Glimpses of Green

Spring finally decided to grace Nebraska with it's presence. All around we can see the buds swelling, a couple of hardy bulb plants are flowering, even a couple forsythia bushes bloomed. Be still my heart. I live all year for this short miracle of green. We loved spending many days outside in the fresh air, soaking up vitamin D. Yesterday morning it reached a high of almost 80 in the morning, less than 12 hours later snow and bluster covered up all the green. Fickle spring!

Monday I finished deep cleaning out the spaces in our upstairs, mainly the upstairs bathroom and the hall closet. Now to find the motivation to do the basement. After I finished the monumental task of the upstairs I took a step back and felt miserable because it all looked the same. At least all the little things are clean on close inspection. I finally loaded up the back of the van with a ton of clothes and cleared out the last of the stuff in the hall. Poor Evelyn now has the nasty cough Everett and Phillip have. She is coughing her little head off.

Tuesday Sarah Wood, RJ, Michael, the boys and I all went for a day trip to Cheyenne. I made remarkable time and showed up at Sarah's home by 8:15 am. That was a miracle I tell you! We installed the boy's car seats and drove off towards Cheyenne. Sarah and I enjoyed a fun day of shopping and chatting. I dropped off a mound of clothes to Once Upon a Child first thing. The store buys gently used clothing, I chose to get credit over cash. It took the store a couple hours to sort the clothes and decide on a price. They offered me $113 for some of the clothes. I ended up taking more than half back home. In the mean time we went to Ross, TJ Maxx, Target, Dollar Tree, Lowe's and Hobby Lobby. In between we had lunch at Chipotle's. While we were out Everett asked the question of the day: Mommy, what are we doing? Me: Shopping. Him: What is shopping? Indeed...what is shopping? Phillip was so funny. He kept plopping new shirts, undies, shoes etc into the carts. I have to watch that one carefully. Phillip found some superman undies that he swore to wear until he got them dirty. Part of the fun was keeping Sarah away from home long enough for her husband to renovate their bathroom for Sarah's birthday present. She was very surprised when we got home! All the kids endured the long day most wonderfully. Amelia got to have a long daddy-daughter date with Justin. He took her to dinner at Oya Grill then attended the Fine Arts night at her school. She absolutely loved all the one-on one attention.

I really wanted to have a picnic at the park with the boys. Wednesday it was so windy we did not have a picnic, we did go to the park for a couple moments. Poor Evelyn kept gasping for breath in the wind. By evening the wind died down so we enjoyed some time in the yard. Justin is working on replacing the fence post. Our poor yard looks like a trailer park find right now. Phillip got to wear a moustache to school, he wanted a curly one! He would not stand still long enough to get an even 'stache drawn on his face. The boys helped me plant pansies in some pots. They loved watering the plants and getting muddy.

I totally scored some awesome stuff at thrift stores this week. Phillip found two boxes of Hot Wheel track sets for $5. I found some new shirts, skirts, kid clothes, shoes, baskets, and books. It was an awesome week for thrifting. Makes me feel good that the kids enjoy thrifting as much as I do. Phillip wanted an Ab machine. Instead he settled for a workout in the Salvation Army basement. We set up his tracks in the living room for an afternoon of fun. I laid on the couch while the kid's cough finally caught up to me.

Friday I arranged a park play day with Phillip's best buddies Noah Dean and Logan. He was very surprised when Noah hopped in our van after school. We stayed at the park for 3 glorious hours. Logan met us at the park with his Aunt. I love making new friends! Justin also met us at the park for a picnic. I packed a lunch for all of us to enjoy. While at the park I met a new lady and her two kids. She is from Sudan! Her little boys are so cute. Everett loves to clap sunbeams (motes) that appear in the sunshine through the window. He will clap beams and make an imaginary game. Soon the older 3 kids are involved in the fun. Neleigh came over to watch the kids while Justin and I went on a much needed date. We had dinner at Dude's then went to Walmart. Everett fell asleep by 6:30 pm for the entire night. He was one tired boy. After dinner Justin and I went to Walmart for lawn fertilizer then back home. I nursed Evelyn and got the kids into bed. Then we went to see Captain America. It was a strange way to have a date but necessary with an exclusively nursing baby.

Phillip decided to decorate an empty box into a Monster Truck. He took a pen and decorated the box for 20 minutes. I went into the basement for computer time. All of the sudden I heard a strange noise and caught Phillip flying through the air in his Monster Truck down the stairs. He was biting carpet while his truck tumbled through the air into the leather chair. I imagined a Calvin and Hobbs moment with Cager hanging out of the back of the box and Phillip steering the box through the air. Instead his box flew down the stairs with unexpected speed and gave him a terrific crash experience. He lay stunned on the carpet with several bonks on his head. After a moment he started to cry. Later he said that going down the stairs in his Monster Truck was a "Just One Time" experience. 

Saturday everyone chipped in to work on the side yard. It looks much better now after hours of work. We picked up a lot of trash blown into our lawn over the winter. Justin took a huge load of stuff to the dump, including our porch swing. We are getting a new one this year. I cleaned out the shed while Justin worked on clearing the hole for the fence post. The kids were satisfactorily dirty just in time for baths. I love brackish water after their baths...a testament that they worked and played hard. I tied Phillip to his chair for dinner. He has a hard time stay in his chair. He did not think I was serious about using a rope so I found one and tied him up. It worked beautifully.

Justin's uncle passed away on Friday. Looks like we are making an impromptu trip to Utah and Idaho this coming week. We are leaving Thursday and coming back Monday. Justin's parents are coming out for the funeral. We are excited to visit with them. Dad Call has not seen Everett or Evelyn yet. This should be quite an impromptu family reunion! We did not expect to spend Easter with family but now we are. The Easter messages hit home this year as we ponder on the message of the atonement.