Hey There!!

We have been kind of busy, so I apologize for not keeping you up to date on our exciting lives. LOL I'll just kind of summarize and then may come back later if I remember a funny moment with one of the boys ~ Okay?

Last weekend ~ no camping, we worked. Chris finished the rock around the whole shed, we built a ladder for the camper bunks, built the seat for the $3 bench I got from a garage sale, sprayed the yard for weeds, cleaned up the yard south of the house along the terrace and I only have pictures of one of those things. (This is one of the reasons I haven't posted sooner because I always have intentions of getting pics of all of these things to show you and then I wouldn't take the picture and then wouldn't post) So, I present to you "The Ladder" ~























One thing that was on my To-Do list for Memorial weekend was finishing my bag donations to the benefit for Axel. Well, the weather was beautiful so I didn't get that done. I have to admit that I started on these very early and then after cutting my arm, I was a little hesitant to "get back in the saddle". I finally finished them this week and dropped them off on Friday (of course the deadline was supposed to be Thursday, but that's the story of my life ~ always a true procrastinator!) My cousin, Sylvia, is one of the coordinators for this benefit because it's her son who is a really good friend of Axel's (the boy with cancer) and she said they are getting a TON of things donated for this benefit and I am so happy for the success of this!! The whole time I was sewing my "bags" I was praying that I didn't have to go through something like this with one of our boys. I can't imagine and my heart truly aches for Axel and his family and friends. On a good note, Sylvia also had the tickets for the benefit so I didn't have to track them down somewhere so I was happy!

Okay, now here is the picture (finally) of what Ken helped Chris work on when he was over here. The new "skirting" on the trailer. Before (I never think to take the before pics) this was painted 2x4's and the paint was chipping and looked crappy, the wood was getting old and rotting on the bottom, but they were built so the insulation was built into these wooden sections. After reviewing things, they decided to keep the insulation and wood and used this tin to dig down into the ground (in some spots it was about a foot down) and hopefully keep the mice out from underneath the trailer.

I feel pretty good that I haven't missed packing a lunch for Taite on all the field trips he's gone on these last few days of school! I haven't been able to attend all of them with him, but some I was able to catch an hour or so with him (we've been really busy at work. . .) The boys have 4 more days left and we are ready!!! It's hard already to get them to bed at a good time because it's so nice out! When they are getting ready for school in the mornings, Brayton always asks me "Mom, what is the temp supposed to be?" so I have to look it up (you'd think I would just start watching the news) and then let him know. The other morning he said "So, I can wear shorts, right?" (yes) "Can I wear black socks with my shorts?" (NO) :~)

Last weekend the forecast was for really warm weather on Sunday or one of the days so the boys decided they were going to have a water fight (never mind that it didn't warm up like they said it should). Brayton found his trunks and was getting ready to head outside when he asked me to find his goggles and he had some questions for me.

1. Do you wear underwear with your trunks?

2. If he is wearing a tie-dyed shirt and it gets wet will the dye get all over him?

(I think there was one more, but I can't remember it) I laughed at his questions and helped him to figure out the tie-dyed one because we wash it with other laundry and he answered correctly!

I went to Oxbow Park with Taite on Friday and it has been a long time since I was last there! We will have to go back, but of course on Friday is when I needed my camera because the group Taite was with got some special treatment for raising money for the cat display they are going to build. First they got to see the two new wolf cubs that won't be "officially" on display at the zoo until late July/early August. They were very cute and the kids did a perfect job of not going near the kennel (they are treated very much like wild animals there ~ no naming or anything!)

Then they directed us over to the Black Bear and treated us to a viewing of her dining. To keep her mind and body active, they put the bear in back and then hide her food all over so she has to go scavenging just like if she was in the wild :~) They do give her popcorn, marshmallows and peanuts in addition to fruit, but they said she definitely doesn't get that everyday because they have to watch her diet so she doesn't get too much sugar or salt. It was super cute and I should've had a camera!!!

I had to bring out Old Faithful!

