A family yard day...

Our first 70 degree day came along and we had the bug to work outside. It ended up being "clean out the waterfall" day.

#1 used some mud to look like a professional NFL player. He's going to play football for the first time in September.

These are what we call "Pake Toes" in our family. Like fat little sausages. I hate my feet. Notice the mud, though? I was working hard!

#2 excited about using the pooper scooper. This dog does not like to poop in the pasture like her predecessors. The joy of the pooper scooper wore of quickly.

A well placed arm

When in CA for Pake's funeral, we got to enjoy some hot weather and the kids got to go in Pop-pop's and Beppe's spa. We got some great 'naki' photos of #3...this is the only one I can publish! Can't wait for pool season here in Idaho!

I'm playing catch up with posting again!
We had the far neighbors over for Glenda's and Garrett's birthday on Sunday. B#3 and Andy were out giving Isabelle some love. Now we know who can dog sit when we leave town! Or maybe who to leave #3 with! He kept going to Andy all day. As quoted by himself, "something must be wrong with this kid if he comes to me!"

Differing of opinions...

Love these pictures we got of B#3 fighting with my cousin's daughter. Gotta love toddlers! He didn't want her to have ANYTHING that he thought looked like fun. She was a good sport, though. :)

My Pake's Gone Home...

...and although expected, an incredible sense of loss is with the family. For those of you unaware, my Pake was my mom's father. After many years of Parkinson's, the hard decision was made to place him at Silverado Senior Facility about 5 weeks ago. He contracted pneumonia on Monday morning and passed away on Tuesday afternoon surrounded by most of our family. It was difficult to be in Idaho when I so wanted to be with the rest of my family; to connect with them while remembering and mourning our loss. It's amazing the incredible need to be with family at these times. Well the five of us are all in Escondido now; trying to help where we can. Too bad these things can't be planned; this was a tough time to get away. Jeff is incredibly busy right now, the kids have all been sick and my parents are at the tail end of moving out of their house that they'll close escrow on in about a week. But on the plus side, I'll get to see my new little nephew Quinn (See Bether's Blog on the links) who I didn't think I'd get to see until June!

And the best news is we know that Pake is enjoying his time in his eternal home. No more pain, no more confusion. We will miss him immensely as we live out our days on this earth and look forward to seeing him again!

A Profound Question from Child #2

I am secretly (actually, not secretly now) thrilled that I don't have to do the soccer thing this morning!! Yeah. But the downside is that B2 has a fever; again. I just don't think they're kicking whatever bug is hanging around. I feel like we've been sick since Christmas.

But I'm relishing a baby in bed and some time to fold laundry. B2 was watching America's Funniest Home Videos and must have seen a clip with a bald person. "Mom," he asked, "when bald people are in the shower, do they still have to wash their hair?"

Hee, hee. Gotta love five year olds.

Meet Isabelle...

Being that #2 is such an animal lover, we have contemplated acquiring a new four-legged friend of the canine variety. And last Friday we found this cutie at the animal shelter. And, since she was on sale (did you know that shelters sometimes have specials on certain breeds? Isn't that funny?) we couldn't pass her up. I can NEVER pass up a good sale! They named her Isabelle, but we've taken to calling her Izzy. They thought she was a border collie/daschund mix. She is about one year old and so far so good! She doesn't bark, she loves sticking by us, doesn't beg for food and she has been very patient with #3 "petting" her; which has consisted of poking eyes and pulling eyebrows, as well as whiskers! Only problem is she wants to cuddle ALL the time! The boys are having a lot of fun with her.

We've been enjoying some warmer weather over the last few days. It was up in the high 50's yesterday! We got some much needed yard work done on Saturday and plan on doing some tumbleweed wrangling this weekend if the wind holds off and the weather stays nice. I'm really looking forward to the time change and Spring!

Ski Day!

Click on the picture to see it larger!

Being as we are not huge football fans, and the teams were not very exciting, Jeff decided we were going to have family day at Bogus. It was "free" because 2 years ago I put a chunk of money on a Bogus Bucks account because they were having a huge sale. We looked into their childcare for Ian and decided that we'd check him in and the four of us would ski/snowboard. We got the kids their first lesson and went to check Ian in and found out that the childcare was CLOSED for the day due to the Winter Special Olympics! So mom got to hang out for an hour and 45 minutes during lessons! At least I caught a couple pictures. The boys had a blast and are looking forward to going again. And I'm looking forward to actually going skiing next time. It's been a while, so pray I don't hurt myself! :)

A little air guitar, with prop!

We've been educating the boys on some classic music...good 70's rock, 80's, and 90's alternative stuff. They have been having fun with it... BO#3 loves dancing with us. So one day, BO#1 says "Wait! I'll be right back!" and comes back with this concoction. I have to give him kudos on originality here. One coloring book, 2 sword scabbards and a little tape made for a great "rockin' out" prop. He's going to hate this picture in a few years! :) Good blackmail material for mom & dad!

Love this picture!

Sorry y'all, but I've gotten roped into Facebook...and it's taken all my available "play time" on the 'puter. But I promise I'll curtail those activities and start posting here more. It's been a crazy couple of week in our house; Jeff gone for nearly 2 weeks straight, a weekend away visiting "old" friends at a dear friend's wedding, house full of the flu, etc. Gotta love germy children!

Beautiful Sunset

From sunny Southern California to snowy sunsets! I'm very behind on posting, and I promise I'll catch up, but Jeff took this picture yesterday after our 6+ inches of snow Sunday night. Thought I'd share...