A Good Laugh

So if you ever want a good laugh you have to go and see a little kids' ballet recital. It is really funny. They don't really get the idea that the show must go on. If someone is missing from their line or circle they are not really sure what to do or if one of the kids gets off track they all get hopelessly lost. Then there was the group after Kailyn's and Jordan's where one girl just plopped herself on the floor and refused to dance. She looked really mad for some reason and even stuck her tongue out at the girl that was dancing next to her. Jordan seemed to have a lot of fun and Kailyn was really proud of herself for being so brave (not that she was ever scared or nervous to begin with). It was funny at the end, they have them all come out and bow. Kailyn was trying to find us in the crowd so she made her hands into binoculars. It must of worked cause she did eventually spot us and was quite excited about it (she even told the kids standing next to her, which I am sure were thrilled to know where we were standing too). I was going to up load the video for grandmas and grandpas (and who ever else cared to watch) but it is refusing to download from the camera. Ken knows how to get it off but it might be a while until he is able to do it (he works everyday this coming week, even the one day he was suppose to have off, yuck!)

It has been a really busy, crazy week, as you can tell from the last two pictures. I was surprised to find Jordan nodding off while eating but shocked when I found Kailyn (Kailyn never falls asleep during the day. She must have been really tired, poor kid).

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good
Did I ever mention how much I LOVE Ken. He has been home a little more lately (he has actually been home about one day a week!). He has been a tremendous help. He has painted the stairwell ceiling, helped with some major projects in the bathrooms (see the bad and the ugly), hung blinds around the house (the house had basically NO window coverings when we moved in, we have been using pieces of fabric to cover them...not so glamorous), changed Caden's diaper, and he even made dinner :)

Now that's how you change a diaper!

Dinner. Mmmm good. I think Ken needs to cook more.

This week the weather has been absolutely beautiful. We have moved walking group back outside. Hurray! After walking group on Tuesday we celebrated Emilee's birthday.

Jordan, Caden and Sarah eating the sprinkles out of the bottom of the container. Yum!

Kailyn, Jordan and their friends at the park.
L to R: Rachel, Mimi (behind), Olivia, Kailyn, Ella, Jordan

We also seem to finally be getting over a nasty cold. Caden was sick for so long. He is finally starting to act like his cute little self, not some grumpy, weepy, unconsolable child. With kids feeling better they are back to helping and playing together. Also a good thing.

Helping make lunch.

The Bad
Our upstairs bathroom was a mess when we moved in. Wallpaper half down, weird paint on the wall, and no window coverings. We have spent a lot of time ripping off the wallpaper. Ken spent a day removing the nasty paint from one of the walls, it had sand in it and took a lot of fabric softener and elbow grease to take down. So we are not really sure what to do at this point (thus the bad cause really it is a good thing that we actually were able to get some work done on it). The walls aren't texturized and that pink stuff is paint that is partially coming off (making it so we can't just paint over it) and behind the toleit is really weird walling. We're thinking that we will do a white wood panel on the bottom half and paint the top half. I think this will be the easiest way to fix a lot of the problems. I think it will look really nice, its just more than we had wanted to spend on the bathroom.

Upstairs bathroom before. The brown stuff is this awful paint that has sand in it. The wallpaper is already removed from the bottom half and the other walls.

After.

The Ugly
Earlier this week we discovered something in our downstairs bathroom. We have some water leaking into our downstairs bathroom (not going to go into a lot of detail cause it really makes my blood boil, but basically we were lied to by many involved). Can you tell what it is (the bubbly stuff was there before and is not what I am talking about)?

Black mold! We have quarantined the bathroom off and are now down to 1 bathroom...not so fun (both of our girls can be so slow, thus the reason we got a house with 2 bathrooms). Ken decked himself out in protective gear and has been knocking down the walls. The mold of course went into the insulation in the ceiling and into the walls. This bathroom was always freezing cold all winter, now we know why. There was no insulation in the walls (which are outside walls)! We have also tarred the roof in an attempt to stop further problems but it looks like we are just going to have to replace it. Oh, joy. It is really hard to put so much money into this house when we know we will be moving in 2 years. If we were going to live here for awhile then it would feel more worth it and its not like we are adding value to the house by fixing it (adding value based on how much we paid for it and how much we will be able to sell it for once the repairs are done).

