Saturday March 31

It was a beautiful day today.

Dad got called in for a few hours of overtime.

So the kids and I sat and watched General Conference.

I sure wish I could just sit through and listen to the sessions of conference....

But Elsie and Porter are not to the point of that yet.

The big girls did very good with taking notes and listening.

Cassi's activity days leaders made her a little Conference bag with activities to do and she shared with Madi.

I am glad that we have it recorded and that you can download the talks from lds.org....and that they come written in the Ensign a month later.....that way I can really absorb everything.....

Hopefully tomorrow might be a bit more relaxing with Dad here with us.

Hopefully....

Between sessions, I laid Port down for his nap and the girls and I went out to enjoy the beautiful weather.

And have ourselves a little picnic.

I am happy for all the rain we have gotten lately, cause I see so many things coming to life, and I love it!

But it was sure nice to have day like today.

Dad came home and we had a quick dinner then he had to shower and head out for the Priesthood session.

We are kinda missin Dad today....but we will have him all day tomorrow, so that will be nice :)



Friday March 30

We are supposed to start patching Elsie's eye again.

The eye doctor think it will work better for than the eye drops would, at least for what she wants Elsie's eye to do.

BUT....Elsie does not like the patches!!!

Well.....we should have started doing this several weeks ago....but haven't had any luck....

Until Dad asked if he could wear one with her.

She was excited about it at first....but then got unsure.

But once Dad had it on his eye, she was willing to do it, but on her glasses, not her face.

Works for me.

It was adorable.

She was so excited to be twinners with dad.

Her Dad is her Hero.

Not sure if that is even a big enough word.

Her Dad is her world.

It is just the sweetest thing.

Hopefully she will be excited to do it again tomorrow.....and every day after that :)

*****

We finally switched out our ugly front kitchen window.

This is the first thing I wanted to do when we walked through the house after we had bought it.

But it wasn't really a necessity.....and not really a big deal.

We did replace it once....but it turned out to be a tinted window and it looked bad.....

So we took it out, and put the one with the broken seal back in.

And it stayed that way until today.

I am super excited.

It is so pretty :)

And it lets in so much more light....which I love.

So what do you do with a big glass window that needs to be thrown out?

You get the BB gun out :)

The kids thought it was pretty fun.

*****

Brent and I got to have a date night tonight.

I am feeling pretty stuffed up still and Brent wasn't feeling 100% either.

The kids all seemed fine.

We had the date planned and a babysitter set, so we stuck to the plan.

It was fun to get out anyway.

We got invited by some friends in the ward.

We went to Ono's, which is a Hawaiian grill place.

It was yummy!

 (On a side note, Brent actually put out a fire in the back dumpster and roof of Ono's last night, kinda crazy, right????)

It was fun to get to know them better.

Thursday March 29

Another easy going day.

Everyone slept good, so I slept good :)

My throat still hurts and now I have a bad cough.....but I had more energy today.

Madi seems to not be feeling good and had a little fever.

Cassi sounds like she is losing her voice, but she says her throat doesn't hurt.

Elsie was less whiney today......so that is good.

Hope she doesn't get sick.

Port still seems to be good.

No signs yet of Dad getting it......so lets keep our fingers crossed we can kick this really quick!

And....we all got dressed today, so that's good.

Not a whole lot else got done.

I am gonna let the girls stay up and watch a movie while they help me fold clothes.

Lucky girls :)

Wednesday March 28

So, I am not gonna lie.

It wasn't a very good day.

My throat has been dry the last couple days, and I thought that the smoke yesterday may have made it worse.

But I woke up sick this morning.

No fun.

Really no fun.

We all stayed in jammies all day long.

Well, except for Porter.

Madi made him a super hero outfit out of paper and fabric scraps.

He thought it was just the coolest thing.

*****

I really wanted to try and clean the sewing/office room today.

It is just packed full of junk and i had no idea where to start.

The girls helped me to sort out my fabric into different colors.

We got a lot of garbage thrown out.

But then I was just feeling rotten and I had to sit down and take a break.

Well, then I never got back to it.

Kind of a bummer, cause I was happy to get started on it.

But I was freezing and my throat was hurting.....then I got really hot.

So I just sat on the chair and did nothing the rest of the day.

