Uncle Resa Came to Visit

It was such a treat to have Res come to visit us from Arkansas. We have had a great time with him; the children were so excited to see and share time with their Uncle Resa. Before he got here, Dianna asked "Will Uncle call me Buck? I like it when he calls me Buck." And call her Buck he did. She absolutely loves her Uncle Resa. Jarod James has had an equally great time with his uncle. Whenever we came home from school, Jarod would ask "Is Uncle Resa still at my house?" And then he would run off to the door to check if he was around. Though hes has only been here for a couple days, I think the children will take a couple of days to adjust to not having Res here. We are all doing well and are counting down to vacation when we can see Mom and Dad. Here are some pictures of the children. Enjoy.
Well, this past Sunday was Dianna's Master's Clubs award ceremony. Here is a picture of her before leaving for the program. The LORD has truly blessed us with a wonderful and smart little Princess. Can you see all of her badges that she has earned this year. She has eleven badges in this picture and received one more at the program (that is not pictured).

Last Thursday was Dianna's K4 Parent Day. This is a one hour program that her class puts on in her classroom for parents and grandparents to see what they are learning and have learned throughout the year. Here she was selected to be the "Lilly Pad" in the acted out version of the song "The Little White Duck." She was the cutest little lilly pad ever!!! Here Dianna is at her seat at Table 4 (pink barret). She was so cute as she sat there with her hands in her lap and waiting patiently. Every now and again she would shoot us a smile and hold her hand up in the sign language language for "I love you."

This is a picture from the awards program. The ribbon she is wearing is in recognition of completing her second book - her 4yr old book. She is not smiling because she could not find us in the crowd. She did the same thing when she was in the Christmas program two years ago. I need to just find seats first,and show her where we will be sitting, so she will know where to look.

This last photo is of the children and their Uncle Resa hanging out on the couch. C-u-u-u-u-u-t-e!!

Love you all so much. Have a great day!!!

Catching Up-So Much to Do, So Little Time

What follows here in this post is me playing catch up . I sincerely apologize for the lack of information flow from our end of the world. Rest assured that we are well and good. The LORD is good!! We have just been very busy here as of late with school and work (I know, everyone else has the same stuff-I really have no excuse). And now around the world of news in under 30 minutes. First up: Sports.
First up in this year's dunk competition is Jarod James. He will attempt to combine his hoop skills with Parkour (the internet sensation of 2004 - the act of getting from point A to point B in the most creative way possible....without landing himself in the hospital). Next up in family news, we have Dianna and Jarod relaxing on the couch and watching Inspector Gadget 2. Very funny.

Today's "Community Spotlight" features the Tupua Family Garden. As you can see the tomatoes on the right side of the garden are coming along nicely. In the lower left corner is cilantro ( I believe); to the right of the cilantro is oregano, and just above the oregano is some green onions. There is some basil and some other salsa requirements in the other boxes. My initial estimate of the tomatoes being ready for the stick (made two weeks ago to Mom) were obviously premature. Thank you for your prayers for our garden.

Today's "This Happened on this Day Some Time Ago" segment. The Baileys from Palatka came to visit. What a grand 'ol time we had sharing food, folks, and fun. Here the grandkids pause to take a picture with Pop Pop.

Here the kids are loving on each other while eagerly awaiting to open the package from the online Disney store (which really had more things in it for Manny than it did for them).

And that is it folks! Aroung the world of news in under 30 minutes. I think we set a new record for news briefs. Well, we love you all very much and cannot wait to see everyone again. Mom and Dad, Dianna says that she has 20 kisses for each of you when she sees you. Love you all.

More on the Garden

Here is a picture of our good friend Chad who helped me the whole day. We are so thankful for his willingness to help us out with his time and talents. I do not think we could have accomplished as much as we did on this day if it were not for him.

Here I am consulting with my head contractor to see what we needed to do next.
Here Jarod is helping to plant some tomatoes with his Mama.

Barbie is showing the seeds to the children before we start planting.

Here the garden is mostly seeded and 3/4's of the way fenced in. Barbie has tagged each of the spots to know where and what everything is.

Tomatoes are down. Yay!!! Beautiful picture. The LORD blessed us with a gorgeous day to get all that we accomplished done.Here Ayden is helping with the garden. This type of gardening is referred to as "Square Foot Gardening", popularized by some guy, some where, for some reason. It is a very neat idea and we are super excited.

