Olive-etta

Olive is off to her summer accommodations! She won't be back "home" again until probably August. We will miss her. She has been my shadow for the past few weeks as her belly has rounded :) I got to feel a tiny puppy kick this morning before I took her to her summer home! Her friend dog had a surprise 11 puppies (they only expected eight). It will be puppies galore when we visit (as often as possible :)

My flowers actually bloomed and look healthy and happy this spring! So, here are some pics of the peonies and lilies (well, the lilies that the neighbor kids didn't decapitate outside our front window--seriously, where are their parents? Lol :)

Gabby's Graduation!

It's spring! It's time for school to be out for the summer . . . or maybe even longer :) Gabby decided that experiencing a formal graduation ceremony in high school was sufficient, so, when the opportunity to walk again, this time for her associate degree, presented itself--she wanted to support her brothers and Chase at their final choir concert, instead. But finishing a business degree (LOTS of HARD classes) in one year is pretty remarkable, and we wanted to celebrate Gabby's accomplishment--so we picked a night (Sunday, of course :) and off to dinner we went!

A lot of other people had a similar idea, lol! Gabby's restaurant of choice was swamped and didn't take reservations. However, my *45 minutes to an hour* expected wait was like 25 minutes--which was sooner than anyone in our party was expected to arrive. To my surprise, they sat the four of us present, despite their posted rules that the entire party must be there for such to happen. Sweet! We ended up sitting at two tables, back-to-back, but took lots of pictures outside together afterwards to commemorate the occasion :)

My brother helped Gabby recreate the picture they took at her high school graduation last May :)

I had to share Gabby's epic hair toss ;)

Chase graduated high school this spring, too! They are so cute. I'm glad Chase and his parents could join our celebratory dinner and we look forward to celebrating his accomplishment in June :)

Ay yi yi

Our boys recently started up a summer yardwork/landscaping business with their friends. Their first job was a big one--all six of them needed, five hours of work, $600. They bought pizza as their first company expense :) A couple days later, Gabby sent me a pic of Chase's rash-covered arm . . . she wisely told him he needed Benadryl. The same day, Brennen got a large sore on his forearm; soon his face was swollen around his eye and his shoulder was oozing with itchy ouchy. These two worked in the same heavily foliaged area and must have gotten into poison ivy or oak? Neither of them saw it or knew they'd been exposed, until their skin told the tale.

It was too late to go to the urgent care after the baseball game, so as soon as Brennen woke up the next morning (and still looked like this) he and I headed to see the doc. Doc said the arm stripe is classic poison ivy, so he would give him a prednisone pack to try to shock the reaction out of his system. Buck and I drove out to the pharmacy to nab B's prescription (which he couldn't start til the next morning) and then got food at a really yummy Greek place that my friend Jo recommended! The boys didn't mind. They got to play video games for untold hours.

Here's how he looked on the morning of the third day, but fifth past exposure, before he started his meds. I taped him up for work, so the broken skin wouldn't ooze through his work shirt. I told Buck he should show this picture to the wimps he employs who leave for all sorts of ridiculous reasons . . . our seventeen-year-old worked a full shift with this under his sleeve. How do you like that, "grown-ups"? (Heehee, I get salty about these things :)

After 24 hours of meds, the pink certainly calmed down. Brennen felt like he could take a break from the Calamine lotion . . . but still needed the other things. His regimen has been Zyrtec, prescription Cortisone cream, and Calamine lotion in the morning (plus the new steroid) and the same at night, except Benadryl instead of Zyrtec (which apparently only young, healthy people can do safely if it's at least 12 hours apart). He's been a trooper, hardly complaining. Sounds like Chase has been the same. Both are super uncomfortable, but it will heal--hopefully in less than the two to three weeks that is typical!

Under his arm hurts the worst, like he pulled all the muscles :( We thought he was improving, until he said on the last day of his prednisone that it was really starting to hurt again. On day 10, I sent pics to the Doctor, and he said, "That looks infected. Let's get him on an antibiotic."

