If you normally check the blog on Sunday, then you have missed this past week’s blog and you’ll have to click on the archives below. I am posting a day early because we are leaving town.

Tomorrow, we are on our way west for the majority of the week for the Spring Pastor’s conference. This year, we are traveling to Rock Springs, Wyoming. Since my new laptop was delivered this past week, I have an opportunity to bring it with me and look up all the cool things there are to do in Rock Springs. I’m hoping there are some, honestly. Wyoming is sparcely populated and some of their towns are a perfect example of this.

This past week was fast and furious. Monday Eden went to Daycare and I scurried around, spending most of the day putting things away. I think every room had at least 25 things that belonged some place else. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Eden had an opportunity to go to a preschool, put on by the high school Consumer Science Class (otherwise known as Home Ec). It was held from 12:45 until 1:30 those days, and Eden had a great time. She brought something home every day and named several new friends.

Tuesday afternoon, I had a meeting with a woman from Olan Mills who is helping us with our church directory. They have taken most of the work away from the churches, and put it all on Olan Mills now, which works for me. I just take the photos and set the sign up sheets out and they do the rest of the work!

Wednesday, I went up to church early to hang posters and such. St. Paul’s held an Ascention Eve service that evening, and the voice choir sang for the last time this year. My kids made it through the communion service, but had melt downs as soon as we hit our back door. It was 10:30p before Eden was asleep, and then Lars was up to eat an hour later. Al got a phone call after we got home from church and made plans for a long road trip on Thursday.

Thursday, we were expecting my Aunt Karen, Uncle John and Cousin Andreana from Michigan. They had flown to Denver on Wednesday and were making the rounds to see family and friends. They had a pretty tight schedule, but arrived safe and sound after lunch. I had a pot of potato soup in the crock pot and fresh bread baking in the oven.

After hellos and naps, we made plans to sight see on Friday and from there, send them into Wyoming from Scottsbluff National Monument.

Meanwhile, Al was IN Denver, visiting a young couple from our congregation who had just given birth to twins, nearly two months early. They are very tiny, but he was able to baptism them both and spend time with the couple.

Friday, we woke up to blowing snow, icy roads and a blizzard warning for most of the Panhandle and south east Wyoming. John & Karen hemmed and hawed for a bit, but decided that they’d rather be stranded with the Strawn’s than in a ditch with no heat and no passing vehicles. We altered our day trip plans and drove two miles south to see Courthouse and Jail Rock. We then toured Bridgeport, including the Lakes, then carried on the thirteen miles to Chimney Rock. By the time we got to Chimney Rock, you could barely see the large sandstone rock, the snow was blowing so much. The NOAA weather radio computer voice was running through my head, “Do not travel. If you must, carry a winter survival kit with you and do not leave your vehicle…” Uncle John treated us to the visitor’s center, where we watched a movie and saw the exhibits. Eden had fun packing an open wagon for the trip west. She was hauling coffee, flour, sugar, salt and other provisions to load up! It was cute. Standing at the window of the visitors center, looking up to Chimney Rock, you couldn’t even see the Rock…we were looking at a complete Whiteout. It took a half hour to drive home, where we had some lunch, settled down for a nap and generally enjoyed being inside where it was warm. Al braved the wind for us that evening and grilled steaks out on the grill. I regret that I have no photos of this endeavor. He had to build a wall of tables and scrap wood to block the wind to keep the grill lit. He also wore a wolly hat and winter coat as the snow swirled around him. What a guy!

Andreana and Eden playing cars

Andreana and Lars hanging out

Eden's new roller skates, compliments of Aunt Karen

Saturday, our company got up and on the road by 0830. The weather was a balmy 40 degrees and the snow was melting under the bright shining sun. By noon, it would be 50 degrees and no sign of yesterday’s blizzard would remain. I got a sitter and took off for Scottsbluff to get some errands done before Sunday’s trip. Alexis and Kyra are coming over so Mark and Laura can go to a birthday party. I’m hoping the girls will entertain Eden long enough for me to get the bags packed and things squared around for tomorrow’s 6+ hour road trip.

Have a good week!~

Pixie Dust

First, a Happy 8th Birthday to my wonderful niece and namesake, McKenzie Marie! It was six years ago this day that you had the biggest and best birthday cake ever (Al & my day-old wedding cake).