Putting up the fencing. We were afraid that the one roll of chicken wire we bought would not be enough for the bottom of the garden and to fence it in. But the LORD was good and we had just enough to do both. Praise the LORD!

On a side note, somewhat related topic: Barbie bought me a 5 piece power tool set. The Ryobi set came with a power drill, circular saw, reciprocating saw, a work light, a charger, two 18 volt batteries, and a tool bag. I got to use all the tools this weekend for the garden and to drill and cut our compost barrel. I have the most awesome wife ever!!! More pictures as the garden progresses. We love you all and miss you all so much. Bye for now.

A Busy Saturday

There was a lot planned for this Saturday. First on the list is our family tradition of taking our breakfast at that notable chicken establishment of Chick-fil-a. We all look forward to that special Saturday meal, because it means the weekend is upon us and that means Family Day!!
After breakfast, I was meeting my friend Chad to go look at mycycles (as Jarod calls motorcycles). We fist visited the Victory shop. If you have not seen a Victory motorcycle, you are missing out. They are all-American made and beautiful to boot. The down side to Victory bikes is the price tag. The cheapest bike I saw was $14,000 and that was for a 2008! Next we were headed to the Honda dealership to visit my new favorite - the Honda Fury...or as I call it the Kraken!! She is Honda's very popular (sing the song from the show "Wicked" - you know you want to Lika) VTX 1300 engine mounted on their chopper frame. Stylish with attitude. Definitely a head turner - just like the price, not as bad as Victory, but still pricey, I think it starts at $16,000. On the way to the Honda place, we were sidetracked by a very large demo truck parked in front of the Triumph dealership. Triumph, for those who do not know, is a Brittish bike maker, probably most well known on the racing circuit. This was the second time visiting this dealership, and the last time I remember being in awe of the styling of the bikes but turned away by the pricing. This time, I saw a 900cc (the Triumph America and the Triumph Speedmaster) with a price of $9700 - both 2010 models. What I previously saw as out of my league, was now amazingly within reach. Even their most expensive bike was cheaper than the cheapest 2010 Victory. Crazy! Dad, what kind of motorcycle did you have when we were growing up?
After the drooling stopped and I was pulled to reality, it was time to get to work. First, cut down the tree in the front of the house. Why? Because it was a nuisance, because it was ugly, because it was blocking the walk to the front porch, and last and most important, its root system was growing under the foundation of the house. I had borrowed an electric chainsaw from a co-worker to do the job. Bad move on my part. No offense to any who own an electric chainsaw, but it just did not cut it - ha! I made a funny!! I made two cuts and then the chain stopped moving. The motor was running, but the chain just was not doing anything. Solution: rent a GAS-powered chainsaw from Home Depot for $50 for a 4 hour period - more than enough time to bring down my adversary. Round 2. I was Bilbo and that chainsaw was Sting. Sting made short work of the troll. True story: in less than fifteen minutes the tree had fallen to the sword and was more that 50% chopped up for pick up by Waste Management.
On to the next task - building a vegetable garden for my Baby. We bought a kit for a raised garden from Home Depot. It is 4ft x 4ft and eight inches deep. This is before we broke ground.
Here we have the ground pretty level, and we staked out a 5x5 square to work in.
We now have the box assembled and set inside our staked area. The sides are finished cedar planks. Smelled great when we opened the box. You can see our friend Chad Poorman in the background looking over the directions (I mean suggestions) for the next step in the process. Next, we put down an energy field to keep rabbits and other burrowing creatures from entering the garden from below. This field is very effective and is powered by a power station that is on the nearby planet of Endor. Okay, so the "shield" is a layer of chicken wire. See, that did not sound as cool as the first description. We then put a Weed-X barrier down over the shield to keep the grass and weeds from growing back into the garden. Look at the helpers! Mr. Chad told them to stand like warriors and hold the Weed-X from blowing in the wind.
Below, we have the garden divided up into sections for growing various veggies. On the right side, the largest sections will have two Roma tomato plants each. The other eight sections will have basil, oregano, cilantro, green peppers, jalapenos, onions, and green onions. It is a salsa/spaghetti sauce garden. At the corners, I have u-posts for chicken wire fencing.

