Fire Trucks, Practice and Bella

School is almost out for the summer. Greta has two more classes and Wesley has about two weeks left. Greta got to tour the local fire station on Tuesday which I think she enjoyed. She held onto my hand the entire time and wouldn't let me out of her sight but still managed to smile a little.

Wesley started his first ever sport this week. He's in coach pitch (baseball) this spring and he had his first practice on Tuesday. I have to admit we are not a sports family. About twenty minutes before his first practice we were sitting around a piece of paper while I tried to explain the logistics of baseball. I might know enough about the sport to teach him how to play? Not real sure. It was kind of like the blind leading the blind. He'll have fun and perhaps we'll both learn something.

I learned yesterday that my friend Tina had a house fire. It was not a complete loss but their house is unlivable. They are able to stay with family but they had to find somewhere for their dogs to stay. I took one of them and so we now have a darling little australian shepherd named Bella staying with us for the time being. Once you have three dogs you can add more without hardly even noticing. She'll be heading home whenever they figure out their living arrangements. She's a sweet (and very smart) dog but very hard to photograph....she's always on the move!

Frozen

It's a tiny little video (because it's from my phone) but if you make it large you can kind of see Miss Greta there on the front row far right. She was so excited because this year they got to sing a Frozen song. Oh and please note the poor dad up there on the stool, his kid was so scared. So thankful that wasn't me.

Little Singers

Greta had her preschool spring program last night. I gotta say I was a little worried about how she'd do since her recent behavior at preschool has been questionable. She's been dreading going to preschool for about a month now. Leading up to leaving the house there are tears and clinging. She's usually crying by the time we get there and then I have to, literally, pry her off of my leg and hand her to Miss Cindy. I have no idea where this development came from, up until about a month ago she loved preschool. When I go to pick her up she's always smiling and happy, it's just drop off time. Oh well, only three more classes to deal with that and then she's out for the summer.

She did great last night. Sang her heart out and no tears when I had to leave her up there on the stage. Thank goodness. I didn't remember my camera but I snapped a few pictures with the cell phone camera.

On the mend

I'm grateful to say I'm finally on the mend. Boy whatever that was really hit me hard. I finally stared feeling better on Monday but didn't have a stitch of energy. I was winded after climbing a few steps. My arms felt like they each weighed 50 pounds. It was so strange. That kept on until Wednesday when I finally dragged my rear end to the doctor. He said he'd be happy to do some chest x-rays and blood work to see what it was or he could just prescribe his tried and true steroid and antibiotic cocktail. I went with the latter and am finally feeling like myself again after a 36 hours on meds.

Luckily I felt well enough to participate in my birthday activities. I had a lovely birthday. My kids are at wonderful ages where they shower me in birthday wishes and adorable homemade gifts. We had a nice dinner with my parents at the local rib joint (the place with the rhino head as Greta calls it......which isn't a rhino at all but rather a giant buffalo head). Thank you Mom, Dad and Sean for a wonderful birthday.

It wouldn't be a normal day without some excitement. I was driving the kids home from school when we heard a pop and I glanced down at the cars display screen to see the right read tire with a big ol' 0 next to it's tire pressure. Luckily we were just around the corner from home so I did what I wasn't suppose to do and hobbled home on my flat tire going one mile and hour. It's not like I had a spare tire or a jack or anything and the tire wasn't fixable, it had a big jagged hole in it. I'm so done with these crappy Goodyear Assurance tires. The first one blew at 13,000 miles, the second at 15,000 and the third, yesterday, at 17,500. I feel like that last remaining tire is just a ticking time bomb ready to blow at the most in opportune moment. The next vehicle will have a spare tire, mark my words.

Being under the weather for a week and a half has caused so many things to pile up. This is, after all, spring planting time. I had to reschedule my rental on the rototiller until this weekend and I'm pumped to get the garden up and going. My seedlings are busting out of their pots. They need to be repotted but I'm just going to dump them in the garden instead, it's definitely time. They are outside as of this morning hardening off.

