Proof of Living

 

Oh, you thought my house was always clean and organized?  Not so.  I do manage to usually clean up the toys, but…not always.  They’ll just be taken out the next day, right?  It’s just proof that we actually live in our house.  All day, every day, for every hour!

A cool raccoon book for Louis from Grandma Green Acres.  He so serious sitting here!  He’s almost never still.

Graham above, working on handwriting…and Zeke below, doing the same thing.  Both absolutely love handwriting (dripping with sarcasm right now).

Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres with all the kids.  They were over for Greg’s birthday yesterday.

The Birthday ‘Party’

It’s hectic, especially this time of year, so we just had Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres over for supper and birthday cake.  It was last minute because we weren’t sure we’d be home in time – or if G&G were home!  But we called, and they were able to come over.  I can be spontaneous and this is proof!!  Here are a few pics from our evening…

Sixteen

My oldest celebrates his sixteenth birthday today.  SIXTEEN.  The years have gone incredibly fast when I take the time to pause and remember.

Happy 16th Birthday!

Dash…who is Greg (short for Gregory) in real life..is pretty much man-sized.  Over six foot tall and wearing size 13 shoes, Dash doesn’t really fit anymore.  It was super cute when I started blogging, but he’s old enough to go by his own name.

A favorite picture of Greg when he was about 9 months old:

And here he is on the ski trip earlier this year…it’s hard to find perspective when he’s all covered up.

This is his ‘first day of school in 2012’ photo.

To celebrate his birthday, we are headed to town to take family photos.  We’ll have treats at the ice cream shop afterwards (it’s called bribery!), then head home for pizza and ice cream and cake.  It may just be an ice cream cake…certainly don’t have to worry about it melting on the way home, we’ll just strap it to the roof and it’ll keep better than if we carry it home in the car.  Thanks to our fine frigid ND weather.

** I am reminded that I was so very thankful to be a NE resident in the year of his birth because ND experienced the a very memorable major flood in the Spring of 1997.  Many homes were flooded throughout the southeastern and northeastern parts of the state due to overland flooding.  Then an icy snowstorm hit the southeastern part of the state and brought power outages. Recovery took months.

March 17-31, 2013

Lent was good.  Even though it didn’t go as I planned, it went as HE planned.  And, His plan is infinitely better than mine. 

In these weeks, Eric and I started teaching NFP again after a 1.5 year hiatus.  Dash competed in the State FFA Crop Judging Contest and received a silver placing.  Our county hosted their annual Family Fun Night.  Lent ended and Holy Week began. 

All the kids, except for Dash and Angelina, took the whole week of school off.  Dash used the week to catch up and Angelina just needed to finish up a couple days in Latin.  I call it our Spring Break; we needed a break!

On Friday and Saturday, we did a bit of baking.  This lamb mold was on sale after Easter last year, and it was fun to use it this year.  It was amazingly easy to bake and decorate.  Just use a large star tip and it’s covered up in no time at all.  I used a black decorating pen for the eyes, nose & mouth.

Angelina and the boys made sugar cookies and frosted them on Saturday.  Each kid had a job – Angelina is very good at organizing who does what!  She sounds like me…I’m not sure that is a good thing sometimes.

And, Marcus is mobile.  He’s not fast, but he uses his hands and his right foot to scoot around and get where he wants.  His left foot and leg are usually up in the air!  It’s too cute.

 

We didn’t dye eggs, we grow them!  The Easter Egger’s lay colorful eggs and then the last two years, I’ve just written on the eggs with food pens.  The kids decorate with stickers…and we’re done!  Colorful, cute and easy.

Angelina had a new dress for Easter; I wish I’d have taken a picture.  I was thankful that I fit into some of my favorite outfits (FINALLY). 

This year, our family attended Holy Thursday Mass, Good Friday services, and the Easter Vigil.  Every. Single. One. Of. Us.  I’m not saying that everyone stayed awake!  This being the third vigil I have attended, I finally felt like the readings made sense or clicked with me.  Probably I wasn’t able to listen the other times I’ve attended…the first I had a busy 1yo (Dash) and last year I was pregnant and kind-of miserable.  This vigil just made an impression on me…makes me want to do it all over again.

Alleluia! 

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!

The kids checked out their Easter baskets on Sunday morning.  The family headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Green Acres’ home for a wonderful dinner followed by a choice of desserts.  The kids played and watched TV while Eric and I enjoyed visiting.

March 1-9, 2013

 

Whipping through the months (while the blizzard whips snow into drifts outside my kitchen window – yes, I’m writing about March during an April blizzard)…if you are still reading, ‘May God Bless YOU!’ 

