Tuesday January 31

The dog finally got a bath today.

Man he was a very stinky guy!!!

He wasn't too happy about having a bath......but we were :)

I know it won't be long until he is dirty again....but it is great to have him nice and shiny for a little bit.

Porter and Cassi were great helpers for daddy.

I wasn't a very good helper.

But someones got to get the pictures, right???

See how his cute rust spots are getting more rusty :)

Monday January 30

Great news for both the big girls....

Cassi was picked to move on with the spelling bee for her 2nd grade class.

She is very excited and we are very proud.

She didn't do any practicing....so maybe with some practice she can do even better :)

Madi Bell came home and she was picked to be on the jump rope team.

She is excited...but has mixed feelings.

She was asked if she could be the backwards jumper.

She is worried she will mess up and not go far.

I told her that she has already come so far, and beat out so many other kids....she doesn't need to worry.

She will rock!

So it was a rough morning for me.

Elsie was up at 3:30.

We went in the TV room and I put 'Blues Clues' on for her and tried to sleep on the recliner.....

I got a little sleep except for having to start a new 'Blues Clues' every 24 minutes :)

Anyway....I kept her home from school.

She would have been a wreck!

We did get the little ones to take a nap at the same time.

Elsie fought it....

But I knew if she didn't get a nap, she would fall asleep for the night at 5, and then be up at 3 again.

I didn't want to do that!

Once the little ones were asleep.....Dad and I took some times for ourselves.

We watched a movie.

It has a been a long time since we sat and didn't do anything, together.

It was nice.

After the movie we got to talking for a bit.

Now I am just writing this down so I will remember it.

It was a testimony building experience that I want to remember.

I told him how I had a really hard time falling asleep last night.

I got to bed at a decent time....but for some reason, had a hard time falling asleep.

I kept hearing funny noises.

I knew I was just being silly.....cause I was so tired.

The thing was, I felt perfectly safe.

I told Brent that it was him I was feeling worried and uneasy about.

I told him that I heard a noise....a grunt from one of the kids....went to go check them out and felt an overwhelming urge to just kneel right there and say a prayer.

A prayer for our family, but mostly for Dads safety.

I kept having dreams of a red suburban driving up to my front door and telling me that I had lost my husband.

It was the worst night.

As I am telling him this, he looks at me and asks what time it was that I was feeling this.

I told him it was around 11 or 11:30.

He then tells me about a call he went on last night, exactly at that time.

He said the call was weird to begin with.

The story kept changing (the dispatcher was getting the info) as they were on their way to the place.

So they weren't quite sure what they were going into.

The call first came in as an unknown medical that came in from the apartment neighbor.

They walked up the stairs and their hose man knocked on the door.

Before the door was opened, Brent heard the dispatch say that they should wait for PD cause it had changed to a potential battery victim with perpetrator possibly on location.

But the hose man had already knocked on the door.

The door opens and a woman peeked through the door and all you can see is her face with blood on it.

They said that they were the Fire Department, and said that they had gotten a call that someone needed help.

She said she didn't need help.

Hose man tried to talk her into getting some medical care and started to push on the door.....

Brent pulled him back and asked her again if they could help her....and asked her if maybe she would feel safer if she was to step out with them.
She got angry at them and kept saying that she didn't need anybody and that she never called them.
And she opened the door enough to step out in order to see how many were in the hallway.
She again said that she never called and didn't need their help and that they should just leave.

Brent said they all had an uneasy feeling about what might be on the other side of that door.

They decided to walk back down the stairs and wait for PD.

By the time PD showed up to talk with the lady, they did not find any suspect on scene.

After a long time PD radioed back and said that she didn't want to press charges and was refusing medical help.

So they were free to go back to the station.

I, myself, have no doubt that they would have been in danger.

Who knows what could have happened if they pushed through the door.
Who knows if the perp was there behind the door....who knows if the lady herself had a gun or something.
Who knows what could have happened?
All I know is that Brent was being protected.

I know that both of our experiences were connected.

I am Thankful that he was safe and knew NOT to go in.

I am Thankful that I knelt down and prayed as soon as I felt like I needed too.

Anyway.

Just so happy to have my man back home with me tonight :)

Sunday January 29

We kept it pretty laid back today.

Port was up at the break of dawn....4:30.

I told him he DID NOT get a sticker for that.

Hopefully he will choose differently tomorrow morning :)

The kids ate a lot of applesauce and yogurt today.

We lounged around all day.

