April photo dump

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit the beginning of April

Lincoln had a blast at his first pinewood derby race!

Elise helped Trevor learn to rollerblade

Heidi had 4 perfect little kittens

Obligatory awful birthday picture

Our dear friends, the Larsens, stopped by for a quick visit

Another Scout campout--I don't know if they liked rain or snow least...

Mason performed at the regional Music Teacher's Association adjudications. 

Every show needs an audience! This was an especially fun show for all of us--we got to go on stage for one of the last songs.

"Careful the things you say, children will listen.

Careful the things you do,

Children will see and learn.

Children may not obey, but children will listen

Children will look to you for which way to turn

To learn what to be.

Careful before you say 'Listen to me',

Children will listen..."

We dug this ditch to run 220 electrical down to the barn, but since we were moving, the boys got the job of filling it back in.

Ruthie was having a hard time going down for a nap, so a clever brother made her a "bed" on her dresser in the closet...fortunately she didn't fall asleep and fall off!

Sammy got "Most Improved Boy" on his gymnastics team. Jason was the team captain and really pushed Sammy to do his best.

With Rob, the boys' team coach

It's raining

We're supposed to go camping with the ward tonight...and it is raining and 54 right now. And Lincoln is still waking up at night. And Sammy wets the bed at least once a night. Between Lincoln and Sammy, I wake up at least twice every night. Do I have to go?

Bed wetting is getting SO old. I wash Sammy's sheets every single day. Usually I remember to dry them, and sometimes I even get them upstairs before bed time! Actually making the bed most often happens when I go to tuck Sammy in. Oops.

I just ordered this from Etsy, with extra inserts, so hopefully it will help Sammy and I sleep better--and I won't have to wash sheets every day!



I am reading a great book called : Sleeping Through the Night: How Babies, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep. Soon Lincoln will be sleep trained--and I can't wait to get a good night's sleep!

What I'm saying is, soon I won't have any more problems. :o)

Camping (mis)adventures

We went camping tonight. Yes, you read that right - tonight.

Let me go back a couple of months...Mason has been begging to go camping for that long. He would sigh and say, "When is it summer?" "Why, Mason?" "Because then we can go camping. How many days until summer? How many minutes?"

We were going to go camping last weekend, but that didn't work out, so we were all planning on going this weekend. Looking at the weather I was a little concerned it wouldn't happen, but we were optimistic, and didn't let a weather report of "Chance of thunderstorms, winds of 20-30 mph, rain showers after midnight, lows in the mid-30s" deter us. Surely it would pass us.

Well, no.

We arrived at the beautiful campground about 6pm and got a fire started and the tent up, despite the wind. ("Sit on that corner, Elise! Don't move for another second, Sammy!") Maybe I should mention that we have the Taj Mahal of tents. It is mammoth - it has a doggy door and 3 rooms. Seriously. Once the tent was up, Elise and Sammy spent most of the time in the car, out of the wind, while Mason and Stephen unloaded.

While I got dinner going, Stephen grabbed some rope from the car and Macgyvered it to hold up the tent (tied to the resident hitching rack. Again, seriously.) We even moved the tent so the wind wouldn't collapse it on us. And then the wind changed. When we were in the tent Mason asked me what "collapse" meant. I told him to wait a couple of seconds and he would see. Sure enough, it collapsed on the left, and then on the right. He gets it now.

About 8:45pm, after some yummy pizzas and s'mores, the kids and I retired to the tent to see if we would be able to stay warm enough. We decided that we would...and that is when Mason learned what "collapse" means. Elise was in tears - "I want to go HOME!!!", the boys were starting to freak out, so I called it a night. I put Elise in the car and started packing up. Stephen came in to help, and sent Sammy to the car, too.

He arrived to Elise getting out - she had thrown up ALL over my guitar, the front console and the floor mats. Oh, joy. I covered it all with towels (bless the inspiration that had me bring them!), calmed the poor girl down, and rushed to finish loading the car back up.

The wind was picking up and the clouds were gathering. Elise had just given back dinner. Sammy and Mason were crying because they were afraid of the wind. We are now home in our nice, warm beds. We had a great 3 1/2 hours of camping! We hope to do it again soon! Now we know what 20-30 mph winds can do to a tent, and will be more wise in the future.