This is quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of Marcus.  Taken o the 5th of March, he’s just learning to sit and entertain himself.  He rarely tips over.

The first full week in March is the Valley City Winter Show.  Eric is at the show all week, and the kids have the State 4-H Crop Judging Contest on Friday. 

Angelina is the 2013 State Junior Champion! 

This has been her goal for two years.  Zeke (Jr. division) and Dash (Sr. division) did well and improved their scores. 

This year, we took all the kids to the Winter Show on Saturday, March 9.  Usually I bring the kids in on a weekday, but with a baby, I just wasn’t up to doing it.  The grounds are usually very muddy and messy…this year was no exception.  Graham and Angelina, especially, want to see the magician that performs, but all the kids enjoy the show.  I also wanted to see the kids’ crop/seed sample entries.  Dash, Angelina, and Zeke all had multiple entries and even placed in the overall division with some of them.  It was a fun day and we ended by going to mass at 4pm in Jamestown. 

Afterwards we went out to eat at a small Chinese restaurant.  There was only one table available – their heat was out in the main dining area – but it was so worth it.  We’d not eaten there before, but we all agreed that it was the best Chinese we’d eaten in quite some time.  Plenty of leftovers for the next day, too!

March 5, 2013

 

Eric & Dash needed mugs for CYAC (Catholic Youth Advisory Council).  Dash serves on the council and Eric is his sponsor/advisor.  The kids help plan the Senior and Junior High Youth Rallies for our Diocese.

I couldn’t believe my good fortune in getting a photo of this deer and am amazed it didn’t get frightened away by me or by the dog!  If it had been eating on the trees closer to the house, instead of a lilac shrub, I might have run out to chase it off on my own.  The deer have congregated around the farm this year.  None of us can recall seeing this many deer around the farm for years, though there have been herds in the area, they just haven’t chosen our farm for their resting spot.

February 17-28, 2013

 

Let’s see, this is the beginning of Lent.  I actually felt very prepared for Lent this year.  I’d made copies of sacrifice charts, I’d colored a calendar for Lent and hung it in the kitchen, we all made it to Ash Wednesday services…basically I had a plan.  And then we all got sick.  For two and a half weeks all the junk that everyone else had been dealing with finally came knocking on our door.  Even Marcus had his first major cold – the kind where you sorta sleep in a chair so the baby is upright and can breath and maybe sleep. 

So, you can be thankful there are not pictures!

During this time, Angelina made it to NO dance classes on Monday, but she made it to every single Hunter’s Education class.  Yes, she is now certified!  And, I think she enjoyed the class as much as Zeke enjoyed reading her manual when she came home each night.

Eric missed everything because he, for the most part, was gone to a meeting or golf trip.  Lucky him.  That’s probably fortunate, because he was responsible for taking the kids to all their activities on the weekends when he was home.

He and Dash attended Citizenship in Action, an Extension sponsored event, at the state capital (Bismarck).  Dash was elected Lt. Governor, so had quite a good time and learned a lot.

Eric and Dash also went to the Catholic Youth Advisory Board planning meeting in Langdon.  This was their first planning retreat and they had a great time.  They planned out the Jr. High Youth Rally.

Our church had their Mission weekend the last weekend in February; I really wanted to attend because the talks sounded so wonderful.  I dropped Angelina off to help with childcare each day.  Eric and the three older kids made it to the Friday night mission talk…me?  Nada.  Sick kids.

HOPEfully we are covered in immunity!  And February is at an end.

February 10-16, 2013

This is the FIRST day we’ve had the snowmobile’s out.  And believe me, this is cutting it close for snow.  They’ll have to be careful not to go out in the fields or the tracks could be ruined.  But, the guys are all excited to get some sledding done!

Marcus is 6 months old in these photos taken on February 12.  The time has gone incredibly fast.  However, he is such a fun, happy little guy.  He’s lighter than the other kids have been at this age…easier on Mom, for sure.

 

Dash is on the sled closest to us, and Mr. W, my nephew who is here for a visit, is on the other sled with Eric.  He was thrilled to get a ride, too.

Sorry for the window reflection…I really didn’t want to go outside!  Zeke is in the sled with Louis and Graham is standing with our dog, Bella, behind the sled.  It’s so nice to be able to get the boys outside to run off some of the energy.

 

And still, we do not have much snow.  You can still see the stubble in the field.

This is absolutely my favorite picture from this bunch!  Marcus is hilarious.

And, the elusive teen who is hard to catch on camera.