4 Miles

The other day I was pondering a mystery. Why is it 2 food items I found so-so, when combined, tasted SO GOOD?  I bought a large package of Kashi granola bars (with 3 varities) at CostCo, but only liked one type. I was trying to find a way to make the other two types a bit more enjoyable. We had yogurt in the fridge, but it just wasn't sounding too good to me. But combine the two and YUM!!!  Then I realized I was spending way too much time thinking about food. I decided to blame it on my cold medicine.

We don't have much to share right now, aside from cute pictures.  We're all working on getting over colds, wishing for nicer weather.

Alex on his lap top.

Wow, have we had a week. Last weekend we visited James' brother Karl, as well as his Aunt and her family. Karl told me he usually didn't read our blog because it was too long. Well, this will probably be another one you skip–unless you want to see lots of pictures of your cute nieces and nephews.

We had a good time visiting Karl on Friday. Saturday the boys left to go to Aunt Nancy's. I went to IKEA. Due to the hour time change we were up and ready to go earlier then expected. I ended up being at IKEA an hour before they opened (I misread the Resturant opening at 9 for the store opening at 9.)  I took a book I was reading inside and had an enjoyable time reading and eating my $0.99 breakfast. Then I was able to shop and get what I wanted before the store got to busy. I was out of there and on the road by lunch time!

We all had a great time at Aunt Nancy's house.  Alex learned how to go down the stairs backwards (a good skill at a house with two staircases). The boys loved running up and down and around.  The rest of us enjoyed talking and eating.  We got to celebrate Jake's 16th birthday on Easter Sunday as well.

Monday was spent getting ready for James' sister and her family to come visit. Our plans were put a bit on hold when James, on his way out the door to go to work, smelled gas.  We bundled the kids up and headed out while he called the gas company. The wait was long enough (and the temperatures cold enough) we walked to the office and hung out there. It turned out there was no leak, several people in our area reported smelling gas. But we weren't to worry, it "wasn't THAT kind of gas".  Um, sure. 

That evening the cousins arrived!  We had 6 kids under the age of 6 in our house. It was a fun (and crazy) time. The boys enjoyed having them to play with. I enjoyed having company (and the boys having someone else to play with). James enjoyed having help finishing the deck.  We were blessed with one nice day while they were here. That gave the guys a chance to finish the deck and the rest of us went to the park. Oh, and we fed the ducks in the pond by the park. When they left on Wednesday it was another cold, rainy day. Rather befitting of how we felt to have a quite house. 

The rest of the week has been filled with getting back into our routine. Rather boring after the excitement of the last week, but rather needed.

He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.  Matthew 28:6

We are starting to do some Easter activites with Will to help him learn more about Easter. He learned about it last week in preschool and is on spring break this week. We have been reading various parts of the Easter story during the evening Bible reading time.

I read on a friend's site about making Empty Tomb Treats. Basiclly you take a cresent roll triangle, flatten it, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on it and then place  marshmallow in the middle. Wrap up the marshmallow and bake them according to the package directions. When they have cooled off a bit, you allow your child to eat one and they realize the middle is empty! Then you can talk about how they are empty like the tomb was. We did this yesterday.  It was a fun activity, but we had a few problems with this. One, we didn't wrap the marshmallows up too well, so they oozed out everywhere (as you can see in this picture). As you can see, we had a LOT of marshmallow left over. I think next time I'll go with the suggestion to use 1/2 of one.  But that was good for this time because Will really liked them and I think he would have been really upset if I got them out and they were all gone.  Which really would have taken away from the point. We did have a good time reading a different version of the Holy Week while they were cooking.  I was just glad he didn't equate Jesus with a marshmallow (and then say "Mommy, Jesus is oozing out!").

Today we colored eggs. This was Will's first time to do this and he had a great time. As you can see, his hands got a bit colored by the dye. And it didn't wash off too easily.  The blue bowl got knocked over and our carpet now has blue stains to add to the other ones. (We're going to steam clean it when the deck is done and less mud will be coming in.)  In the end, Will and I were happy with what we had to show for our effort. He ate half of one egg.  Alex didn't even try his egg. I guess James is going to get to eat the rest. 

James asked me to update everyone on the status of the deck. That is why it is now Thursday and nothing has been posted on it–I've been a bit busy. Here we go!

Friday night and Saturday were spent putting the top on the deck. That got completed and the boys had great fun runing around/stomping on the deck.

Sunday afternoon, James spent most of his time compairing prices and buying the wood and spindles for the railing. He did get part of it started, as you can see with these pictures taken at the end of the day.

Monday evening he borrowed some flood lights from the office (I have no idea why his office has flood lights but they do) and worked on getting all the posts sawed and posted. (Hee hee! Probably not the right term, but that's what happens when I write the recap.) Tuesday it rained all evening and we've had very cold, blustry weather since then.  So, the deck sits as you see in the last picture "taunting" James (or so he says). We did get to enjoy it on Monday, though Alex lost his fear of the edge and fell off twice. I'll be happy when the railings are done and it is warm enough to enjoy it with our patio fruniture!

I won the office NCAA pool! Who-hoo!  I won't brag about my basketball prediction skills (or even my love of college basketball)–because really they aren't that big. I'll just admit I chose who I would listen to wisely.  It helped I picked Florida to win, I got 50 bonus points for that. I ended up with 913 points and the next one up had about 870 (without the bonus points I would have only had 863–of course the guy behind me picked Florida to win as well!)

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We have had a drastic weather change. We spent all morning outside yesterday because I knew it would be our last chance for awhile.  We were up in the mid-70s yesterday and today there is snow on our deck and it is only 32! I went to workout at the office this morning and had a rude awakening when I stepped out of the car. Found out later the windchills are in the 20s!  Since we're going to be this cold for the next four days, I need to later this morning go out and pick any of my flowers that have budded/are blooming so we can enjoy them inside. We had such a long string of nice weather the daffodils are mostly done blooming and the lilac bush has leaves and buds–I'm afraid we're going to lose those flowers.  Poor plants. Poor us! Easter will be another cold one.

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Alex has a few new tricks (forget a dog, we just have kids). He'll bring me his shoes (or Will's shoes, he's not picky) and hold them up for me to let me know he wants to go outside.  He loves to help out by throwing away his diapers. Yesterday I changed him and after I was done he saw the diaper on the floor. His face lit up, he grabbed it and started walking to the kitchen.  Now if I could just keep him from digging through the trash!