This post is directly related to the last.   As you have read, Jim has been hard at work landscaping our front yard and has done a little work on the side and back yard as well.  I am so thankful for his hard work.  Apparently, it hasn’t been waisted on Jackson either…

Daddy is away at a meeting tonight, so Jackson and I are hanging out together.  I was folding laundry and Jackson called out “Mom I have something to show you!”  He came over and brought me a beautiful lego creation.  Mind you, it wasn’t as large or as grand as some he has built, but to me it was by far the most special. 

Before I could even tell him I loved it, he said “I made this because Daddy has done so much for us and made the flowers and plants look so nice in the yard!  Look, there is one plant, three flowers, two trees and one Daddy!”

Two weekends ago Jackson and I drove down to San Diego for 2 days to visit my parents and my Grammie.  When we returned, we came home to a transformed front yard!  Thanks honey, you did a great job!  Such a difference from the depressing front yard with nothing but weeds.  Not only that, but he did an amazing job on a shoestring budget!  We even had neighbors bring us a pie for all the hard work he had done.

Before...

After!

Another angle

and another angle.

For the past few years our Fellowship Class from church has an Easter Brunch the Saturday before Easter.  It has become one the favorite traditions of our class.  It is held at the home of the Lewis’s (one of our “Mentor Couples”), where we have a scrumptious pot luck brunch, and then the kids get to have an egg hunt.  Every year we joke that we won’t be able to fit the next year because our class keeps having babies.  Well, this year there were even more kids, but we packed them in and had as much fun as ever.

Of course I forgot to get a "before" shot of the beautiful buffet, but here is the "after" shot...

While some of the parents (I mean the Easter Bunnies) were outside hiding eggs, the rest of us were inside having music time.

The bunnies got creative with their hiding places...

A magic egg tree

At the end of the morning we had a surprise bird realease. The kids absolutely loved it and it was a beautiful finale to the morning.

Beautiful boquet from my hubby

We stayed in and had fun cooking together.  Tonight the menu was top sirloin steaks, lemon green beans and cherries jubiliee for dessert!  Yum. 

My top chefs

Jackson, mommy & baby Jane

We had a short trip up the coast to Santa Barbara planned for this weekend to celebrate, but ended up cancelling it after deciding that financially it wasn’t the smartest thing right now.  Instead, we will be staying home and having a garage sale on Saturday! (That just oozes romance, I know…)  But hey- the more the merrier, feel free to bring things on over if you want to sell them.

Here’s to another 9 years (or 79 years) with my best friend!

In Jackson’s preschool class they learn about a new letter of the alphabet every week.  This week was the letter T and on Wednesday they got to bring their favorite Teddy Bear to have a “Teddy Bear Picnic” complete with Gummy Bears and Teddy Grahams. 

Jackson brought his favorite Teddy Bear that "Papa" got him from Jackson Hole.

It was both of our first "Teddy Bear Picnic"!

The boys and their teddys getting serious about dessert

The back of the Kangaroo class

New Puppy (arrival date Christmas 2008)

This is Journey. She is a Wire Hair Fox Terrier and was an early Christmas present for Jackson. She is 90% a sweetheart and 10% mischevious!

New House (arrival date February 14, 2009)

We got ourselves a great deal on a repo! We feel incredibly blessed, but clearly have some work to do on the front and back yards...

New Baby (arriving July 2009)

We found out on Halloween (2008) that we are expecting!  We found out on February 20 that it’s a girl!  Jane Evelyn is due July 9th.  We couldn’t be more thrilled and are praising God for his perfect timing.  No pictures of her to share yet but I will share some things that are getting me excited about her arrival…

So much fun...

Today was Jackson’s annual Christmas performance at preschool.  Since he is in an all boy class, they did a performance of “I’m in the Lord’s Army” and got to wear camo clothes and como Santa hats to go with the theme.  Jackson is the one in the front row with the tan jacket on.

Some pictures that Jim captured over the weekend:

Early in the day, before it was really bad...The view from our street (still early on in the day)...

Jim got closer to take these later on in the day...

Our weekend was rocked by the fires around us.  Literally all around us, on all sides.  There were no fires in Placentia (none that were newsworthy at least), but there were serious fires in the cities that surround us (Brea, Yorba Linda and nearby Chino and Diamond Bar). 

Our house and yard ended up covered in ash, and for the last three days the air has been incredibly smoky.  So smoky that we run straight from the car into the house and slam the door fast.  And so smoky that we haven’t been able to open any windows. 

But what we had to go through was nothing, actually less than nothing.  It was a cakewalk compared to the devastation that so many have faced.  Many of our friends were evacuated and many of their neighbors lost their houses.  Such huge devastation.

Yet through it all, it was amazing to see the kindness, camaraderie and selflessness that rose through the devastation.  I heard stories of neighbors that stayed in neighborhoods that were evacuated and continued to fight the fires and ended up saving many houses… I knew so many that offered their houses as refuge for those who were evacuated…. And in church on Sunday it was such an amazing spirit of community.  The church is going to help anyone in the congregation who was effected and in need because of the fire.

All of this kind of made me think of those verses in Isaiah: 

(The Lord has sent me to) provide for those who grieve in Zion—
       to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
       the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
       and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
       They will be called oaks of righteousness,
       a planting of the LORD
       for the display of his splendor.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
       and restore the places long devastated;
       they will renew the ruined cities
       that have been devastated for generations.    Isaiah 61:3-4

I was tagged by Momma Shoe in the game of “Eight Things About Me”. 

The rules are: 1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their name.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

So here they are folks.  I don’t promise to captivate or amaze… only to follow the rules.

1) Chocolate?  I can take it or leave it.  Give me Jelly Belly’s or any kind of gummy candy any day.

2)  From an early age, when pink and purple were all the rage with my little friends, I declared that my favorite color was green ( and it has been ever since).  However, in more recent years my love for green has expanded to include many different shades.   In fact, if we ever end up remodeling our kitchen (or ever move to a new house) I would love to decorate my kitchen with accents of lime green. 

3)  I love to travel and have been to 12 countries, and 49 of the 50 states.  (Have yet to do Alaska, but it is on the list for sure.) However, according to my “Where I’ve Been” application on Facebook, that still means that I have only been to 19% of the world.  I guess that’s what I love about travelling, there is always somewhere else to go…

4) I can do a cool trick where it looks like I flip my tongue completely  upside down. 

5) I  think the 80’s got a bad rap as a decade.  Secretly it was my favorite decade.  (Guess it’s not a secret anymore…)  White Lion was my favorite (just found out they released a new album this year!!!).  Also loved Erasure, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode…

6) I am not pleasant to be around before I have had my morning coffee.

7)  I am a natural night owl although motherhood has almost completely squelched this tendency.  (But  you can still occasionally find me reading or on the computer at odd hours of the night when I am yielding to my wild side…)

8) I love to read but strongly prefer non-fiction to fiction.   (The only fiction I really care for are some of the classics I suppose.)  In fact, I can’t remember the last fiction I read.