And As Breakfast Is Being Devoured

Things have been hectic this week. My MIL is in town visiting since my SIL has given birth. We are officially in Ethan's last two weeks of school, which makes for an even crazier schedule full of school picnics, field days and getting ready for summer school. And yesterday, David was in a tornado while at work. No worries though. He is, thankfully, completely safe. The tornado did most of it's damage in Minneapolis, and threw around a few signs and trees where David is before dying out. He went to work as normal today.

But, I promised to post pictures of the small ones playing in the yard last week since blogger ate my posts last week, so here they are.

For Christmas, they received a Discovery Tent from Grandmason (AKA Great Great Grandma Ofelia). Ethan started out the yucky tummy trend, and I figured that taking Claire and Grayson out in the yard to play in the fresh air would probably be better than staying indoors with Ethan's yucky tummy germs. Apparently, that didn't matter, since they both got it....Twice. But, they had fun playing in the new tent, and on the play structure outside all the same.

Once everyone was feeling better, we decided to take all the kids over the the school so Ethan and David could play some basketball. Grayson spent most of his time running back and forth between the basketball court and the playground.

Ethan took a break from showing up David on the court to show me his spinning skills on the playground.

All three kids throughly enjoyed the fresh air and the playground.

Then Claire and Grayson got a chance to shoot a basket before we headed home.

And now that everyone is better, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's field day. I can't wait to take pictures of Ethan in action having fun and playing games!

Let There Be Dry Clothing

Blogger has been giving me problems for DAYS!! Seriously, I don't understand what happened. I couldn't post, and a post that I tried to post was eaten. I don't know where it went, and it contained pictures of a fun day playing on the school playground with the small ones. Guess I'll have to try that again tomorrow.

But, I have bigger stories to tell today.

Last August, our dryer broke. It made a really loud, really annoying squeaking noise whenever in use. I kept using it until I just couldn't take the squeaking anymore. I started bugging David about taking the dryer out of the laundry room and fixing it. He kept saying, "Yeah, OK..Yeah, I'm gonna fix it." Meanwhile, I'm washing all of our clothes at home and then taking then to the laundromat and paying about 75 cents a load to dry them.

Also, let me just say, for some reason, whenever I got to places like the laundromat, people like to talk to me. And it's people who like to say really random, really off the wall things. The guy that owns the laundromat/hotel/athletic club (seriously, it's a small town) also owns a bar that's just outside of the laundromat. In order to drum up business, they hold cage fights at the bar in the summer. It's big news and there are more people in the bar that night than the population of our town collectively. I've never been. I have no interest. However, the owner was in the laundromat one day with one of the fighters, and started talking to me about cage fights and how awesome they were and how great his fighters are. Then he slapped the fighter on the shoulder and said, "Yeah man, tell her your stats." The fighter told me his stats, but all I heard was, "Blah blah blah, sports stuff you don't care about, blah blah blah, I let people punch me in the face for money.." In another incident, a woman was complaining to me about her cats, and was asking me why her cats vomit on her sheets.

The final straw came last week though. The small ones got a case of the vomits. It started with Ethan and made it's way through Ethan and Claire...Twice. Grayson, however, got the bonus round. He had it everyday, and also had the poops. David and I, thankfully, did not get it. But, let me tell you, three kids with yucky tummy is craziness. I had to wash and hang dry several sets of sheets....EVERYDAY!!! I didn't get to go to the laundromat because everyone was too busy vomiting and clinging to my legs, so David's work clothes also got washed and hung dry. So, that was it. I was no longer ASKING him to fix the dryer, I was DOING this myself!

I took the dryer apart, took a look around inside and found the problem. The idler pulley was no good. I was getting stuck while spinning, which was causing the drum to rub against it and squeak...Loudly. We ordered a new one, and it arrived today. I spent almost the entire afternoon installing it and putting the dryer back together. And now, I have a great working dryer, and the wounds to prove it. The inside of the dryer is sharp, and I got all scratched up taking it apart. I had to go behind the dryer to unplug it and unfasten the hose, and when I was coming from behind the dryer after fixing it, I managed to slam my shoulder into the cabinets above the washer and dryer. However, these are a small price to pay for not having to go back to the laundromat, and to have a place to wash AND DRY yucky vomit sheets without hang drying.

All in all, it was pretty easy. And, I can't wait to do some laundry!!

One Week

This week I became an auntie to a beautiful baby boy named Tyler. No pictures though, as I'd like to respect my SIL's privacy. He came into the world on Thursday, and I didn't want to leave the hospital. I miss tiny babies!

This week Claire and Ethan got the vomits. I washed sheets. A lot. I sprinted from one room to the next with a puke bowl screaming, "Oh God, don't puke on the carpet! PUKE BOWL!! PUKE BOWL!!" Thankfully, it was just Claire and Ethan that got the yucks. The rest of us feel great.

Not much else has happened that is newsworthy. The weather is just starting to warm up (73 degrees today!) so the small ones and I will be able to get out of the house and play more, which means that my camera and I can continue on our friendship journey. I really want to take a walk through the local park and start snapping away, testing all of my cameras functions.

So, since not much has happened, let me tell you a little story of two weeks ago.

I went to Wal-Mart to do my grocery shopping. It was a Monday. It was early. Ethan was at school. Grayson was in the cart munching on a snack, and Claire was happily walking along next to the cart repeating things that I said from our list.

We got to check-out and I unloaded our groceries and took out the coupons I was using. It was then that I noticed a slightly "funky" smell. By funky, I mean "Ew", and my "Ew" I mean, "Wow, that is totally BO". BO meaning Body Odor. I looked up and to my left and saw the guy standing behind me. He looked sweaty and greasy, and the smell was coming from him. He was also wearing a shirt (like he wouldn't be? I don't know..) that proudly stated, "My balls itch"....Yeah...I silently said to myself, "It is a good thing that I don't have the one that reads with me."

What I don't understand is what in the world possesses a person to wear a shirt like that? Why? Why would you put that on your shirt? Why would you think buying a shirt that says something like that is a good idea? WHY?!

It Was Warm...

And now, it's not. Yesterday we actually had flurries. FLURRIES!!! Seriously, it's May. I'm ready or some warm air. The small ones are ready for adventure and fun in the yard. Ethan is itching for me to get out and buy a new pool so they can swim. I'm ready to sit in the yard and watch them have run with their new tent that Grandmason (their great great grandmother) bought them.

Last Monday, it actually hit 65 degrees. It was warm and beautiful, so I took this one warm and sunny day, and took the small ones to the park, where they spent a good two hours swinging.

Running.

Sliding.

And throwing rocks into the lake.

It was fun to actually get out of the house and breath some fresh air. I also got to play with my new camera. We're still becoming friends, and I'm still learning all the functions, but I LOVE MY CAMERA!!!!

On the Saturday before, we colored eggs for Easter. It started well. I set the table up.

And then I got excited because it was Grayson's first time dying eggs. He was also excited. They all sat at the table, and I gave Grayson and egg, a cup of dye and said, "Go for it baby." And he did.

And then they all did.

The things got a little crazy. Everyone wanted dye over here. Claire was trying to spill dye over there. Grayson was cracking eggs. Napkins full of dye were being thrown. There was yelling. There were fights over colors. It all ended when Grayson tried to climb on the table to get to the other carton of eggs.

After they went to bed, I set out their baskets.

So, it wasn't all bad. We had a great weekend, with one warm day and lots of fun. Hopefully warm weather makes it's appearance soon and more fun can be had...Outdoors!