All things new

Here's my list of "all things new" for the Hyde family...

New house...I think there are only a few more boxes to unpack...they are in the basement for another day.

New couch...sort of...I bought a new (scotchguarded!!!) slip cover for our outdated couch...in burgundy...doing the living room in an Americana theme for summer.

New pool...(not new but new to us)... friend from church hooked us up -- being newbies to pools Nathan is now a semi pro. (Thanks, Brent!)

New perrenials...this new (old) house has a ton of beautiful flowers and plants around the grounds. Oh, and we have a cherry tree, grapes, and some herbs, too.

New air...smell that fresh country air! O.K., so some days it just smells like cow poo, but most days it's really nice!

New neighbors. At our old house we only got to know one couple that we lived next door to. Here...we have neighbors galore that want to meet us! So far we've met 6 sets of new neighbors...some that we can't even see their house from ours! We've had all sorts of desserts delivered and the kids have made some new friends!

New internet!!! After being without for over a month and getting turned down by all sorts of companies -- we live out in the country and have Amish neighbors, you know -- we are finally hooked up to a wireless company! Yippee!

New expenses...argh! When you move into a bigger house there are some things ya just have to do...we had to buy some new furniture (desk set, some beds, etc.), new washer and dryer (can I just tell you how much I LOVE my new BOSCH set?!!!), a new fridge (and an extra one downstairs in the basement since I try to buy groceries every 2-3 weeks), a new water softener, and a bit 'o new carpet. All I can say is thank the Lord for no payments and no interest for a looong time! (We do make payments and when we get our tax return next spring we'll have a lot of it paid for...just FYI.)

New phone...cell phone that is. My mom has this really sweet friend that sends gifts once in a while...really useful gifts...like a back massager when Nathan had back issues last year. A few months ago she sent mom a cell phone that is one of those pay as you go phones. It has texting capabilities and makes more sense to use to send Nathan a quick note (on his church provided cell phone) when he's busy. So I find myself very efficient at texting lately. I just have to get over being so particular that I can abbreviate and use slang when I text my BFF (best friend forever...Nathan).

New garden...and it's huge! After having two smallish raised bed gardens and not much luck at growing some things...we have a 50 ft by 30 ft garden with wonderful soil! We have over 20 tomato plants, 8? green pepper, 6 jalapenos, lots of green beans, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, zucchini, and cucumbers. The plan is to can lots of salsa, tomato sauce, and maybe ketchup. We'll freeze the green beans. I bought some peaches at Meijer 1/2 price and have canned some peach jam and peach jelly and bought more peaches to make more jam (a hit here!). We'll hopefully pick a ton of strawberries this coming week to make jam and can it and to freeze sliced strawberries for desserts.

And...last but not least...a new baby!!!!!!


Abigail Elizabeth was born on Wed., May 7th at 11:08 p.m., weighing 8lbs. 6 oz., 21 1/2 inches long. Labor was good -- the epidural helped! I pushed about 6 times. Her apgar score was 9 (that's good). She's a good eater, a good sleeper at night (she gets up a couple of times to eat but goes back down fine), she's not too fussy, and she likes to cuddle. She's my little sweet pea.



Well that updates you all on what's new for us! What's new for you?