Happy days...

It's been a very full week and a half. Last Thursday was Michael's birthday. Although Michael enjoyed his birthday, Katelyn REALLY enjoyed his birthday. She "helped" him blow out his candles and open his presents. What's hers is hers and what's ours is hers...

Uncle Mike and Aunt Mimi came over for dinner and cake. Wednesday night I took Michael out for Mediterranean food. Yum, yum, yum!

Last Saturday we went to the farmer's market for the first time of the season. The city has built a new pavillion to house the market and it's wonderful. We've been enjoying some fresh veggies this week. The Living Arts and Science Center was having a free family fun day so we went over there as well. They had different hands on exhibits, a drum circle, a petting zoo, different arts and crafts the kids could do. Katelyn loved it. She ran from thing to thing (a bit too excited about it all to focus on any one activity for more than 30 seconds.)

Michael is 6'4". Katelyn's Dora tent is not. But she was super excited to welcome him into her play area. And he is a super good sport. They ate play food until they were full. :)

Yesterday Michael helped me create an area out back for an herb garden. I've grown herbs in containers on the porch but they'll do much better in the ground. The containers dry out so quickly. So he cut out the bed and put the edging in and we pulled out all the grass and tilled up the dirt. I'm going to have someone from church who does landscaping get some good composted soil and bring it over for the raised bed so we can plant seeds and seedlings next weekend. (I'll take pictures when we get this done.) On a positive note, my cilantro, onions and oregano have come back from last year. The broccoli, swiss chard, turnips, spinach and lettuce that I planted the weekend before Easter are coming in nicely. I'm still amazed when I put seeds in the ground and things actually grow.

Our church has a potluck/worship gathering that's hosted by different families each month. I hosted the one tonight and we made chili and everyone else brought yummy food. One of the youth comes to help with childcare. We had 18 adults downstairs and 13 kids and a youth upstairs. The funniest sight was everyone's shoes in a pile by the door. We had a lot of fun together! I'm so thankful that this house is full of people and laughter again. So much restoration has taken place and I'm thankful for the life I have here.

Mom and dad leave Arizona on Monday morning to head this way and will get here on Thursday. We can't wait to have them back here in Kentucky. Katelyn's already talking about the boat and the beach.

In closing I'll leave you with this week's Katelyn-isms:

Yesterday Katelyn said to me - "Mama, quiet in Chinese is shhh."

This morning she was walking around the house barefoot and said -"Mama, I don't have socks and shoes on, just my toes."