Lisa and John

Yes, I’ve been slack with my blog.  I’m sure when I get high speed again I will be boring y’all even more!  Here is a pic from Sunday before we went to church.  I got this cute new skirt and a cute haircut and wanted to show it off.  The skirt comes down to my knees.  It wasn’t a particularly good hair day, but you get the gist.

Well, we had an offer accepted on a home down close to where Daniel and Kaylene live.  Now, we are crossing our fingers and saying our prayers that everything will go through without a hitch!  We should be moving the first of September or so.  It is a tiny house with a bit of land where we can have chickens and perhaps a cow one day.  The boys are thrilled to have some space to roam and explore.  It is located right next to some train tracks which is an added plus for them as well.  Trains are cool!  We will keep you posted!

She’s already taking after her mother!  Tonight I put her in my front pack and she watched me make bread.  (In my Bosch.)  She loved every moment of it.

I had a hard time getting going this morning.  I usually walk in the morning, but I woke up late.  I think I slept fairly well, but I woke up so tired.  I just think the up and down with Avalon catches up with me at times.  She is doing much better, however, so there is reason to rejoice!

I did a big grocery run while John watched the kiddos (thanks, honey!)  I tried to time it during Avalon’s nap.  However, when I got home Ivan informed me that Avalon woke up right after I left!  Oh well.  John survived.  He’s amazing!  It is also good to have food in the house again!

This afternoon Cal and Ivan had a few friends over.  There were six boys running amok in our yard.  At one point they came in and very excitedly told me they were killing bees (hornets.)  I asked them if they got stung and they said no.  They said they killed about 80 of them.  Ivan began to go into detail about how the young baby ones looked like catapillars and they squirted out cool red blood when you killed them. Wow!  I tried to look impressed.  About ten minutes later Calvin ran inside.  “Mom, I got stung!”  Then, Ivan came inside, “Mom, I got stung twice on my arm!”  Then, the neighbor kid came inside, “I got stung on my head!”  There was mass chaos and they were all saying ouch and how bad it hurt!  I was on the phone with Tauna (my friend from Georgia) and I had to hang up because they were so animated.  But, they survived and decided to play inside for a while.  Perhaps they have learned a valuable lesson?  Perhaps not??  Boys!!

I put Avalon into my wonderful backpack thingy and we made a veggie tray for a funeral my ward is helping out with tomorrow.  She did really good.  She is about to the age when she can stay in there for quite some time.  I just LOVE my back pack.  It helps me get so much done.  She even fell asleep for a short while.  Nice!

Then, I decided it was time to wash our van.  Now, we have had that van for almost four months and I have yet to wash it.  It still had little numbers in the corners of the front that listed the year it was made.  I’m so bad!!  (How embarassing!) So, I got my magic eraser out and got those awful numbers off.  Then, I vacuumed it all out while the boys ran around.  Then, we turned the hose on and the boys had their first real experience of washing a car.  I think Calvin has done it before a few times, but it’s been a while.  Cal and Ivan got on top of the car and washed the top.  (They loved that, of course.)  We had water and soap everywhere.  While I took a little nursing break, the boys took their dirty rags and commenced throwing them up in the air and catching them.  They had a blast.  They would try and make them come down like parachutes, or try to land them on their heads.  Who knew a dirty (very dirty–gross!) wet rag would be so much fun!  We (I) got the car all dried off and (two hours later!) we brought everything back down to the house.  What an ordeal!  Now, I don’t have to do that for another year. 

I am soooooo ready for bed!  Goodnight!

Wow.  It has been crazy and fun around here.  Sometimes a little more crazy than fun, but we are doing well.  It is hard for me to post so I have lacked motivation.  Actually, I have lacked motivation for a lot of things.  But, that is another story.  Here are a few of our happenings….

A Visit from the Davenports!

I completely forgot to take any pictures, but we had a lovely visit from the Davenports who live in Oregon.  Their boys, Wade and Darian, are Ivan’s age and our families get along great.  We ate breakfast and the boys played while the parents and Avalon played a fun game of Cranium.  Before they got here, I was busy preparing breakfast and so I asked John to put on Avalon’s head bow thingy.  I got a kick out of the placement.  Avalon doesn’t seem too thrilled, though.