Yesterday I had Josey and I knew Steph & Brian were full of crap when they told about all the stuff they could get done around the house while Josey played and I have not had that kind of luck! So, I had to bring out my tried and true kid pleaser. I bought this back-pack type carrier for Taite and he loved it! Brayton loved it and now Josey loves it!! I only tried it with her because she holds her head up so good and likes to see everything. It worked perfectly and she was almost giddy when I put her in it. Here are some pictures of her and I did try to get her to smile, but she is only 3 months old. . .

The only problem with this is that you can't lean over to get things so you have to squat down. Yesterday I thought this was perfect because I didn't feel so bad for not having "treadmill" time and today ~ my legs are SO sore!!!! I can hardly walk down the steps without resembling a 70 year old man! We were in Menards North and I was coming down the stairs when Chris asked me why I was walking so funny. Well, Josey doesn't weigh much, but squatting with her on my back is quite a workout! Just think, with the boys, we used this up until they were pushing the max. weight limit which is 40 lbs.!

We have one up for adoption and one learned a life lesson.

Today was busy. We were late to the boys' dentists appointments because I assumed that by 12:30 they would be done eating lunch. Not so ~ the 1st graders are the last to eat and when I found Bray at 12:30 (the exact time we needed to be leaving to make the dentist appt in Kasson) he still had 1/2 of his lunch left! I scrambled to get his back pack and tried to get him to grab his hot dog and eat it on the way, but as usual, he was in no hurry! As I was getting to the Dentist, Chris called to confirm that I knew when their appts. were because the Dentist office had just called our house. They got both boys in right away and Taite was done first ~ his hygienist came out to tell me that he was such a sweet boy and she loved talking with him! No surprise there :~) Bray's hygienist came out to tell me that they recommend he go to an orthodontist this summer to monitor his bite. His teeth don't have enough room and they wanted to do a panoramic x-ray or something (a big one) so they could forward that to the ortho. GREAT! So, he's up for adoption because his x-ray showed he is missing two bottom molars (so was I) and might need a procedure to widen his mouth (pray with me that he doesn't!!!) and we don't have dental insurance! Which brings up another point. . . Dentists should not be shocked that people are cutting back on this type of service during this recession! Our bill was $380 and that was just for the boys with zero discount for paying it all the day of the service! At least the Dr. gives us 10% off for paying it when due! Please let us know if you are interested in a cute blond with a big smile (mostly toothless right now, but that will improve) and is easily satisfied with free SpongeBob slippers! :~)

Tonight was Taite's last soccer night. I thought the parents had to play the kids, but apparently 2nd grade is where they end that. Chris was glad because he thought the field they play on now is awfully big ~ LOL. Taite's team played the red team (they played on Tuesday night, but there weren't any goals scored, so no 1st place could be determined) and they played their hearts out because it was for the championship! At half time, there was no score. Shortly after 1/2, the red team scored a goal. The yellow team (Taite's team) was a little down in the mouths over this, but jumped right back in and were as determined as ever to score! It was very intense as the red teams coach yells constantly ~ telling the kids where to be, yelling out their names for subbing, etc. His yelling just added to the intensity of the hard hits and kicks. There was a whistle blown and I looked, but didn't see anything happening on our field by the refs, the red team's coach was still yelling and the red team was still trying to prevent the goal when a yellow player kicked the ball right at the red goalie. We were sure he was going to stop it as it went right through his arms AND legs for a score! The crowd went wild!! It was a tie game, but wait, the red coach is now yelling some more ~ what's this? Oh, that whistle we heard was from our field (as subtle as it was) and so the red coach was arguing with the 3 high school girls (who help out by reffing) that the game had been called when the ball went into the goal. He couldn't leave it at a tie because both teams had played so hard ~ never mind that he was still yelling like the game was on and all of his players were still playing. . . In the end the girls were intimidated by the loud mouthed coach and they said the red team one. Taite and his teammates were very disappointed and we had to go over the life lesson that you are always going to have people like that coach in your life who are louder and aggressive and might not always want to play by the rules when it suits them (besides these kids are still in 3rd & 4th grade!) We had ice cream cones at BK afterwards, so all wasn't lost. One thing I can say is that the red coach is just lucky that the parents (dads) of some of the yellow team kept their cool and acted their age because I know one in particular mentioned easily being able to go over and punch the coach in the face! And this day and age, you aren't always going to have that type of level-headedness and he will get his lights knocked out! Not that we condone it, but we may just smile to ourselves when we are back home thinking about the justices in the world, or is that called karma??? :~) Taite's metal for participating is in his bedroom, proudly displayed and we couldn't ask for anything more!

