Thursday February 28

This is what our Thursday afternoon looks like when there is no school tomorrow.

Madi got her chores done early....so she got to be on her Kindle.

Cassi got to work on her laundry and room.

The room still needs help.

I don't know how that girl gets it messy so quickly!

Elsie using her imagination, as usual.

Quite the little poser.

And Porter took a late nap cause Elsie had PT today.

And he woke up kinda grumpy....

But perked up a bit once he got his 'super hero' stuff on.

Later on tonight.......I hand washed all the dishes, and the dishes that were pulled out of the dishwasher too.

Not sure what is going on with the dishwasher.....it runs, but nothing is clean!

I am sure dad can figure it out.

Elsie hopped in and helped me out with the dishes while Porter made puppets out of brown paper bags.

He also write his name for the first time.

I am a little late in the game with him.....kinda a slacker I guess.

But I think he is to the point of being interested in the writing thing.

We will see.

I think he did a pretty good job on his name.

*****

Oh, and we were so excited to find out that Katie, the PT, is pregnant....with TWINS!!!!

Yay!

We are so excited for her.

The funny thing, her and her husband were trying to figure out if they even wanted ONE more :)

I told them their plans are being made for them.

 

 





Wednesday February 27

No picture today.

I kinda don't like it when I don't have pictures.
Port did take a bunch of pictures on my phone today.....maybe I will look through those and add some.

But after I dropped the girls off to school, Port and I went grocery shopping.

Had time to come home and unload before we needed to go pick up Elsie.

Lunch, then I got Port to bed just before Joanne came over.

I like when I time that right.

Elsie did good.

Working on some new sounds and blends.

Sometimes we lose her when we do that, but she did pretty good today.

I was dead tired all day!

But once Joanne left I got the painting stuff out and almost finished the entry way.

Still a little more touch up around the ceiling.

I decided to leave the ceiling the same color....I might change my mind later.

But for now, I am leaving it :)

I really like this new color.

While I was finishing up the girls came home.

I got cleaned up and we all headed to Activity days.

I forgot to find someone to watch the little kiddos for me.

Surprisingly, Porter did awesome.....Elsie was the naughty one.

Got home, ate dinner, did homework.

And now it's off the bed.

Don't know why I am so tired!



Tuesday February 26

We started texturing/painting/adding trim the entry way.

I can't believe how much it has brightened up.

I only textured one wall....the wall that led into the front room....kinda had to texture that one.

But I left the rest the same.

I will finish up the paining tomorrow....hopefully.

And then when dad gets home he will finish up the trim.

*****

After school Cassi spent a lot of time outside with the animals.

She enjoys herself out there.

I had a fun time watching her.

She has a knack with them too :)

 

Monday February 25

 

We went back to work on painting the ceiling today.

Almost done.

The lighter ceiling sure is nice!

We just need to touch up the gray around the ceiling and then go over all the trim again.

*****

We went on another date tonight.

We went out with Drew and Heather to a Fire movie....named BURN.

It is a documentary about Detroit Fire Department.

It's only showing in select cities on select nights.

And tonight was the night in Boise.

I think it wasn't exactly the kind of movie we expected it to be.

I think Brent thought there would be more fire....but it was good.

Kinda political though.

The theatre was stuffed full of Fire fighters.

Some had dates.

Our sweet guys had no problems showing up with their girls :)

 

Sunday February 24

Well, the poor little bunnies didn't make it.

I had a meeting after church today and when I came home, Cassi ran to me at the door crying.

She had just done her chores and didn't see the babies moving.

She ran to tell dad, and that's where he was when I got home.

Either too cold, or didn't get fed.

So sad.

Elsie told everyone about the bunnies who would listen to her at church today.

She didn't believe me at first.

But then we got talking about heaven.

And she was happier.

Dad saved the little bodies....he thought the kids would feel better to have a little burial.

And he was right.

We made a little box to bury them in.

And made a little hole by the side of the 'tree of life'.

Maybe we will try again....and maybe it will turn out different next time.

We will see.

 

Saturday February 23

We all got up bright and early this morning, and as soon as Daddy got home from work, and we headed to the church to clean the building.

The kids thought it was just the greatest thing.

It always amazes me how quickly it gets done when everyone works together.

Then we got home and I rushed to get myself ready for our wards Woman's Conference at 9:30.

It was a wonderful conference.

There were two speakers and several musical numbers.

One of the speakers lost both her husband and her baby in the same car accident caused by a drunk driver, that also almost took her own life.
She said it wasn't fair that the world kept turning as if nothing had happened, when her world just stopped.

