I know people are concerned with us with all the storms going through Iowa lately. We have fortunately not had any come through our area, but have had two separate nights of the weather alert radio going off. (this morning it woke us up at 4:45am - yuck! I am spoiled now that the girls will sleep til 7-8am!) Last weekend was the best as we had a tremendous thunderstorm that was just awesome to behold. I watched the lightning flashing as though it were morse code being sent - safely from my basement window, I might add! ;)

David started training with his new company this Tuesday. He is learning a lot and finding out that the other company was doing a lot of things wrong. (surprise, surprise) Speaking of his last company, we did get his final paycheck and they took out $980 in deductions which we are contesting. I have no idea how that is being received as you can not reach anyone on the phone except voicemail and they generally do not respond back to email. Adding up the money they still owe us from the first month of work, we are still short $1780 total. So please be praying that they come through and pay us the rest of the money owed. Because David was an independent contractor, our only recourse would be small claims court if they don't pay us - obviously not something worth our effort to do.

I am pursuing doing home staging as a part-time business. I now have business cards (yeah!) so I can start handing them out and asking for referrals. This past Sunday I went and worked on the home of one the guys we know from church. I had a blast and I know that I am going to enjoy whatever work the Lord provides for me in this field. This weekend I will be on the women's retreat with church, so I will start working at promoting my business more next week.

Here are some of the latest photos. This is from Tuesday when Trinity's best friend Katie came over to play. The girls decided to dress up as ballerinas and I put on classical music and they all danced around the living room. Very cute!

We were out in the backyard last week and our neighbor Joe pulled up to the fence in his utility cart to chat. Then he offered to take the girls for a ride. I thought maybe he would just go around in a circle in the side yard, but heck - he headed off for the back 40 with my family. What fun for the girls!


David found a big frog out back and was showing it to the girls. Here the frog started hopping -right onto Angelina's leg...eeek! Both of the girls were freaking out. (Angelina the most!)
Now that he stopped moving, they were less intimidated and more curious as to their new friend.

This was a picture I took of the flowers blooming in front our home. The funny thing is that same day, Trinity decided to bless her mommy with a beautiful flower. Bye-bye flowers! Angelina did the same thing with the next one to bloom. I guess I should be happy my girls like to give me flowers. But we are working on learning not to get into mommy's garden beds. Maybe we will have some survivors soon. :)


Well, rainy nights lead to muddy driveways the next day. Here the girls are enjoying theirs.

A shot of the happy mud girls after playing.The cows were grazing in the pasture closest to us last night. David took the girls over to see them. Here is Angelina pointing out the cows to me.
Everybody say, "MOOOOOOOOO."
Here is Trinity, still mooing. (if anyone is thinking "like mother, like daughter" just keep it to yourself - and for those of you who don't know, growing up I collected cows)
Our garden is sprouting and our strawberries already have berries growing. I have been working in the yard a lot. I found that we can get all the mulch you can haul for free from Warren County brush facility in Indianola. So I line the back of the van with drop cloths and fill 'er up. I have been working the beds at the front our house and they now look nice instead of 1. overgrown, or 2. nothing but some scraggly weeds. Our next project is putting a pergola over the deck off the back of the house. We are mostly reusing wood that we had on hand to make it.

Once that is done, what next? I'm thinking chickens.....

Posted in: cows, dress up, frog, Slow Lane, tornado on Friday, May 30, 2008 at at 10:49 AM 0 comments    

Greetings again. Boy, I must be feeling better - 2 nights on the computer! I woke up today with the spring cleaning bug. I spent 5 hours cleaning our stove. (well, most of that was working on the stove - occasional time spent cleaning other things in the kitchen) The stove had about 5 years worth of grease and dirt buildup. I have toyed with getting a new one altogether, but alas we don't have the money for it. In the meantime, a little time, elbow grease, 2 sizes of scrubbing brushes and baking soda has given us the feel of a brand new (used) range. David even found accessories for it in the garage which I cleaned up. Now we have a grill and griddle attachment as well. It really does feel like a whole new stove!

Here is a pic of the girls happily posing with Max.


This picture is a better view of how much we were able to prune away at the lilac bushes. Again, last year it was a solid wall - you couldn't see through them at all.


This is a shot David took of one of the trees in our front yard. The new leaves are just such a beautiful color.

This is Trinity reading a story to the cat. I heard her telling a story and thought it was to Angelina. Imagine my surprise when I came in the room and found her reading to Maximus!