So, now he's exchanged his all-day prednisone pack for two pills four times a day for six days--which hopefully works and doesn't cause any issues during travel days. I did find this fancy spray at the store! He tried it yesterday and said it burns like fire when it goes on, but then feels pretty good :)

Good thing we also have like five tubes of cortisone cream; he applies it as often as he can--when he's not working or doing chores (which he did both of again today). He and Graysen also went to flag football practice, just for fun and to see the guys. Eeesh. He's braver than I would be!

Kindergarten Concert

Caelan and I super enjoyed seeing my little nephew perform his spring concert, based on a book about catching a star. There was choreography, there was a song performed in the dark with the five-year-olds attempting to move their lights in sync, there was sign language, there was xylophone playing, there were prop changes and riser transitions--we were WAY impressed!! So cool to get to see the little dude in his little Hey Dudes performing his show!

Afterwards, we headed out to the Acres and Caelan collected all the wedding decor she *finally* has a count for :) Aunt K is very generous to share all her pretty rose-gold accoutrements! Such a fun night with family 💗

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

As their truly last performance with the choir, the boys sang the National Anthem at a minor league baseball game this week. The weather was so beautiful! Our seats were not looking into the sun this time, and along the third base line (and not looking into the sun helped us watch for foul balls, because there was no net along the third base line!)

On a weeknight, the crowd was pretty small :) But it was fun to see Gabby again--so many times this week! Noah ended up covering some shifts at work, so his ticket to the game went up for grabs. Caelan's bridesmaid had just texted to say they should hang out, and Caelan said, "Well, how about a baseball game? Like tomorrow." Ha, it worked out great!

These long-legged boys have been neighbors since kindergarten! Fun that they got to be in choir together, too :)

You ask for a simple picture . . . lol :) I told them we just had to wait until I texted Gabby to come back to be in the photo, just kidding! Brennen and Chase were both feeling the effects of some yardwork their new business took on over the weekend, and B was ready to get home. I'm glad we got to all go to the ballpark together, though . . . in the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

Spring Clean Up

Over the years we've collected bits and pieces of lots of peoples' projects--which we planned to incorporate into our own projects. When our projects reached completion, we found ourselves with a hillful of scraps--plastic, wood, metal--scattered across the breadth of the line where the two hills meet. We (maybe I) hoped to knock some of this back last year--but then our neighbor planted flowers on the entry point to our backyard. We didn't want to drive the truck over her flowers, so I looked at our untidy hill all winter. When spring came, my hope was to get the truck up the hill before the flowers went in and before the tall grasses and wild flowers grew on our second hill (which makes it much harder to find the things hidden in the foliage, and much tickier and buggier to work through). Well, that got accomplished . . . but then our neighbor planted her flowers while the truck was on top of the hill. Oye! Her husband said it was okay to drive down through their driveway, so it all worked out :) 

After I took the picture, I realized there were some debris slide possibilities, so I pulled a few more boards out of our second load pile (which is still on the hill) and some rusty nails out of the keep pile (which is much more neatly condensed on the hill), and I built some barricades around the sides. Graysen thought I was nuts for piling the truck so high, but not a thing fell out, woot! And getting rid of all this only cost us $25 at the recycling center :) That means fewer hidey-holes for the mice, snakes, grubs, wasps, ants, etc. on our property. I mean, they still have plenty of options, but at least we are not the ones providing them, ha!

Next load to go, plus a variety of things that found their way to the driveway. Oh, we did get the truck's previous rusty bumper into the scrap heap, so that makes me feel a lot better with all the little neighbor humans who like to frequent our yard, running around.