Her world was gone.
She spoke about being a light for others.

The only way to pull herself out of her depression was to reach out and help others who have felt what she felt.
She eventually came to forgive and form an incredible friendship with the drunk driver that killed her family.
She because a light in his life when he needed light.
The other speaker, Tyler Castleton, told a story about a man in a war zone...(not sure when) found a broken mirror on the road, and tried to pick up peices to put it back together....but couldn't.

Instead he chose to pick up the biggest peice.

  He rubbed it on stones to soften the sides and turned it into a circle.
It became a game for him to reflect light into the darkest places he could find.
That is what life is about.

Reflecting light, the light of the gospel, into the lives of those who are in the darkest places.

*****

Tonight we got to go on a birthday celebration date with the Terry's and a group of friends.

It is Brad's birthday today, and Jenni's birthday tomorrow.

We went to PF Changs, yummy :)

The group left to go play some games at a house....but we headed home.

Dad had a rough night last night and he was pretty dead tired.

 



Friday February 22

 

 

Okay....so I am thinking we need to go back and teach this kid the basics of dressing :)

Silly boy.

Makes me laugh everyday!

*****

Guess what happened today????

We got baby bunnies!!!!!

Cassi did her chores this morning and came and told me there was fur everywhere.

I meant to check it out after I dropped the girls off at school, but I got busy doing things.

I finally went out after I picked up Elsie and I saw little things moving in a pile outside Rodeo's nest.

Then I got worried, cause they were just on top of the wire, and not in the nesting box.

But I don;t know anything about rabbits....so I tried to get a hold of Brent, but he was on a call.

It took about 45 minutes before he called me.

He told me to move the bunnies and the fur into the nesting box.

There were five little bunnies.

They all look like they are good sized.

But I am a little worried.

I don't think Rodeo knows what to do.

I hope she doesn't trample them while they are in the box.

I hope that she knows to feed them.

I really hope they survive....

But I know we need to be ready that there is a high possibility that these bunnies won't survive.

Which I know will break Cassi's heart.

She has been so excited about this.

She takes Rodeo for walks, and has been so excited for these babies.

I guess all we can do it wait and see what happens.

(But I hope so badly things go good....)

 

*****

Bubble came over today with some fun things for the kiddos.

She was going through some things and found a bunch of beading supplies.

The girls had fun putting little bracelets and bookmarks together.

Port spent his time building with his Lego's.

Again, I love watching him build with them.

But I am getting tired of finding Lego all around the place :)

 

 

*****

Madi went to a birthday party tonight.

The went ice skating and won't be home til about 10:30.

So once the little ones went to bed....Cass and I had our own little craft night.

We made some cute little paper origami boxes.

So much fun and I think they are so cute!

So many possibilities!

I love boxes and containers...... :)

 

Thursday February 21

Today was one of those days that went from one place to another to another....kinda crazy.

 

Port was a big helper in getting things to move along this morning.

He got himself dressed...good job buddy :)

*****

So the day started off with Port and I setting up at the school for Art Smart gallery night.

I am the art mom for Elsie's class.

It is a great program.

They have a binder for each class, each month, with different artists to learn about.

And then they have a gallery night when they display the artwork.

So we got things organized, labeled and hung up.

Except the big mural that went in the lunchroom, we couldn't hang that up until after 1:00.

When we were done with that stuff, I had about 30 minutes to spare before I had to pick up Elsie, so Port and I went to the car wash.

(Kinda kicking myself now since it is supposed to rain tomorrow....)

But the car was bad....I didn't even want to touch the car cause it was so dirty...or lean into it to get kids out.

It needed it bad!

Then it was back to get Elsie.

Make a quick lunch and then head out to Katie's for some PT.

She did pretty good.

She has had a rough couple days, falling a lot.....I think it may be because of that storm coming in.

But we did get her to do a lot of stuff....

She did the worm thing again.

She loves that.

She loves that feeling of pressure.
She loves sitting in the beans, the worm gives her that sensory input all over her body....and she LOVES the ball pit.

It just reminds me of her being swaddled so tightly as a baby, and I understand why that worked for her....why it was the only thing that would work :)

Anyway, then we headed back to the school to hang up the mural.

Well, I hopped out of the car to hear a hissing sound.

There was a huge nail in the tire....

Like a horse shoe nail.

And it was losing air fast.

I took the kids and ran inside to see if I could hurry and hang the mural and get home before it was completely flat.

Well, lucky me, someone had already hung the mural.

That  worked out in my favor :)

So we ran back out to the car, and called dad.

