The Front Porch Swing

[LBejaran]

Kendra looks adorable! The fun part about drastic haircuts is that you get a chance to discover new hairstyles as it grows out. When I finally cut my hair again next year, I'll have a chance to rediscover all the cool styles that I had in college.

I've finally had a chance to work extensively in my garden plot. I put in two garden pallet beds! I'm throwing a potluck mid-October so I'm scrambling to make the place look presentable. It's mainly to bring together the chicken folks around here, so I have to focus on the homesteading stuff moreso than the actual landscaping (which makes things a little more fun for me!). We are getting the patio enclosed today, so that'll be one less thing to worry about!

Doing all this work around the house and yard is definitely improving my morale. Things have been kinda rough around here but getting back to nature and seeing how I can work with and alter my landscape just brings me a special kind of satisfaction.

Here is the first pallet bed I put in!

And Darcy, our mini pin helping me dig.

And Hamilton, my birthday piggy, enjoying a nice evening outside.

So much to do! I've got so much energy!

 

[dpenning]

Well, I'll contribute! How about pics of Kendra's <gasp, shudder> first haircut?






Before......





After. <sigh>

 

[dpenning]

Kendra looks adorable! The fun part about drastic haircuts is that you get a chance to discover new hairstyles as it grows out. When I finally cut my hair again next year, I'll have a chance to rediscover all the cool styles that I had in college.

I've finally had a chance to work extensively in my garden plot. I put in two garden pallet beds! I'm throwing a potluck mid-October so I'm scrambling to make the place look presentable. It's mainly to bring together the chicken folks around here, so I have to focus on the homesteading stuff moreso than the actual landscaping (which makes things a little more fun for me!). We are getting the patio enclosed today, so that'll be one less thing to worry about!

Doing all this work around the house and yard is definitely improving my morale. Things have been kinda rough around here but getting back to nature and seeing how I can work with and alter my landscape just brings me a special kind of satisfaction.

Here is the first pallet bed I put in!



And Darcy, our mini pin helping me dig.


And Hamilton, my birthday piggy, enjoying a nice evening outside.


So much to do! I've got so much energy!

 

[Alice28]

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I try to read a bit here and there. Things have been busy! My son started kindergarten

And lost his first tooth

He takes the bus home everyday, so I put the daycare kids in the wagon and walk over to meet him at the bus stop. It's very exciting. My husband has been working a lot, my son started soccer, so soccer practice Tuesday's and a game every Saturday. It feels like something is going on every day!
Sorry, I can't respond to every post. Blooie, love Kendra's haircut and excited to hear about her getting big girl panties!
LBejaran, I want a birthday pig! Super cute!

I hope everyone had a great summer and is settling into the beginning of fall!

Alice

 

[Blooie]

Whoa! When did he grow up so suddenly?? He's so doggone cute with his missing tooth!

Kendra is back in pre-school. She's still going to school at the Children's Resource Center but she's up a level She loves school, but the first day she was so crabby! Problem is she can't tell us she's mad or whatever, so we've learned to interpret the crying. This was her "I'm not holding this stupid sign and you can't make me" cry.

 

[Alice28]

Whoa! When did he grow up so suddenly?? He's so doggone cute with his missing tooth! Kendra is back in pre-school. She's still going to school at the Children's Resource Center but she's up a level She loves school, but the first day she was so crabby! Problem is she can't tell us she's mad or whatever, so we've learned to interpret the crying. This was her "I'm not holding this stupid sign and you can't make me" cry.

So cute! Even crabby. I'm glad she likes her school though. My son is doing the Spanish immersion program and its crazy, it hasn't even been a full month and he's saying so much in Spanish! I'm having a hard time adjusting to the schedule, but I'm starting to get it down. We got a call about his stutter, it came back strong with his growth spurt. They had a speech therapist come talk to him, which is fine, but I wish they had informed me first so I knew what was going on. They have a lot of kids though, so I guess they evaluate, then call and get permission to do speech.

 

[Blooie]

I so remember my stuttering! It still comes back to haunt me every once in a while, but for the most part it's usually just certain words I have trouble with now. It's consonant combinations that throw me. But I figure it isn't painful, I can still do all the things I want to do, I can take care of my family, and it's not contagious, so in the overall scheme of things if that's the worst I face I've got it made. I'm happy that they recognized it for your little guy and are starting therapy, but I can see where you wish they'd consulted with you before setting everything up. My dad was the only therapy I had, and he was fantastic. I'm blessed that he loved me enough to assure me that what I had to say was important, and that if I wrote down what I had trouble saying he'd read every word. And he did. I just had to live up to the faith he had in me.