On a Funny Note. . .

Today I have Josey (I am going to miss her, but I have to keep my other job and the two don't mix very well. . . maybe I can watch her on 'date nights' for Steph & Brian! ~ hint!!) and she's been sleeping since she got here! Yes, I've checked and she's still breathing, but after a few days of not so good sleep, I think she's finally given in or can sleep comfortably (according to Steph, she hasn't been sleeping well). So, anyway, I kept the boys fairly quiet when they got ready for school, we've been tip-toeing around trying to be quiet and when Chris decided to get on the floor of the living room to do push-ups, the dog goes nuts! Geez! She was all excited because she thought Chris was getting on the floor to play and he was just exercising because we haven't cleaned up the hair from haircut night the other night (we cut hair in the exercise room because the boys can watch TV and it's linoleum so cleanup is a snap ~ well, that doesn't mean it gets done immediately) :~) I'd better get going so I can sneak some more work in before the peanut wakes up!

So far so good ~ I've stayed on top of field trips and cold lunches for so far as this school year winds down. :-) Today Taite's class went to the Mystery Cave in SE MN (I'm not sure where it's at ~ obviously I didn't go). Taite enjoyed it and a he and a couple friends saw a snake (he could tell you the kind) in the wild and "it moved!"

Tonight was the second to last night of soccer and Brayton wanted to go. . . I told him they wouldn't have a clue who he was (he only went to soccer on the 2nd or 3rd night and that was it!) and he reluctantly stayed home. He was in a good mood when Taite and I got home, so all must've went well! Taite's team played the only other team that had won all their games too, so it was quite a match-up! I think they told both teams this was for 1st place and they played their hearts out! I think Taites' team's goalie had to work a lot harder, but neither team scored. There were more kids tripped up and laying on the ground tonight than I have ever seen before! One kid on Taite's team even got kicked in the head! Now if the weather holds out, on Thursday night the parents play against the kids, which is always fun! The forecast calls for a chance of rain, but hopefully it won't happen at 5:45 pm.

Apparently I've left a few of you in the dark about how I injured myself. Don't worry, I won't post another picture of my arm (I'm still kind of grossed out about it and maybe if it wouldn't have been a Friday afternoon when it happened, I might have gone to get stitches, but it's too late now. . .) So, here is the rotary blade like the one I was using.

It's very sharp and to make sure you get a straight line, this straight edge has a lip on the bottom to "catch" the edge of the mat to cut on. To make sure it doesn't move while making a long cut, a person needs to apply pressure and in my case, I was leaning on it with my left arm. It's on my forearm where I cut when I was doing this leaning that you see in the picture I've previously posted. Hope this helps, otherwise, I suppose I could do a short How NOT To video (with the safety on, of course!)

Brayton seems to be doing wonderfully with his antibiotic and meds that we are giving him! It seems that the Orchard Grass must come up with these southern winds because we can tell when his allergy pill wears off ~ he scratches his head like he has fleas. It's a good (visual) reminder that he needs his allergy pill in the morning and night!

Oh! I almost forgot ~ Monica had asked for a good rhubarb recipe and I was going to send it to her and then thought, I'll post it! Here's a cake recipe that Ken gave us (we had it at his house and requested the recipe!), but we won't be able to use it anytime soon because Taite informed us tonight that we've been eating too many desserts lately. When Grandpa Ken was here we had a cake and then Banana Cream Pie and yesterday we made Bray his "Pig Cake" (I swear that is the name of the recipe!) Hopefully you will be able to enjoy this one though!

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

5 cups Rhubarb

1 (3 oz.) pkg strawberry jello

1 cup sugar

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 box white cake mix

Spray a 9 x 13 cake pan. Arrange the rhubarb in the pan. Sprinkle the gelatin and sugar over the rhubarb. Top with marshmallows. Prepare the cake mix as directed, pour over mixture in the pan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until done. Turn cake over onto serving platter and enjoy!

