In like a lion, out like a lamb

Our March has been crazy. It started at the end of February when Kurt went to Arizona to hang out with a friend and go to baseball games learn to be a better pastor. He got back on March 2 and on March 4 I took the kids and left him for a quick trip to Iowa. The kids stayed at my parents while I went up to UNI for their 11th Annual Masters Swim Meet and an all around good reason to go back to Cedar Falls for a day. It was a fun weekend in both cities and the cousins were able to be together again after a two month hiatus.

We returned home on that Sunday night to find Kurt knee deep in sawdust and our basement entirely framed. Don't get all excited, this is 2 year project. However, it inspires me to leave for the weekend more often...

I then left the next Friday and Saturday for an awesome women's conference with some church friends. Came home in time for Church on Sunday and my sister in law and niece and nephew to arrive for a few days of their spring break. We took it easy Sunday night, with an exciting game of let's fix the couch

followed by our Sunday tradition of America's Funniest Home Videos and popcorn. Some of us just mostly like the popcorn.

Monday we headed to a bouncy place, which was awesome because we were the only ones there.

And Tuesday we took on the Children's Museum, where we were definitely NOT the only ones there.

Sometime in the midst of all of that I managed to make Riley Bathan a pinata for her 2nd birthday party. Lisa was forced to help me with some of the decorating because the party started approximately 20 minutes after they left town.

And on that Friday, we took off for Chicago in the morning to meet up with Iowa friends who were spring breaking as well. These are the same Iowa friends who were witness to what will forever be known as the "sippy cup incident" back in July. We're pretty sure they only came back to see what Myka would do next, but we managed to have a good time (and pee-free) weekend anyway.

We spent a few hours at the Shedd Aquarium where the otters are giant and the workers have no sense of humor.

Then somehow Lauren and I managed to convince the dads that it would be a good idea for them to take all 5 kids to our house, feed them and put them to bed while she and I shopped downtown and had a nice, leisurely dinner together. It was awesome, and from what we were told everything went great at home. At least we know they were fed.

And because we couldn't capture any pictures of all 5 looking in the same general direction, I included one from the last time they were together in September.

Myka and her men...

When they left on Sunday we were officially exhausted, but happy to have had such a fun and busy month. Our days finally slowed down enough that I went to the doctor on Wednesday to find out I had some kind of infection that had started the weekend I was in Iowa. Luckily, since I apparently only take antibiotics once every decade, I was feeling better after 2 doses. Now I'm ready to redo the whole month without losing my voice and feeling like I'm swallowing razor blades.

And now finally, this final week of March is our spring break.

And we are doing absolutely nothing.

Her creative half

Myka enjoys making things. And she likes to give people things. But she LOVES to give people things she has made. Our dining room table, a.k.a. Creation Station, often looks like this:

And I could fill a box with things I get that look like this:

Even Eli gets some love. Here is the door to his room:

And just today, while I was making lunch, I was handed this:

Wait. What's that you say? Something is weird about that one?

Let's back up, shall we? Tuesday mornings I go to a Bible Study with the kids who get to play with other children while the moms get a little adult time. When time is up and the children are released from the basement, there is always a mad dash for the food table to see what scraps have been left behind and who can devour them the fastest. Fifteen minutes before lunch time. So I have created a diversion by always bringing a special treat and leaving it in the car for them to avoid standing around the kitchen stuffing our faces with goodies before I try and go home and feed them something healthy. It has worked very well, until today, when I forgot the car treat and the snack for the adults was egg bake. For whatever reason, this all threw Myka into a tizzy. Like, complete, flip out, I-thought-she-might-have-gotten-beat-up-in-the-basement-and-didn't-want-to-talk-about-it, tizzy. So when we got home, and she was in more trouble than just not getting a treat kind of trouble, she sat down to make me a picture. And I found out that picture time is not always about showing the love. Besides the uncharacteristic ripped paper and scribbles, she also took the time to cut each sticker in half before sticking it on the page. Take that, Mom!

I'm just happy I didn't get the other end of the pig.

Year One

One year ago today, we closed on our new house in Joliet. We spent the night in our new, empty house cleaning and waiting for the movers to arrive in the morning. And in 24 hours it went from looking like this:

To this:

Well, OK, maybe a little more than 24 hours...

Happy first anniversary, house. No real surprises so far... Let's keep it that way!