Ground Breaking

pastor breaking ground for the new sanctuary

Well, as I figured, this week was no less busy than last week. However, the kids and I were home more than we were before.


Windy today, but fairly warm. I was able to get the lawn mowed yesterday for the 1st cutting of the season. You know, the one where you put the blades to the ground and bag up everything that's been dormant all winter? Regardless of the fact we didn't get any mositure, it was still a huge task and took several hours while the lawn mower chute clogged up with leaves, pine cones, dead grass and animal poop. Lars rode happily on my back in the pack. I wasn't sure he'd be up to it this summer, now that he can walk. Luckily for me, he's as lazy as they come and was happy to get the free ride.


While I was mowing in the front, Eden took the liberty to leave the sandbox and come inside to draw with pencil on the living room wall. She stood up on the tall table as I walked in looking for her and proudly displayed her perfectly written "E". Her smile quickly faded as she saw the look on my face. She began crying before I even opened my mouth. It was priceless. Whatever would a mother do without 'the look'? Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser is another must have for moms.


Al was up at old parsonage (next to the church) each night this week tearing up wood floor. The floors are beautiful and have been hidden & protected by carpet for many years, making them nearly spotless. I think it would be really neat to lay them in the new sanctuary for altar area. They are in mint condition. I also think they would look great in the parsonage kitchen/dining room.


Today after church, we followed the crucifix outside into the wind for a ground breaking ceremony for the new sanctuary. The old parsonage is slated to be demolished tomorrow and hopefully, a new cornerstone will be laid soon after. The whole event was really well done. Tammy orchestrated a fellowship time slash three course meal following the dedication of new hymnals and a hymn sing, with Jan at the clavinova. Pastor officially inherited being the pastor to this new building project, as it was begun under the last pastorate and a slide show was put together to show where they began, both in the 40's as a congregation and as recent as 2005 with the beginning of this commitment. I learned a lot about the people I've been family with for 2 years now, it was an all around nice job.


As for the rest of the week, it was business as usual. I'm one person away from having enough for an EMT class this summer, so I'm looking forward to ordering a projector and pouring though the instructor manual and putting together power point lessons. It's going to be a huge task, but one that I will enjoy.


Al worked long and hard on the end of one of my other projects this week. He is the computer master and I have to leave the rest of it to him. He spent 8 hours solid on it Friday and is a few more from having it complete. Then, I can share it with you!


Friday afternoon thru Saturday morning, we had 5 rescue calls in 14 hours, a record for these parts. A paperwork drag, but that's the way it is.


Eden had fun finger-painting this week, as you can see. She was painted up to her elbows. I was tired of dragging it out every other day, so we took all the paper we had and (thankfully) used up ALL the finger paint. We're good until AT LEAST her birthday!


Wings play this afternoon, and they actually need to play today, instead of watching the puck hit the crossbar over and over again....

I'm debating whether or not to try for a nap. My son has been up crying every night this week. I didn't get much sleep until about 0500 this morning, when I insisted that he cry himself to sleep while I listened in the monitor, feeling guilty. I'm ready for him to be off to college, I think...

Sun is shining...

On the go...

If I were to list all the things we did this week, you’d be 1. bored silly, and 2. amazed that we had time to sleep!

Thursday thru Saturday, the kids and I spent most of our time up at church, helping with the annual cleaning. With help, we also tore, scraped, scrubbed and soaked the old wallpaper off the women’s bathroom, plastered the cracks and filled in holes before freshening it up with a new coat of paint. The bathroom has gone from parsonage white (Yes, that’s what it’s called, even when it’s at the church) to Dark Rose, Toasted Wheat and Subtle green. We re-covered and spray painted the sitting bench, added new hardware to the stall door, replaced the towel holder and hung new curtains. It’s like a whole new place!

The cleaning continues all day today, with a voter’s meeting in the evening to look at approving (or disapproving) of the new sanctuary plans.

Friday night, after an extremely long week and after having been up since 0300, the preacher took me out to dinner at Chilis in Scottsbluff. It’s been open for months and we’re only just now getting around to eating there. The main dish was good, but the Chips & Salsa were excellent with my Top Shelf Margarita. I could have done without the dinner. I’m still torn on whether or not it was worth missing the Wings game for, but we really needed a night away without the kids. And Eden & Lars love their babysitter, so everybody was happy.

We also recycled our old printer, which has lasted 9 long years, and bought a new printer/fax/copier machine. It was going to be $150 after all was said and done, but the $50 cash from the old printer was actually a mail in rebate in the form of a Visa Debit card, and all the new ink cartridges plus the 2 year extended warranty made the purchase close to $350. Not exactly what I had planned, but necessary, none-the-less.

Spending a month’s allotment on a future car payment didn’t stop us from going through the car lot and picking out our ‘new’ ride. We’ll see if it goes through this time. I’m a little frightened to tell anybody that I may be soon driving a Ford instead of a Chevy. Times are a changing, though, and this SUV seems to be more bang for your buck. Besides, I’m a Michigan Native, so it’s not like I’ll be executed for this petty crime.

Somewhere in that week, my husband was busy being a Pastor during Lent on the college kid’s spring break and the annual church cleaning, as well as a father to his kids while their mother was running around town. Our children, in the meantime, were shuttled all over, fed on the run and napped in various locations throughout the week. We like to expand their horizons.