On to present day...

Minus the fact that Sarah had fire and EMS related meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night (I skipped the emergency management meeting on Thursday evening), we had a pretty nice and relaxing week. The weather was beautiful and spring fever is quickly jumping into ‘quick-get-the-yard-work-done’ to beat the summer heat. We’re supposed to have underground sprinklers installed soon, but I’m waiting on a date. Thus, I continue to hose away at the grass. Still trying to come up with an ingenious way to get shade on the back deck without demolishing the whole thing and starting from scratch. So far, no luck.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary and since we’ve never really been able to celebrate it (year one was Easter Saturday, year two was a Pastor’s conference, years three and four were something else and year five was an airplane trip home from Grandpa’s funeral), we really went all out this time. Al got me a card (I should frame it) and 6 beautiful red roses, along with a Willow Creek figurine of a couple dancing. I found for him a clergy cap (black ball cap with a tab) and a green T-shirt that reads, “What Does This Mean?” with nearly the entire catechism printed out upside down in 7 point font.

Al worked on Friday so that we could take the kids to Mark & Laura’s house on Saturday and go out. We grabbed some water bottles and headed west for the day. We ended up at Ft. Laramie on a windy Wyoming day. It was a nice sunny day for a drive, and when we arrived, we were the only ones parked in the lot. We toured the grounds and had a history lesson on the forts of the area. I can’t imagine life in the prairies way back then. I tried to envision miles and miles of covered wagons, cattle and roaming hoards of people battling the hot wind, vying for a better life. At least at the end of our visit, I had flushies and Air Conditioning.

We left there and went back to little Lingle, Wy, to a great Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of town. The food was excellent and well worth the points on the weight watchers scale. We got back into town before bedtime and picked up the babes from Douthit’s.

Now, about the children….

Since leaving my instruction manual behind when we brought Eden home from the hospital 2 ½ years ago, we have had to learn on our own as we go along. This week, she started taking naps again (forced, not volunteered) and Tuesday thru Saturday, slept between two and four hours each day. This extra sleep during the day seemed to actually help her sleep at night, because she never came down to our room at all during the night. That was a nice change. Lars, however, had been eating once in the night, and has gone back to twice a night, alternating whether or not he’d like to go back to sleep.

Earlier this week, Eden disappeared while I was feeding Lars. When I found her, there was a fine dusting of baby powder all over Lars’ room, including his crib, oscilating fan, nightlight, lamp and book shelf. She was lifting the bottle of powder up in the air and squeezing it as she circled around and giggled. I told her she was covered in pixie dust, but wasn’t any closer to flying than she was 15 minutes ago.

On Friday, Eden got her hair cut short. Gone are the days of sitting on the bathroom counter, crying while I comb it. Gone are the fights of pony tails and which rubber bands to use. Gone is that struggle…at least for the summer. I think it looks cute. She compliments her new haircut with a newly inherited pair of pajamas, which she insists on wearing every night. She was quite upset when I wouldn’t let her wear them to church on Sunday morning and even more upset when I wouldn’t let her wear them outside Sunday afternoon in the sandbox. What a big meanie I am.

The coming week’s calendar is a bit clearer and I’m hoping to edge the new garden tomorrow and work on the flower beds. I bought green beans and snap peas to plant in the vegetable garden, so I need to get that tilled up this week, as well. There’s always something to do around here. Hoping for some moisture so we can see a drop in the daily number of grass fires. That has kept everybody on the department busy this week.

Until next time, take care of each other~

Who can beat that smile?

And those eyes will make you melt....

Al's new clergy cap...Eden's confusion is understandable

Eden's new haircut and jammies

Weird Weather

Why do kids despise quiet time so much? I mean, honestly, if somebody gave me a blanket, a cup of water and book and told me to just stay in my room for a half an hour, I’d be grateful.

Anyway, I move on…

As I sit here writing this, I am watching some cows play in their new-found freedom. Obviously, our nearest farmer’s fence is broken. I should call it in, but they look like they are having so much fun…

Monday was rainy and cold, but we were glad for the spring moisture, just not happy that we had to stay indoors all day.

