March Projects

As Spring approaches and baby #5's arrival nears, my list of things to do seems to be growing! Robbie has been asking me if we could take down the wallpaper in the kitchen for awhile now and I have begged him not to because I have not been ready to choose wall colors, counter tops or tile. Since none of these things are going to be purchased anytime soon, why bother with the walls, right??? Wrong! Reluctantly, I agreed to help start the tedious process of peeling off 2 layers of wallpaper last Saturday. It actually turned out to be a good way to spend a cold and rainy day inside with 4 kids. They all really enjoyed tearing off the paper and worked at it from breakfast till dinner time! If only that was the end of the project!! Today, I finally finished taking down the last bit of paper, but our project has now been put on hold because March project #2 arrived in the mail today!

We have been talking about purchasing bee hives for about 2 years now and have renewed our interest since we use so much honey to cook and bake with. We finally took the plunge and ordered our bees from a local farm and our hives from out of state. They arrived today in quite literally hundreds of pieces! A local and professional bee keeper advised us to forgo the assembled version and opt to assemble the hives ourselves so that we could learn more about the hives as we worked. What a mess! We started putting the hives together tonight and are about halfway through with the assembly,but they still have to be painted and glued as well! Plus, we have so much to read and learn about keeping bees before the bees actually arrive. We are really looking forward to the homeschooling and homemaking lessons we can do with bees though! Third on the list is starting our garden. I know we should already have the ground tilled and some veggies in the ground by now, but we have been waiting on a tiller to borrow, the snow to melt and the ground to dry. All that is in place now, so maybe after the first two projects are completed we can get to working outside on our garden??!!

I know it is time to start preparing for baby to arrive as well, but by #5, I am much less anxious about what I need to have ready before we meet our new arrival. The crib is still in the attic, but we always use the portable crib for the first few weeks anyway, so what's the rush?? We got rid of our baby carrier/ car seat after Little E outgrew it because it expired soon, so I do need to go shopping for that item, but I think I can hold off till April for that. And then we have the names - we really have no idea what we are going to name this baby! It seems more difficult when you have to be prepared for both a boy and a girl name ! CH was named 2 days after she was born though, so I figure we still have plenty of time for that as well!

Probably one of the most important projects on my list is getting Little E healthy, especially as Spring arrives. He was diagnosed last Summer with asthma and really had difficulty in the warm months with his breathing. Fall and Winter were mild, but as the trees and flowers have started to bloom, his breathing trouble has become more frequent. Today was an especially hard day for some reason, which brought me to my knees begging God to heal him! As I wait patiently on the Lord, I know that I have to be diligent in my efforts to read all I can and make sure we are eating a healthy diet as well.

And finally, somewhere at the bottom of the list is making Easter outfits. I can't decide if I want to work on smocking new dresses for the girls and make matching shorts for the boys with golf shirts or if we will all go mis-matched. Only time will tell!!