Summer fun! July 29, 2008

We have had a great summer so far here in Tuscaloosa, and beyond. We have been settling into a new home, had birthday parties, a wedding, started a garden, had a lot of ordinary uneventful days, and welcomed a new member to the Hensley clan.

The house is great. My favorite unadvertised feature is that there are very few roaches – inside the house that is. In the almost two months since we have been here I think I have seen maybe three or four and they were crawling in top of the crown molding (there is an inch gap between the molding and the ceiling) so the ugliness was mostly disguised. Thankfully I married a noble man who does all the bug squashing, so I didn’t even have to go near the little sometimes ginormous-flying things.

We have also planted a garden, and painted the office/guestroom. I will have to do another post with some pictures of the house and yard.

Just a short week after we got here we celebrated three birthdays; Zac, Marga and Sophia. Sophia is getting so big, and Marga and Zac are just getting wiser .

Three peas in a pod at the tri-birthday party.

One of the few family pics we have taken at the party.

Somber Sophia. She had no nap and a meager snack. We were so proud of her though, she did exceptionally well given the circumstances (and a little bribery).

Sophia with the wedding party. Isn’t she so beautiful!

I just love this pic. She did really well, but she did step on Jen’s veil – which she called a “hood” and it popped of as her and Charlie started the recessional. Jen had a good sense of humor about it, though, and thought it was funny.

Zac’s brother John is a proud papa. As soon as we got the call that little Isabella was here we piled in to the van and drove to Birmingham. She is truly precious and beautiful.

Ellie had an Elmo themed party. I don’t know what it is about two year olds and Elmo, because Sophia’s second party was also an Elmo party. We had a great time, and Ellie – well we are overjoyed at the two years we have had with her in our family so far. It was such a great blessing to celebrate another birthday of our sweet little Ellie. Thanks everyone who came!

I LOVE this picture. Ellie being loved on by her Grandpa and loving it. She normally is such a Momma’s girl, I was happy to capture her enjoying somebody else!

Sophia did all she could to suppress a smile. She later put her hand over her mouth to hide an inevitable smile. Isabella loved Sophia and didn’t fuss at all. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come! I can’t wait until they are all running around together!

So there is some of the excitement happening around here lately.

New blog! July 29, 2008

So the first thing you may have noticed is a new theme! I don’t love it, but it is free and it satisfies my aesthetic sensibilities more than the other free themes.

If you are really paying attention, you may also have noticed a new name. I chose this name for many reasons, and I think it really sums up in my mind what this blog is about. I love dandelions. They are often passed over as nothing special, as ordinary and even a nuisance to a perfect stretch of grass. When in Iowa in the spring, the girls would always delight in their simple form; putting them in their hair when yellow; blowing the delicate pappus’ into the wind when white. These simple “weeds” God designed. As a woman committed to her family, I feel that like a dandelion, it is not glamorous, or a sought after “career”. No, it’s not a career at all; rather a way of life. A life I wouldn’t trade for all the accolades and self-fulfillment of a career.  In this blog, I guess it is my aim to share the delight and joy we share as a family. That I have indeed come to cherish as a Wife and a Mommy. For it is God’s calling on my life. It is simple, it is complicated, it is joyous, it is God’s design. He has given us so many beautiful moments. Moments we stumble upon as we walk through this life together, like we would walk through those Iowa fields and find those unexpected dandelions planted there by our Heavenly Father for us to delight in.

Soooo, I will resume this blog and hopefully pick up where I left off, sharing some of the Hensley family with family and friends. I have so many pictures waiting to be posted! Come back soon!