Madi really wanted to iron her quilt pieces.

So I told her how to do it and she got to work.

Now I just need to teach her how to iron other stuff :)

Tuesday March 27

The day started out early with taking little Elsie bug to the doctor.

She had to get up to date on her immunizations to get registered for Kindergarten.

She was not excited, but she was very brave.

She did ask for her Dad to come with her.

He always helps her to be brave.

We also bribed her with a promise of Ice cream if she would let them give her the shots.

We got there and she was so great.

Great until Dad hugged her to lay her down for the shots.

She tried so hard not to cry, but as soon as Dad had his arms around her....she just let it all go.

Poor lady tried to stick those needles in her tight little legs.....it was quite a sight to see.

I should have taken a picture, but that would probably be a mean thing to do.

As soon as it was over....and she got her pretty bandaids, she calmed down very quickly.

We were very proud of her.

We had planned to go to Yogurtz or to TCBY, but they aren't open at 9:30 in the morning....

Go figure :)

So we headed to McD's for a dollar cone.

Elsie couldn't have been happier.

After that we stopped by the Terry's to pick up the girls so they could come and play for the day.

*****

When we got home, we got to work.

I mean this is supposed to be our only not rainy day for the week.

We had to get all the stuff done outside that we wanted to.

We started by burning our side of the canal ditch.

I guess it was a good day for burning.

 The wind helped with fueling the fire, but things were wet, so it could be kept under control.

Well, we took advantage of that.

We burned ALL of the limbs we have cut from our fruit trees.

I mean ALL.

And man, that was a LOT!!!!!

We had a good fire going for much of the day.

We also pulled out an apple tree that wasn't looking very good, but it was also in a spot that we didn't want it.....

We burned more weeds along the fence line.

Dug up some more dirt to fill up by the retaining wall.

And lots more.

We kept busy all day long.

We are exhausted....and loving it :)

*****

Madi helped with watching the little kids before I got Porter put down for a nap.

She spent a little time sewing some more on her quilt.

It is looking really good, and I love seeing her be so proud of herself.

Can't wait to see what else she gets done over the next few days.

*****

Well, with all the fire we had going on all day, we had to have some S'mores, right???

The kids were happy to take a break from playing to have a dose of sugar.

I didn't have any chocolate bars, but I did have the melting chocolate.

So I melted it and spread it on each cracker, and it hardened just a little bit.

It worked perfectly.....and I think I will stick with this method.
I liked this chocolate much better anyway.....I am not a fan of Hershey's :(

So it was a long fun day.

The girls had to much fun with Ayden and Alex....and the best part is, Madi and Cassi got along pretty good.

And we all know how much I LOVE that :)

Monday March 26

Well.....the pouring rain this morning spoiled out plans for the day.

We hung out inside for the morning.

Madi wants to learn to quilt.

I showed her some basic easy quilt designs and she picked one.

Then I gave her the scraps from the quilt I made for her and she got started.

She had to do some ironing first, and then she cut some strips.

I had to help her cut a little, my blade is really dull, so it was a bit frustrating for her.

I need to get me a new blade.

Anyway....then she sat and started to sew strips together to make herself a coin quilt.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

She is having a lot of fun with it.

It makes me happy to see her want to do the things that I love to do :)

*****

Before lunch, the Youngs called and invited us to go to Burger King and then to the movies.

We couldn't finish our to-do list when it was pouring rain.

So we decided it might be a fun change of scenery.

We went and saw "We bought a zoo."

I think we all really enjoyed the movie and our wrestle with Porter wasn't completely distracting....for me anyway.

I can't say much for those around us :)

It was right at his nap time....I thought maybe he would relax and just MAYBE go to sleep.

No such luck.

Oh well.

After the movie we stopped at Costco to buy some milk and strawberries and a few other items.

When we got home, the rain had stopped.

So we got our work clothes on and started to get some stuff done.

Not too much later, we had another rain storm, which we weathered in dads shop.

Once it stopped we started to prune some more trees.

Dad cut a bunch of branches for our neighbor who likes to use them in his BBQ.

After some hard work, and a lot of play, and no more sun....we headed indoors for a simple dinner and ice cream and bed.

I hope they all sleep good tonight :)

Sunday March 25

The day started out not so great.

