Spring Break

What a crazy few weeks! Braydan's been off to Washington D.C., Canada, Seattle, Louisiana, and in between.  I wasn't about to sit around spring break with all the kids.  I figured it was time I got brave and drove myself to Billings!  All week I got ready and Friday after the kids got home from school, we took off.  We made it to Idaho Falls around 8 and the kids practically ran to the pool.  None of us were hungry after sitting so long.  The kids would've swam all night, but finally at 10 I pulled them out.  They ate a few snacks in my bag, but we didn't bother with dinner.

We took our sweet time leaving Saturday.  That might have had something to do with the big breakfast.

We drove through winter wonderlands in Island Park area.  In Ennis, I spied this little park and we pulled over to run around. Kaleb got out his fishing pole after seeing some huge trout. There was only a slight problem . . . the lake was frozen.  It's hard to get a hook down if it just bounces off the ice.

They had a fun in the "Lincoln Log" house

And other fun climbing things to get our stretches out.

We finally made it home around 4 on Saturday.  I couldn't believe we did it by ourselves!

That night Jane started acting funny.  She woke me up in the night throwing up and fevering.  By Sunday afternoon, I was down too!  And that pretty much sums up the week for Jane and I!  Miserable flu bug.  Chills and fever and aches and cough and yuck. We got very familiar with the couch and our bed.

The kids didn't let us stop them.  They stayed busy playing and visiting the cows and horses.

 One day Mom hooked up Ringo to the pony cart and took them for rides.

 Poor Grandpa got roped into helping Kaleb with his derby car.  They spent hours planning and sanding and cutting, and getting it just right.

 Liza trying on some old wigs

The kids love Uncle Josh

 Liza liked putting wigs on Josh too :-)

 Girls feeding the horses with Daisey

Great Grandma amazed us all with how well she still gets around.  We might have heard the same stories a few times, but that's ok :-)

It was so fun to be home on the farm, even if I was sick the whole time.  We still played games at night and got to visit.  We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Alisha rescue

Such a fun week having Melissa and Alisha here!  Jane and Melissa played so good together.  Monday night, Eliza came down with a fever and got to stay home the next few days.  It was a girl party!......well ...as long as Eliza was stocked up on Ibuprofen : ) 

We all loved Melissa's giggles.  She has the.best.laugh.ever.  Wish I could bottle it up for sad days :-) She is full of energy and keeps her Mom busy! :-)  I loved hearing her call for Jane.
 

Thursday we finally got out of the house (we were afraid to take Eliza out with her not feeling good) and went shopping.  Then I got my hair cut and highlighted (4 hours later . . . ) It took the rest of the day!  Thank you Alisha!

Alisha always calls me on my morning walks so it was fun to actually have her join me in person.  Our neighbors' cows got out so we got to feel at home helping roundup some strays :-)  I let Daisy off her leash cause I thought she would help herd them, but she scared them the other way and I quickly put her back on the leash.  Whoops!

Friday we attempted the mall and it was a good thing we didn't have lofty goals .  I just wanted to pick a dress from downeast for my birthday and I got it done!  I think the lady was glad when we finally got our wild girls out of the store :-)  We headed to the park and everyone was much happier there :-)

Thank you sister for taking care of us!  Cleaning and organizing and getting me out of the house :-)  Still mad that you are not in Boise for residency!  : ( We need to do a bball, 4-square, and dutch blitz rematch.)  I had to let you win because you were my guest of course.)

real week

I've been feeling prompted that I need to start blogging again.  Not sure why yet, but I'm willing to try it :-)

This week has been the normal busy.  Monday Jane had a new friend to play.  Adelaide's mom said she had never been on a playdate before!  Now I know why I was prompted to invite her! The little girl was so excited she even packed a huge backpack full of things.  They had a great time.  I got to make dinner for a sister that had a baby and oooo and aw over the cute little bundle.  I think new babies are one of my favorite things.