Today was a good day!

JDRF
Today was the walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research. I was walking with Team Hanfster and it was their first year, so no one knew what to expect. I was a little surprised at how few of people there were there. It was only the 4th annual Roll and Stroll, but I think because it was a nice day, that cut down on the number of walkers and supporters. Actually, that doesn't make any sense because if it was raining, there wouldn't be a bunch more walkers. . . I was glad to be there to support Laurie and her family. I've known Laurie the longest and it's been great getting together with her again. It's kind of neat because as we catch up, I feel like we are both at the right time in our lives to reconnect. It was fun to see all of Laurie & Jesse's family members that I remembered from so many years ago (we did A LOT together back then). Laurie's mom even got a little clogging during one of the songs they played at the walk. She used to practice when I'd be at their house and Laurie and I would laugh and I'd laugh even harder when Laurie tried to imitate her mom clogging ~ ahhhh, good times!!! It makes me smile as I sit here typing while Chris and Ken are chatting ~ yep, I look like a dork smiling to myself while looking at the computer LOL

When I got home from the walk, Brayton was disappointed that I didn't ask him to go. Opps! He was helping the guys work on the office, so I figured he wouldn't have time, but I promised him next year he could go with me if he wanted. I think the only thing he was interested in, though, was my green t-shirt. :-)

I bought a picture frame for the picture Taite made for me. I am simply amazed (yes, still) as what a good job he did!! I didn't really want to cover any of the picture up and I found the perfect picture where the glass is bigger than the picture so you see the color of the wall that is behind the picture. I hung this in our bedroom so I can look at it every day. I love it!!!


The wound is getting better. Here is my new scar after just one week. Today was the first day I went without a bandaid and neosporin. I think that my would would not be nearly as healed if I hadn't been religious about applying that.

The New and Improved Garage (well sort of)
Here is a picture of the rug I bought when garage saling with mom yesterday for $3 I really hope it will keep some of the mud out of the mudroom.



Here is a picture of the new lockers. Chris can't wait to get all the coats and shoes organized in them. Doesn't it feel good to get things organized?? I think it's a universal thing!



A little challenge
Late today, I noticed this Kleenex not quite in the garbage can, I was in a good mood and it reminded me of when you see an image in clouds. . . Do you see a dinosaur face in this?

On the right side is the open mouth and you could see the eye indention in the real thing but it didn't really come out too well in the picture. You can use your imagination for the neck and stuff too. It was kind of cool :~)

Just an update!

I thought I would do a quick update to our blog while I am at the office this afternoon. On Wednesday afternoon Grandpa Ken arrived and is staying for a few days helping Chris "fix-up" the office (the mobile home at Great Grandma Bolles'). It's kind of one of those situations "where do you stop", but they are doing some particularly important jobs and I should've taken before and after shots. Dang it ~ I always forget to do that! So far they've taken out the water softener "housing" that was in the little "bedroom" so they could see where the mice were getting in. It's not that we could see the mice or their "signature", but we could definitely smell when they didn't make it out ~ YUCK!! They figured it out, but it had nothing to do with that little room, but oh well, that should be an easy fix. Also, they started to tear out the bathtub in the bathroom. That's where they found the hole rotted in the floor that the mice were getting in. The guy who we bought this trailer from 11 years ago had ran the toilet or tub or both over and it had warped the floor. He fixed (well, kind of) what you could see, but you actually have to dismantle the tub to get to the hole in the floor. We are thinking about just replacing it with a shower stall, but again, we end at "how much money do we want to spend on this. . ." So, right now, the boys (Grandpa Ken, Chris & Taite ~ Bray is playing for the most part) are re-doing the skirting around the bottom of the trailer with new tin. The 2x4 "wall" the previous guy had used is pretty rotted out, so Chris decided to just cover it up with new tin and it looks pretty nice ~ I'll have to post a pic later because we moved our computers back to the office and we don't have Internet hooked up at home yet (well, the router isn't installed and I haven't pushed Chris on it because he's been busy with other things).

