I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth...i.e. Loooooonng Post

Alright guys, overload time.

I feel like I've fallen off the face of the Earth. I've been so busy with all kinds of stuff that I haven't done a whole lot of other stuff, like interact or talk to other people. (sorry mom!) It also doesn't help when I lose my cell phone and can't locate it because it's been missing for a while and the battery is completely dead. (success, It's been found now!). Our kids have also taken turns passing around a stomach bug the last 2 weeks. That's fun. I love washing all kinds of blankets and sheets. You know how I love laundry.

Since my last post 2 months ago we've done so many things. Let me sum up...

yeah right, you know I'm going to give you every detail.

Meagan's school had a little program about our country. It was pretty cute. I'm glad they did it. I think a lot of people are losing sight of what makes this country so great and where we've come from since its founding. Good to know they are teaching my kids at least. Each kid had a part in between lots of songs they learned. Meagan had to fill in for one of the kids' parts.

They had the audience join in on the Star Spangled banner. Sadly, most of the people either didn't want to sing or they didn't know the song. A lot of people were looking around confused like they didn't know the words or something. It makes me sad and worried that patriotism is getting lost these days.

At the end of February we went skiing in Flagstaff. Way fun! The kids did really great.

This is Meagan's second time skiing. First time a couple of years ago didn't go over too well. But by the end of the 1st day she could do this.

She was racing me down the mountain after a while. I'm a scaredy cat so she usually beat me.

Here is Candace's "skiing".

...and here's how Seth did it.

Justin said he loved it and was saying "uuuuaaaaahhhhh" every time he turned a corner. Most of the time he hung out in the lodge with whoever was recuperating. We went with a big group so we could get the group discount. He was really good, but I think he started getting separation anxiety by the end of the 2 days.

I also did really well. I didn't biff it until my last run on the last day. My ski hit a hole and twisted my foot around, causing me to eat snow. I was trying to film Meagan skiing so I just took my video shots and told Meagan to wait while I figured out how to get my ski back on. It took me, no joke, 20 min to figure out that the ski had popped off and not released the locking mechanism. It usually does when your foot comes out, but it must have come off with too much force, too quickly and my ski would not go back on. I figured it out after I had the brilliant idea to compare it to my other ski which was still attached. By that time Meagan got confused about where I was and just headed down the mountain without me. She was okay but my shoulder muscle still hurts from that fall. I'm just glad it happened at the very end of the trip and not in the middle when there was still some good ski time left.

Their first bath all together. We won't be doing that again. The water was a little too deep for Seth.

I also had some recuperating time after all that. I had laser eye surgery in March. I'm no longer legally blind! 20/20 vision, as long as I don't let my eyes dry out. I have to use a lot of eye drops though. No big deal, after dealing with contacts and glasses most of my life. I lost my last pair of contacts and my glasses broke after the ski trip. It was difficult to try to ski with glasses. You have to have some sun and wind protection and goggles weren't fitting too well over my glasses. That's why they broke. Hooray for me! I still catch myself trying to push my glasses up on my nose, or thinking, "oh, I need to take out my contacts". Nope! Ah, it's beautiful.

I've still been doing some crafting and home organization. I made a diaper bag for my friend who just had a baby. I wish I could have kept that sweet awesomeness. But, it's better to give than to keep for myself.

 Finished product. Alyssa, if you're reading, this is what yours would look like. You can pick the colors/fabric design you want, of course.

Inside Detail

Front detail.

The girls helped me paint their shelf/hook rack. They picked the color. I had to hang it low enough for Candace to reach so she could hang up her dress-ups and put her little "treasures" on the shelf.

 And...their room has been a lot cleaner. Brilliant!

I've been doing a little kitchen organization, too. I got a magazine holder to put all my small spiral cookbooks in. They kept falling over in the cabinet and getting lost. Such a frustrating mess. And, I got rid of the powdery flour and sugar bags that haunted the a fore mentioned cabinet, with accompanying scoops. You know, the Raisin Bran box kind of scoops. I'm lovin' it. Yep, pretty easy to please. Plus it's more convenient because I want to start baking a lot of bread. I made some cinnamon raisin bread the other day. The kids loved it. I think it needed a little more work before I'm happy with my bread baking abilities. Now I just hope I can remember the Thanksgiving bread-making lesson me and the other sister-in-laws got from Mamma Paul.

And finally, IT'S...!

I love pastels, the perfect weather, nice breezes and the chance to grow something green around here.

Here's our first real attempt at a garden. I would love to have tomatoes or lettuce whenever I want. 

It's going pretty good so far. I got a timer to water it automatically. Cause last year I kept forgetting to water everything and it all died.

Here's an idea that I thought was pretty cool. Toilet paper rolls double as seed starters. I got the idea from here. What an awesome (free) use for something you'd throw away anyways.

 

Want another great use for toilet paper rolls? I know you do. 

Fire starters. My mom taught me how to do these. Stuff them with dryer lint and dryer sheets and they light up like the Fourth of July. Saves you from searching for kindling when you're camping, or if you have your own fireplace. We go camping a lot so it's useful for us. I never thought I would wish for more empty toilet paper rolls in our house.

Just make sure you don't stuff them too full. They won't get enough air inside to stay lit. You could also poke holes in the side to let in some air. We tried them out last weekend when we went camping. They worked like a charm. I wished burning the whole bag I had would have helped keep me warm but there wasn't enough firewood in the world for that. Yeah, I know. Camping in April in the mountains...bad idea. Well, it was. Freezing cold all night long, and I mean freezing. One of the worst night's sleep ever. We were going to try out a new rock climbing place the next day but we were all so cold and miserable we just wanted to go home before the rains came. Yep, rain. I don't care how much the kids are looking forward to camping or how much we promised them we would do but I will never go camping again when the forecast says, Low - 33, 30% chance of rain. I was already halfway done packing all our gear by the time I saw the forecast or I would have absolutely said "no way. I don't care what I promised you we would do this weekend." and suffered through the whining and complaining that would inevitably follow.

But on a good note, we all took long hot showers and cozied up to a movie and hot chocolate when we got home. We stayed in all day. I do love doing that every once in a while.