Thursday April 19

I caught Porter doing this today.

He wanted to get to some games and puzzles up in the closet.

I guess Mom and Dad weren't paying enough attention to him :)

So he decided to try and get it himself.

I am surprised he didn't fall.

But he sure thought he was cool.

Port has had an obsession with super hero's lately.

Spider man, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man.

You name it....he thinks they are pretty cool.

He got some 'Avengers' temporary tattoos for going to speech therapy the other day.

He has them lined up both arms.

He thinks that when he pushes the tattoo of the super hero's....that is the one he becomes.

He pushed Hulk today and said "Ah, I am Hulk.  I can jump REALLY high!"

It was so funny.....he had a gruff voice and a goofy face.

The kids cracks me up.

*****

Brent just got home from taking Elsie to school today when we got a call from her teacher saying that Elsie didn't feel good.

So he went back and got her.

Poor girl.

She is fine....but she is really tired.

I think this over-cast cloudy day has gotten to her.

Hope she can sleep good tonight.

*****

Tonight I went with the girls to their 'Art Smart' night at the school.

Throughout the year, classes make art pieces that are like famous artists....and they learn a lot about those artists while making the art.

There was some pretty great stuff.

They had the school set up like a museum, it really was great.

And there were a few rooms opened up for art classes.

The girls did stamps, made bookmarks, painted stencils and got their faces painted.

They all thought it was pretty cool.

It was a fun event for the school.

*****

Dad got the water lines hooked up to the new natural gas water heater.

Hopefully this will make a huge difference in our monthly electric bills.

Having an electric water heater has been draining our wallets like crazy!

So lets cross our fingers that this is what makes the difference!!!

Comforting Hearts

My little sister, Sara, recently suffered a miscarriage.

Sara is one of the strongest, most spiritual people I know.

10 years ago, Sara and her hubby also lost their first baby, he was stillborn.

Nicholas was such a perfect, beautiful, tiny baby boy.

Not too long after that, Sara had another miscarriage.

She was broken hearted.

Fast forward the last 10 years and she has a house full of beautiful little ones.

Four of them.

The time came that they wanted to add another one.

They were all very excited to find out she was pregnant.

You can imagine the sadness to find out she had once again, lost her sweet baby.

He was delivered, and was very, very tiny.

Sara and Sean named him Moroni.

He too, even so tiny, was absolutely perfect.

All except for the tiny knot in his umbilical chord.

I can't say she had a hard time dealing with it....cause she didn't.

Sara is amazing.

But she did feel there was a hole in her heart that needed to be filled.

With both Nicholas and Moroni, Sara received sweet gifts from the hospital, including memory boxes.

She was so grateful for the kindness in each situation.

She wanted others in heartache to be sure to feel the love that she felt.

Sara has started a new blog where she encourages you to donate to her, or to your local hospital.

Comforting Hearts

Please take a moment to see what she has going on.

She has patterns for tiny diapers.....blankets, outfits of all sizes.

Tiny stuffed animals.

Small hats.

Anything you can think of, she would be so grateful for your donation.

She also has a donation box on her site if you would be willing to help her that way.

She is planning a big day for May 8th, which is Nicholas' birthday.

She has already gathered so much, but there is quite a need for more things.

If you can't help her, but would like to help in some way, you could always call your local hospital and see what they might need.

Nothing pulls you through a trial like service to one another.



Wednesday April 18

We had a good day today.

Our friends, the Youngs, came over today.

Drew helped Brent get some post holes dug and some posts set for the fence.

The girls got to play all day long.

It was a lot of fun for them.

Elsie wouldn't let Heather out of her sight.

They did a lot of Buffalo hunting :)

*****

Well, it wasn't a perfect day.

We had a few issues with a couple neighbors.

Thought we left the neighborhood to get rid of the drama!

Anyway....when Madi and Kara were heading to Bubbles to jump on her trampoline, they got chased by our neighbors dog.