Greta and I are going in today to buy flowers and pots for the new deck. This is the first Spring I've had with a deck and by golly I'm going to decorate it up with colorful pots of flowers.

Easter

Oh man am I sick. Fever, headache, snot, a cough from hell and so much junk in my lungs I nearly throw up from coughing so hard. Lovely right? It's been going on since Wednesday and I'm not sure it's ever going to go away. You wouldn't know it from looking at me because being a Mom means I don't get to lay on the couch and get well. I get to run around like I do everyday being a chauffeur and attending to the little people that live in my house. There is no time off here. Except for today. Today I went up to the spare bedroom and gave all parenting duties to Sean for the day. I laid in bed with my pile of used tissues and tried to get well. Ugh, talk about miserable.

It crossed my mind that I didn't even post the cute little Easter festivity pictures. So I'm going to cop out and post pictures and perhaps I'll feel well enough next week to write more.

Happy Kids

A couple of weeks ago when Randi was here we went thrifting and I found a big red map of the United States that holds all the state quarters. I knew Wesley would love it so I bought it and we filled it with all the quarters we could find......I think it was seven. So last week we got a box from Rich and Randi and in it was 42 quarters they found in their quarter jar. Wesley was psyched! So yesterday we put each quarter where it belonged. There were a few duplicates and a few state park quarters that didn't have a spot so I think we are only lacking 14 states now. It's fun keeping our eyes open for quarters we don't have. Thank you Rich and Randi!

Wesley was off of school yesterday, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day! So we headed out for a day of fun. I've been in a bit of a rut lately and I think I just needed to get out of the house and get some sunshine. It worked! I took the kids to Pizza Hut to use their Bookit coupons (they get free pan pizza's for reading books at school). They love going and getting their little pan pizza's! Then off to the feed store for a bale of alfalfa for the goat. I noticed the stores seemed to get their flowers in overnight and there are racks and racks of beautiful flowers. I couldn't not get some, so the kids helped me pick out some flowers for a few of the planters around here.

I told the kids this year instead of an Easter basket full of trinkets, candy and "stuff", they could pick out one nice toy. They were all over that idea so we stopped by the grocery store and they got to pick out a toy. I like this idea because we won't have a big basket of candy calling my name and cheap little toys that get broken and strewn all over my house (I still got them each a package of Peeps....nothing says Easter like Peeps). I think this is a win win. We'll see how it goes.

Then we went to the park to play. We got in a lap around the pond so old Mom could get her steps in. The 10,000 a day step challenge is going great, haven't missed a day this month. It was a good day, everybody was all smiles. I like smiling kiddos. I'm a lucky gal to be able to stay home with these two happy little people.

Trucks, Freezes and Field Trips

It's a busy time of the year. I feel like I wake up running and fall into bed at the end of the day. There is always something to get done. Finding time to sit down and blog has been a stretch so I hope you'll understand when I just shove everything into one longer (picture heavy) post.

In the evenings after the kids go to bed Sean has been going out to the shop to work on his Dad's truck (that was left here after their visit). I'm happy to report he got it all back together after changing out the intake manifold and had it running for awhile the other night. Everything sounds good. Hopefully it will be on the market soon.

We've been experiencing some predictably crazy Spring weather. You know, 85 degrees one day and 44 the next? It's been fun. We had a freeze the other night which makes me happy I haven't moved any fragile seedlings outside yet. Naturally the wisteria vine decided this year was the year to produce it's beautifully fragrant blossoms. The vine outside the bay window was covered in fat little buds that I knew would freeze right off so out I went with a blanket the dogs use, some plastic bags and twine to wrap them up in the hopes it would protect them. Isn't it beautiful? Looks like a dead body.

All that work and the poor little buds still froze. Grrrr. I did manage to cover the strawberry plants (with their baby strawberries already growing) with a quilt and they look great. They survived.