Okay, off to get some sleep in preparation for my big day tomorrow....don't know what we are doing, but it is Mother's day after all! ;)

Posted in: lilacs, Maximus, Slow Lane on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at at 10:33 PM 0 comments    

Hi all,

A quick update for those of you still reading this blog! (ha!)

The company David was working for up and left Iowa on May 1st. So after complete panic, we are finding that there are a BUNCH of satellite installer companies in town that are hiring. David already interviewed with one this week and we know of 3 more that are hiring for sure. It is now a question of getting in touch with these companies and going through the application process and seeing which offers us the best deal.

I think the biggest reason we panicked is the way that David was treated back in January when he was let go. We now expect the worst, but fortunately, although this last company is definitely disorganized, they are at least honoring their required duty to pay us. Shwew!

I have also sent in an application for a position that I am excited about - Assistant Bookstore Manager at the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny. (north of Des Moines) It offers excellent pay and benefits. I know I would miss my girls like crazy, but I would enjoy the work and we could sure use something stable. So please be praying for us with all the job situations.

On to the pictures. I wish that it were faster for me to upload pics, but I am not patient enough to post more. Here are a couple of the girls. They had just gotten up in the morning and were being snuggle bunnies while watching Curious George. They love each other so much that it just warms your heart to see them together. (unless, of course, they are fighting over a toy!)



Angelina had her first ride around the yard on the lawn tractor the other day. She was absolutely thrilled. She was grinning so big and crying out "wheeeeeeeee!" I wish I had videotaped it - too cute!

Our lilacs are covered with bunches of flowers just getting started on blooming. I am so much happier with the way the bushes look now that we have pruned them. Last year you couldn't even see through them - it was like a solid wall that just cut our yard in half. Now it is much more attractive. To give you an idea - the squirrel feeder stand that you see in the picture was completely enshrouded to the point that we didn't even know it was there. When David's friend Joe was visiting, he actually noticed that there was "something in there." After pruning, we found out just what it was. I added the bench from the front of the house to make a nice shady place to sit and watch the kids in the early morning hours.

And, we have a new family member. His name is Maximus and he is about the nicest cat I have met in a long time. He loves the girls....okay, more honestly, he likes Trinity and mostly puts up with Angelina. But he is really good with them and just scoots off upstairs if they start tail pulling or something equally obnoxious.

There is the update for now. I have to get some sleep to keep fighting off this sore throat. I have had it since I got back from my trip to Maryland. I have at least felt better and had energy again the last couple days. Which is a good thing, because I was able to uncover our kitchen counters and table and get the house picked up again. Now to tackle the laundry....

It never ends. :p

Posted in: lilacs, Maximus, Slow Lane on Friday, May 9, 2008 at at 9:16 PM 1 comments    

Well, I finally figured out how to download my photos on our new computer. So here are a few new pictures of the kids. This was Angelina who had a blast playing in the leaves in the corner of the yard while I worked on putting up the fence around the area that will be our garden.

I have loads of seedlings growing in our kitchen right now - broccoli, cabbage, peas, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, and cucumbers. Lots of others just waiting to see sprout up. :)

Here the girls are eating bananas with peanut butter and crushed cookie. A total treat!


Here are my streaker wanna-be's! I guess they were trying to flash the cows. ;)


The two snuggle bugs.

Another. Trinity will climb up next to Angelina and ask me to take their picture.

I am off this Thursday (with the girls) to head for Maryland. I am making a stop outside Chicago to see my girlfriend Chris, maybe in Ohio to see the Cook clan in Powell, and then Maria's in Virginia. I will get to Bowie next Wednesday. I will be hooking up with one of my bridesmaids, Deb, who is flying in on the 25th and we will be going to the Reigndown USA event in DC on the 26th. (www.reigndownusa.com) We should be back in Iowa by the 30th or May 1st.

We will be leaving David with our newest predicament. I spotted a skunk rambling across the front yard and it went under our front porch. From what I read online, from March thru August, they will seek a shelter close to a home in which to RAISE A FAMILY! Holy smokes!

