Oh Isaac

At breakfast this morning, Isaac told me he had something stuck in his nose. I asked if he wanted a Kleenex and he said "ope. Yet me yit it!" (Nope. Let me get it.) He then proceeded to pick his nose. I told him, "that's a little bit gross."

and he looked at me, as only a boy could do, like I was completely crazy for thinking nose picking was gross! Oh Isaac. 

 

Too Many Goodbyes

Today we said goodbye to our 3rd college foster kid. Donnie stayed with us for a couple days before he left to go home to California for the summer. And the kids had a BLAST! They pestered him non-stop to play and he obliged. Jacob was his shadow. One morning he even sat outside the bathroom door while Donnie showered! 

Aaron took him to the bus station tonight. After I got the boys to bed, I found Anna sitting in the front room staring out the window. When I called her to bed, she turned around and started crying, "I can't wait 'til August to see Donnie and Amanda and Beth again!!!" I pointed out that their families probably missed them even more since they're gone from home for 9 months. I think it's safe to say our kids have fully accepted having these three college kids in our life! We will all miss them this summer!

Summer is Almost Here!

The weather has been gorgeous this week! We've taken a lot of bike rides and spent as much time as we can outside. 

Anna is flying through the Rose series (about Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter Rose) so we make several trips to the library. Our library is awesome. You don't have to whisper, they don't mind Isaac wandering around. But I do love it when I peek around the corner and see the boys sitting on the bean bags reading books!

This week, for 3 days, the college put on a soccer clinic! Anna and Jacob both has so much fun!! Their good friends Elli and Zachary were there, too. Stacy and I decided this officially made us soccer moms! ;) I told her I only wanted to be one if she was one with me...she makes it enjoyable because we can laugh at our kids together. Ha!!

Anna the goalkeeper

They surprisingly did a decent job of playing a game on the last day. Jacob even scored 3 goals! He also spent a lot of time giving hugs and tackling (mostly Zachary and the college kids)! 

Isaac is *loving* speech! Miss Karen is phenomenal. She even lets the big kids join in on the fun. 

I finally got my tomatoes in the ground!!! And thanks to my Uncle Randall, I have these incredible cages! And, these are all ones we started from seed!! I really didn't think they would survive, but they did. 

We bought a few tomato plants to give us a little earlier harvest, so Jacob used his tractor to deliver them to Stacy down the alley. He's a farmer! ;)

Papa made Anna her very own flower box to put on her little red stuga. It says "Anna's Rose" and she thinks it's pretty special!

Last weekend, since we found out Anna didn't have chicken pox after all, we went to Colorado to celebrate Aunt Carol's graduation from the Doctorate in Nursing program. Isaac tackled Uncle Elry and wouldn't let him up! :)

Now we have to call her Dr. Aunt Carol! ;)

Being silly in the big bathtub. 

Having fun in the hammock with Sarah. 

New Journey Day 7

Another good day. Reboot is going well, we found out Anna doesn't have chicken pox (the race track on the exam table was my way of keeping the kids occupied while we waited for the doctor!) so we got to go to Colorado for Aunt Carol's graduation! Bad news? We blew the reboot on the road. We should have just ordered salads but we both got pasta dishes. Mistake! We only finished half our plates and felt so yucky the rest of the trip!! We had decided already that we would take a break for a few meals while we're gone but should have made a better choice at supper! Tonight's dessert, however is delicious. Purple passion-grapes and blueberries with a bit of fresh mint. Mmmm!

New Journey Day 6 *Dessert*

Today was pretty much back to normal. We're on the second week so there are more options and even dessert. Which reminds me...I forgot to fix it tonight!!! For lunch, neither of us could even finish all of our food! We had a roasted beet salad (I never knew I liked beets!) with roasted summer vegetables.
Now, I better go fix dessert...
I had to add another pic after I made dessert. It's called Peach Pie Delight and it actually tastes a bit like pie. It's got raw sweet potatoes in it but you can't taste it at all. Sooo good!!

Pictures

Just some pictures from recently. We've had spring weather and winter weather. Enjoyed some bike rides and swinging. Anna and I went to cowboy church one week. It was freezing but good. She got to ride :) Jacob is practicing shutting his door nicely after slamming it. I counted and he said "I need to get dressed" every time he opened the door (25 times). Nevermind that I'd told him 20 minutes before to get dressed!

Reading Away!

A couple week, Jacob read his very first chapter book!!! He was so proud of himself that his chest just about popped. I hadn't realized it was a chapter book when I picked it up at the library for him, I just knew it was around 1st grade level so it would be a bit of a challenge. One afternoon he sat down with Binga and read it to her (with a little help on some bigger words)! This boy might be goofy, but don't let that fool you...he is one smart cookie! I'm so proud of him!!!

New Journey Day 5

They were right. Days 2-4 are the hardest. Today was much easier. Probably because I ate a piece of fruit between meals and adjusted the menu a bit. We had salads at both meals (along with a vegetable side) with a delicious dressing. It will become a regular in our house. Here's the recipe (this is from Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead):
1/2 c olive oil
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs raw, local honey
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c fresh basil, chopped (1/2 tsp dried)
Sea salt & pepper to taste
Whisk it all together and pour over salad. This makes enough for 2 servings.
Our salad is any kind of leafy greens and your favorite vegetable toppings. Today we had baby greens with avocado, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, & carrot.
Half way through, Aaron has lost about 10 lbs and I've lost about 6 lbs. Today felt mostly back to normal. It was rainy and cold today, so the kids and I spent some time snuggled up watching cartoons :) Aaron still hits a wall around 5pm but he's also not drinking both juice "snacks" of the day. Tomorrow's breakfast is a big bowl of delicious fruit-pineapple, mango, kiwi, orange, grapefruit. Mmmm!