After all that expanding, I’m just hoping to stay home next week. Unless, of course, we get a new vehicle. In that case, I hope we have to go someplace far far away…

As a post script, for all you Lapeer natives, KP lost his battle with cancer this week and went to be with Katie forever. He was buried on Saturday.

eden skates, lars chases chickens

What kids say....

Because our week was fairly uneventful, I took time to write down the funny things that my children say, instead.

From the mouths of babes:

Eden put a cowboy hat on and said, "Mommy, look at my partner hat!"

Dad says, "Eden, don't push Lars".
Eden, "But he likes it!"

Eden points to Lars drinking juice out of a green cup with a yellow lid and says, "Mommy, it's the John Deere colors!" (you know you're in a farming community when...)

Eden burped and didn't say anything.
Mommy said, "Eden, say excuse me."
Eden, "I don't have to say excuse me because it didn't come from my butt".

In other news, our neighbors to the south came home from church this morning to see that their house had been blasted with bright orange paint balls. Two of the nicest people I've met, he is a bank manager and she, a kindergarten teacher. I said either somebody didn't get a loan or she ticked off a parent. I then made the mistake of saying that Allen has a paintball gun and really likes to paint ball, though he hasn't done it in a while. Then I offered up our power washer to clean it up. I think that sounded suspicious....

Beautiful day today, 71 degrees and little wind. The Wings are playing an afternoon game, hopefully while my children nap. Also hope the rest of the week stays warm. I'm ready for nice weather permanently, and I would even be content with a little rain.

Lars speaks!

I have started keeping a notebook of funny things that my kids say, because at the time they say it, I think, "That was so funny, I'll never forget it." Then, when I sit down to write a post or tell Mom something over the phone, I don't have the slightest idea what they said or why it was funny.

Hopefully, next week, I'll have something funny to share!

Lars spoke his first decipherable word this week: Ut Oh....

And he continued to drop things off his high chair and say, "ut oh" over and over and over again. I, too, thought it was cute at the beginning, but after a while, not so much.

I realized how 'not funny' it was today in church when he chucked his pacifier, cheerios & sippy cup out into the main aisle, looked up at me and said, "UT OH".

Generally busy week we had in our house. It's Lent, so seems like nights get eaten up quicker. Had three EMS meetings scheduled this week, but only made it to two. Grass fire season has begun, as we've had about an inch of precipitation all winter and the prairie grass is ready to ignite when the sun looks at it too hot. I'm still teaching piano lessons on Thursdays after school, with Voice Choir in the evening. Pastor had a meeting on Monday night and church on Wednesday, so that was that.

Friday, the boys got haircuts in the morning. Lars was not the angel that he had been the 1st two times he got it cut, so I ended up holding him while Joy went at it. By the end, I had hair in my face, my mouth, my hair, and down my shirt. Fine, soft, invisible hair all over me. It's only soft when it's not in your bra, by the way.

After running some errands, we ate lunch and took naps. On a last minute decision, we ran to Sidney to get some material for a project that I'm working on. I priced it at Scottsbluff it was going to cost $58.00 and the same service would cost $5.00 in Sidney. Since each town is exactly the same distance from our house, we headed south.

A beautiful day for a drive, but the plains are so self explanatory. Plain. Miles and miles and miles of nothing but prairie grass. Part of me says, "Wow, that's amazing that you can see so far with no houses" and part of it makes me really nervous, "Wow, if our car breaks down, we're screwed".

Douthits came over for a new Mexican dish (Taquitos/Flautas) and we played cards while the girls watched Disney's, The Rescuer.

Now everybody is tired from that missing hour of sleep. What actually happens to that one hour, anyway?

Another busy week ahead, but the weather looks to stay sunny and bright.

A week in February

A week of not much

It's late Sunday and I'm so tired that I can't really remember what we did all week.

Lars and Eden got a new soccer ball, and that has been great fun all week. We're all so ready for spring, that we've been kicking it around in the living room getting excited for the real back yard. Lars has had two of the happiest days of his life, with minimal crying and fussing just playing with the ball.

The weather here is so crazy. One day, it's 65 and sunny and the next, it's 35 and flurrying. Even on the warm days, it's windy most of the time, and it's hard to get motivated about going outside to play in the wind.

Today was a beautiful day and the honey and I got a sitter after church and went out to lunch with the visiting District President. He was here to present a bible study on Stewardship yesterday, and stayed over to preach today. It was nice for Al not to have to write a sermon last night. President Boche took us to lunch after church and then headed back to Casper while we did some shopping before heading to Scott's Bluff Monument to hike on the trails. The day went by so fast and soon it was time to head back to pick up the kids. Even the quiet drive was refreshing.

The kids were able to play outside most of the day and Eden got to help feed the chickens. She thought that was pretty great. We had supper with Douthit's and played some cards before coming home to sit on the couch and watch M*A*S*H reruns.

We also almost bought a Suburban this week, but decided to wait and see what else we can find in the next 6 weeks. We'd like one, or a Yukon XL, before Mom & Dad get out here with our new camper. We'll see.

Earlier this week, I picked up my new eyeglasses and came home to shock Allen. He's the only one I've had contact with who hasn't said, "Oh wow! Those look great!" Guess he's not a fan of funky, big, olive green, but I really like them. Will have to take a picture of me to show you next week!

The slideshow is a 'must-see'. Lars bites the dog's nose in a photo that has Samson screaming, "What Is Going ON?!"