Robin in her nest

Can you see her sitting in the nest? This is our mother robin that has come for the past 3 years to this nest in our front apple tree. The first year we were here the wind blew down the nest in the Autumn and the next Spring they came and rebuilt. We have been watching and waiting for a few weeks...wondering when they would return.

I highlighted her here. I was standing on the rail to try to get close enough to get the picture but not too close. The littles are learning this little song:

We will find a little nest

In the branches of a tree

Let us count the eggs inside

There are one, two, three

Mother bird sits on the nest

To hatch the eggs all three.

Father bird flies round and round

To guard his family.

We don't know how many babies there will be this year. Last year there was only one but the year before there were three.
This is one of our Spring nature treasures!

That girl

We finally were able to set a date for Lydia to be baptized. It is going to be very interesting with duct tape and oxygen. Not lying at all! We will see how it goes. Things have been crazy trying to get prepared and I am still not together. I've been scanning pictures from when she was little. Wasn't she just the cutest little thing?

She wants me to put together a dvd of pictures from when she was born until now. I seem to be missing about six months worth and have been searching everywhere for them.

The only day we could even remotely get into our church bldg is this Friday night. Lydia has surgery on the 7th and then she turns 9 on the 13th.

So this is totally tacky , I'm totally stressed and we have sent out some invites but if you didn't get one yet let me know we would love to have you and here is what they look like....

adjusting

This lovely lady is my sister Carrie. She abandoned me! I am trying to adjust. You see Alaska's gain is my sadness. This month she packed everything, what she didn't dump off on unsuspecting relatives, to join her husband in a new life adventure in Alaska. Pretty much most of my family lives in Alaska now. All that is left here in sunny warm Arizona(hahahaha I'm freezing right now) is Shawna, Erin and I. Carrie and I used to talk on the phone almost 3 or 4 times a day. She would call me up and say "Hey I'm coming by to get you and you can follow me around Costco" then we would go to lunch sans children and laugh. I have cried a few times in the last week.
Tonight though she called and I listened and I think I can be okay as long as she keeps the free nights and weekends plan on her cell phone.

I'm not saying....I'm addicted

It is all my friend Melissa's fault! I am totally blaming her for this little Goodwill junkie thing happening in my life. I didn't even like Goodwill until she kept showing me all the really cool deals she kept getting. Like her Prada purse... no lie! Although I am not into Prada or even any type of high fashion which Kristi can assure you of. She always looks like a million bucks and well I barely throw some decent clothes on.
Anyway, when it comes to finding cool stuff for my kids I am all about it.

On Friday I found these two things brand new still in their original package- not opened at all!!!!The mummy game still had a $15.99 MOMA price tag on it. I haven't looked up the pizza fractions game yet.

Then tonight...... the hunt brought this delightful Haba Zitternix game that we have been playing all evening long and this awesome shield for sword play that happens quite a bit around here. Looked up the prices on these: Haba game $16.95 and the shield $12.95 new. Both of these little gems are practically brand new already. I did also purchase a floor puzzle and a multiplication tool thing. My total bill was around $6.

Money has been tight. My business is quite frankly a luxury that most people don't need, it is a want and we are trying to decided what exactly to do with the business. It has been a successful one up until now. I am so grateful to have the luxury of living in a country where other peoples 'cast-offs' can delight and help me teach my kiddos. I am very mindful of how blessed we are each day. My children are for the most part healthy, well-fed and happy.

In our RS lesson on Sunday, our teacher was discussing how any trials we have are just but mere dots in eternity. Melissa leaned over and said mine look more like Braille to her. I assured her that I do not view it that way. Things have been hard and I am quite sure in the future there will be more hard things too. I am so grateful for how very,very good things have been lately. One of the greatest gifts of Lydia has been that I have this perspective that is not a worldly one. After holding your child who is dying, you get an understanding of what it is all REALLY about. I hope I never lose that.

So tonight I am grateful for play, for laughter and games. They are little things.

There is a grace that surpasses the trials when gratitude is present in all things. There is a complete peace in being grateful for the everyday things. Very often the little things make the most impressions on our soul.

and the winner is....