Well, our neighbors had their kids move in from California a few weeks ago, and it was their dog.

Anyway, the dog bit on Madi's leg.

Didn't break skin or anything.....but terrified the girls for sure.

Anyway, Brent went over to make sure they knew about it.....(this hasn't been the first incident with this dog).

Brent was pretty fired up, but not mean.

But come on....his daughter just got bit by a big dog!

Just wanted them to know that it wasn't okay for that to happen again.

They did say they would keep the dog in the house when our kids were out.

But Brent said that she needed to know that the dog is not allowed on our property.

Anyway.....a little while later the husband came and talked to dad about it, and I think things ended okay.

But still.....I wish it wouldn't have happened.

Well, then later this evening, we had our neighbor to the right come over.

We have never met them before.

Well, he came over pretty fired up.

He saw the fence posts that the guys had put in earlier.

He said we needed to make sure of the property line.

We figured the fence that is already there would be the property line.

You can even see where Brent pulled out the old post, and his new post is at least a couple inches closer to our house then it was before.

The man was very accusatory as if Brent was trying to steal his land.

It was very frustrating.

But Brent kept saying, 'please tell me what to do to make this right.'

The guy never let up and he wasn't even paying attention that Brent didn't want to fight and he wanted to fix things.

Finally Brent told him that he would just pull up the posts and we would have a surveyor come out to find the property line.

So that is what we did....we pulled the posts out on that corner.

Anyway.....it ended fine.

But Brent left with a bad taste in his mouth and I am sure the neighbor guy does too.

I hate drama!

Tuesday April 17

We got a late start to today.

We were running around from one thing to another until about 2ish.

But then we got started on the backyard again.

We raked out the rest of the bigger rocks.

Made sure it looked as level as we could make it.....then Brent went and got some compost.

We put a thin layer on top of the ground so we could work the seeds in with it.

The girls thought it was pretty great.

At first we were lightly salting the shovel back and forth to make the layer....

But that was taking way to long.

So we resorted to throwing it.

Which worked out quite nicely.

All the bigger parts got broken up and the spread was better.

It took some practice for the girls to get it right.

But they had fun doing it.

And man......if anyone is looking for a KILLER 'love handle' workout.....then throwing shovels full of dirt (or compost) is for you.

The raking was also an awesome workout for that specific area.

I am sure I am gonna be hurting tomorrow!

Here is a shot from the back of the retaining wall.

Can't wait for it to be all green!

This is standing out look towards the retaining wall.

The barn will sit on the green beyond that.

*****

The girls got a quick driving lesson when Dad had them pull forward to lay more compost.

Madi thought Dad was kidding.....but once he showed her the ropes, she was excited about trying it.

And Cassi couldn't wait to try it....even though she can't see much over the steering wheel :)

*****

We got the seed laid and spread out.

Wet it down a bit....then the rain rolled in.

Hope all our seeds don't wash down the drain!

Guess we will have to wait and see.

Sure would have been nice to have an extra thousand or so to put down sod, but that just wasn't in the cards :)

*****

On a side note:

Driving Elsie to school this morning we saw some beautiful white puffy clouds just settling on top of the mountains.

It was beautiful and looked just like a painting.

Elsie told me "That is where baby Weston is!"

She was so excited and she was so happy that he was in such a beautiful place.

Monday April 16

I really hope we are doing a good job with these kids.

Our lives have kinda been thrown into roller coaster.....if that even makes sense.

I feel like I am not on top of what is going on in school with the girls.

It is a good thing both of them are on top of things and don't need me in that area, for now.

We are adjusting to life in so many ways.

We are loving it all.

But that does not mean it is not stressful.

Not time consuming.

There is so many things we want to do....

But even with that stuff aside, there is so much that just plain NEEDS to be done.

But we are doing it.

We are a team.

Just sometimes it feels like we need a vacation.

