Riding a New Bike

Everett was so, so sad to leave Grandma's house. He sniffed and moped around when it came time to leave. Grandma gave him a big hug as he cried. Made it hard for us to leave as well. We shoved all our stuff into bags and into the van in record time. We started back to Nebraska around 10 in the morning. We tortured the kids with lunch at Cafe Rio. The wailing and gnashing of teeth was quite impressive. Going home is not as exciting as going to Utah, we finally pulled into our driveway around 8:15 pm.

It took me a couple days to recover and unpack. Our house was not as tidy as I like when Grandma and Grandpa Call arrived for an overnight stay. They were on the road to Utah. The kids came home to school to find new Grandparents at our home. Surprise! I knew they were coming but did not realize it was the day after we got back. Grandpa doled out gummy bears and sweet popcorn all evening. It was nice to visit and catch up! They left early the next morning. Amelia finally tried out her birthday bike. She was pretty excited that the bike can go much faster than her old one.

Wednesday afternoon some person parked their vehicle at the end of my driveway and left! It is common for folks to park there but they usually stay in their car and move when I open my garage door. I was late picking up my kids from school since I had no way to get out. I called the police to come ticket and find the owner. That was annoying and inconsiderate.

Evelyn and Josie came with me to RS Enrichment night on gardening. Evelyn was quite taken with a handful of spoons. She used them as glasses! Evelyn is also in a stacking and lining-up phase. I can tell she is around by the neatly lined up items on a table or the floor. She is also sorting by size and colors the past couple weeks. This week she was especially fascinated with cooking pretend food for her baby dolls. She made a mountain of dried coconut, then swiped the pile on the carpet. I needed to vacuum so took the excuse to let her help me. I took her to Walmart in an outfit she put together: striped pants, striped shirt, lady bug shoes, and an inflatable crown. Fantastic!

Saturday we drove to Sterling for a Home Depot visit. Justin removed the other straggly pine tree to the other side of our front porch stairs. I wanted to put in two new weeping miniature cherry or mulberry trees. Home Depot's selection was dismal. So I got bedding and garden plants instead. I love the house in Sterling near Home Depot. It reminds me of Anne of Green Gables...in Nebraska. We also made a stop to return some Payless shoes Phillip destroyed in less than 4 months. They have a 6 mth return policy. He chose the same shoes! The kids opted to have a kitchen floor picnic as our dinner. The food was quite random: strawberries, yogurt, bananas, chocolate sauce, cheese, and turkey. We giggled over our silly dinner. The weather turned even colder, mocking the newly purchased garden plants.

Josie surprised herself by laughing for the first time at church. She actually giggled at Sister Hill! It was music to our ears. I am glad we both heard her first laugh ever. Just think a new Mormon fairy was born today from a baby's first laugh. Go forth an convert the other fairies. I shall name her Mormona, the missionary fairy. I am enjoying my new Sunday School class, the older sophomore-senior aged kids. We had a wonderful discussion today on reverence and revelation. I assigned a lesson leader each week in case I have to nurse the baby. That arrangement worked out well. The kids had a hard time going to sleep tonight because tomorrow starts the last few days of school! School is over on Wednesday, they only have to pick up report cards Thursday morning. We are also ecstatic our Lance cousins are coming for a week long visit.