We are nowhere near an immersion program for Kendra. We are still only getting one word sentences, and those are always nouns. Well, she does say, "There ye go" and "on the shelf" but those are the extent of her language skills. She's in there, though. She knows all of the alphabet on sight and out of order, and can find words that start with those letters on her own. She knows all of her numbers up to 20, again on sight and out of order. She even transferred what she can do at the table to a different object on her own. She got hold of Ken's measuring tape and was pulling it out, identifying each number she came to when she stopped pulling. Well, until she got to 33. Then she looked at it long and hard and finally said, "Two threes." I thought she said 20 on the video, but nope, she said "Two threes." She's in there! We just have to find that key.

Most of you will remember Sophia, Kendra's best buddy, who was born at the same time Kendra was down in Denver. She's the little girl we celebrate birthdays with every year, born with half a heart and going strong. She is in surgery in Denver right now for the third in the series of procedures to repair this awful defect. They just stopped her heart and she's on the heart/lung machine as I type. Her heart defect is called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She's already had the first 2 procedures, but this one is the tricky one, with only a 75% survival rate. So if you all would keep her in your thoughts and prayers today we'd sure appreciate it. She's like another granddaughter to us - in fact she calls us Gramma Diane and Grampa Ken. We didn't do their joint birthdays this year. Kendra was down in Denver at the Spina Bifida clinic while Krysta and her family were preparing for Sophia's surgery. Being around other kids was just a little risky for her right before surgery. But we knew when we decided on joint celebrations that there would be years it just wasn't possible. I'm only praying that next year the girls will be wearing look-alike outfits and enjoying birthday cake again.

These are the photos of the first three birthdays:


1st


2nd


3rd

 

[Alice28]

I so remember my stuttering! It still comes back to haunt me every once in a while, but for the most part it's usually just certain words I have trouble with now. It's consonant combinations that throw me. But I figure it isn't painful, I can still do all the things I want to do, I can take care of my family, and it's not contagious, so in the overall scheme of things if that's the worst I face I've got it made. I'm happy that they recognized it for your little guy and are starting therapy, but I can see where you wish they'd consulted with you before setting everything up. My dad was the only therapy I had, and he was fantastic. I'm blessed that he loved me enough to assure me that what I had to say was important, and that if I wrote down what I had trouble saying he'd read every word. And he did. I just had to live up to the faith he had in me. We are nowhere near an immersion program for Kendra. We are still only getting one word sentences, and those are always nouns. Well, she does say, "There ye go" and "on the shelf" but those are the extent of her language skills. She's in there, though. She knows all of the alphabet on sight and out of order, and can find words that start with those letters on her own. She knows all of her numbers up to 20, again on sight and out of order. She even transferred what she can do at the table to a different object on her own. She got hold of Ken's measuring tape and was pulling it out, identifying each number she came to when she stopped pulling. Well, until she got to 33. Then she looked at it long and hard and finally said, "Two threes." I thought she said 20 on the video, but nope, she said "Two threes." She's in there! We just have to find that key. Most of you will remember Sophia, Kendra's best buddy, who was born at the same time Kendra was down in Denver. She's the little girl we celebrate birthdays with every year, born with half a heart and going strong. She is in surgery in Denver right now for the third in the series of procedures to repair this awful defect. They just stopped her heart and she's on the heart/lung machine as I type. Her heart defect is called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She's already had the first 2 procedures, but this one is the tricky one, with only a 75% survival rate. So if you all would keep her in your thoughts and prayers today we'd sure appreciate it. She's like another granddaughter to us - in fact she calls us Gramma Diane and Grampa Ken. We didn't do their joint birthdays this year. Kendra was down in Denver at the Spina Bifida clinic while Krysta and her family were preparing for Sophia's surgery. Being around other kids was just a little risky for her right before surgery. But we knew when we decided on joint celebrations that there would be years it just wasn't possible. I'm only praying that next year the girls will be wearing look-alike outfits and enjoying birthday cake again. These are the photos of the first three birthdays: 1st 2nd 3rd

Cute girls! Maybe they can celebrate a late birthday or on their half birthday this year. Will keep both girls in my thoughts. That is so exciting about Kendra knowing her numbers and letters! I bet she is ready for a vocabulary explosion soon! That is so amazing. I am so glad you shared your stuttering story with me awhile back and how your dad would have you write it all down if you were having trouble and promise to read every word. Gabe isn't to the point where he can write it all down, but if he still stutters when he's older I will be steeling that idea. I know it's not the worse thing. My worry is he really doesn't know he does it right now, we never point it out we just talk quieter to him and say "take a deep breath" or we take a deep breath to prompt him to do the same. My worry is if attention is drawn to it, he might stop being so outgoing and be scared to talk. But, if this is the biggest thing we have to deal with as parents, we are doing pretty well! So glad you keep us all updated on Kendra and Katie! They both sound like amazing young ladies!