Meaning I had to say the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting.

If only the people in the ward knew what wreck I was about it!!!!

I tried for the last 4 days not to even think about it.

And I did good up until I noticed the spot in the opening song that I would have to head up to the pulpit.

My world started to spin.....with the most horrible adrenaline rush.

Not all adrenaline rushes are good......Brent disagrees :)

I made it up there....only messed up a small amount....but that is why I picked the opening prayer.

In hopes that no one will remember what I said after the meeting was over.

I made it back down and sat on the bench and then my head got all cloudy and my vision went fuzzy.

No, I didn't pass out....but I was probably as close as I have ever been.

And then I was left with the most horrible headache.

And my little Port man to wrestle during the meeting.

I survived.

I would like to say that this is all a bit exaggerated......but I promise you, it is not.

Then I spent the rest of church with my Sunbeams....who I really do love.

But today was just not a good day for them.

Again, Porter would not go to class.

And for some reason Elsie was having a hard time so I kept her with me.

So I had a room full of little ones, with only myself.

Luckily there was one teacher who had only 1 kid in her class, so she got rid of her kid to another class and came to help me out.

Again, I survived.

At least the weather was beautiful.

When we came out of the church, there was a warm breeze and it was wonderful.

We played outside for a while this evening, enjoying the nice weather, and some friendly ladybugs :)

Tomorrow we have more work to do.

I know....we are working the kids a lot, and with it being Spring Break they should have fun.

We will do some fun stuff too.

There is just so much to get done....and believe it or not, they love to help out with all the stuff we want to get done.

Saturday March 24

Today was a hard working day.

Dad started early this morning after getting off duty.

He headed to the Taco Bell arena to set up for the 'Kelly Clarkson' concert.

The guy who runs it likes to hire firemen because of their experience with ropes and heights and such.

Anyway.....so he left the safety of his firehouse to hang out at 100 ft above the ground on top of the rafters.

He had a lot of fun, but he came home exhausted.....

I told him to take a nap, but there was too much to get done around the place.

We finished cementing in the retaining wall.

It is definitely nothing pretty to look at, but it does the job we wanted it to, and we are pretty happy about that :)

No one is gonna see the face of the wall except for animals....so no big deal.

Then we worked on getting some more trees trimmed.

What we think are pear trees, are not looking very healthy.....

We figure we will just trim them up and see what happens this year.

If they don't do well, we will just pull them and replant them.

At one point they were all very well taken care of, so they have a good base.

But the many years of neglect have not been good for them.

We will just see what happens.

And I have no idea how to prune the cherry tree.

Well, we think it is a cherry tree :)

Again. we will just wait and see.

This spring will be when we figure what stuff need to go and what might be able to pull through.

We are gonna till up the garden space over spring break....I am excited about that.

The girls are excited about growing their own garden, full of whatever they want to grow.

They are both dead set on growing artichokes :)

It is gonna be fun.

Friday March 23

It was a beautiful day today.

We are excited to have this new family move close by with kids about the same ages as ours.

Cassi's little friend walked home with her after school today and they got to play around for a little while.

(Today was pajama day at school :)

Tomorrow is Saturday....hopefully we can get some stuff done.

There are a few things on our to-do list that we would like to get finished.

I am seeing all kinds of blossoms and green stuff around this place.

I can't wait to see what  couple more weeks will do :)

Thursday March 22

Elsie had a pretty rough night last night.

Just sleepless and also hitting her nose at some point on her bed and getting a bloody nose :(

Poor girl.

So I kept her home from school, cause I knew she would be exhausted.

I also cancelled her P.T. appointment with Katie.

I THOUGHT that she MIGHT take a nap.......

Ya, that didn't happen.

I had to go to the school for Port's evaluation results.

While I sat with the group of teachers going over the papers.....Port and Elsie got to go play with the preschool kids.

They had a lot of fun.

They were talking about farm animals and the son of one of the teachers brought in his goats, bunnies and chickens.

Pretty fun for the kids.

When we got home, I got Port down for a nap and thought Elsie could just relax.....

I moved the couches off the floor so I could sweep and mop and this is what Elsie ended up doing.

I guess she thought she would work in her own little P.T. session.

Katie would be so proud!