Yesterday was Wesley's first grade class field trip. This year they went to a nature center and park. I wasn't real sure if that would keep 45 six and seven year old children happy for a whole day but it was great, it was very well done. They divided the classes up at the nature center and had little displays with local wildlife and habitats. This woman had a salamander that she was teaching the kids about. Look how excited my child is (he's the one in the yellow coat).

That is until she got a meal worm out and the salamander gobbled it up....along with several more. That sure entertained the class. Oh and the little girl sitting next to him, that's his girlfriend. Well it was until after lunch when she broke up with him. I guess that's how things are done in first grade. *snicker*

Then they had a nice woman talk about native owls and introduced the class to a little screech owl that flew into a fence. The field trip was a success and everything went smoothly.....well except for loosing the bus Jessica and I were following and getting lost downtown. But thanks to Sean we finally made our way to our destination. Talk about beautiful weather too! No wind (which is rare) and sunny skies.

Miss Evie and Jessica. 

The Wednesday Write-Up

-Everything is greening up so nicely outside. The grass is almost thick now, which seemed to have happened overnight. My seedlings that I started the end of February are growing well and will probably have to be transplanted into bigger pots soon. They will not be going out to the garden until May, after the crazy winter we had I don't trust our predicted last frost date.

-My youngest is a handful to say the least. She decided that while Granny Randi was here she was not going to preschool. The first day she started crying midway through class and declared "My Granny is here and I need to be home with her!". Next class she cried the entire class and I was asked to come get her early. We had a big talk about what is happening. She told me she couldn't control her crying and just wanted to stay home with us. So I figured this craziness would end after Granny Randi went home because that girl LOVES preschool. Not so much. I've had to start bribing her. I now tell her that if she goes to preschool (only two days a week) and doesn't cry and has fun then I will take her somewhere fun on Friday, just a girl day out. So last week I picked her up and asked her if she did ok and she replied "I did great, whenever I thought about crying I just told myself not to." That's my girl. So last Friday we went out to lunch and we found her a new pair of sandals for Spring. You gotta do what you gotta do.

-Since I'm talking about Greta I thought I'd share a little funny story. Her preschool class ordered a bunch of caterpillars so the kids could watch them turn into butterflies. Miss Greta is pretty excited and when she found a caterpillar on our driveway she decided she wanted to do the same with it. So into a jar it went with a stick and some food. We watched "Caterpillary (it's name)" wiggle around and eat leaves. She would get it out and let it climb on her arm. It was her pet. Well, I came home one day and Sean informed me that Greta decided to take Caterpillary outside for a nice jump on the trampoline and somehow it got squished. I can't imagine how a little caterpillar got squished on a trampoline (please note the heavy sarcasm). She was sad but that lasted all of 10 minutes and then she was off to find a new caterpillar.

-Today was the first day of the year I got to take the tortoises outside to soak up some rays. The plan this Spring is to create a tortoise yard for them that's fairly good sized. Somewhere we can let the grass and weeds grow and create a nice outdoor habitat for the three tortoises. I've been researching it all winter and am eager to start on it. But in the mean time they are in the chain link dog kennel. I lined it in 2 X 6's so they can't see out and try to squeeze under the chain link. So go out there to check on them this afternoon and lets just say "Love is in the Air!" Old dude is feeling his oats.

Next Chapter

Man, I am slacking in this whole blogging thing! My in-laws left this morning after an extended visit (they didn't intend it to be an extended visit). So a recap from two weeks ago: Randi and Rich drove up here from their home many many hours away and their tow vehicle (an F-150) started having "issues". They pinpointed it to the intake manifold, ordered a new one and installed it. It's not quite put together yet but Sean is going to finish it up and we'll sell it for them.

They searched around and found a replacement truck so they could get home. They bought a Nissan Titan. It's a fancy truck with all the bells and whistles and a nice tow package to haul their Airstream. It's quite an upgrade from their previous truck. I think it will do great for them (they had been looking for a replacement so this wasn't out of the blue).