Some more nasty pictures, to show the damage in the ceiling and wall.

Unexpected Ending

So today was just one of those days. The morning actually started out OK, nothing really good but nothing really bad. But then the whirlwind began at 2 o'clock and it was all down hill from there. I'm sure you have all had one of those days it involved crying, time outs, etc...and the kids were even worse. It was a "terrible, horrible no good, very bad day", one I hope to never have again (but one I'm sure will)... that is until Ken unexpectedly showed up. Ken often gets home after the kids are already in bed, but tonight he got home just in time to read a bedtime story with the kids. The kids loved it (I'm sure they were happy that crazy mommy wasn't reading tonight). Even Caden got into it. They were all laughing and pointing at the pictures, which of course made me laugh and smile. It's amazing how quickly it changed my mood. These are the moments I love.

Yes, we're crazy

The other day Ken was home so we decided to run some errands. We decided to take our little red car cause it needed the oil changed. Well, while we were out and about we found a lawnmower that we liked. We had been looking since last fall when our other lawnmower bit the dust, and with spring here decided we better jump on it now. We bought the mower and some other things and started for our car when it suddenly hit us that we didn't have the van. I just started laughing. We tried putting it in the trunk, not even close. We then decided the only way to get it home was in the passenger seat. I offered to run home (I happened to have my running clothes on cause we had gone straight from walking group). Ken protested saying there was no way he was making me run all the way home (and, I might add, I think he didn't want to have to unload the car and care for the kids for how long it would take me to get home). So, I ended up on the floor behind the driver. It was not a comfy ride for Ken or me. I don't think Ken has ever sat so close to the stirring wheel. I was so happy when we got home my legs were both asleep. Here is the picture.
Yup, pretty tight fit!

Beautiful Day

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today! It was a day that made me wish I lived in California (so everyday could be so nice). I started the day by going running (Ken was home and watched the 2 kids). It felt so good to be outside and alone. We then went to story time at the library and then came home. It was just too nice to go inside so I did some much needed yard work while Jordan and Caden played and we waited for Kailyn to get home from preschool. We played for awhile but unfortunately our hunger got the better of us and we were forced to go in and eat.

After nap/quiet time I had planned on going back out to do more yard work but Caden woke up early from his nap. I initially thought it was cause the girls had been kind of loud but soon learned he was obviously not feeling well. When he woke up he seemed to not feel so well but didn't feel like he had much of a fever (he has had a bit of a runny nose and teeth coming in so I didn't think much of it). He quickly went downhill from there. He wanted to be held all night and his fever got worse and worse. I finally gave him some meds to bring down his high fever...holy cow! you could totally tell when it kicked in. As soon as the meds kicked in he wanted to go outside, so we were able to go out after all. I'm so glad cause it was a perfect night out. I was sad when we had to go in...kids unfortunately needed to get to bed. Caden seems to still be feeling sick. I was just up in his room (10:30pm) again to try and help him fall asleep. I hope he feels better tomorrow and I really hope no one else gets sick.

Sick Caden laying on the couch for a minute while I tried to quickly get dinner made. It looks like he is asleep but he is actually just staring into space...poor kid.

Kailyn had a doctor come and talk at her preschool. She got a lot of fun stuff.

Round 2

So, Kailyn kept asking Ken and me if we were going to have Family Home Evening.  We told her even though dad was home we had already had FHE on Monday (Ken is home so little that anytime he is home in the evening we normally have FHE).  She then countered with the fact that Dad was not going to be home the coming Monday.  Deciding one really can't have too many FHEs, we had FHE for the second time this week.  Who knows how long they will love FHE, might as well take advantage of their love of it now.  

Kailyn was in charge of treats.  She made sugar cookies.  Mmmm.  We have done pretty good at keeping some variety in our FHE treats but am curious, what kind of treats do you make for your FHE?  Do you have a family favorite?  I'm running out of ideas and could use some suggestions.

Drawing

Kailyn has recently picked up drawing. Here is the drawing she did in class at church last Sunday. I love the peoples' smiles and eyelashes.

Spring

Finally, some signs of spring. Look what the girls discovered in our front yard earlier this week. I have no idea what they are cause they were not visible when we moved in. I am not a flower person yet, so if anyone knows what they are I would love to know.