Posted in: skunk, Slow Lane on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at at 4:45 PM 0 comments    

All is well here and life is getting back to normal, so I thought I should do an update. Our laptop died on us so we had to get a new computer. I don't have the software installed to be able to download pictures yet, so it may be awhile before new pictures of the girls. (I am going to have to do some digging around in boxes to find the software)

Here's the news:

David is working a lot - usually 6 days a week, installing direct tv sattelite systems. We are still waiting on our first paycheck - the way they have the pay set up, you go about 3 weeks after the work period before you get paid. (Mar1-15 gets paid on Apr5th) So I am getting to utilize my accounting skills to budget out our money until we finally can start putting money in our account again. We may possibly start our own installation business. We are looking into how many techs we would need to have in order to contract directly with direct tv. We need a lot more information though before we know if that is even a possibility.

David uses the mini-van for work and me and the girls now scoot around in the little Mitsubishi. At first we thought we would look for a truck or van for David and sell the little car. But with the girls being older, it is easier to use the car than with babies. It has a nice big trunk and both girls can climb into the small car by themselves. With the price of gas getting crazy, getting 35 miles to the gallon is definitely the most economical choice. The fact that the car is paid for just makes it that much better. So our mini-van is officially the work van now. The bonus is that now our van payment becomes a business expense, lowering our taxable income.

The girls are doing great. Angelina just seems to be blossoming. She is already talking a little bit, which I don't think Trinity was doing at 1 1/2 years old. Specifically, she is already saying "MINE!" which I know Trinity wasn't saying until 2. (aaaah, but she has to fight for her toys sometimes, which Trinny never had to worry about!) She also says ba-ba, (which is what we called bottles and translated over to their sippy cups) up, apple juice, no, hello, bye-bye and of course ma-ma and da-da. Those are all the words that come to mind. And of course she signs profusely - boots, socks, bird, dog, cat, fish, bear, eat, more, full, wash hands, and brush teeth. (which, BTW, is her favorite past time! If she is upset, I can usually get her to turn that frown upside down by offering her a toothbrush - if only Trinny were as enthusiastic)

I took the girls to the zoo the other day, just for an hour before they closed in the afternoon, and we had a great time. We had used the girls Christmas money to get a membership to the Science Center and the Zoo. I am glad we did. They have a great play area at the zoo for the young kids besides the obvious fun of looking at critters. It is not far at all to the zoo for us, since it is located on the south side of Des Moines. (13.5 miles away - not bad when you consider we live out in the boonies!) I think we will be enjoying the zoo a lot now that the weather is warming up.

I am in full prep for a summer of gardening. I have pruned the overgrown lilac bushes way back. Hopefully they will appreciate the care after apparent years of neglect. They are already budding and I am looking forward to the early spring blooms with their fragrant flowers. I am going to be constructing planter beds and utilizing square foot gardening for our vegetable garden - 3 beds, 3ftx10ft. We have a bunch of seed ordered and on the way. I also got raspberry, strawberries and blueberry bushes. So, assuming I don't kill everything, we should have a nice little bounty this year. I will put excess away as I can and maybe try setting up a stand by the road to sell the rest. There are several places that just put the produce out on a stand and sell it by the honor system. People just put money or checks in a collection box and take what they want, so you don't have to man it. Of course, that is if we have excess! The way my kids eat veggies, they may eat it all up anyway unless I turn out to be super-gardener! They will demolish a whole cucumber in one sitting if I let them.

For fun, I bought a packet of Mammoth Sunflower seeds. They actually produce edible seeds too, but that is only a happy coincidence. I really got them just for the fun of them. I think the kids will be delighted at the huge flowers. I may try to plant them in a pattern so that it creates a sunflower "maze" to play in.

We have loved the beautiful winter here but I am excited to start doing gardening. Our neighbor was telling me that she can't remember a winter when there was snow on the ground for so long. We really enjoyed the beautiful snow covered countryside. We may be disappointed if this winter wasn't the norm!

That is all the news I can think of now for the Iowa Cases.

Posted in: Garden Lane, Slow Lane on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at at 7:44 AM 0 comments    

Hey everyone. Major news for those of you we haven't talked to already. We are back in Phoenix for awhile. David's boss laid him off last week due to the decline in work over the winter. We knew that might be a possibility. David wanted to come to Phoenix to work temporarily but we weren't too crazy about the family being separated. Then his parents called and asked for the whole family to come and they would put us up. Thanks Mom and Dad! So here we are in sunny, warm Phoenix for 1-2 months. I look forward to seeing all my old friends again while here. We already saw many of them at church this morning and evening.

Now on to the photos. These are not in any order necessarily, so I will just narrate as I go. We are starting with Christmas morning photos. Here are the girls just getting up and finding their presents from Santa. Trinity was absolutely delighted that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk she left out for him.