Tuesday was beautiful and sunny. My yard was aerated that morning and I was ready to fertilize. As I was listening to CNN on TV, a weather alert came blaring over the voices and told me to turn to channel 8 for further information. I was immediately disappointed that the 65 degree weather might be marred by an oncoming tornado or something. How wrong was I?! In disbelief, I listened as the computer voice told me that the entire panhandle of Nebraska was under a winter storm warning, and that by Thursday, we were expected to have 6 inches of snow. Not exactly what I wanted to hear on this gorgeous day.

Wednesday, the winds came. They howled and whipped and screamed through the house. Eden refused to even step outside. She has a great fear of the wind, due to an incident where she nearly blew down the back steps when we first moved out here. She’s never been the same since. We couldn’t walk to church for choir because the wind was too strong, so we strapped into the car seats and drove.

Thursday & Friday were just as windy, with wet snow blowing around, not really sticking to the ground, but not really blowing away, either. Thursday was game one of the NHL playoffs. Detroit is up against Tennessee for the first round, and I, for the second time in two springs, was glad we have cable so I could watch my Wings defeat the Predators on home ice in Hockeytown!~

On the day off, we bummed around the house watching cartoons for part of the morning, then played “Eden games” until lunch time. Eden took a nap while Lars was still down, so I took the opportunity to work on a scrap booking page. Didn’t get to finish it, but got the layout all set, which is more than I’ve done in a long time. That evening, we went to Mark and Laura’s for Mexican and Margaritas. The girls played together and I got to sit and relax for the first time all week.

Eden has started coming downstairs in the night to crawl into bed with Mom and Dad. This is a habit that was started by Grandma when she came to visit in February. I’ve been able to curb it for the most part, but this week has been especially brutal on me. Even if I do put her in bed with me, she wants to go back upstairs to her own room with in about 30 minutes, then she comes back down an hour or two later. If she cries on the way upstairs, Lars wakes up. Vice versa, when Lars gets up to eat in the night, she gets up and wanders downstairs. It’s a cycle I’m not sure how to break. Smiles and suggestions are welcome. Laughter, however, is not.

Saturday was game two of the Red Wings vs. the Predators at noon. Al came home for lunch just in time for the puck drop and we all curled up on the couch, while the wind blew little tiny snow pellets all over the earth. Eden spiked a temp, which explained her crabbiness all morning, and she dug her finger in her ear and said, “owie” over and over again. Of course, the clinic had closed just minutes before. Saturday night, she came downstairs about six times until I finally gave in around 0430 and put her to bed with me.

Sunday morning began early, with Lars getting up shortly after 0600. The sun was shining and he was all smiles. He is really beginning to take to solid food. I wasn’t so sure he was ever going to eat real food, but just this past week, he started opening his mouth when he saw the spoon come close. We’ve tried and liked bananas, peaches, yogurt and sweet potatoes. (But not all at the same time.)

When I drove in the driveway after church this morning, I noticed a lake forming at the foot of my sidewalk. I knew right away we had another water main break. By mid- afternoon, the road hand sunk over an inch, the dirt had pushed itself out onto the street and my daughter was playing ‘pine cone boat races’ with her friend, watching the cones race to the sewer drain at the end of the block and disappear.

Since the snow was gone this morning, and the NASCAR race was on last night, I had no excuse not to mow the lawn today. I got the front yard finished when Al came out to tell me that Mark and Laura were on their way over to help move the fence back. This was exciting news, partly because they would bring their girls, and Eden would have an instant play date slash babysitter. The fence was moved back from it’s original location (flush with the front of the house) to the backyard, where it is now flush with the back of our house, about 25 foot in all. Much more practical for our needs, and accentuates our neighbor’s beautiful garden. The chain link was kind of an eye sore and now I can have more garden space of my own. We also moved the swing set from the side of the back yard to the space in front of the alley. It’s farther from the house, but I can see it better from the kitchen. It’s not any easier to mow around, however. I then took the sod from the back alley vegetable garden and put it where the swing set used to be. I wanted my vegetable garden to be bigger, anyway, so that works out perfect. I then mowed the back yard and got the whole thing fertilized. Big project checked off.

The best part of the week was supper tonight. One child was downstairs watching cartoons and the other was sound asleep, so Al lit some candles, uncorked a bottle of wine and fired up the grill. It was quiet, calm and delicious! Eden came up as we were nawing on the pork bones, looking for supper. She ate the last piece of bread and settled on some popcorn after that.

Looking forward to a sunny, warm week. Blessings to you all.