But I don't even want a vacation....I wanna be here and do stuff here, stuff with my family.

It just seems like the rest of life gets in the way.

So we just need a vacation from the rest of life I guess.

Maybe that is what Summertime will be for us.

Maybe :)

I just love these kids.

I wish I could be a better Mom for them.

I am trying...and praying and hoping and wishing that Brent and I, as a team, can make these little people into kind, loving and giving adults.

Not really sure why all this is on my mind.

Just sitting here trying to cross off the items on my to-do list....and none of those things have included much one-on-one time with my sweet little ones.

So.....I am going to try harder to add some good one-on-one time with the kids.

Time where we can really talk.

Cause I love talking with them.

 

Sunday April 15

Today ran pretty smoothly.

Both the little ones went to their classes today.

We did bribe them with little 'Squinkies' toys...

Ports was Iron Man and the Hulk...Elsie got Snow White and Happy.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

And hey, it worked.

It did take some work though.

Elsie broke out in tears during sharing time....I took her out and we talked and there may have been a promise of brownies when we got home :)

Worked like a charm....she ran right back in with a smile on her face.

Porter was all set and ready to sit with his class....but when we got him there....he changed his mind.

I stuck one of his army guys in his shirt pocket and that worked pretty good.

He also has a great teacher who was good about occupying him....while I occupied my class :)

Oh...and good news, I now have a team teacher....which made the day go so much easier!!!

*****

So...we survived church.

After church I put Port to sleep and the big girls headed outside.

When I peeked out about an hour later to check on them, I saw them just hanging out by the retaining wall....getting along :)

I just love that.

Wish it would happen more often.

It does seem to be happening more....which is a really good thing.

*****

Before church, Madi did a great job entertaining Porter.

He has been watching Cars 2, so Madi made a race car for him out of diaper boxes.

He thought that was pretty great.

Saturday April 14

It was our ward talent show this evening.

Cassi was one of 20 acts.

She sang her song that she wrote for Elsie.

Well, we actually had to cut it down to just over a minute....from 4 minutes.

So there is a lot missing.

But it still sounded great and she did a great job.

And guess who won 1st place??????

Yep.....Cassi did!

We are so proud and excited for her!!!

She did a great job.

She did get a little nervous right before, but you couldn't tell once she started.

I did a bad job setting up her microphone....so it was hard to hear her at first.

It was an 'Americas got Talent' theme.

Each contestant had a number....and you would text their number to the voting phone number.

After the contestant number, you would put another number 1-5.

1 being good and 5 being great.

So that is how they tallied Cassi's winning votes.

They had their own version of Howie, Sharon and Pierce.

They each had something to say.

Pierce, or Fierce.....had something negative to say about every act....all in fun and play though.

For Cassi he said she did a great job.

And Even though she had no teeth (this is when Howie buzzed him thinking Pierce was gonna say something mean) that he didn't even hear any whistling.

Cassi though that was funny.

Great job Cassi....you are so awesome!!!
Madi picked these flowers form our front yard to give to Cassi after her performance.
Cassi loved them.
Sweet Madi.

(Video to be uploaded here later! It won't do it right now)

(Here is the video that Brent taped while wrestling with Port and Elsie....it is fun to have it on tape.)

The audio is not that great....but you can still hear that sweet sweet voice :)

*****

Earlier in the day.....

We got some house cleaning done.

Well, Brent and the girls cleaned the house while I went and took some pictures.

When I got home the big girls went to play with some friends, I put Porter to bed and Elsie and I went outside with Dad.

We picked up rocks....lots of rocks.

And played with Mater.

Elsie loves that dog so much.

It is fun to watch her love on that dog.

Dad got out the plow and plowed our garden spot.

It is pretty rocky soil....but he plowed it, and we picked up rocks.....lots of them.

Then worked in some good soil.

I think it will work good.

Guess we will see.

Brent also got the backyard all leveled out with some good topsoil and now it is ready for seed.