Ken brought over some lockers from the school that Carmen works at because Chris had said he wanted some for the garage. He cleaned up the garage to put the lockers in their place, but hasn't had time to put the "stuff" back into the lockers. Maybe tomorrow. I found a perfect large area rug today for $3 for in front of the lockers, fridge and door from the mudroom for in the garage today so I can just vacuum it off when it gets messy because I hate shaking those dirty, dirty garage rugs!! I'm so excited! Before, we had like 5 small throw rugs and that looked terrible :~)

On Thursday Taite took Grandpa Curt to the MN Zoo for his Student Council field trip. He chose Grandpa Curt because he never gets to go to the zoo when we go. I haven't been on a field trip like that, so what they did was just tell everyone when to meet back at a certain place, so Grandpa and Taite took off, just the two of them. After they had left for the zoo, it occurred to me that we didn't send Taite with a coat and all he was wearing was at t-shirt ~ it was cold and windy. . . OOPS! Taite was very excited that they got to ride the monorail (I wasn't sure how that occurred because I only had to pay $6.50 for the zoo ticket. . .) Here is something only a grandpa would get away with: a bunch of kids were all lined up for the monorail so Grandpa and Taite joined the line and no one commented that all the other kids had Stewartville shirts on and Taite was the only one with a Byron shirt on!!! That's not the worse part ~ as they were sitting there, a girl I went to high school with recognized my dad and said 'hi' so they were NOTICED and were along for a free ride ~ literally!!! How embarrassing, but dad didn't care, so he didn't say anything to Taite. Sheesh! LOL To finish the day, Grandpa took Brayton and Taite for ice cream after leaving school :-)

Well, I suppose, I need to go figure something out for supper for my working crew!

To finish the day:

This afternoon when I took Brayton to the Dr., I chose the time of 1:30 in case it took a little longer than 1/2 hour and then I could pick Taite up from school. I think just because I was planning ahead, things didn't go that way. . . Brayton didn't have a fever all day, he did stay in bed, however, until we had to leave. He was mad at me because we were short on time when we left and I didn't give him time to plug in his GameBoy so it could charge the whole 10 minutes while we were on the road. I told him since he had all this stuff together to take to the Dr. office long before we had to leave, he should've plugged it in at home. He didn't care ~ he was MAD! He wouldn't talk to the nurse so I was trying to explain that he was just mad at me and it had to do with his GameBoy (she thought he was crabby because he was sick). The Dr. said that everything looked good, but his lungs sounded wheezy. And since he'd had fevers, she prescribed amoxicillin and then we are to use his albuterol inhaler too for 5 days. She said if it doesn't get better (so his lungs don't hurt when he breathes) we are to give her a call and she'll prescribe a liquid steroid (yuck ~ hate to have to give that to him!). To speed things up, I had the prescription sent over to the pharmacy in Byron at the grocery store ~ it's actually in the same parking lot as the clinic. Since she didn't know how big the pills were that Bray would have to swallow, she wrote the Rx for tablets or chewables. Needless to say, the prescription came in capsules (yep, too big for Bray to swallow) or chewables that were in the pharmacy in Kasson. The pharmacist in Byron tried to help by offering up liquid form or we could open the capsules and put it in applesauce, but I didn't think the nurse at school would appreciate having to do that for 8 days! So, I went to the school and waited in line to pick Taite up, went into the school to get the medication form to fill out and then went to Kasson to get the Rx. I delivered the sheet and meds back to the school and we were home about 2 minutes before the bus came by our house ~ guess once again I didn't really save Taite any time by picking him up! I did provide a snack however that they wouldn't normally get on the bus, so all wasn't lost!