I sure wanted to take it easy.

But the dog put me to work today.

We put his doghouse up against the back of the garage.

There was a bench there that we moved and some random slate rocks scattered around the place.

Well, Mater has to stay on a chain now when we aren't out there.

Thanks to his little friend dog who taught him HOW to leave our place.

He was so good at staying right around the house before that bad influence came around!!! :)

Anyway.....his leash kept getting caught on the corners of the flat rocks, and he would get it caught up in there and not be able to move.

So I decided instead of going out there every 20 minutes to free him, I would just move the rocks.

There didn't seem to be very many.

I hooked the 4-wheeler trailer up to the 4 wheeler and filled the rocks in that.

Well, let me tell ya, there were way more than there 'seemed' to be.

So I got them all loaded up....got on the 4-wheeler to head out.....but I had the trailer way too heavy to move anywhere.

So I thought I would just leave it there and see what Dad could do to help in the morning.

Well, Mater then continued to wrap himself around the 4-wheeler.

I had no choice....I unloaded each rock, once again, over by the cement pad.

Like I said....I meant to take it easy today :)

Anyway....I want to use the rocks somewhere around the front of the house....place them so some moss can grow between the cracks.

I love that look.

And it might freshen up the front of the house a bit :)

Just not sure how to do it.....or what it might look like...

Any suggestions???

Saturday January 28

Okay...even though it is unfinished....I still wanted to share a little before and after.

We are loving this extra room downstairs.

The TV is only hooked up to the Wii....so there isn't the regular TV shows.....but we do have Netflix, so it works out great as a movie room :)

I want to put the piano on the wall with the fireplace.

The fireplace will look cool.

I am thinking of extending the brick all the way to the ceiling.

It will be red brick, so I am excited about that.

Secretly, I would love to brick the whole wall.....I LOVE brick walls!

*****

I feel like today was kind of a mad dash of a day.

Madi and Elsie both had birthday parties.....

One right after another....actually, they kind of overlapped a bit.

Anyway, I was worried about Elsie staying, but she did, and did a great job.

It was a ballet party and she got to dress up as a ballerina and have a real ballerina lesson from a real ballerina.

I think ballet may work its way into being ANOTHER obsession she has.

Horses, Buffalo's, and Ballet :)

I wish I had a better cell phone for pictures!

Oh well.

She looked so dang cute in that ballet outfit :)

Anyway...Cassi was feeling bad that she didn't get to do anything fun.

So we decided to rent a 'Just Dance' game from Redbox.

That kept her happy and busy and not whining at me all day.

I had enough whining!!!

Porter is not feeling good.

He is complaining of his ears.....but I don't think we are quite to an ear infection.

I think maybe they feel muffled to him.

But he has a major runny nose and sneezing like crazy as well as a sore throat.

So who knows.

Later this evening.....Elsie was acting the same way.

She could have been just plain exhausted.....but still, she was having some major melt downs.

They are all off to bed.

I am soon to follow.

I am not feeling so hot either.

I just wanted to sleep all day long.

Madi kept saying she felt like that too.

So I guess we have a bug at our house.

And I guess I will be sloughing church again tomorrow.

Friday January 27

We had a pretty busy day.

After we got the big girls off to school we headed out doors to get some fence pulled.

These fences are in really bad shape.

We went back and forth trying to decide if we should try to repair what was there or just start all over.

Well, it would take a heck of a lot to make these fences hold in any kind of animals.

So, we decided we would start over.

But, these had to come down.

They are worth something in scrap metal though.

Brent hauled off 1250 lbs of metal to United Metal today.

That is a lot of fence pulling :)

When Dad took Port to the metal place, Elsie and I hung out at home and I finished painting downstairs.

Well, almost finished.

I am gonna be doing something with the stairs, but have to do some mudding again first.....

I need to do a before and after picture.

But it isn't quite finished yet.

We are gonna re-brick the fireplace and get a cheap gas insert of some kind.

Then we still need to put molding around the floor.

Other than that, it is done.

I am loving it and it is so nice to have that extra room down there.

I probably shouldn't wait until it is done to put a picture.....maybe I will do that tomorrow.

While painting......Elsie has discovered 'Blues Clues'.

She watched those episodes on Netflix over and over again while I painted.

I am pretty sick of Blues Clues.

Oh well....she was happy and kept busy so I could get my painting done.

We will watch less TV tomorrow :)

You can kind of see the paint color in the picture.

I think it turned out really nice.