Here is Dianna and Barbie placing the first seeds into the garden. Matoes first. That is what Jarod calls tomatoes. More on the progress of the garden in the next post. We love you all so much and are excited about the garden and the prospect of cutting some more costs. Pray for us, as you all know that I am in no way a green thumb, that we will have good success with our garden. Until next time. Love you.

Some Birthday Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Barbie's birthday. Here are our beautiful children posing for pic in front of the dozen lavender roses that were delivered to the academy on Barbie's birthday. There is also a very pretty pink rose that AJ got for Barbie. I love how Jarod and Dianna are holding hands in this picture. So cute!!!! Here Jarod is scoping out Mom's other roses. These roses were delivered to the restaurant that Barbie and I went to the day after for her birthday and Valentine's Day. These four roses were from the children for their Mom - two orange roses from Jarod and two green roses from Dianna. The green roses were so neat; I was not aware that there was such a rose.

Here is Barbie holding her roses that she received at The Melting Pot: A Fondue Restaurant. It was a complete surprise for her when we got to our table and found her roses waiting for her.

Here is a close-up of one of the lavender roses from the dozen in the vase. Pretty!!

Here is a closer look at the bouquet and single rose on the shelf in the entry way of the house.

I was so glad that I was able to surprise her with the roses. Going out to dinner was a little surprise as well. I was able to secure a babysitter for the date night without her knowing. And was able to get both sets of roses delivered without her knowledge. I am so lucky to have her as my wife. The LORD has a truly blessed me with the best help meet possible. I love her so much and cannot imagine my life without her, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with her.

A Short Story, Same Story, Different Blog

This was on my parent's blog and my sister Lika suggested that I copy it to my blog for others to read. I hope you all enjoy it.
It was a long journey for the winding column of soldiers and retainers that were attached to Barbie-sama's entourage. The column stretched for at least two miles. Returning home from a diplomatic mission to the neighboring kingdom of Arkanssippi. The mission was a success-effectively establishing an amiable trade agreement. As the day wore on, it became evident to General Talani that the column would have to stop and rest for the night, but where? The general sent out his best Anbu squad led by Kuresa-sensei to scout the nearby countryside for a place to set up camp. After a time, Kuresa-sensei and his wards (Dianna-chan and Jarod-kun) return with a report. The Anbu leader reported that they had found the ruins of a small settlement just to the north of the road. The general, after being reassured that it was a defensible position, gave the order to head north from the road toward the settlement.
Upon arrival at the ruins of the settlement, the column was greeted by the sight of a large mill or barn on the bank of a small lake. Dianna-chan was surveying the landscape as the column arrived. The settlement was surrounded by the remains of a seven foot high rock wall on three sides. If the settlement were to be attacked, the attack could only come from the water, and that, not very likely.
As the head of the military contingent attached to the entourage, the general felt it his duty to personally see to the security of the building that would serve as Barbie-sama's sleeping quarters for the night. The general took Dianna-chan along with his personal security team on the sweep of the large building. The first floor yielded no surprises; as the security team moved to the second floor everything seemed clear. Dianna-chan thought she saw something moving on the hill beside the house......
.....but when she looked back, there was no one there. The general dispatched some men to search the surrounding area, but found no one, or any trace of anyone.
The rest of the night passed without incident. In the morning the army broke camp and made its was back to the road. As the column moved its was down the road, one the scouts reported finding a piece of signage that may have the name of the now defunct settlement.

Just a Day in the Life

Here is Dianna with her necklace and shirt that came in Jarod's package. So cute. She takes such goofy pictures sometimes. I know that when she is older she is going to ask me why we took such silly pictures of her and I will say, "You were the one who was making the face in the picture, not me."
Here is Jarod hidng behind his birthday from Grandma Ella and Grandpa David. He was very excited about getting a package for his birthday. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad.

Getting ready to go out and play in the winter cold. "I'm gonna get you!"

Look at me. I can reach the ceiling...with a foam noodle.

Here are my cutie children. Mom, do you remember the dress Dianna is wearing? You sent it to her when she turned two. She is finally tall enough to wear it. She is so cute. Here we are off to church this morning. The shirt is one that Mom Bailey made for Jarod with material from Mom.

Sorry about the lack of postings. We are all well and are eagerly awaiting the time of vacation to spend time with Mom and Dad. We will talk at you all later. Love you all.