Today I braved it ~ what, you ask? I took my band aid off for my shower (and worried the whole time that I would rub that flap of skin over). It made me queasy just thinking about it and Chris was at a meeting, so if I had problems (rubbed it and passed out) I only had one sick little boy at home to help. Bray just happened to be in our bed playing computer, so I warned him if he heard any loud bangs or anything to come and check on me :~)

Tonight was another cold and windy night at soccer. I didn't have all my soccer "gear" because I had cleaned out the van last weekend. I only had my down blanket, but that doesn't help much against the wind. At least I can sit with my back to the wind and scrunch into my chair. I tried to curl up with my legs in the chair too, but that wasn't very comfy. Maybe one of these weeks it will warm up ~ just in time for soccer to be over! I was watching Taite practice and I noticed that without his friend from school there (he had a birthday party to go to tonight), he didn't really get any attention from the other kids. What I mean is that the other kids all go to Kasson and when they would play various "games" to build their soccer skills, no one would challenge Taite and I think it's because he isn't from Kasson. They all know his name and he's always talking to someone (he's not afraid to do that), but it kind of made me sad to see how they treated him differently. The good thing is that he didn't seem to notice at all, so I was relieved about that.

Oh, I forgot to tell you a couple of funny stories. . . (these were skipped over from my condensed version of last week)
Story #1
When we were garage saling on Friday, I ran into a friend of mine (her daughter LOVES Taite and has been in his class 3 out of the 4 years in school ~ they were also together some PS years too). She asked me if Taite told us about G (guilty party names have been changed in this story to protect them). G had brought a Playboy magazine to school! G passed it to friend A and A got caught by the teacher with it. We asked Taite about this and he said that he only caught a glimpse as he was running by (it took us awhile to get it all straight ~ G had cut pictures out of Playboy and took them to phy ed and then gave them to A, who got into trouble). Chris and I had a good laugh ~ it could be much worse than Playboy in school and being curious is only natural :~)
Story #2
For mother's day Chris bought me a coffee maker with a carafe. After reading reviews, we went (yes, I was along) with a Cuisinart and we LOVE it!!! Obviously we don't need the grinder built in, so we got the "cheaper" one. Chris had read online how the carafe really does keep the coffee hotter than normal ones. To test this out, we ran water through the cycle on the coffee maker (it said to do that once to clean it) and Chris pours the water from the carafe onto his finger!!! He yelped in pain and won't do that again!! The next morning, he tested the warmth of the water and found it to be 130 degrees (he obviously used a thermometer LOL) which is really good for 12 hour old coffee. We don't normally get one pot drank in a day, so sometimes 12 cups will last us 2-3 days and Chris said the coffee tastes better since the air can't get to it (I can't really tell because I have to mix cocoa in mine or I don't drink it).

Will this ever end???

Last night Brayton didn't want to eat supper. He had only had a small bowl of cereal for snack, but then only ate fruit for supper (and we had really yummy enchiladas!). He was tired, so I suggested he take a bath to cheer up (and get clean). When he was done, he was cold (I chalked it up to him being in the water for 45 minutes) so we put on really warm footy pj's and dried his hair. I went to check on him at 9:30 (he was in bed at 7) and his cheek felt normal, his hands were a little warm, but he tucks them under his chin when he sleeps, so that didn't seem odd. He asked for a bottle of water and said his body hurt all over. I got him water and Tylenol and moved the baby monitor to his room. Chris went and checked on him and he had 102 degree fever. . . I swear I felt him and he didn't feel hot! So, of course, I was in trouble. . .

Bray eventually moved upstairs (Chris put him in the rocking chair) and I moved him to our bed where he promptly fell asleep. Chris kept poking him and checking him, but he was very tired. We finally took off his jammies and let him sleep in his boxers. At 12:30 Chris gave him Advil and he slept through the night. This morning he has no fever, looks better, but isn't running around like he would normally be and said his lungs hurt when he breathes. I'm hoping what he had for breakfast is a sign that he's on the mend. . . He wanted scrambled eggs and OJ. I brought that on a tray and asked if he wanted any toast ~ yep, he did. Then I remembered he only ate fruit last night so offered pear or oranges. He wanted an orange. I checked on him periodically this morning and he ate everything!!! Scrambled eggs, toast, orange and orange juice. We have an appt. at 1:30 to see the Dr who froze Taite's wart (which isn't healed or changed at all. . .) {:~)

Sorry!!!

Okay, so I knew it had been a little while since my last posting, but I didn't think it had been a whole week! Good thing I'm in the mood to shorten things. . .