It will look really cool when we get the red brick up on the fireplace.

Thursday January 26

This post is a part of the CP connection.

Elsie is working hard on her stairs.....she doesn't give up.

She makes us proud every day.

Thanks for visiting our blog.
Feel free to come back anytime.
It is a place where I talk about our family on our new farm, what it is like living with 4 kiddos, as well as our life with CP.
We love our life!

*****

I just had to write a couple more things about the boy.

He is earning stickers to put on his Buzz picture.

It is actually working really well.

He is staying in his bed all night.....

He is being a pretty good boy so he can get stickers.

He asks me every morning....

"Yoo sink I can ave a sticker now?"

So cute....but the cutest part is how he sounds when he says it?

I don't even know how to explain it, but it is so gosh darn cute!!!

I laugh everytime.

He cracks me up!

And NO, you are wrong....I do NOT give in a give him a sticker every time, even if he is cute.

He does actually have to earn it!

Dad was doing taxes this morning and Port asked me if I wanted to play 'Angry Birds'.

I was happy to join him.

That kid takes this game pretty seriously.

He was back a way further then scooted himself up.

He looked at me and told me not to worry cause 'Dis isnt cheatin.'

Silly boy :)

*****

Elsie had PT with Katie today.

She has been very diligent about doing her 'homework'.

She always wants to go up and down by herself.

Today we focused on going down the stairs.

She does it pretty easily by holding onto the rail.

But she ALWAYS goes with her left foot down first because her right leg is the strong side, and can hold up while the leg is bent.

We are trying to get her to lead with the right foot, so her left leg gets that same kind of strength workout.

It is hard for her to change that.

First of all, she is set i her ways.

It is easier for her to do it that way, so it has become automatic.

So we are trying to retrain the brain NOT to do that.

It is gonna take some time, which is no problem.

This girl is always willing to go further and be better :)

(By the way...after 4 years of therapy I am finally catching on that it works much better for her to wear nice, loose fitting clothes...)

When Katie left I decided it was time to paint downstairs.

Brent mixed up about 3 cans of paint that we already had and made a really pretty light grayish, blue color.

So while I got started on the painting, Elsie hung out with Dad.

They started by collecting metal around the place so we can go turn it in for some money.

But then it turned into Elsie pointing to where the 'fires' were.....and they would rush to go save the children and put out the fire.

It kept her entertained, and he still got to do the work he wanted to do.

A win-win situation if you ask me!!!

*****

I did not finish painting....but what I did do looks awesome!

Hopefully I can finish it up tomorrow.

It will be fun to get some pictures up on the wall and hopefully get the piano in there.

Anyone want to come over and help move the piano in?????

Wednesday January 25

So we had a good day.

Kinda laid back....but that is good too.

I went out to lunch with Heather today.

It was nice to get away for a little bit and have some girl talk.

Thanks Heather.....I had a lot of fun.

Brent put up the frame molding around the doors downstairs.

Now I need to decide what color to paint it down there.

I may just get that done tomorrow....we will see.

I also made some bread today.

It turned out pretty good.

The girls got to go to activity days again today.

I do think it is such a great program for them to be a part of....and they love it!

There are so many things to do around here.

But I am trying not to stress out.

There are also a lot of things that I WANT to do....big projects and little projects.

Like finish Cassi's birthday quilt....

Unpacking more boxes....like, all the rest of them.

Organizing, well, everything.

Get the kids back on a good chore chart sched.

Get Cassi to play guitar more....and get Madi to take some piano lessons.

Sew my curtains.....and pillow covers.

Paint downstairs.....and refinish the bricks on the fire place.

Re-mud in entry way.....and repaint pretty much everything.

There is missing paint chunks and pen marks all over the place....not done by us :)

And so, so much more!!!
Brent has a whole other list too....of all the outside stuff we need to do...

But, like I said....trying not to stress out.

Just enjoying the ride :)

Tuesday January 24

Okay....so here are a bunch more pictures of my boys together.

Dad got home this morning.....a little ate cause he was on a fire this morning.

The girls missed seeing him before they went to school.

But the boy got to see Dad.

He got to hear all about the fire and that reminded him that he saw an old fire uniform out in the garage.

Dad took it down for him and the boys played and played together.

Dad needed a uniform too.....I think they look pretty great!

Can you see the baby that Port is rescuing?

And the blanket being used as a fire hose?

I love it!

When the girls got home they did some homework and house chores, then Madi and Port headed out to help Dad out.

We moved the doghouse so it is up against the house.