We had a nice time catching up with them and the kids really enjoyed their time with Granny Randi and Papa Rich. I don't think they realize Rich won't be visiting every weekend like he's been doing for the past two years. I foresee us sitting around a table in about three weeks and the kids asking why Papa Rich hasn't been here. We'll miss ya around here Rich! We wish you guys the best with the next chapter of your life together.

Results

If you might recall at the beginning of March I gave myself a new monthly challenge. It consisted of giving up sugar. I gave up: desserts, no snacking after dinner, no sweet drinks and pretty much any other refined sugars. My dilemma was deciding if I would indulge in the many birthday activities we had this month. Then Sean said "you make the rules!" and I was like "heck yea I make the rules!". So I allowed myself to indulge in cake at the three birthday parties we celebrated this month.....oh and the retirement cake that Rich brought here with him. Excuse me, the MASSIVE birthday cake he brought here. Ugh. BUT, even with these few treats I managed to drop six pounds this month. It was nice to see the scale go down every week instead of going up like it's been doing all winter. Another four pounds and I'll be at my happy "everything fits" weight so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

So my new challenge for the month of April is to continue with the sugar free month (and there is only one birthday in April so woohoo!). I'm also going to start wearing the FitBit again and get 10,000 steps each day for the entire month. I took the FitBit off for the month of March and it's been very freeing. I felt like it was a ball and chain and I would try way too hard to get steps in and then feel disappointed when I didn't reach my daily goal. It became stressful. This month I sat on the couch and read a book every day (What Alice Forgot was an interesting read....recommended) without feeling like I should be up and moving to get in my steps. Relaxing and removing the stresses of the day worked this month, but I need to get my hiney moving again. It's warming up nicely outside and the kids and I are running around and bouncing on the trampoline (which counts on the FitBit as steps) so it's time to get monitoring again.

Retirement!

It's been an eventful week around here. My father-in-law officially retired yesterday. Congratulations Rich! He's been living 13 hours away from his house for two years now, driving up to visit us nearly every weekend. It's so natural for him to be here and very strange to think of him going home. I'm super excited for him though. I know it's been a long and trying two years. Living in a travel trailer for two years away from home and his spouse. Randi has been here for the week and they are to take off with the travel trailer for home soon. Well that was the plan anyways.

Rich's pickup truck decided to wait until the very last trip here to act up. They thought it was a transmission issue at first but when the engine started smoking and using gallons of antifreeze they pinpointed the intake manifold as the culprit. He was able to limp to our house yesterday after his last week of work. Sean found the intake manifold on Amazon (pretty sure they carry everything) and it was Prime so it was sitting on our doorstep two days later. So that's what the boys are going to be doing this weekend along with shopping for a new truck to get them home. Neither feel comfortable with the old truck doing the job. I think we'll be selling it for them once they mail us the title. So it's been an adventure figuring out how they'll get home. I hope they are able to find the right truck around here.

It's a good thing he's retired now and doesn't have to be anywhere by a certain time.

In the mean time Randi and I have been having fun with the kids and doing a lot of shopping. She's a fellow thrift store junkie so it's nice to have a partner in crime. We've hit the two closest stores and made out like bandits. Fun times!

Another bonus to having grandparents in the house? Sean and I were able to escape for a much needed date night last night. We decided on P.F.Changs. Sean had been there for a few times for work lunches but I'd never been. What a treat! It was so good. I got the Orange Peel Shrimp and it was divine. They gave me so much I get to enjoy it again for lunch today. It was a treat to get out and much appreciated. Thanks Granny Randi and Papa Rich!

Really?!

Yesterday I had to run into town to return some DVD's to the library and we stopped at Target to get the kids their shampoo. It's spring break and we don't have anything to do so we wandered through Target. Naturally the kids spotted the toy section and pleaded with me to go look at toys. I told them we can go look at toys but they need to understand we are not buying any toys today. We enter the first isle and Greta picks up some green monster doll and declares "I want THIS!" She clutches it tight and keeps pleading "Please Mom, she's so beautiful I NEED her!" Uh, what part of "we're not buying any toys" did you not understand? I said "Nope, put her back."

