Spring has sprung with a blizzard around the corner?

Ever had one of those days, mothers, when you go from room to room and pick up 'stuff', put it away, then walk back into the room to find more 'stuff' appeared from it's place of residence?

That was Saturday in our house. I started in Lars' room, where I was folding blankets that had been pulled from the blanket box. Lars came in behind me and walked over to the book shelf, where he pulled off every book from the shelf. I wandered over there to pick up the books, and he promptly went ahead of me to his open drawer and pulled out all of his cleanly folded shirts.

I gave up and went to fix supper. When I came from the kitchen, Eden had plugged the bathroom sink so her baby could take a bath. Apparently, her baby was poopy up her back. Wonder where she got that from? Lars, probably, since he can't have just a wet diaper, it must also be poopy to the point of dripping down his legs. It was all over my jeans this morning, as well as his.

Before lunch, Eden had taken all the cushions from the couch and chairs to put her babies to bed on their 'nap mats'. She then went downstairs to build a Lego tower. No big deal on the cushions, until I wanted to sit in my comfy, blue chair. I exiled one of her babies to (gasp!) the carpet. She came upstairs, saw what I had done, and calmly walked to the bedrooms, where she carried every pillow from every bed she could get her hands on and put them all over the living room floor. She told me that her babies get a back ache if they sleep on the floor for too long.

Anniversary flowers

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful with a few meetings, a few 911 calls and a few dozen hours working on the power points for my upcoming EMS class. The church's building committee met on Thursday to begin designing the interior of the new sanctuary. LYF met on Wednesday night.

Friday night, we picked up the Douthits & some Subway sandwiches, and ate in the car on our way to Gering for a family friendly theatre production put on by the home school network's group. Called "The Castaways", the plot was set in New York at the turn of the century and depicted life of children who, for whatever reason, were living on the streets and struggling to survive. The upbeat ragtime music kept both of my children quiet and highly entertained, and it was a good time for all. The kids were out way past their bedtime, and I payed for it on Saturday, but the play was really great and I'm glad we went.

I began work on my first T-shirt quilt, as well. This one is all of Al's old highschool and CCAA shirts, as well as some racing shirts from his days with Wood Racing. Lars wanted to help me, but he kept running away with my pin cution, which was less than helpful, really.

Eden has really been involved in some serious 'pretend' play. She told Grandma on the phone that she was taking her baby on vacation. They were canoeing on the ground. She put her tennis shoes and coat on, and grabbed a bag with some food in it and hit the road. Later, Eden was headed to work with her cell phone, with Aunt Meegan on the other end of the phone. Her job? Babysitting Ziana while Ariya & Taya are at school. Not sure about Josh. Guess he's on his own. Eden can also be found farming the land under the coffee table during hockey games, and modeling her new princess shoes.

After seven years, life is good for us.

Happy 7th Anniversary

April showers bring May flowers?

Well, it’s April and my daffodils are in full bloom, my tulips are budding and my grape hyacinth are purple and tall as ever after the weekend rain. The day-lilies are popping up all over and the daisy mums already have new greens wisping up through the mulch. It’s going to be a beautiful spring and I’m more than ready for it! The wet weekend was our first in over a year.

Been very busy in this house, even though my calendar doesn’t show much from day to day. Lots of little things that all add up, I guess. I’m working very hard at getting power points put together for my upcoming EMT class. I now have 12 students, from 17 years old to 50-something years old. It’s going to be a great dynamic and I’m so excited for it to begin. Lots to do, yet, and I’m hoping nothing falls through at the last minute.

Lars continues to be a happier child with little to no dairy products. We have replaced it with fruits and water, which has caused a week’s worth of diaharreah and extra laundry. He does usually sleep through the night, now, though and for that, it’s worth it. We’ve moved on to a BRAT diet to get some fiber in him and bind him up ever so slightly. It’s all a trial and error process. I forgot that enchilada’s have cheese in them (yes, I make them from scratch and still forgot), so he was up as scheduled, screaming from 0330-0500 with his daddy rocking and holding him. I had to be up town the following morning by 0600 for the community health fair.