Monday

I watched Josey ~ it was interesting. I was trying to juggle work and her and it will take awhile. Not to mention I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night so I was tired. We napped in the rocking chair that afternoon and that was the longest nap she took all day.

Tuesday

Brayton didn't want to go to school (very unusual ~ he's normally the first one up) and Chris discovered he had a fever of 101.8 or something close to that (cut me some slack, it was a few days ago LOL). I warned Steph, but thankfully Josey had nothing. Bray was medicated all day due to his fever.

Wednesday

Brayton woke up w/o a fever (we were happy) but Taite didn't want to go to school because of his coughing. We figured out Taite's cough was only bad in the morning. We now have his meds done pretty well, so his coughing has improved considerably.

Thursday

Taite went to school, but Bray had to stay out because his fever came back at 5 last night. They have to be 24 hours without symptoms, so we hoped for a "well" day and got one. This was good because Monica and I had planned "coffee" on Friday morning after dropping the boys off at school because it was city-wide garage sales in Byron.

Friday

This was a long day. . .

Garage saling with Monica was fun except for one lady who kept practically grabbing things out of our hands and drove Monica crazy :~)

I picked up this with plans to cut a piece of plywood, add a piece of foam and cover to sell it on CL as a sort of entryway bench. I paid $3. . .

I also found a small bag of marbles for $.25 (you don't find marbles very often) and then Monica found me a book on marble games for a quarter too! It was meant to be! The first game we came to in the book that didn't require circles drawn in the dirt is where you cut "doors" in a cardboard box and shoo your marbles to score different points. Here is a picture of Chris and Brayton playing today.

While we were garage saling, I got a phone call from Lifeline that Grandma fell in the bathroom. The lady who called really pissed me off ~ I wouldn't normally say that, but she did! I told her I wouldn't be the one to respond (Chris was home or at the local rock quarry getting rock for around the shed, so I knew he was the closest) and as she is dealing (very slowly) with this information in her head, I finally hung up on her. How long does grandma have to lay there before help arrives because that lady was a dimwit???

I got my work caught up and thought I'd work some more on the bags I am making for the benefit the end of this month. I cut my arm with the rotary blade ~ not good. I had to drive to Grandma's (great) house because mom was the only one home with Josey (she can't handle blood) and Steph had taken Grandma to the ER because she hit her head and hurt her hand in her fall. By the time I got there and asked for help putting on a bandaid, I was about passed out. I used to pride myself on being able to handle these things, but as I get older, I am more and more like my mother. I ended up laying on the couch so I didn't pass out as my grandma (92 years old) got ointment for my wound . . . how embarrassing!

Saturday

We went garage saling (all of us) with mom & dad to Stewartville for their city-wide sales (dad had to take some seed back to the elevator, so we might as well all ride along and watch for signs!) It was very cold and Jeremy kept calling mom, so we were home before noon, I think. Taite got out only 3 times, I think ~ not sure why he went along, but he didn't complain, so that was good.

In the afternoon, Chris and I went to Rochester (yes, we left the boys alone) and weren't going to be gone long. Chris called the house about every 15 minutes and then when they didn't answer, mom went to check on them. They were playing in the garage and then wanted to ride with her to take the potato salad to the smelt feed for the church. It ended up that they were invited to the Old Country Buffet for supper (mom & dad, Sonja & Greg, Grandma & Greg's mom (Delores) & dad (Bing) were all going out to eat for Mother's Day). The boys love Bing and Delores and since they sold their camper and won't be going camping with us anymore, they love to see them whenever the opportunity arises :~) I told Taite not to talk to Bing too much, to let him eat too and Taite said "Is this a joke?!" The boys had to change their clothes before they left and we called (again) to see if they were getting their clothes changed and Brayton asked me what he should wear. It was so cute! He wanted to see if he needed a dressy shirt or not ;~) He ended up wearing a tie-dyed shirt, but his pants didn't have any stains. LOL

Today

Steph planned a brunch at mom & dad's house. It was really good and my super loving husband did most of the work for what we brought (fruit salad and pancakes ~ he cooked the pancakes too!). I love him so much!!! The boys had gifts from school. I love getting the personal things they make! Taite's picture is super cool, I thought he did a really good job!