So the boys had to remove the bench that was there....and Madi had to do some poop pick-up.

She is a good kid.

She is really growing up and I am very proud of her.

She talked to Dad and I tonight about what to do with a couple friends that she has that are swearing.

Like bad swearing.

We had a good conversation and hopefully she feels comfortable telling them that it bothers her when they swear.

I am glad that she feels like she can talk with us about things.

I hope we can keep that communication line open.

Monday January 23

Happy Birthday to my most favorite man in the whole world.

Poor dad didn't get to have the greatest birthday.....

He spent all day dive training in very cold and murky water.

It took him a while to warm himself up once they were done.

But we did go and visit him tonight once they were home and fed and showered :)

We could have waited for tomorrow to celebrate.....

But it was fun for the kiddos to see him on his birthday.

I wanted to see him too :)

We can still do more celebrating tomorrow....but for tonight we took a couple yummy cheesecakes to the station to share with all the boys.

He opened up his presents and the kids got to play on the fire trucks and the rock climbing wall.

We love dad so much.

When Elsie woke up....first thing she said was "We going to visit dad?"

I had to tell her several times that it wouldn't be until after we had dinner.

She just couldn't wait to hug him for his birthday!

Port went and did some shopping with me today.

He made sure that I bought some candles.

This was very important to Port.

Well, when we pulled out the cheesecake, we didn't stick the candles on....

Port kept saying "But Dad needs to make a wish!"

So I told dad to make a wish, but Porter insisted that he had candles.....

Yep...you guessed it.

The boy got his way.

We pulled a couple candles out, and the two of them made a wish and blew them out together.

That kid just cracks me up.

It was a fun night.....I feel bad that it wasn't a huge celebration.

But at least his family was with him for a little bit....something I know that makes him happy :)

Cassi took her guitar so she could accompany us while singing "Happy Birthday".

She did a great job and was not even nervous at all to play in front of 8 other fire men....

Port loves it at the station.

He spent part of the time playing with the toy fire truck there at the station....

Part of the time wrestling fellow fire fighters....

And spent some time resting while watching T.V. with another fellow fire fighter.

That boy loves it there.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

We love you so much!

Sunday January 22

Elsie was up at 4 this morning.....

Little stinker.

I did not feel up to braving the day at church when I knew Elsie wouldn't go to class.

So I found a sub for my sunbeams and we stayed in our jammies all day long.

I thought for sure Elsie would take a nap when Porter did...so maybe I could get a little snooze.

But no such luck.

Oh well....

The kids played pretty good together today.

They played 'hospital' for a couple hours.

They had Cassi's room all set up as a hospital room.

They even had both sound machines going on the heartbeat sound.

They had a loot of lost limbs.

In the last couple days they have been watching 'Soul Surfer' and 'A Dolphins Tale'.....so that may have played a roll in the limb loss today :)

Anyway....they were pretty funny to listen to and watch.

At one point Porter burnt his face while 'rescuing people'.

They performed a few surgeries....and I think at one point we had a 'flatliner'.

They also took a hospital picnic.

The big girls loaded up the little ones onto two rolling chairs and wheeled them out to the window and they had a little snack.

Like I said....it was pretty fun to sit and listen to them.

It makes me happy when they get along.

Saturay January 21

These boys were meant to be together.

They are like two peas in a pod.

It makes me so happy to see these two do everything together.

We had a late night last night.

When we got home, Port was awake.....he had a bad dream and the babysitter had him up with her.

So once we got ready for bed, we tried to get him to lay down.

It wasn't until about 3 when he finally settled down.

He was up at 6:30 ready to go for the day....just like he is everyday.

He makes for a great and reliable alarm clock :)

Dad has been working a lot of overtime hours lately too....with a lot of late night and early morning calls.

Anyway......so these boys were tuckered out.

I thought it was pretty cute to catch them snoozing together.

After a good nap....the boys got to work.

The girls did lots of housework too....but it was just so cute to see the boys working together.

Porter loves doing anything with Dad.

Daddy is his very best friend :)

*****

We had a family in our ward over for dinner this evening.

It was a lot of fun and it was fun to get to know them better.

They moved in only a little while after we moved in......so we were all in need of some friend making.

Sometimes I think about having people over and it is kinda overwhelming.....

Juts cause we always have so much stuff to do around here....and so many unfinished projects.

But, you know, this place will NEVER be finished....there will always be unfinished projects.

Mine as well make friends while we are at it :)