She's Growing up too fast!

Hannah had her first scant Tablespoon of Rice cereal mixed with mommy's milk this morning! She was puzzled about it at first, but then she seemed to really want it! Of course, she also wanted to get at the green spoon I was using to feed her! Elizabeth was excited to help feed her and was a very proud big sister.

Hannah embodies a healthy looking baby...at her four month well visit last week she weighed 16.25 lbs! I don't remember the others being that big at four months! She's woken up in the night the last two nights, so I'm thinking she may be a little hungry, and I'm also really struggling to find a good new routine for her. Prayerfully, we'll get on a little better eating schedule and sleeping schedule and she'll stop crying herself to sleep nearly every nap.
More updates soon!

Rachel

Lots of new growth!

The tomatoes and peppers have flowers and there is lots of new growth on the beans and watermelons, and some, but not as much on the corn. Everything seems to still be alive, Praise God, and even doing well! Here are the pictures for proof! :) The first is the watermelon, next the tomato plant, and finally, the green beans.

Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites at Ameristar

The days of overpriced and undermaintained Holiday Inns with scum floating on outdoor rot-iron fence enclosed pools and no ammenities to speak of are over. I've been travelling these United States my entire life - mostly traversing the mid-section - and I recall thinking of how fun it would be to stay at a Holiday Inn during my youth - after all, they usually offered HBO in the room! Back then, they were expensive compared to the Cheap Z's, Days Inns, and Econo Lodges that we usually ended up in - but it was probably for the better that we never stayed under the star.

Those days are over.

The full compliment of Holiday Inn hotels has raised the bar as far as renovations, ammenities, locations, and pricing in my short lifespan to a noticeable degree. Nowadays, I rarely plan a trip without first checking on the company's easy-to-use website for the closest accomodations where I can benefit under my Priority Club account. Tonight it's the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites next door to the Ameristar Casino just off of I-29 in Council Bluffs, IA. We didn't plan on this stay, however the flight my brother and I were slated to take to Minneapolis, MN was delayed to far to make our connecting flight, so we're stuck till tomorrow, and I'm not too upset. Free Wi-Fi is standard and the beds/linens are second only to another chain's offerings of a Sleep Number bed in every room. Of course there is a free hot breakfast in the morning, though our early flight will unfortunately prevent us from partaking the usual fresh waffles, eggs, bacon, danishes, juices, and other breakfast items. We took a dive in the indoor pool inside an expanse of windows looking out over the powerful Missouri River and relaxed in the hot tub after an arduous airport experience.

I booked it online for 10 bucks less than anything else comparable in the area and a shuttle was at the airport within 10 minutes of booking and a follow-up phone call.

Someday I'll provide a proper review of the best roadside hotel I've ever stayed at - the Holiday Inn Express in Coeur d'Lane, ID - but I think I'll need another visit to refresh my memory, that was after all 1.5 years ago and my memory is a little fuzzy. . .

Prince Caspian

Everything definitely changed. I won't waste much time discussing the story line or plot, needless to say the plot alone makes this a story worth reading/viewing. Rather, I'd like to focus on it's movie merits. First, the orchestration was terrific. It was subtle yet supportive, conjuring up the idea of "Narnia" even before the kids were whisked away. I would defintely rank the effects as being on the same level as LOTR, though on a smaller scale. Something that surprised me was the humor the screenplay writer's included to help reinforce the relationships. From the first Narnian the kids meet upon returning to their departure, subtle comedy was comfortably interwoven throughout dying, battles, love, sorrow, and suspense. Best of all, it was not overdone, like most sequels. Disney has proven once again that it takes a company that has only one way of doing business to do justice to a work of cinema - with high quality.

Prince Caspian Pre-Post

I haven't seen Prince Caspian yet, though I definitely plan to and will gladly post a review, but I did read a recent review on IMDb.com written by someone who was very disappointed in the Christian/religious themes throughout the film. Even though most of us probably know that Lewis was maybe the most noted apologist of the 20th century, this poster didn't seem to. One of the responses made me laugh out loud.

By FabHckyBbe, "Complaining about Christian themes in CS Lewis is as stupid as reading Agatha Christie and complaining about all those darn mysteries."

Not very nice, but funny.

"Sulhoffs, Sulhoffs, how does your garden grow?"

Hopefully, it's growing big and strong and putting down long, deep roots!

All the sprouts are in now, after several days of hardening them to the outdoor air and heat. It was a hot day in May today at 80 degrees plus. Tomato plant, pepper plant (pre-purchased), watermelon, carrots, corn, green beans are all growing in our little garden. Prayerfully, they will be productive!

I do have a couple of questions for those of you reading who have more gardening experience than we do. The jiffy peat pack recommended that you plant 2-3 seeds in each little peat circle and then thin out the weaker one after sprouting. Well, I only guessed at how to do that! I just picked the sturdier stem basically. With the corn, I had two stalks growing in each of the three pots I planted them in. In each of the three pots, one stalk was still green and fairly weak feeling to the touch, yet taller and with longer roots, but the other sprout was sturdier and had a purplish color at the base with medium root lengths. Which is the hardier plant and which is the weaker? I picked the one with the strongest (purplish)stem, for good or for ill.

And then the carrots. I did not thin them out. In some peat pots, all three seeds sprouted, in some only one. I just planted them like they grew. Am I going to get three gnarled up carrots all grown together under the pots where three sprouted?

If anybody has any insight to these questions, please email us or post a comment!

Enjoy each day God has given you!

Love,
Rachel

Ten inch tall beans

Ten inch tall beans! Yippee! I guess we'll be doing a lot of snapping this summer! And some sharing, too! I just about killed my tomato and pepper plant, forgetting to water them when I had not planted them in the garden plot yet. They are safely underground now, putting out roots and very perked up!

The Garden / ROTW Part III

In case you haven't already done so, I would strongly encourage you to take a look at our Garden page. It's really neat to see how quickly these seeds have developed into sprouts!

As for my weeds - the saga continues. Here is a quick shot of the rebellion that is going on in my front yard.

Today I went to see my friend, Kirk, and alas - he was at lunch (I guess that's OK). So, I spoke with another employee and was advised (after they saw the pictures of my lawn) to use a spray-on weed killer other than the 2,4-D I used at the beginning of April. I should see yellowing in two weeks and then dead weeds in six. Of course, crabgrass may take multiple treatments to be affective. And like all other things for the lawn, there are explicit instructions on what and what not to do. DO NOT mow within 48-hours before or after. DO water within 1-7 days. DO NOT spray when wind is greater than 10 mph. DO wear long sleeves, long pants, socks and shoes to apply. DO NOT apply in colder temperatures. yadda yadda yadda. So, I think I met all requirements and I'll be sure to avoid the pitfalls described. I really don't care what it takes at this point - I just want to lose the weeds!

God Bless us all!