She then starts crying. Loud crying with tears running down her face. She continues to do this through the next isle where Wesley finds the Lego's. This would be the same Star War Lego's that he's currently playing on the Wii. He was totally awe struck that there are toys that match the game he's playing. He picks up the Lego box and starts excitedly twirling in the isle. That's when his head smashes into the metal display shelf. He grabs his ear and proceeds to start crying.

So, in total disbelief, I stand there watching my two kids cry in the toy isle at Target and I wonder WHY DO I TAKE THEM ANYWHERE?

Seriously. I'm completely burnt out and I've only had them home for 4 days. I'm officially scared of summer.

Full House

We had a full house this past weekend. My sister Betsy, brother in law Blake and the boys visited and my parents and Rich were also here. It was nice getting the cousins together to play. They are all getting to the age where they enjoy rough housing together.....and you throw my father in there and it's a whole bunch of rowdy kids. There was some epic hide and seek happening. It was fun.

We celebrated little Bennett's birthday while they were here. He turns three the end of the month. He's sure a cutie and growing up fast.

Since we had so many babysitters present, the ladies all decided it was our chance to go out shopping. We got some quality shopping time and found some excellent spring clothing deals. The kids need a whole spring and summer wardrobe so it's nice to get a few pieces out of the way. We went to Jason's Deli (my favorite) for lunch. Yum!

My sister and Mom.

Spring break is in full swing and my kids are pretty bored. Luckily it's decent weather so we've been outside a fair bit. I took them to the movie theater yesterday to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman. It was a fast paced, well done movie. There were some scary moments and a little content that was too much for Greta (the discussion about removing entrails in ancient Egypt had her clutching to my arm). Wesley LOVED it on the other hand! He said it was soo good it brought tears to his eyes. Haha! That's a six year old for ya.

That is all that's happening around these parts. I've got a few more days to sleep in and then it's back to normal until school's out for the summer.

Jumping Beans

What I predict we'll be doing most of our spring break.

Fur and Feathers

Usually my favorite season is Fall. I love the changing leaves and the crisp cool evenings. But I'm changing it all up this year. SPRING is my favorite season from this point on. The bulb flowers pushing their way through the dirt, the fat buds on the trees waiting for that perfect moment to erupt, the robins returning and my kids running around screaming (outside for a change). It's so nice to be on the fast rack to spring as this has been the longest winter in the history of all winters. Ever.

It's like the animals know too. The horses are already shedding their fuzzy winter coats. I let them out to run in the back yard this past weekend. They ran like crazy, kicking up their heels. It brought a smile to my face.

I'm happy to say I've kept Dym alive for another winter. The twice daily rations of soaked beet pulp, rations of high protein feed and oodles of alfalfa seemed to do the trick. She's sleek and shiny. Not fat but not too thin either. I wish she was a fat as her offspring but Nubians never seem to get as rolly polly as Boers. This is the year I'm fencing in the walnut grove for the goats (I think I said that last year but the deck took precedence). I can't wait to see her out there grazing under the shade of the walnut trees with her offspring.  I'll think they are all excited to get out of the corral.

On a sad note, last week I lost my oldest animal. Simon, the cockatiel, passed away from what I can only guess is old age. I got her back in 1997 while I was still in high school. She's been with me through most of my big life changes....college, wedding, all the moves and babies. When I got her I so desperately wanted a male bird because they can be taught to sing and talk. Hence the name Simon. He turned into a she. Therefore I got another cockatiel in the college dorms.....Luigi. Who turned out to be another female. My third attempt at getting a male was after college in our first house not far from here. I succeeded in getting a male that time and named him Waldo. He and Luigi paired up and hatched a lone egg, another girl named Ingot. Two more males were added over the years, Duncan and Eddy, both of whom wooed Simon. They all live in a giant 4 foot by 6 foot parrot cage upstairs. The boy tiels are all upstairs singing as I write this....it's never quiet in my house (I like it that way). We've lost Luigi last year and now Simon....down to four. She was 17 years old.