Burn pile, round one, of the year! Buck got this taken care of yesterday . . . along with spraying for ticks, spraying for moles/voles (of which we likely have trillions--going to give castor oil a try this year), spraying for weeds (well, this might still be in progress; we stopped by to see Gabby for a restock of supplies), and things are looking nice outside! Buck did a ton of work! There are lots of scrubby trees on my cut-down list, but I'll be patient with my lumberjacking for a little while longer ;)

MUCH smaller, neatly-ish stacked wood pile, ready for whatever project Graysen comes up with next!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day began early with Olive insisting she should be taken outside . . . likely because Brennen was up early to get to rehearsal for worship team. Graysen stayed the previous night with friends and Noah claimed his spot in the classroom, so I got to see him before Brennen or G$ on Mother's Day :) This was the first weekend of church-hunting for the bride and groom to be, so they headed out just ahead of Buck and me to check out their first researched community nearer to the apartment they plan to rent later this summer (the first church visited is likely a no go; I won't keep you in suspense :)

Did I say Buck? Yes, I did! He requested the day off of work; that was fun! He got to attend church and see Brennen play guitar on the worship team. Then afterwards, he made me an omelet for brunch, right before Caelan arrived home and we left again to see The Wizard of Oz ballet!

Mmmm, chai! I used to have a mug every morning and every night. Then, after reading the label, I dropped down to just a half serving in the morning. And then in the past few months, only on Sundays . . . and then recently, not even that often. It had been several weeks since I had a chai, so it was a fun addition to my Mother's Day treats :)

Awhile back, Caelan and I discovered that The Wizard of Oz ballet would land right on Mother's Day! We checked with Gabby to see if she could go too, but it landed on a work day for her. So, Buck bought two tickets and a parking pass and away we went! Our seats were really good; Idk if I've sat in the orchestra level before :) It was nice to see the artists' facial expressions; that really helps tell the familiar story. We enjoyed the creativity of the production--such as, the "tornado" was a group of ballerinas dressed in swirling gray costumes that spun around and around Dorothy. Eventually, they also swirled wide ribbons in their hands, adding to the gracefully chaotic movement as Dorothy twirled off to Oz.

The Scarecrow was another example of grace mixed with something unexpected in ballet--clumsiness! The entire show was a combination of traditional ballet (en pointe) and dance acting (running across the stage in slippers or bare feet). Reading through the program, I told Caelan I could probably be the *corn* which we later discovered was played by the same children who played the Munchkins--I think my dance background from kindergarten and sixth grade (not "through"-- just "and" :) could have supported that claim. But when I said I could be a "poppy," whew, was I wrong! Those girls danced through a storm of glitter that fell from the sky and no way could I have ever kept up with them! (Now the apple trees that got to throw their own apples at the other characters on stage . . . my softball arm could have helped me maybe win that role, lol :)

We laughed and applauded and enjoyed the performance with lots of other moms who were given this treat on their special day.

Back at home, I was treated to a nearly completed chore list which included a mown down half acre of lawn--so much more pleasant for Olive's trips outside! Brennen was at work, but he took care of the pots and pans before he left. Then Buck started making me surprises that he'd planned in the culinary department. I didn't get a picture of the charcuterie board snack he put together, but it was very pretty! For dinner, grilled sockeye salmon, caprese salad, and colorful carrots followed by chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.

Brennen and then Gabby arrived after work and, after eating, everyone sat around telling work stories again. It's quite a world out there in retail! At this point, Olive decided she was a lap dog . . .

Then, Graysen suggested I open gifts--three of which were unwrappable. Graysen said he hid his succulent "hen and chicks" in the middle of Caelan's collection where I would never find it, lol! Smart :) Along the same theme, Brennen gave me a tropical plant that he thinks will grow a tiny pineapple at the top, cute! Gabby gave me a football-watching throne with a canopy for my easily-burned skin to catch some shade. And Caelan gave me two books off of my wish list . . . and of course we had to read the picture book aloud. It was fun to read to my "babies" again on Mother's Day.

It was a good day. I love my people! 💕