Taite's gifts:

This picture is done with chalk, he made the origami flower pin in the upper right corner, a card and a coupon book with massages, help with supper and I can't remember off the top of my head what the other things were.

Brayton's gifts:

I love the card! He colored the tile and I had a little sheet where he filled out what he loves about me and then another sheet where he talked about how he loves to go garage saling with me because he likes all the fun stuff he gets. . . LOL The one thing I remember from the sheet he filled out was this:

The best thing I can give my mom is: her birthday (?what? it made me laugh!!)

So Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Side Note

Remember my posting about my friend's daughter with diabetes? Well, the walk is coming up in a week and I was on their team's site to see about the donations. . . Their goal was $1000 and they still don't have it ~ so if you could find it in the bottom of your heart, please go to this link and even just $5 would help :~) I would so love for them to exceed their goal, but at least we want them to meet it! http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87334739 Thank you!!!

Ahhh, a very productive weekend!

Yesterday morning I did go garage saling with Brayton. We didn't have very good luck, but he was very happy with his "findings". Maybe next weekend will be better. There are city-wide in Byron. When we got home, we had lunch and then Chris and I got to work on the camper. We only had one mouse in it this winter and that came into the shed with the infamous tractor cab. Thankfully we found how he got in, sealed it and cleaned up under the sink which is the only place it had been. Chris tried everything to make sure it worked, while I cleaned. We didn't clean it too well before putting it away last year. Then after all that (it actually took longer than it sounds on here!) we showered and had the first beer of the season in the camper. The neighbors even came over to have one too :~) The boys were dying to sleep in the camper, so we all slept in the camper in the shed. All it did was remind Chris and I that our bed isn't the best so we are now looking for a memory foam mattress topper.

The boys were mortified when Chris told them around 9:30 that their playing for the day was over. Taite told me expecting me to say it wasn't so, but I didn't disagree, so we began working on the rock project around the shed. As I sit here typing, I am somewhat sore. We hauled 2 loads of rock and while Chris picked up rocks from the rock pile of my dad's, the boys and I picked rock in the fields. I have no idea what brand of shirt I was wearing (I had one of Chris' button-up work shirt on) but I now have a new respect for the manufacturer. After bending over and picking up a few rocks and walking to the pile to dump them, we started using our shirts to hold many more rocks. A few times I had a hard time standing up I had so many rocks in my shirt, but the buttons NEVER popped off!! The boys worked hard and were troopers so I'm sure they will sleep well tonight. I am just waiting for my ibuprofen to kick in.

(As I am typing this, Chris is watching Ultimate Fighting and it is the most disgusting fight I have ever seen! I won't even tell you, it's so gross and I really hope my pictures would hurry up and download, so I can concentrate on this instead of the fight. . .)

Okay, so here are the pictures I promised you! This is what Chris and I did on that 90 degree day we had a couple weeks ago.

Here is what we did today ~ we came around the corner from where we stopped with the rocks on the west side of the shed. It doesn't look like much, but let me tell you, my body does not feel like it wasn't much! Chris is re-planting the bush that was outside our kitchen window (and he hated it there and I hated having to trim it a few times a summer because it grew so fast/much!).

This is the west side of the shed that we filled in with some more rock that we picked up today. Tomorrow the road restrictions go off so we can have a load or two of the little white rock to spread around the driveway and such.

A view of the house without the bush in front of it. . .now, what to do with that space??? I think I'll wait until after we redo the front step (the cedar is wearing out and we want to replace it with the fake stuff so we don't have to stain it and it will look nicer because the sun barely shines on it)

And here is the tractor cab. I just took this tonight after we had gotten the bikes out of the way yesterday so we could position the camper and put the slide outs out. You can see how the stuff is all cleaned off (the black rubbery stuff that goes around the windows and the windows are out) and then the next picture is of the doors and other parts that were removed. The other day at Fleet Farm, Chris bought paint and Brayton was all excited because he thought that was the next step! That's what always sucks about painting, all the prep work!! Well, I gotta run cause Steph just called and Josey is arriving at 6 am! I have a hard time waking up at 6:30 to get the boys on the bus. . . Wish me luck!