A healthier family

The mood in our house this week is a bit melancholy. I actually don’t know the definition of that word, or if I used it appropriately, but it’s the word that popped into my head. We are both disheartened over the sudden loss of Issues Etc and the political circus that is following. It seems as if Synod has an agenda that only includes those who are the most liberally outspoken or have the biggest churches and the most money. With politics in every job in America today, you’d think we could manage to keep it out of the true church.

I also had high hopes of a healthy household this week, better dispositons for the family all around, and a general ‘happiness’ to encircle the house. Not so. When Al had one day left of antibiotics, he got a fever. Naturally, this is coupled with a sore throat, throbbing sinus headache and general exhaustion. My ears have finally unplugged and Lars is starting to perk up a bit. The coughing fits seem to be fading all around. I guess these are all good signs.

Monday, we went to Scottsbluff for Al to record several radio spots. After that, we made a quick trip to Walmart (as if that’s really possible) and then headed back home. It was a nice day for a drive, at least.

Tuesday, Eden went to daycare while I helped at the fire hall. We are serving meals all day, all week during the World’s Largest Farm Implement Auction. They had big hopes for thousands of people to flood the town. I’m not sure the finally tally of people, but we definitely quadrupled the size of our town once or twice! I think they over planned for people to come into the town, when mostly, people are bidding over the internet via big screen and audio/video equipment. But it still puts Bridgeport on the map.

Wednesday, the kids and I went to the chiropractor. Dr. Mike said, “hey, you guys been coughing a lot?” I had to bite my tongue and say only, “um…yeah.” He laughed. He’s really great at what he does. I respect his opinion, as well, that I need to see a massage therapist to work out the knots in my middle back. My whole left side was, (and I quote), “really messed up”.

I obliged and Al and I took turns going under the kneader on Friday. It was great until it hurt. She (the massage therapist) said that the muscle & connective tissue surrounding my bottom few ribs had adhered itself to the bone. She was trying to disconnect it. Ten hours later, as I sat in a hard back chair, I thought I’d need some Demerol for the pain. To Al, she said, “Feel this lump? Yeah, that’s a huge knot. Don’t go more than two weeks.” All the hauling around two sick kids for a month might be worth the payoff off of a bi-weekly massage!

Friday I was up at the fire hall most of the day, helping in the kitchen while the guys were on the grill. We had a good turnout that day and also had a lot of fun. Al and I spent some time in the park with the kids late in the afternoon, before going up to the hall to visit and serve food. Eden had a great time playing with the other kids….she was ‘Pigpen’ when she was done and her pink pants will never be pink again. After getting them both down that evening, we watched the 1995 movie, “How to Make an American Quilt”. It was the first movie we’ve watched in I don’t know how many months. And there were NO phone calls-cell phones ringing-scratched DVD- baby crying-Eden sneaking out of her room-pager beeping-dog barking-door knocking interruptions. It was like it was meant to be!

Saturday, Al had confirmation class, followed by an ‘over lunch’ meeting, so he was busy. After I put Lars down for a long spring’s nap, Eden and I went outside to enjoy the 65 degree weather. I got all the grass raked and kind of cleaned up my gardens. I ‘fluffed’ the mulch. Mark and Laura came over and helped me take down the dog kennel and take out a flower bucket that had rotted through. The girls had fun playing and Eden was mad to see them go. Al picked up a rented edger on his way home from work, Eden fell asleep at the supper table (see the youtube video below), and I left all the dishes in the sink so I could go back outside and play. Al pulled the cord to fire up the edger after supper and realized that it was going to need a lot of work before it was going to run. He spent the next couple hours working on that while I was in the gardens. I raked out just about every square inch of the grass that had any winter kill or snow mold and came in just as the sun was setting and a beautiful rainbow fell across the land to the east.

After taking my coin jar off the top shelf where even I couldn't reach it,
Eden found it and had it empty not 10 minutes after I hid it in my closet....

After church on Sunday, Al and I put the kids down for a nap and headed outside to the edger. We finished it and if I never have to do that again, it will be too soon. At least the weather was nice. Tonight, I look forward to starting the final book in Sue Grafton’s Alaphabet series…our library finally got in the 2007 hardback!

Until next week, enjoy a laugh. We call this video, "Eden like a Papa Kenny bobble head doll"