Last night we had a 50's themed potluck dinner at church complete with music and contests. Quayde entered into the bubble gum blowing contest against a lot of adults and WON!

Now we are not a gum chewing family so this was quite the surprise. He is just full of hot air we assume.

Today while we are all just enjoying our day of rest, Quayde is working on making bigger and better bubbles.

BIG

BIGGER

BIGGEST

Goodwill and jam

A brand new Goodwill store opened in our area a few weeks ago and so we drop in every once in awhile to see if there are any hidden gems. Today for a $1.00, I snagged this old HABA mosaic toy. Lydia and Thayne have been having a blast making patterns and designs.

Since I happened to be making strawberry jam this afternoon, this jar grabber was just what I needed! See that price tag? Can't beat it.

This is just the start of our preserve making. Strawberries were $3.47 for 4lbs at Albertsons. We picked up 12lbs and this afternoon the jam making began. I just love the sound of the "ping", don't you?

Good-bye Mac

Mac was our pet turtle. He was dumped on us by my loving parents when they moved to Alaska! We really did not want him at first because he was the stinkiest thing we had ever smelled. With a little research, a change in his habitat and diet and he became the perfect pet. We named him after the turtle in Dr. Seuss's book 'Yertle the Turtle'. Mac was the one on the bottom that made the difference. Our Mac has died and we will miss feeding him and watching him crawl under his dish to dump the water. He loved to eat strawberries , worms and lettuce. Mac once thought Thayne's finger was a worm and took a nice chunk out of it. Lydia made his grave stone yesterday and we buried him this afternoon.

Catching up

Spring is definitely here! Quayde and Thayne are bugging Daddy to get a family fishing license so they all can go out to a lake and catch some fish.

Here is Thayne with a toy fishing pole sitting out front trying to convince Daddy to go! Wishing for fishing.

The Easter bunny was able to find a dark chocolate bunny for Lydia that was completely milk free! This is her very first chocolate bunny. She was so happy, so into it and it all over her.

This picture is a fine example of internet peer pressure or maybe internet peer coveting. Lydia's pen pal friend Kayla has one of these masks also. Lydia has been searching and searching for one ever since she saw a picture of Kayla on her mom's blog. We finally found one at the dollar store and Lydia has been sleeping with it every night.

Thayne is having a super time in the middle of one of our raised beds boxes. We have been working to prepare the back yard to actually produce some delish food for us this year. There is nothing better for a three year old than to be buried in dirt!

Just a little bit of what we have been doing. I am in a little bit of Spring funk and don't feel like accomplishing much of anything but that doesn't mean there is not tons of stuff to do!

To whom ever left the basket full of treats on our doorstep. Thank you so much, the splat egg is great!

what you shouldn't do

I thought about posting a picture...I will spare you. I am pretty sure you really don't want to see the inside of my large arm.
You see it started innocently enough but now I am sporting a significant bruise.
Yesterday we went to In-N-Out burger for lunch. Now, I am not a big meat eater but every once in awhile I love to get me one of those burgers! Oh yeah!
After ordering, I am trying to distract Thayne from the P.A. system microphone which they conveniently place at his level just so he can scare the bajeezees out of older patrons by shouting in it. I know that Michael has slipped on purpose and let the little brown-eyed angel through just to get a laugh but it is not going to happen on my watch.

I am trying to hold all of our cups and keep Thayne to my left. He wants pink lemonade with a real lemon in it. I have hit the cups up against the ice and the cubes have crashed into our cups. As I turn to see how close Thayne is I drop his cup straight down into the trash hole.

My first thought is 'crap I have to get back into that line to order a new cup'.
Then I look and see that the trash bag must have been just changed because there are only a few straw wrappers down there. So quickly without thinking I thrust my arm down that hole to rescue his cup.
Guess what happened next.......................