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Yes, we have boys!  Lots of them.  They are always catching critters around the backyard.  Here are a couple of snails that were held captive for a few days.  Currently in the bug jar is a very large yellow and brown grasshopper.  A few weeks ago it was a huge black beetle.

Avalon Visits the ER!!

Yes, Avalon has had her first trip to the hospital.  She wasn’t born there, so this really was her first time.  This afternoon she started crying when another young person in our family was holding her.  When I went to pick her up I found that her hand was wrapped around her back kind of funny.  She kept crying and didn’t want me to put her down.  I could tell she was in pain because she wouldn’t even nurse.  I also noticed that she wasn’t moving her right hand.  It was just limp next to her body.  I thought maybe she had dislocated her shoulder or something.

I talked to a chiropractor on the phone and he suggested taking her to the emergency room so that they could take x-rays, if necessary.  So, I called around the neighborhood searching for someone to watch my boys.  Thank goodness the Randalls were available.  Then, Avalon and I drove up the street to the hospital.  They got us right in and I got to wear the name bracelet.

The nurses and the doctor seemed to know right off what was the problem.  The doctor took her arm in his hand and gently popped her elbow into place.  Apparently it was “nursemaid’s elbow” and is pretty common.  It is usually caused by pulling on the arms of a young person.  Right away Avalon raised her arm up and started feeling better.  She had a good nursing and was back to eating both her fists and grabbing my finger and smiling again.  What a relief!  The doctor also explained how to fix it should it get dislocated again.  I hope I never have to actually do it, though.

Here is Avalon back to her smiley self.  What a cutie!  I am so glad Heavenly Father gave us elbows and that they work right most of the time!  I am also grateful for kind doctors and nurses who staff our hospitals who are there in times of need.  What a blessing it is to be alive at this day and age!

We headed home and I picked up the boys from the Randalls.  They were having a ball.  They had found some feathers in their back yard and Melinda made Indian head dresses for them all.  They were getting ready to watch “Peter Pan” when I came and were sorely disappointed to go home.  The popsicles helped ease their pain. 

Well, that is about it.  I haven’t gone shopping in far too long and so we had popcorn for dinner.  “Just popcorn???” my kids asked.  Yes.  Just popcorn!  A crazy end to a crazy day.  What kind of mother am I?  It was homemade popcorn with real butter, so I don’t feel too bad about it.  However, I REALLY need to get to the store!!  Monday…. <sigh…>

This morning I went to an Enrichment Activity at Rosemarie Taylor’s garden.  She is a beautiful sister in my ward with a beautiful garden.  It was fascinating listening to her talk about many of the wonderful herbs and their uses.  At the end we got to go around and pick some of her flowers and herbs and make a tussie mussie.  I have echinacea, yarrow, mint, lavender, horehound, and many other herbs in my little bouquet. It inspired me to have an herbal garden one day.  I also went around Grandma’s house here and made a little bouquet for my kitchen table.  Rosemarie says that in the fall I can come and get some starts of some of the herbs.  I think I will take her up on that.

Here is a poem that she wrote about these little boquets:

I’m a little “Tussie Mussie,”
A simple small bouquet,
Just comin’ by to wish you,
A VERY HAPPY DAY!Just gently hang me upside down,
From a nail or from a hook,
I’ll again say: “Have a happy day,”
Each time you take a look.

Then in two weeks a dried bouquet,
Just plop me in a vase,

I’m good to brighten up a room,
And add a smile to your face.

For all your loving service,
As you rush to meet your goal,
Stop and smell the flowers,
It’s fragrance to the soul.

In the last post John edited the first photo.  It is too funny in it’s original form not to post.  (John will probably delete this post once he finds out that I put it back on in it’s original form.)

So, MY comment that was deleted:

Yup.  This is exactly how I imagined Fathers and Sons…  Tents, mountains, fresh air, marshmallows, and guys hanging around the campfire with their flys undone…

Reedy, I love you!  (Look at his cute face.  Like he’s up to something!)