Wednesday I got to speak to the YW for a dating activity.  It was fun to see them all again and dress up and get out of doing dishes ; ) Actually I still had to do them cause Braydan was busy helping with homework, piano and packing to leave at 4 am for his 11 day trip.  Kaleb didn't have scouts that day (because of pack meeting Thursday) so he did something I was very proud of: finally was brave enough to go to the neighbor boys and invite them over.  For some reason, he's always been too scared or shy to go over there.  To my surprise and joy, i looked out the window to see him playing kickball with the boys with red cheeks and happy smiles.  Yay for friends.  Which reminds me of something funny he said last night.  We were watching Lion King for our movie night and the girls started crying when Mufassa died.  Kaleb looked at us like we were so weird, but I warned him that he should just get used to it because girls cry and his wife would probably cry too.  He declared he was never getting married.  He said, "I'm going to live in the jungle with Brock and Mac." (his two amigos)

Thursday was the blue and gold thing and they did a carnival.  So glad we went!  The kids had a blast.  They had a cake walk (which was first on Jane's priority list....I walked around the circle with her until I was getting dizzy, but thankfully she finally won a cupcake), had a dressup booth,

face paint,

fishing game, ring tosses, and other little games.I love seeing Kaleb so happy with his friends.  The cubs were supposed to be in charge of the booths, but I loved how they kinda forgot about that and all ended up at the nerf shooting booth.

Friday night we had a few weird things happen.  I was about to call the kids in to start chores when Kaleb ran in yelling that a stray dog was killing our chickens. I told him to grab his bb gun and I ran outside.  The chickens were squawking like crazy and feathers were everywhere.  I yelled at the dog and he surprisingly stopped and obeyed when I said to sit.  Kaleb grabbed a rope and i lead him to our car.  I drove around the neighborhood and asked a few people, but I already knew he wasn't from around our place.  Since I walk every day, I feel like I know all the dogs in the area.  Finally brought him back home and put him in the shop with some food and water.  He was shaking all over and felt bad for him..  He let the kids pet him all over and was used to people.  I called the animal control, but they were closed so I decided to wait until morning.

Finally got the kids all in around 7 and scrambled to start dinner.  The kids were all helping and I asked Eliza to get the corn in a saucepan and heat it up.  She put it in a metal saucepan, but then she stuck it in the microwave.  Finally realized it when I heard weird noises and stopped it, but I was so dumb and grabbed the pan.  Instantly, I knew I made a big mistake!  I've been burned lots, but nothing like this.  The rest of the night I had to keep it submerged in a bowl of water or the pain was unbearable.   I tried sleeping on my tummy with my arm draped off the bed into a bucket, but that didn't last long. Ended up in a chair with a bucket in my lap.  Miraculously, in the morning the pain was gone (as long as I didn't touch it) and I could go on like normal.  Sheesh.  I am dumb sometimes .....lots of times.

Saturday after chores, we went to the library and playground and to icecream.  Kinda melted my heart when I came around the corner to the children's area (in the library) and saw Jane on the rug reading a book, Liza and Kaleb at the table deep into reading their books.  Kaleb wanted books on pottery and racoon trapping.  Jane and Eliza got Eric Carle books (with my prodding).  Eliza can read harder books, but I love Eric's art work and how he writes and illustrates his own stories.

This morning was rough without Braydan's help.  Didn't have time to straighten Liza's hair or fix Jane's dress, or eat breakfast myself, but we made it on time.  Loa (the choir director) asked me to play last minute and said I could sightread the music easy.  It was hard!  Liza turned pages for me and I tried not to be mad the whole time that people throw music at me and except me to play it without looking at it before.  I guess I should be flattered, but not when it's in front of everyone.

This afternoon was beautiful and it makes me so happy to see the kids running outside again barefoot.  The girls jumping, Kaleb practicing archery, me playing fetch with Daisey, swinging, and playing 4-square with Kaleb (he's getting too good) I came inside to do some things and it was quiet for a long time.  Finally went out and discovered the kids started a fire in the forest. They looked up like no big deal and asked if they could have some marshmallows to roast.  AGH

We are missing Braydan but glad he's having a fun time.  Can't wait for Lisha to get here!