This is the girls opening their stockings.

Trinity is beaming because Santa brought her a tool box full of tools. That is her Craftsman work goggles hanging around her neck. One day I had the tool box out to get a screwdriver, and she wanted to pull everything out. I told her they were tools, not toys, and she couldn't play with them. She sighed and said, "I wish I had my own tools." Ding, ding, ding, ding...I now knew what the special gift would be this year from Santa. :) I told her she would just have to ask Santa for some. We scored big time on finding a great deal too. Once again I hit the trusty craigslist and we got a Craftsman work table, toy power tools, and the toolbox stuffed with tools for $30. The work table, power tools, and some assorted nuts, bolts, and planks will be her birthday present. (which is coming up this Saturday, the 19th - 3 years old, can you believe it?!) She will have to wait on those gifts though - we weren't about to try and haul them down here in the van. It was a looooong 27 hour drive as it was with two little kids.

Admiring the pooh and eeyore necklaces that came with books for her and Angelina.

more presents...

Here they are opening their gifts from Uncle Larry and Jiah. Trinity got a baby jaguar and Angelina got a chimpanzee. They are battery powered and drink from a bottle, burp, sleep, clap hands, etc. Very fun!

tearing into the wrapping...

Angelina was a little stand-offish, but happy to see her new friend.

Angelina got a Mr. Potato head from Santa. Here is Trinity very seriously working on him with her new tools. She would use various plyers and wrenches to put in and remove the pieces.

Here was the first day I braved letting Angelina near crayons. (she still very much wants to put things in her mouth and I have to keep on her not to eat them!) Trinity took time away from her own artwork to help her sister figure out the whole coloring concept.

working away...

Cousin Jiah with a little holiday cheer. :) This cracked me up. I asked Trinity to smile and this was the face I got!

This was shot out the kitchen window. The men took the kids outside to play on the trampoline. Here is Jiah in mid jump with his dad looking on.

Here Trinity and Jiah were playing chase.

Trinity getting up the nerve to run past Jiah.

This was early January. David loves taking the girls down the hill on the sled. He starts up by the back door to the garage and ends up down by the barn.

Another Christmas picture....me holding Angelina.

Have I mentioned that Uncle Larry and Angelina just love each other to pieces? If you didn't know, you could tell just looking at their pictures together. Angelina had fallen asleep in Larry's lap here. She did that quite frequently and Larry was thrilled for the opportunity. Angelina is actually getting into the separation anxiety phase - much later than Trinity. I thought we had actually lucked out and missed it. She still won't let Grandma, Grandpa, or Uncle Fred hold her and we have been here for 4 days now. But she immediately went to Uncle Larry and when she was upset, he was the one she sought out over mom and dad. They definitely have a connection.

Happy girl with her favorite Uncle.

I call this the "aw shucks" photo. That's what she looks like she is saying. :)

Here are Trinity and Jiah with their gumdrop wreaths that we made one afternoon. We also made Graham Cracker houses and I took pictures, but they must still be on the other computer. I will post them when I find them, after we are back in Iowa. I wish I had thought to get pictures of the kids with their paintings that they made. I will do Trinity's at least, when we are home.

Angelina is such a smoochy baby. Here she is planting one on her all too willing sister. They are really affectionate with one another. (when they aren't fighting over a toy!!)

Yogurt baby! We had just put our decorated Santa sugar cookies in the oven and decided to have a snack. Feeling generous with the holiday spirit, I decided to just let Angelina feed herself the yogurt. She still had red sprinkles on her tray from decorating cookies, so that found its way on her face too. My sugar sprinkled baby. :)

Cousin Jiah gets in on the pictures with the yogurt queen.

Trinity and Jiah had a great time playing together. At first Trinity was a little scared of the high energy action packed play adventures he wanted to have, but I suggested that she would probably be fine with playing Dora and Diego. That was all it took - they were off chasing down the Bobo brothers and keeping Swiper from swiping things. We had a good time with Jiah and she was sorry to see him leave. I enjoyed having Larry around during the day while David had to work - another adult! Hooray! We were sorry to see them both leave.

So, there is the update. We are missing our quiet, country retreat, but enjoying the beautiful weather here in Phoenix. Please keep David's job situation in prayer. We would really like to find him a job with a company that would be steady work with benefits. Thanks so much.

Posted in: Christmas, Slow Lane on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at at 10:14 PM 0 comments