The cup is in my hand and then I realize my arm is stuck!
I tug and pull but it just will not come out. I am starting to panic a little thinking this is sooo stupid of me and what if they have to call the fire department.
I have to let go of the other cups and Thayne and squeeze my arm out ....I almost have it all the way up and I drop the cup right back into the trash.
This time I am a little smarter and open the cabinet from the bottom.
I am sure those four men who were sitting on the bench waiting for their burgers were really having a good time watching me.
It wasn't until I got to our table that I realized my whole arm was sticky with soda pop.

Our photo session

Yesterday we had a photo session with View of You Photography aka my sister Carrie. She is really talented. Our family is well........ a little unconventional. So here are some of our favorites from the shoot.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes!

My face is mostly back to normal now. I still have some 'sunburned' places and I am still congested. For the most part I can function and I am not in a large amount of pain anymore.

This weekend was supreme. We were able to all gather as a family and watch General Conference on the internet. Michael's work schedule magically made an opening so he and Quayde could join the men for their session on Saturday evening. Chaiya did not have to work hardly at all. Which means ALL of us were able to spend the entire weekend together!!!!

I copied coloring pages and activity things for the littles. We were buoyed up with talks of faith and hope, of staying close together during the hard times and reaffirming that through our Savior that everything is possible.

This evening we went to the woods and had Carrie shoot some pictures. Most likely - only the ones of our little 'America's Top Model' aka Lydia, will come out. You see she has been practicing posing for about 2 weeks now and definitely had the 'I'm a Diva' pose down.

Things I am incredibly grateful for right now:

#1 A man who completely loves me and my children. Who is dedicated to living righteously. He is my everything and my soulmate. I am so very blessed to have him by my side each day.

#2 These awesome and inspiring children. They make me laugh and wow me everyday. They are smart and creative. Each one of them is so very different. They each have their own gifts. I am truly the one who is blessed by being able to have been their mom.

There is this song that I love that has the words, " All I have is all I need". This is how I feel . My life is so full. My life is sweet right now.

a little of this week

Lydia has been working on Native Americans. This week she has been learning all kinds of fascinating things about the League of Nations and Iroquois tribes. One of the games / contests that they would play was with pine needles. We do not have the same kind of dense needle bunches here so we made a little doll with what we had. The contests were vibrating these dolls to make them dance on boards until they fell over. We tried on the deck and on different kinds of boards. It was a lot of fun and they really looked as if they were dancing.

Quayde started his main lesson unit on Rome. He was not thrilled about drawing a picture of Romulus and Remus suckling from the mother wolf. I got a video from the library on Rome for him and because I have been under the weather I neglected to preview it first. Needless to say Chaiya has been giving me a hard time about the words 'fornication' and 'prostitution' in reference to Rome. Avoid any old Time-Life videos on Rome, they are not appropriate for young boys to watch. He is really enjoying the architecture part of this though. I think we will probably make some models together.

Chaiya tried her hand at making the puppy cupcakes on the cover of a great (overachieving) cupcake book I got for Christmas. They turned out great! I think we needed stiffer icing though. She made a few of them for the other kids and then decided trying to finish out the remaining dozen and a half was way too much work.
This is just a little of what we have been up to this week.
I'm now going back to the cold washcloth.

not so sure

When this 'allergy' thing started a few weeks ago, it was a mild annoyance.
I am not so sure it is allergies anymore.
Yesterday, my whole face swelled up to Violet Beauregard proportions. It has been swelling in the middle of the night and then going back to semi-normal a few hours into the day for the last week.
By yesterday afternoon it was completely unrecognizable. Now my face is completely red, as in I look like I've been sunburned very, very badly. My face is on fire.
I stopped all meds, homeopathic, herbal and whatever and have been lying on the sofa today with a cold washcloth over my face. That has helped.
The swelling is gone but night is coming.

I never get ill! I have never had anything but itchy eyes and sneezing before and that was five years ago on a trip to Colorado. I don't have time to be sick and I simply do not need to. Yes, I've done all kinds of emotional processing on what this could be and nothing else has come up.
Any ideas?

You know that my children have all just been perfect angels and my house is spotless and they are waiting on me hand and foot! Are you laughing?