The Burlingames

Chronicling the adventures of the B's
April 14, 2012

Spring Yardwork

by Megan

I spent the day outside doing some planting and cleaning up of brush. Here are some pictures of the “fruits of my labor”.

These are hostas and daylilies from my mom’s flower garden. Dad dug them up for me and brought them to my house.

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More hostas along the back of the house. We’ll see how well these grow. The soil is very clay-like.

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I’m cleaning out underneath the apple tree to plant more hostas.

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I spent an hour or so cleaning out some of the underbrush from the brush/trees in the back of the yard. I’m all scratched up on my arms and legs. But it looks so much better back there.

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I managed to do some of the planting while having 4 kiddos ranging from 3.5 years to 17 months running around and causing a ruckus.

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March 30, 2012

Spring is here!!!

by Megan

We have been so spoiled with such a mild winter and being even more spoiled by an early and warm spring. It has been so much fun to get outside to play, do yard work, go for walks, play at the playground and enjoy lots of bonfires with s’mores.

Dave has gotten most of the yard raked and ‘cleaned’ up. I’m ready to do some landscaping, planting and gardening. We bought some landscaping stones last fall to put in along the sidewalk and we put most of those stones in last week and hope to finish it up this week. It looks wonderful, certainly makes the front of the house much nicer looking. Below is a picture of it in the partial stages. I hope to get a picture up in its finished stage soon.

The garden location will be moving this year to a different location. We are moving it to the back, center of the yard. It will get more direct sunlight, which will hopefully help it to grow better this year. We also need to dig down into the ground to lay some netting under the soil to help prevent critters from eating the roots of my plants and killing them. Another garden biggie this year is going to be putting up a fence around it to keep out other critters. Not a whole lot survived in my garden last year due to critters. Hopefully this year will be more bountiful.

In other good news…we’ve made some major headway with Eli’s potty training success. He has very few accidents and is doing a good job of telling us when he has to go potty (and sometimes even poop). He has been getting A LOT of M&M’s. Each time Eli gets on the potty, Noah points to the M&M’s and says, “M”. Noah gets an M&M each time Eli gets 1 (sits on the potty), 2 (goes potty) or 3 (goes poop). Lots of M&M’s in our house right now. Speaking of…we need to buy more.

In some more other good news…Noah is almost completely OFF his need for his pacifier. Sometimes during the night we’ll give it to him to help him fall back asleep. Otherwise he doesn’t need it for falling asleep at nap time and bedtime any more. Whoohoo!!

These are two big praises to my prayer requests. :-)

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March 20, 2012

A Wonderful Mini-Vacation

by Megan

At the beginning of the school year, my dear friend Katie Farka called me and asked about my spring break. She managed to get most of the week off and asked if I could come visit…so I did. :-)

We had a wonderful visit together and I came home feeling so encouraged, convicted and renewed spiritually (thank you Katie!!). I was pampered, encouraged and loved. Katie made some really wonderful meals (I hope to get the recipes and will post them here), we went for walks, ate ice cream, did some shopping in downtown La Crosse, crocheted A LOT and talked even more.

Katie and I both crochet. Grandma Babcock taught her and Mom taught me. We shared some giggles on our learning experiences. Mom is a lefty and taught me how to crochet left-handed, I’m a righty. It took some time but I managed to switch over to right-handed crocheting. I couldn’t tell you or show you how to crochet as lefty any more, too many years have passed. Anyway, we went shopping for yarn (I didn’t buy any, even though I wanted to). Katie cleared out some clearance yarn to practice making baby blankets to give away. I finished a baby blanket for a sweet baby girl (I’ll post pictures soon). Like old women, we sat in the sun room and crocheted, chatted and drank tea. It was such a blessed time. Here’s a picture of a hat I crocheted for the sweet baby girl (mentioned above).

Like I said, my time with Katie, left my heart so much lighter and so full of life. We had some wonderful conversations of what God has been doing in our lives. I was sadden to say that it was a struggle to see what He was doing in my life. I was challenged to think of the good things because it seemed like so many “bad” things were so much more prevalent and staring me in the face. As time went on and our conversations continued, Katie really challenged me to dig deep to find, latch onto and remember the good things. I did this and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you Jesus for putting words, encouragement and love in Katie to share with me. Since returning home I have a renewed sense of hope. I want to start working my way off my anti-depressant medication. I want to spend more time in God’s word and fill my heart, mind and soul with truths. I want to start living again. Thank you Jesus!!!

On Wednesday night, we went to youth group (Katie is a leader of some high school students) and I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear the passage that was preached. The verses that really convicted me were James 1:5-7 – “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…” This verse has helped to change my way of praying and I LOVE it!!! I have been much more deliberate in my prayers and much more trusting of God to answer those prayers…somehow…someway. For example: we really hit it hard this week to potty train Eli. My prayer each night for him  awareness of his body and to understand the “potty” process. It has been so rewarding to see him do so well, he’s start to get it and is in underwear a little more each day. Yay! Praise Jesus!! Another example: we took away Noah’s plug, he has been so used to having it at naptime, bedtime and occasionally throughout the day. Each night when I put him to bed, I pray that Jesus would provide him with the comfort he needs to sleep well at night. We have seen huge success with this as well. Praise Jesus!!! I definitely have a new outlook on my prayers and how I pray. I’m looking forward to praying more like this and seeing how God answers those prayers.

Here is a picture of my sweet friend, Katie and I.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We are very good friends and have been for a very long time…20 years! Ack, she’s getting old!! But, we can fight like sisters can at the drop of a dime. In fact, Pastor Brian (Katie’s dad), asked if we needed to be separated during a squabble at dinner one night. :-) Katie and I have the type of friendship that can go months without talking and pick up right where we left off. I love having this type of friendship with her, she is my “never-give-up-on-me-and-never-going-away-friend”. Her dog Crystal is sitting in the background.

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March 18, 2012

Eli-ism

by Megan

Tonight Eli found my old Care Bear in his closet. Below is the conversation that followed the discovery of the bear.

Eli: What kind of bear is this?
Me: It is a Care Bear. It was Mommy’s when she was little.
Eli: Oh. What is its name?
Me: His name is Tenderheart.
Eli: Oh. I want to call him Thomas.
Me: Ummm. Ok. But his name is Tenderheart.
Eli: Nope, he looks like a Thomas to me. Thanks Mommy! (He runs away.)

 

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March 16, 2012

Hotel Stay + T.V. = ???

by Megan

Many years ago, Dave told me about a statistic regarding hotel rooms and T.V.’s. The statistic goes something like this…”the first thing people do when they enter their hotel room is turn on the T.V.”. I am proud/excited/weird to say, I stayed in a hotel for 2 nights and 3 days and not once did I turn on the T.V. :-) Small thing, but a fun accomplishment.

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