 

[LBejaran]

Hamilton is too cute! Is he one of those mini pigs or is he going to grow into a big boy? My husband wants a pig, I'm not so sure. LOL

My biggest issue has been potty training him. He keeps trying to find new places to go to the bathroom, haha! I'm thinking of making him a cedar box, though, that he can poop in without leaving a smell behind. I'm glad I had him fixed early on, though! At 6 weeks he was neutered and hasn't been humping or biting too much. I imagine a female would have been easier to train but Hamilton is my special little buddy and I wouldn't trade him for the world! He's a great pet (just needs a little more training). I think the reason I've had trouble potty training was because I didn't expect to get him. He was a surprise and I hadn't had a chance to prepare his space or do any extensive research. Luckily, we are almost always prepared to take on new animals over here. I even half enough powdered milk to feed a calf for a couple weeks, haha!

All these kiddos are so cute! Blooie, I'm hoping that little Sophia does well during her surgery and that she and Kendra will have many more birthdays together.

Well, we had to put off enclosing the patio today. It's been raining for a couple hours now, so the delay was probably a good thing. As for me, I'm just waiting for the rain to stop so I can go and work in the garden! With all this fresh rainfall, the soil will be loosened up a bit more and should be easier to turn. I'm limited to using a shovel since the tiller is out of commission. I found that using contractors paper to cover the beds was cheaper than using the cover fabric (and it will break down as time passes so it's perfectly biodegradable!).

I need to go outside and gather up some dirt so I can start my seeds. The sprouts I had a couple weeks back died when I got strep. Hopefully I can bring these new sprouts up a little more successfully and get them to transplant.

 

[dpenning]

I so remember my stuttering! It still comes back to haunt me every once in a while, but for the most part it's usually just certain words I have trouble with now. It's consonant combinations that throw me. But I figure it isn't painful, I can still do all the things I want to do, I can take care of my family, and it's not contagious, so in the overall scheme of things if that's the worst I face I've got it made. I'm happy that they recognized it for your little guy and are starting therapy, but I can see where you wish they'd consulted with you before setting everything up. My dad was the only therapy I had, and he was fantastic. I'm blessed that he loved me enough to assure me that what I had to say was important, and that if I wrote down what I had trouble saying he'd read every word. And he did. I just had to live up to the faith he had in me.

We are nowhere near an immersion program for Kendra. We are still only getting one word sentences, and those are always nouns. Well, she does say, "There ye go" and "on the shelf" but those are the extent of her language skills. She's in there, though. She knows all of the alphabet on sight and out of order, and can find words that start with those letters on her own. She knows all of her numbers up to 20, again on sight and out of order. She even transferred what she can do at the table to a different object on her own. She got hold of Ken's measuring tape and was pulling it out, identifying each number she came to when she stopped pulling. Well, until she got to 33. Then she looked at it long and hard and finally said, "Two threes." I thought she said 20 on the video, but nope, she said "Two threes." She's in there! We just have to find that key.

Most of you will remember Sophia, Kendra's best buddy, who was born at the same time Kendra was down in Denver. She's the little girl we celebrate birthdays with every year, born with half a heart and going strong. She is in surgery in Denver right now for the third in the series of procedures to repair this awful defect. They just stopped her heart and she's on the heart/lung machine as I type. Her heart defect is called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She's already had the first 2 procedures, but this one is the tricky one, with only a 75% survival rate. So if you all would keep her in your thoughts and prayers today we'd sure appreciate it. She's like another granddaughter to us - in fact she calls us Gramma Diane and Grampa Ken. We didn't do their joint birthdays this year. Kendra was down in Denver at the Spina Bifida clinic while Krysta and her family were preparing for Sophia's surgery. Being around other kids was just a little risky for her right before surgery. But we knew when we decided on joint celebrations that there would be years it just wasn't possible. I'm only praying that next year the girls will be wearing look-alike outfits and enjoying birthday cake again.

These are the photos of the first three birthdays:


1st


2nd


3rd

There was a picture on one of the websites I go to that I tried to copy but it wouldn't let me. It was a picture of a brain and it said "understands advanced calculus but has to sing the ABC song to know what letter comes next." Your post reminded me of that. Kendra IS in there, and if she can tell you letters out of order she is better than most. Thoughts and prayers for Sophia. I love the half birthday idea!