...got busy taming our yard that had gotten away from us. My dad always said "helping hands are happy hands" and we had plenty of helping hands with weeding, edging, mowing, and mulching.
Mom and Dad sure appreciated your help. Good job kids!
We also...
...took a whimsical trip down to California. Brent has traveled five or six weeks out of Brianne's eight weeks of life. When he told me he was going back to California, I decided we all were going with him. We enjoyed visiting family, wreaking havoc on Granny's house, and had an especially adventurous day at Knott's Berry Farm's Soak City. It was a quick trip, but a much needed break in the recent trend of hubandlessness. P.S. More pictures to come from Grandma Ririe.
Every year at Rose Springs Elementary we have an event called "Author's Night". All of the students write a story in a white bound book, then parents are invited to come and read what the students have written. I especially liked Matthew’s story this year.
"If You Give My Brother a Car"
My brother would like my favorite car. I would let him play with it. Then he will lose the car. He will want to buy a new one. So we’ll go to the store. We go to buy a new car. We find something else we liked better. It was a video game! We go and buy it. When we get home, we notice that we don't have an X-Box! We go back to the store and grab the X-Box. We go home. Then we played the game. It was fun, but it was boring for me. We wanted even more video games. So we went to go get them, but we saw there was no more left. We saw a sign that said "Free Cookies"! They were yummy. They were snicker doodles. The cookies made us think of milk. Then we got some milk out of the fridge. We had to get the cup but the cupboard was too high for my brother. So we got a stool. We got a cup. We got a cup of milk. Then cars again. P.S. Take note of the graphics and text on the shirt he is wearing in the picture.
Brianne is starting to smile a little this week :) Brent is out of town again and was sad to know that he was missing Bri's little milestones. So we decided to send some "good morning" smiles to Daddy up in Wyoming.
Love you Daddy!
Come home soon!
Growing bigger everyday! (5 weeks)
"Ha-wo Beeyan" (What Andrew always says to Brianne when he sees her)
“It’s always fun when Grandpa comes, when Grandpa comes hooray!” The words of this primary song kept running through my mind with my dad visiting this week. The kids get so excited, and I do too. I really appreciate my dad and the support he has always given me. He drove all the way up from California to meet our newest addition. We visited a short time Monday night and then let Papa Joe go back to his hotel to get a good night’s rest after his long day of travel. When he came back the next morning, he brought donuts, of course (A Papa Joe trademark)! Matthew learned what it meant to “play hookey”. I let the kids stay home from school so they could spend more time with Grandpa. We spent the morning hanging out, visiting and reading the new books Papa brought from him and Grandma Shelley. We then ventured out to a hamburger joint for lunch with all five kids. Now my dad spent most of his growing up time alone. His dad died when my dad was only 20 months old, and his only sister was 16 years older than him. By necessity, his mom entered the work force, leaving my dad to pretty much raise himself. So to be around a family of seven is quite phenomenal for him. Another thing about my dad is he is great comic relief. You just have to appreciate his sense of humor. For example, when I told him #5 was on its way, he suggested I think about getting a new hobby. Or when we were driving down the highway into town, he was observing all the cows in the pastures, and commented, “Now I know why I’m always in the mood for a hamburger and shake when I come to visit you.” So we walk into the restaurant (with all five kids) and my dad asks me, “So what…do they have a wing for us here?” And then after we order for everybody, he asks, “Is that everything? I mean I want to say, like uh, drinks for the house or something.” Ha-ha Dad! Of course it’s important that he pass along his comedic talent to his grandsons. One of the books he brought had sea creatures in it. As they were reading, Papa taught the boys a new joke: “Why is the crab so grumpy? Because he had to ‘shell’ out.” On Wednesday, the kids went back to their routine and Dad and I were able to spend some time together. He was able to see that this house can actually settle down to a quiet mode when most of its occupants head off to school. We did lunch again, with only one in tote this time. Then he got a “behind-the-scenes” look at the stress I go through to produce those sweet little studio portraits of his grandchildren. On Thursday Papa Joe headed back to California :( I spoke to him as he was traveling south. He couldn’t seem to compliment us enough on our "beautiful family". He sees what a blessing these children are to us, and as he says, it makes his heart go pitter-patter.