Baby Ziana (Chad & Marie’s 3-month-old) had us all a bit worried earlier this week, when she was taken by ambulance from Lapeer hospital to the Peds ICU at Hurley. She had an unknown infection which turned out to be the MRSA that her older sister shared with her. This, after an allergic reaction to the antibiotic that they put her on the day before. All is better now and any unplanned trips back home have been halted.

The Red Wings have started their play offs, which means that summer is around the corner. Hopefully, we can watch them all the way into June again. So far, two down!

Today is our 7^th wedding anniversary (scratch, scratch) and my parent’s 40^th. The boquet of Astra Marias with seven daisies was the highlight of church this morning, b/c being there with my son was less than wonderful.

The ‘big project’ has finally been revealed to Mom & Dad Easter Sunday at a big family gathering at my sister’s house in Michigan. Eighteen months after beginning to think about it, a one hour musical DVD with old photos, new photos and all the years in between was put together in the most time consuming and meticulous project I’ve ever been a part of. It was well worth it, and the day of the unveiling, Meegan phoned me, put me on speaker phone and set me on the coffee table while everybody watched the show. I heard lots of laughter, lots of comments, some bursts of “oh my gosh!” and lots of short story telling. It was fun to listen, but I was sorry to have missed it in person. Everyone had a great time jogging down memory lane.

Lars and Eden are ready to get outside now that today is sunny. After being inside for three days, I’m ready to get out, as well. Lars insists that his shoes get put on every morning when he gets dressed, and he heads for the bench, grabs his jacket and stands by the sliding glass doors and screams at the back yard. Eden was a bit worried when she looked up at the dark, overcast rain clouds earlier and said, “Mommy, what happened to the sky?!” You know you live in a desert when….

Hoping to go hiking this afternoon and maybe go to dinner, but the babysitter situation is up in the air. Grandma? Poppa?

Blessings on your week!

Ford Family?

Out with the Old and In with the New....vehicle, that is. We traded in Old Unfaithful and purchased (with our first auto loan, no less) a 2008 Ford Expedition EL with 41,000 miles. On it's first trip out, it went to the bank, the grocery store, the daycare, and, finally, to it's new garage. The bagger who carried my groceries out (yes, that's awsome) asked me where I got it and if the dealer was good & honest to work with. I was so glad to answer with a big YES! After less than 24 hours, we're very happy!

Prior to this big event, the kids and I loaded up in the Blazer for one last hurrah and headed to Denver to visit Cousin Lea. Aunt Karen was in town, so it was a big, cozy party. Al was supposed to be in Casper for a meeting Friday and Saturday, but the impending blizzard thwarted that event. This was probably a good thing, as he had a nasty cough, no voice and it was the weekend before Holy Week. Need I say more?

In Denver, the kids and I enjoyed parks and playgrounds in 50 degree weather. Well, at least the first day and a half before the cold front hit like a rock. We walked around the downtown, drove around the capital (which is visible from her front window) and did a bit of shopping walked around the flea market, and visited a candy shop. Friday evening, Eden was Lea's cheerleader for a soccer game while I put Lars to bed early. We intended to hit the children's museum, but after opening the driver's door on our almost traded in blazer, the latch froze in the 'shut' position and we had to wait over an hour before Shane (Lea's boyfriend) came to our rescue and fixed it. By then, it was lunch time/nap time. Instead, we headed to the mall, which has a great indoor playground for every child in the City of Denver who was stuck indoors b/c of the nasty weather. It also has a great pretzal place. Several flights had been cancelled out of DIA and the weather was worsening. Looked like we were going to be staying until Sunday.

After church on Sunday, we went out to breakfast before heading back to the apartment to pack up for the drive home. Unfortunately for me, the roads were still closed in Nebraksa, so I had to plan it according to when the roads would be open, the light would still be there and it would be the warmest part of the day so the roads would be wet and not frozen. Thank goodness for cell phones and friends who were attached to the internet giving me advice on which way to go.

The earliest part of the week was spent begging banks for an auto loan. It was touch and go for a while, but we did get one at a decent interest rate. The whole family fought allergies all week, but I am super excited to say that, since I have taken dairy almost completely out of Lars' diet, he has slept now 8 nights in a row. That's a record from his 'birth' day!