And, I had to throw in a video....cause she is just too much fun to watch.

Before dinner, she was playing with some domino's.....and working on her squatting.

That is a big thing we have been working on with Katie.

She was doing AWESOME!

Look how far she bent down!

You rock Elsie!!!

*****

On a side note....today could have gone very differently for our little Port man.

He was in his room for a time-out earlier today when I heard a loud boom.

I ran downstairs to find him curled up at the head of his bed and the armoire in his room fallen over at the bottom half of his bed.

Every time I go in there I think we need to anchor that thing.

I have absolutely NO IDEA how it fell down and did not fall on him.

He had most of the toys and books pulled out of it.

Makes me think he was climbing to get the stuff....

But how could it have fallen and he not be UNDER the armoire???

I don't see anyway it could have happened.

My boy was being watched over, that is for sure.

I hate it when my mind goes to that 'What if' place.

Oh man....it could have been so bad.

And he was SO SCARED!

I just picked him up and held him for quite a while.

My poor boy.

I pulled the armoire out, of course, until we can get it anchored in.

I feel like a horrible Mom for all the times I thought, "We should anchor that thing", but didn't.

So....anchor EVERYTHING!!!!!

 

Wednesday March 21

Little by little we can get our bit long list of 'stuff-to-do' done.

We got a much later start today on the retaining wall than what we had planned for.

But we did get it started....and it will take just about one more day to finish it....then another day to get some more fill dirt.

Oh and then we need to grow some grass there :)

Drew came over and helped out for a while today.

That was really great, thanks Drew!

I think it is gonna be so great to have this done.

I am so very excited for school to be out.

Summer time is going to be so great!!!!

That dang school gets in the way......all the homework, all the time it takes out of the day.

Oh, and the fact that they need to go to bed at a good time.

Okay....I do love that they go to school.

But I think we will have so much fun when we get to stay up late and just hang out together outside all night long.

Tuesday March 20

Having snow today was not the best day to spend the first day of Spring.

BUT....

Tomorrow a supposed to be beautiful......

I am excited for that.

BUT....

It makes me think of all the things we need to do outside in a short period of time.

More pruning....grass to plant....gardens to till....retaining wall to build....maybe even get started on the barn so we can have a spot for more chicks and maybe even some cute farm animals.

It is all so exciting.....there really should be more hours in the day!



Monday March 19

It sure looked beautiful outside today....looking from inside that is :)

I was planning to prune the trees this morning.

Headed out there and got started, but it was freezing!!!!!

So I headed back in and did some laundry while Brent figured out what he needs to do to re-pipe some pipes to run our new water heater.

We are going from electric to gas.

Hopefully it will help us save some $ every month.

Anyway.....

After I picked up Elsie I had a fun little get together with some ladies from the ward and got some VT done at the same time.

*****

When Port woke up, the kids were excited to get the watercolors out.

Elsie has been easily occupied with watercolors lately.

That girl loves her paint and crayons!

 

*****

Later in the evening, the weather did actually become beautiful.

We headed outside and got the trees pruned.

Well, the apple trees.

We still heave pear and cherry and who knows what all the other ones are :)

I am very excited for everything to blossom.

At least I hope it all blossoms......

It was fun watching the little ones run around and play.

Yep...we love it here :)

Sunday March 18

Everyone got up and left at a good time this morning.

It was starting to snow and they wanted to get a good start on the drive.

Then we got our little family ready for church.

We got to church on time....only to find out that it was Stake conference, and we were an hour late.

Woops!

Oh well.

At least we got some out of it.

And even better, my Sunbeam lesson is already prepared for next week :)

*****

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing.

Madi is enjoying having the piano in the house.

She spent some time today picking out songs.

I think she will do awesome in lessons.

I hope to get her started soon.

Saturday March 17

Here is our day in a few snapshots....

Except for the green milk, shamrocks and footprints left by the leprechaun...I didn't get pictures of that.

We went to the aquarium today and did a lot of playing around.
The kids had so much fun.
There is some pretty fun stuff there.....and lots of great stuff planned for the future.

After the aquarium, the boys headed to Cabelas while the girls went to Platos' Closet.
Then back home for some playing outside and just hanging out and watching movies way too late:)
It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun.