Last things first?

Getting this blog caught up after our great adventure is going to take some doing! So let’s start now and get back to that later :o) Last week, the girls began spring tennis lessons. On the first day, the heat was so intense that two kids left early—in tears. Gabby and Caelan took turns laying in the shade. Their faces were vivid pink. The boys handled it okay with hats on, but wow! I think I took a picture of the temp on my phone at 103 when we reached home. But for the next lesson, two days later, the temps had dropped 20 degrees, and today another 30!

Finally, the sun came out this afternoon and we went for a little wander about town. The kids love this, because I let them pick what direction to turn (as long as there is a sidewalk available), so who knows where we will end up? We got back on track with school (which I’m hoping to wrap in the next few weeks) and life feels pretty much where it needs to be. Ahhh, that’s a good feeling.

Getting back from vacation is overwhelming sometimes, but I think we are doing alright. Really looking forward to summer this year, because without my writing job, I will be able to finally spend all the time with the kids I’ve wanted to for the past five years, but especially the last two. I may not be able to video record much of it, since our camera decide to quit working today (three hours later, I got the tape out, two hours later and a borrowed similar camera from my friend Holli and the vacation is officially burned on DVD :o)

Daisy Scouts . . . and friends :o)

Just days after our return from beautiful central Colorado, the kids had an opportunity to explore the beauty in our own neck of the woods. While on wary watch for poison ivy (by me) the girls joined their Girl Scout troop for a nature hike through the forest. Pizza and fruit eaten, introduction to being a naturalist given, the kids rushed into the great outdoors—I say kids and not “girls,” because my boys were along for the experience. I love that they don’t know the difference, that they had no qualms about being included, no concerns about answering questions, no worries about grabbing a clipboard and a spoon and digging into some rotten logs looking for bugs with all the other troopers :o)

I was also impressed with our county’s new naturalist—we were good friends with the last naturalist, who moved closer to family, and I’ve kind of been protesting the new one :o) But other than a couple of things I disagreed with, the energy and enthusiasm packed into the program made learning about native flowers and plants a lot of fun! I’m also glad that my girls are much less girly than I am when it comes to bugs (at least the crawly kind—they are all currently freaked out by the flying, stinging kinds :o)

We headed home with new badges and the necklaces the girls earned for cookie sales. It was a good way to tucker them all out a bit in hopes of getting back on a normal sleeping schedule AND they really did learn some cool things about the world around them.

You say it’s your birthday . . .

  

If Gabby gained a year for every candle she blew out for this year’s birthday, I think she would be in her mid-30s :o) Visiting three sets of grandparents plus one set of great-grandparents while on vacation, and then returning home to yet another grandparent party—this one complete with uncles and cousins and Auntie J. The cake my mom bought for her was so pretty! All delicate colors and dainty flowers—very springy. And mom made a fantastic lunch for what also happened to be Mother’s Day—when we celebrate, we really pack in the special events :o)

Mama's Day

Pretty ladies

For Christmas, my mom’s cousin sent the girls two beautiful House of Faberge dolls. The Christmas angels are lovely and dainty—such an exciting gift! Nancy assured me that the dolls are to play with (ever so gently, I decided :o) At Christmas, our kids were blessed like crazy with gifts from family across the country—it was such a nice Christmas! But because they had so many gifts, I thought the dolls wouldn’t get the attention they deserved, so I decided to reserve them for a special Valentine’s Day treat. Well, then at Valentine’s Day, every one of the kids became so sick with the flu, that the occasion passed with the giant box still sitting in the corner of our bedroom. When we returned from vacation, we were set to study Russia—Faberge, get the connection? I scoured the library for books on the jeweler to the tsars and found some beautifully illustrated tomes.

Imagine their delight, when the pretty dolls from the House of Faberge appeared on their school table at the conclusion of the week! They played carefully with them for the entire weekend, marveling over each tiny detail. When we moved on to a new continent, I carefully packed the dolls and returned them to their boxes to appear again at Christmas as Nancy first intended. Thank you for the fancy surprise Nancy!

In a Build-a-Bear galaxy

Sometimes my kids ooze with kindness for each other—and often it is Caelan leading the charge. The girls were so excited to sell cookies, earn “cookie dough,” and pack into a van with their friends (and their friends’ moms), to build some bears. A couple years ago, Grandma Judi took the oldest three to the beary-exciting wonderland, but Graysen was too little. Caelan felt that he too should have a bear, so she decided to spend her Girl Scout money on a bear for him, and an outfit for her.

 

Here are the highs and lows—she and Gabby (after a little mom guidance) chose less expensive bears to stuff, so they could have a more flexibility in the outfit department. Knowing her brother’s current glee in all things Star Wars, Caelan chose a music box to put in the bear’s paw that plays the Star Wars theme (we step on it all the time, accidentally, it’s like our house’s theme music :o) On the outfit wall, she found a full on Jedi uniform with light saber—seriously cute! She named it Graysen Bear Ken Obi and then chose a pretty outfit for her own bear at home.

So in the midst of all this sweetness and thoughtfulness, she got her first taste of cattiness. The place was packed and we had a big group to start with. The BaB ladies did their best to keep the girls entertained, but it all became very chaotic. Caelan is a kind kid, and she was befuddled at the aggressiveness some of the other little girls showed in winning the “next in line to stuff” position. So much so, that she got a pretty harsh stomach ache. In tears, she came over by me and explained why she was upset. I tried to give her a few minutes to chill. She pulled herself together and then went back to the foray. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for one of the girls (still have no clue which one) to start some name calling and accusations that she was crying because she didn’t get a turn, which of course wasn’t at all true. Caelan was heart-broken. She said, “I tried to explain that my stomach hurt, but I think she was being rude on purpose!”

It sucked, but it was such a good opportunity for her to think through why kids can be mean. We talked about how that is probably how the other little girl has been treated when she is upset, and that it is really sad that she hasn’t learned a better way. We decided it was a good idea to pray for her and to treat her extra kindly the next time.


Now back to the good stuff—the first thing Graysen did the next morning was ask Caelan, “Where’s my sugar puppy?” (the stuffed buddy they selected together on-line). She told him there wasn’t a Sugar Puppy at the store, but she got him something much better. What a happy little brother he was! Here’s a video . . .