Nails, Parties and Pies

I just got off the trampoline with Greta so I could come inside and write a blog post. I haven't written anything in over a week, which is sort of unheard of in the last 6.5 years. I can't believe I've been blogging for that long. Crazy right? It's pretty difficult to drag myself inside on a day like this. 75 degrees and no wind. I was just lying out there on the trampoline soaking up the sun while Miss Greta jumped wildly around me. What a beautiful day.

It's been an interesting week. My little car decided to leave me with a flat tire while I was picking up Greta from my parent's house. I swear I pick up more nails than any other person I know. Sean tried to patch it but the hole was so big that even two plugs wouldn't work. Yet another reason I wish I had a SPARE TIRE. Grumble grumble grumble. I had to go buy my second tire for the car in 15K miles. Aren't tires supposed to last longer than that?

I got to be chauffeur Mom in the truck for a few days. Transporting two kids around in a single cab truck along with backpacks, library books and groceries was not enjoyable......but it was doable. Even as tiny as my car is I am grateful to have it back in working order. Greta loved riding around in the truck, I think she was sorry to see it go (don't worry, I turned off the airbags).

Saturday evening we got invited to the birthday party of Sean's old college roommate. Another old roommate was there as well. It's been 11 years since we last saw them. It was enjoyable catching up and seeing our kids all play together. We aren't exactly the most social people so yay for a night out being social!

Greta was invited to her very first birthday party this weekend and oh was she excited. They had a rack of prom dresses, high heels, costume jewelry, boas and purses for all the girls to dress up in. That along with a bounce house made for one very fun afternoon for a certain little 4 year old.

We can't forget to mention Happy Birthday to my father-in-law. We got to celebrate Rich's birthday last night before he left to head back to his temporary home. He's only got three more weeks before he retires and heads home to New Mexico. We'll miss not seeing him regularly, that's for sure. I knew he liked coconut so I made him a coconut cream pie (I'm a coconut fan too). It was delish (if I do say so myself). Happy Birthday Rich!

Challenge

Hello March! I love March. It's a "lead in" month. A month where little shoots of green grass poke through the winter crust of soil. A month that leads in to Spring. It might be nasty out there but there is hope I tell you. Hope. Right now there is freezing rain falling, coating every surface in a slick glaze of ice. We have snow in the immediate forecast and several bitterly cold nights ahead. But since it's officially March there is hope.

I decided I need a new challenge for March. I thought about doing a 10,000 step a day challenge with the Fitbit, where I have to get 10K steps a day every day of the month but I thought I'd hold off on that challenge until next month. This month I'm going sugar free. No refined sugars, no artificial sugars, nada. Now I'm not going all crazy or anything, if there is a little added sugar in a product I'm letting it slide....6 grams and under is my rule for the month. So added sugar in marinara sauce, that's ok. Fruit is ok. I thought it would be a good way to get back on track for the spring and summer months. Now this doesn't mean I'm dooming the kids to a sugar free March. It just means I keep food stocked in the house that I won't have a problem saying no to. For instance, ice cream. It's easy to say no to ice cream and that's something the kids and hubby love. And to test my resolve, today I made the kids some cupcakes. So far so good. I got this.

For an activity challenge I had the hubby show me the next routine on the BowFlex. I've been doing the first routine outlined in the manual for about a year and a half now. It was time to switch it up, work some new muscles. So four times a week I am doing the new workout and it's a nice change. I'm starting out with some really light weights and working up to the heavy ones. It's amazing how quickly results can be seen with resistance training. I'm a believer.

I will report back with how my two challenges went this month.

Are you going to challenge yourself for the month of March?