting about in the last two months, here are some pictures of a family camping trip to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana.  Many of my mom's side of the family joined - we had 11 campsites total! I slept in a tent with the kids for the first time.  They were both so excited.  David could not make it because he had to work.  However, I had plenty of help from lots of family on the trip, so it really wasn't that hard to go camping with a 4 year old and a two year old.  We hiked, biked, and swam all weekend, with plenty of eating and little sleeping in between.

Our accommodations for the weekend - I slept on a cot, Will was in his pack n play, and Eliana slept in a sleeping bag on a toddler mattress.  I was a little worried about the sleeping situation, but it wasn't that bad.  In the tent with Eliana is cousin Nolan - these two were inseparable for most of the weekend.  They played some game where they were puppies in  the tent a lot.

The tent - our home away from home.

Our first hike started by crossing the suspension bridge.  Aunt Abby with William.

William and cousin Daphne throwing rocks in the creek.

Eliana fell on the steps at the beginning of the hike and refused to go further.  However after discovering the mud pit next to the creek, she was happy again. 

She even took off her boots to let the mud squish between her toes.

Mud pies

Eliana and Nolan.  Eliana wore her helmet a lot on the trip because she got on and off her bike all weekend long.  She doesn't actually know how to put her helmet on or off herself, so she just left it on all the time.

William wasn't so sure about this camping thing.

Bubbles with Grandma cheered him up though.

My parents brought their little picnic table for the kids.  Eliana is coloring with Daphne and cousin Claire.

William has taken a new interest in babies.  He really wanted to hold his cousin Hannah.  They each thought this was pretty funny.

Aunt Melissa holding Hannah.  Melissa was quite the trooper - camping even with a broken ankle.  She didn't however join us for any hikes, which Eliana was a little disappointed about.

Making S'mores with cousins Sarah and Joseph.

Mmmm s'more

This was William's birthday celebration (along with several other cousins)- Aunt Abby gave him a helmet.

Riding his "moto" - that's what William calls his Big Wheels.  He can't actually reach the pedals, so he just pushes himself along with his feet.

Another hike, another day, this time with lots more family.  We were quite a parade.

Will wasn't so into hiking.  But he really didn't want to ride in the hiking backpack on Uncle Mike's back.  Tough luck buddy.  This pregnant momma was not going to carry him the entire 2 mile hike.

Luckily he passed out and slept for over half of the hike. Mike was a great sport about the whole thing.

Eliana wanted to walk though this mud puddle in her boots, but it got a little deep and sticky.  Luckily Grandpa was there to pull her out.  Side note, my dad said he wore this tie dye shirt so that he would be easy to spot by the park rangers when he got lost.

31 weeks

I asked Eliana to be in the previous picture with me, but she refused, and sat over by the bushes instead.

Someone's ready to ride her bike first thing when she wakes up!

Sibling love.

One last ride before we head home.

In general, I would say camping was a great success.  We had a blast even if we didn't get a ton of sleep.  My family was so helpful with the kids and bringing supplies, so I wouldn't go without them.  But as long as there is a herd of us, I would totally do it again.