Sickness, Gardening, School and Busyness...

We had a rough week last week with a stomach bug. Jedaiah and Jesse got it the worst. They both had it for five days, but Jesse was two days behind Jedaiah. Neither of them are good at throwing up in the bowl or toilet. It was a long seven days, but praise God, I never got it myself. We are so glad to be done with that.

My tiller broke and has been in the shop for over a week now. I got everything in the garden that I wanted to for now. The next big planting is in May. Hopefully I'll have the tiller back by then.

We had a scare last Friday when we lost Jedaiah for a time. I noticed I hadn't seen Jedaiah in a while and started to look for him. We couldn't find him anywhere, inside or out. Oh, it was so scary. He is not one to wonder off, but the boys headed on their bikes down the road. I was praying and crying and I thought to check the van. Sure enough he was in the van. No one know how he got in the van. He can't open or close the doors to the house or the van. Someone was involved.

I made the decision recently to change curriculum for our school. I'm doing it mainly for Josh and Jay, who I think will thrive and enjoy doing school with this new curriculum called "My Father's W0rld". I used to think I didn't have time to do a curriculum that required more of my time, but now I spend so much time grading and reteaching, that I think this will free me up some and I think the kids will learn better. We're starting soon and will ease into it over the summer. We'll start using it full-time in September. That is the plan anyways.

We're heading into a busy social season with Easter, Graduations, Mother's Day, Birthdays, Father's Day and then there is our anniversary trip in May and our vacation to Utah in June. That doesn't leave much time for our projects we have going at home. I haven't done much lately in the basement and my garden fence is about half built. Baseball practice consumes a lot of James' time and the games haven't even started yet. I'm learning to be at peace with things undone. Some things are more important.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas???

A few weeks ago I was grocery shopping and spied a turkey and decided to buy it. I had planned on cooking it today, just for fun. After getting it stuffed, I put it in the oven and James and I headed out on a date. We had some errands to run and then lunch and shopping at Lowes.

By the time we got to lunch the snow was really coming down. Then at Lowes we got $700 worth of supplies for both our garden fence and more work in the basement. I spent a good amount of time this past week, cleaning the basement. I am hoping to build a wall this next week to close off the storage area. I want to put a lock on the door to keep the kids out. That way toys that I've put away won't find their way out and get scattered all over the rest of the basement. Anyways, we got home and finished getting dinner together. I even invited James' parents to join us. Only Betty came, as Lee wasn't feeling well. As we were sitting at the dining table, eating our turkey and fixings, I looked out the window. What a pretty wintery seen. "It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" I said. Hopefully, this snow won't last long because it sure is hard to go from 80 degree weather to 30 degrees and snow in less than a week. My poor broccoli plants are covered up out there, but they did get snowed on today. We'll see if they make it.

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A Few Pictures

Yesterday, the younger kids and I went down to the swings in the back of our house. It was a beautiful, warm, Spring day.

We have two swings, a higher one for the big kids and a lower one for the younger kids.

This is the tree the swings hang on. There's a nice little seat here that Jedaiah is not too sure about.

The other night we were playing with the blankets.

We went to the AWANA games a couple weekends ago. The kids are here with their ribbons.

Jesse fell asleep at the bottom of the stairs. He has his thumb guards on. They haven't worked as well with him as they did with Jay and Josiah. We are taking a break from them for a while and we'll try again in a few months.

Our Youngest in Stitches

James had to stitch Jedaiah up last Sunday evening. The kids were eating pancakes for dinner after church and all sitting up to the bar. Jesse flipped his stool and Jedaiah was next to him and went down too. He got cut under his chin and bit his tongue pretty good too. We are now trying to keep him in his booster seat, where it is safer.

I love the look on his face. Typical for Jedaiah, when he's upset. He didn't want me taking this picture at the moment.

Bathroom

The bathroom is near the end of completion. It may take a while for me to finish it completely, now that it is useable. I am a finisher by nature, so it will get done, Lord willing, before the end of the summer. Here is what the outside of our bathroom looks like. I plan to drywall the outside when I can get to it.
The kids didn't end up helping as much as I wanted. Jonathan helped wire the outlets and switches and Josh helped put in the doors. They also helped in the framing, hammering in the studs. Jay and Josh helped a little with the plumbing. Josiah, Rachel and Jesse "helped" with the first coat of spackling.

Here's the toilet room. A pocket door gives some privacy.

A view from the toilet room to the shower room, which also has a pocket door. I hope to paint the wooden cabinet in there to match at some point, if we like it in there (that is the cabinet I acquired from Grammy).

Here's the sinks. We decided not to put a door here, because it is not needed and will only get in the way. I am so grateful we now have a bathroom for the boys. I'm sure it will get even more use as they get their bedrooms finished. I'm hoping to start that project by the end of the year.

My focus has now turned to the outside and the garden. James is building me a nicer fence than the one I made last year around the garden. It is bigger too. I also plan to have a large unfenced garden too. I got a lot of tilling done this weekend. It is so great to have a tiller. Last year we did it all by hand. What a difference! I planted peas and a bit of lettuce so far. Jay, Rachel and Josiah all helped. I hope to get the kids more involved this year. Jonathan and Jay are going to have their own row to plant their own garden. Should be interesting.

I Just Have to Say...

Jedaiah is so funny! He is learning new words everyday. Yesterday was, "thank you". I was sweeping up the floor and telling Jesse not to walk in my pile. He asked "why" and I told him it wouldn't feel very good to get that dirt on his feet. Just at that moment Jedaiah sat down after stepping in my pile and pulled a cheerio off his foot. He showed it to me and then he ate it. I thought that was pretty funny. Gross, but funny.

This morning wasn't so funny for him as he woke up crying and didn't stop until I had James look in his ears. Sure enough, both ears are infected. He's doing better now.