He told me to go home and fill it then head to Les Swab.

But once I got home, we decided that I (we) could change it.

The tires are really bad.....no tread.

We need new tires.

Brent didn't think they would fix the nail hole with how bad the tires are.

So he will go in when he gets home and figure out the tire situation......

But he helped me out....finding the tools and stuff to change the tire.

And I did it :)

 

I know how to change a tire.....it has just been FOREVER!

So it was good to do it again :)

*****

So once the kids did their homework, and I got them fed, it was time to head to Gallery night at the school.

It is a pretty fun set up.

They have  4 rooms off the lunchroom set up with different art things.

One room had a local artist painting a piece while the kids and people watch, and help him pick colors and what to paint.

The kids thought it was pretty cool to watch him.

We kept checking back in to see how far he had come.

pretty cool.

One room had the high school art students with cute art projects for the kids.

And there was face painting and one room had some historic types of art.....

The museum was in charge of that project.

Drawings with charcoal.

Pretty fun.

They also had a pianist playing out in the main 'gallery' (lunchroom).

It was a nice night.

The theme for the mural was 'Idaho Symbols'.

Kindergarten was assigned the Syringa Flower.

 

This is the idea we came up with.

I think it turned out cute.

Each kid made their own tissue paper Syringa Flower, and we just attached them all together.

It turned out pretty cute.

 

 

Cassi wanted make-up done by the face painter :)

Silly girl.

Wednesday February 20

I took the big girls to the doctor today.

Madi needed her 12 year shots to register for next year.

And Cassi had a wart that needed to be frozen off.

Also a cough that has been around for months that I wanted Dr Allie to check out.

And while I was there I had Dr. Allie check Cassi's ears.

She did a hearing test and then they rinsed out her left ear......and a giant rock size thing came out.

Her ears get backed up so bad.

Madi wasn't too excited about the shots.

It's been a long time since she has had a shot :)

She got two in one arm and one in the other....

After the last shot, I helped her put her sleeve back in and then she told me she was tired.

I turned around to give the paper to the nurse, and Madi laid down on the bench.

I didn't think anything of it.

A few seconds later, the nurse went out to get some water to wash the stuff out of Cassi's ear, and Madi sat up.

She asked what happened and why she was laying down.

I looked at her and she was green.

She looked terrible.

Poor girl must have blacked out.

I feel so bad for not being aware of what was going on with her....so many other things that I was paying attention of.

Poor girl.

She recovered quickly.

But I still feel bad.

 

*****

Port man has played here and there with his Lego's.....

But today he spent most of the day building different things.

He was very creative and he was very calm.

Calm is good :)

I loved watching his little ind work to make different things.

And then when he would explain what he build....

Smart kid he is!

 

*****

Here are some after shots of the family room.

I did the other side of the room today.....just didn't get a picture.

We still need to do the ceiling.

I am loving the color.

But mostly, we are loving the nice, neat, cleanness of it :)

 

Tuesday February 19

So the front room is looking really good.

I only mudded two walls yesterday......so those are the ones I painted today.

Then I mudded the other two sides today as well.

Those will get painted tomorrow.

I am loving the color.

It is a shade darker than I thought it would look, but I think I think with the new white trim, it looks really good.

Port was a little helper for Dad.

We may need to start dressing our junior handy man :)

*****

After school Madi informed us that she had a choir concert/play tonight.

So we wrapped up as much as we could with the front room....got showered and ready to go watch Madi.

She was excited about it.

It was a fun little 'play' kind of thing.

It is so funny to watch Madi.

She needs to learn to smile when she sings.

She would get so zoned in while singing, then she would look up at us and we would tell her to smile and she would make silly faces at us and smile for a little bit.....but then it would always end back up with that zoned out face.

Silly girl.

She had a little dance/song part in the play.

She did a good job.

And I think we teased her enough about her 'scouls' that maybe next time she will smile more on her own :)

 

Monday February 18

Started a project today.

We decided to spruce up the living room area.

We needed to put trim around the door......but I wanted to paint first.

But before painting I wanted to re texture.

So we decided to texture like we did downstairs.

I think we will be painting tomorrow and putting trim up.

I am excited to see what it looks like.

I got a gray tone paint.....I think it will look good.

I am so tired of this tan color.

So a change will be good.

We also took some time to punch a hole under the clock spot.....

We want to have some exposed brick, so we wanted to check it out....the clock will hide the whole until we decide what to do.

*****

Dad took a break today and took the big girls to Wahooz for some laser tag.

They had a lot of fun.

Dad said it was packed with people cause there was no school today.

But they did have a great time.