Spring is definately in the air in Ponchatoula. Strawberries are plentiful and we have been enjoying the glorious weather that God has given us these past few weeks. For the first time ever my family has planted a vegetable garden!
Several years ago my mother-in-law wanted to do some square foot gardens with my kids. At that time I had NO IDEA what a "square foot garden" was. But, since it was what she wanted we set out to Lowes to get the materials to build these "gardens". I loved the fact that my kids would have something special that they were going to do with Nanny Charlene because I remembered being in my Paw-Paw Tarver's garden as a child. I remembered shucking corn and field peas with my Maw-Maw Cathey, great-uncle Nick & great-aunt Ella in their garden in Montpelier, LA. It was a FAMILY thing.
Well, three 3x6 beds were assembled at Nanny Charlene's request. Unfortunately, the dirt never made it into them and nothing was ever planted. She got ill and taking care of her health became my priority. So the beds sat there in the yard; right where she wanted them to be planted. They were eventually moved into the back yard and rested on their sides against the storage shed. Nanny Charlene passed away in January 2008. My children never got to have the joys of planting vegetables with her, and will never have the memories (good or bad) that I have of being in the garden with my elders.
BUT.... We will make memories of our own! We have taken those 3 square foot gardens that Nanny wanted and have placed them in a sunny area of the back yard! We have created MORE square foot garden beds and they are all filled with dirt and PLANTED! It was hard work to fill those beds with dirt. Lots of shoveling of garden soil and several weekends were spent before we could plant the first seed. Oh but planting we have done! We have several types of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, carrots, lettuce, eggplants, green onions, bell peppers, snap beans, and purple hull peas! All in our cute little gridded square foot gardens.
**Two of the 3x6 beds**
**Alyssa working in the yard**
The kids have all helped plant the seeds and water the beds. We were all excited to see the cucumbers sprout so fast. Every time something new starts to sprout and someone notices it, they run to share the news! Lendall and Ryan have taken a liking to working together to check the beds and water them daily and its so nice to see them doing that together.
Speaking of Ryan.....
All of his evaluations for his learning disability have been completed. He has been diagnosed LD (learning disabled) in Reading and will receive Special Education teaching starting next school year. We could very well start it this year, but there are less than 5 weeks of school left, so we are taking the steps now to have everything in place of next year. What a blessing this is! It has been a long hard road to get to this point but, he is finally going to get the help he needs in class.
Maison has had some great improvement with the medication changes. I have seen no current signs of depression and I thank God for that. I was so scared with the way he was acting. Jada is still having issues with her medication and its an ongoing, ever-changing thing with hers.I just try to take things one day at a time with her. Actually, one incident at a time is more like it.
Alyssa seems to have re-aggrivated an old knee injury. It has been doing some pretty good swelling and causing her lost of pain lately. She is scheduled to go to the Dr next week and hopefully we can find out what is going on with it. Unfortunately, and much to her dislike, all tumbling/cheerleading is on hold for now.
She will be attending D-NOW this weekend. D-NOW is a youth discipleship conference that our church student ministry is participating in. There are over 150 students going to D-NOW and I hope it is an amazing and God-filled experience for each of them. She will also be being Baptized at our home church on Sunday, much to my delight! God has blessed me with an amazing daughter, who at times is the "typical teenager" that every parent loathes, but yet she is still amazing!
Lendall's heart seems to be GREAT! At least that is what the Dr's say. We met with his cardiologist on Monday and he reviewed the video of his angiogram he had almost a month ago with a different physician. He confirmed that his heart has NO blockages and only MINOR plaque buildup in a couple of spots. He does have a few vessels that are narrowed with is affecting blood flow, and this could be what is causing the issues he is having. His cardiologist increased one of his medications to the next dosage up and added one more. It was VERY reassuring to know that there no blockages or what looks like will become a blockage anytime soon! Unfortunately, we still dont have all the answers. His cardiologist said we will likely NEVER have all the answers, because they still dont know or understand why his heart acts the way it does sometimes. "Its just one of those list of unknowns we have to live with" is what the cardiologist said.
Our fence project has been a TOTAL success! Flower LOVES it! She runs and runs and runs and by the end of the night has herself purely exhausted. WE DID GOOD! :) The screen porch has been rescreened but we are still working on the trim-work. But for now, we have no mosquitoes trying to "pack us off" when we sit on the front porch in the evenings.
I am still a bit stressed in life, but I dont know that THAT will ever change. Having the garden has helped me to de-stress some. I love that it is bringing our family together on something. Its bringing my husband and I closer together, and that is a Blessing in itself. All of the good news about Ryan and Lendall, and the progress with Maison is stress relieving for sure! Just being able to be MOM and not have to worry about so much "other" stuff is a great thing!
My best friend, who has also started a new garden this year for the first time, asked me the other day: "Are we getting OLD? Seems like we can name a dozen people in their 30's that have decided to start planting vegetable gardens!"
Well Selena..... If this is OLD, we sure are enjoying it arent we!
So my family is making memories together, God is blessing us with stress relieving news and adventures and everyone is overall HEALTHY! What more can a wife and mother ask for right?
Maison & Karl 
I decided on the 4th of July, I needed to be a RED HEAD!
My Kids got to enjoy a week of VBS at church with their little brother Rhody.
And the little princess in the family turned 7. We got to celebrate her birthday at Yogi Bear with a great cake, swimming and lots of fun, family & friends thanks to Nanny Missy & Uncle Gene!
We are VERY proud of Alyssa. She will be leaving Champ Cooper Jr High and headed to Ponchatoula High School in the fall. Seems like only yesterday she was entering kindergarten and now she is off to high school. Alyssa will go to 9th grade. 