It is looking great and I can't wait to see it all green!

Friday April 13

Over the last few days, with Dad working so hard outside in the front,all the old  farmer neighbors have stopped by for a visit.

They all seem to want to take him under their wing.

It is pretty funny.

They all give him expert advice....all being very different advice :)

And there seems to be some bad feelings between a few.

Good thing they all seem to like us.

*****

This afternoon, Elsie and I went to Katie's clinic for her grand opening.

We are so excited for her and that she has been able to do this, which has been a dream of hers forever.

Katie is a very special person in our lives.

Someone who we have seen once a week, almost every week, for over 4 years.

If anyone knows of anyone who needs Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, or Occupational Therapy services....
give Katie's clinic 'Kaleidoscope Pediatric Therapy' a look.

They are all so great and I can't wait to watch it grow!

We love Katie!!!
*****
On the way home, dad had me meet him at a gas station so Elsie and I could hop in with the rest of the crew to take Steve's tractor back to him in Star.
We were excited to see that Young and Lucas families were there.
The girls were of course very excited!
The night consisted of playing with bunnies, fishing, Porter dropping his pants and peeing wherever he wants (bonus and curse of having a boy), and Cassi taking a $10 bet from dad to eat a fish heart.
Yes....she really did.
Really.
Dad was conflicted....not sure if he should be proud, or disgusted.
Either way...she did it.
She got her $10.
That kid.....she sure cracks me up...and I guess grosses me out a bit :)

I really hope to get some bunnies soon.

The kids were so in love with them.

Cassi loved the the most.

I know she would take excellent care of bunnies when we get them.

****

Anyway....we had a fun evening.

Thursday April 12

So when I picked the girls up from piano and guitar today....I noticed a big difference in their folders appearance.

Then I thought about what their rooms look like.

Very similar to their folders.

Then I kinda chuckled.....

I also thought it was funny.

Brent and Madi are so much alike.

A Cassi and I......well, lets just say, my folder would look the same way :)

*****

Brent spent the whole day digging up the irrigation pipe under the driveway.

What was there, had broken.

So, in order to get the best irrigation stream we could....it needed to be fixed.

And the job was much easier thanks to Steve.

Brent borrowed his tracter with a nice backhoe on it.

It still took all day....but just one day instead of a few days :)

And thanks to Gramps....we brought back an awesomely huge metal pipe to replace the busted one.

He had to end up cutting a bit off the end so it could fit it good before the ditch curved.....

The finished result looks great...but he worked into the dark hours....so no picture of it yet.

But I am glad to say it is now crossed off our very long list of things to do!



*****

And I spent the whole day on the computer making a flyer for the school's carnival....

Okay, not all day.

I did take time out for Elsie's PT and she also had kindergarten registration.

She did awesome for registration.

Except for the hopping on one foot, balancing on one foot for a minute and the jumping.

She will get there :)

I am curious about how school is gonna go for her.

I guess I have to wait for the preschool to send her info to her school so we can have another meeting to make an IEP for the Kindergarten year.

I am excited for her...v.ery excited.

But also very scared and nervous....like sending her into a pack of wolves......



Wednesday April 11

After we picked Elsie up from school today, we stopped by to visit with Sister Roll for a little bit.

Then we went and picked up Alex to come play for a while.

The girls had lots of fun and wanted to hang out with the chicks most of the afternoon :)

But they did take some time out to paint.

*****

Brent taught a class today, so he was gone most of the day.

He came home and started to work on building himself a harrow for his tractor to smooth out what he did with the springtooth yesterday.

I think it turned out pretty awesome.

He just used scrap metal and junk from around the place.....pretty impressive.

Redneck...maybe.

But proud of it :)

Madi and Cassi thought it made for a pretty fun ride.

We are gonna have to spend an afternoon picking up big rocks.

There are a lot of big rocks.

Anyone want to come and pick up rocks with us ???