A lesson in Gardening...by Helen Hemphill

Well, I have been hearing that some people have these black thumbs, well I am here to help people out and get them to embrace their inner green thumb.

The first thing you need to do it pick a white rock. I love the white rocks and I think everyone should have one in their pocket while doing any gardening. Just go out and pick the one you love.


It is very important to learn to water your garden. Now we are going to learn about proper hose management.


Do you have your white rock? Good...now...


You need to make sure that all spray nozzles are clear of any debri. Like this...


Then insert the nozzle in the hose (here) and voila! Your hose is ready to use.


Well lets go take a look at some new plantings...got your rock?


See, me and daddy just planted these the other day. They need lots of water and some fertilizer would not hurt either.


See these flowers? they were planted a while a go, but with lots of water and good sun, they have bloomed. Don't they look great!!!


Please tell me you got all that, I do not want to have to go over it again.

October 20, 2008

Tis the Day!!!!!! Yep! That is the day my c-section is scheduled to get these kids out. Eviction notice filed and soon to be, all kids out of the pool. We had our Dr. appt and Scan on Friday and it was marvelous! The boys look great (well a little cramped) and they are measuring great. I am 34 wks, they were measuring 36 and 35.5 wks (that is A and B). Their estimated weights are 6.5 and 5.5 lbs right now and everything else looked great. Twin A slowed down a bit, Twin B caught up and I am just as happy as I can be. I don't know how much I am measuring but I am measuring over 40 wks at this point. The Dr said, well isn't that a big belly! Well yeah!

Sooo that means like 21 days until we leave for the hospital (we check in the night before). That is 3 wks!!!! I have to make sure everything is really ready for them to come home (well most of that is done), recheck my bags, and clean the house so my In-Laws will come and not be grossed out by my terrible lack of energy to clean toliets and mop floors.

It is truely amazing that we are not going to be a family of five. The Hemphill five. I am just so excited.

One month to family of five...

Austin pointed out today that in about a month (we don't have a date set but should have something come this friday) we will be having our twins. one month. Am I ready? Is Helen ready? Who knows, but like it or not, we will have ourselves a set of Irish Triplets.

Things wise, I think we are ready. We have a crib, stroller, carseats, and clothing. And I have started to collect diapers but this is going to be alot of work. A lot of fun and joy i hope too but I am begining to get scared about what will need to happen after they are here to keep everyone happy and feeling loved. As my friend Jane says, "God does not give me more than I can handle" and I certainly think to add "But, boy does he try..." maybe I should have that engraved or painted somewhere. It is something I say in my head alot, and I think I will probably say it alot more. (At least Jane's saying).

I guess what also bugs me is we don't have names yet. We have some in the running but I feel so behind on this because we were sure of Helen's name at 3 mos and when we found out it was girl, it was set. This is nuts! I hope we can find one that feels right soon.

Peace

need I say more..

She walked...

Sunday was a pretty good day. Woke up to Austin's birthday (Happy Birthday!) and got ready for Helen's birthday party. Austin had just settled down on the couch with his coffee and she decides to get up and walk over to Austin. She took about 8 steps in a row and it ended up with a hug by daddy and a very surprised mommy. She has not done that since but she is now taking a step or two by herself and getting better at it. All in the practice I guess.

The party was lovely. We invited a few of our friends and their kids to BBQ and just eat and chat. It was a lovely time by all, at least I think so, and everyone went home stuffed full of cake and ice cream.

Here is a video of Helen and Austin walking around the house. She is not walking alone this time but as you can see, she is practices like this every day. Soon she will be running....

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

I can not believe it has been a year since Helen was born. It is has been a long and short year but most importantly, an amazing year. I love that she is our daughter and glad that we have her. Here are some pics from our little family party. We plan to have a party later this week with a few friends and that will be just fun.

BC (that is before cake, you will see..)

The cake and all the presents from all the grandparents.

What should be my wish....

Well, if I have to eat this thing...better get started...

One bite down, five million to go....

I think I need a bigger fork...

Oh whew! I just have to eat this little piece...Slap! Make it smaller.

uh-oh, looks like I snuck up on dad...

What a yummy mess!!!My guess, it is bath night...

How fun is this?

Wow, mom never lets me play with paper...this is great.

Ooooo, a new book...

How do I get this thing open?

Videos....cool.

oooo, a disk for the car... gimme that!

Shoes, shoes, that is nice. mmm cd...

I want to play this now, how do I get it open?

Still working on this cd....

Can you put the camera down and help me out a bit, mom?

Shoes? You mean something on my feet?

Dang, they have elastic, they can't just pull off.

Well these aren't that bad, feels pretty good....

Thanks for sharing my birthday!!!!!

Just some cute ole pics of Helen

In the last couple of days, I have gotten out the camera more have taken these all in the last fortnight. Since it is now warmer, we are trying to get Helen outside more and more. She likes to play in the grass now, and when we traveled to Dubbo last, we stopped both ways at a local park for her to get out and stretch her legs. I think we might see some walking here in the next month or two. Everyday she is working on it and it is amazing to see how close she is. She has taken a step or two but then immediatly falls down. When she walks with us, she does not lean on our hands. I think she thinks she can't walk without us. One of these days, she will get up and walk across the house as if she has always had. She did that with crawling, I can imagine that walking would be the same.

She grabbed this book and it looked like she was giving an advertisment.


Here is Helen walking around the house with Austin (Da-do)



Maybe a step on her own?!?!?!

No more, just back into daddy's arms.


This is later that day at the Park in Narrowmine (part way between Cobar and Dubbo)








Playing the Da-do on the slide...

weeee!!!!!

Go Da-do!


After Helen got over her bout of sickness, she also got a case of Oral Thrush as if being sick wasn't enough. This is us, cleaning all her hard toys in hot water and vinegar.

She was not too pleased to see all her toys in the tub. Wasn't sure if they would come back or not...



More walking with dad. always.

What a cutie!

They other night, we could not get her to bed so we thought we would take her pics as she was still up at 10 pm.


Sleepy? Nah...




Come to find out, why she couldn't get to sleep. Da-do thought it was funny that Helen was wired, little did he know, he was in big trouble later...

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