LOL

The other day a nice friend of mine, who must have assumed that I have life under control, asked me how I stay on top of laundry.

I assured her that I don't.

As I was carrying load after load upstairs to fold [after putting my kids in bed] tonight, I thought of the assumption of my friend. And then I thought to myself, LOL. I'm a huge dork and carry on many silent conversations with myself... {wait, doesn't everybody do that?}

I decided that LOL = lots of laundry. And silently laughed at my own joke to myself.

However, eight loads to fold and put away is nothing to laugh about! 

Oh dear.

The next house we build is having multiple washers and dryers ok, a laundromat... and it will be cleverly placed on the main floor. Genius.

A { Real } Yard

Meet my new best friend... a weed wacker! If you think it's funny to see a pregnant girl with a weed wacker, you aren't alone. Thor thought it was funny too, and he was kind enough to take my picture to show Daddy.

Leif bought me a weed wacker as a gift to celebrate our yard... I haven't had a real yard in 5 years! It's not that we hate civilized-looking yards. We built our home [almost entirely ourselves] five years ago... and then had three kids in a row... meanwhile starting a business from scratch... needless to say we have been a bit busy!

When our company purchased a hydro seeder/water truck this spring, it was our golden opportunity. We sprayed our lawn with turf. It grew... sparingly. But the weeds that had been living there for years sure came in nice!

With some mowing and some love, we are hoping to get a nice yard this year.

Isn't North Dakota stunning this time of year? It's my happy season... June and July are so green and lush.

Flying High on Father's Day

What a special day!

Leif has been taking flying lessons for about 6 months or so and is very close to having his pilot's license. He told Thor about three days ago that they would go flying together this weekend.

{Three days for a four year old is a very long time!}

Needless to say, he has been talking about it very excitedly nonstop. I'm not sure I can put a number on the question, "How many more days until I get to fly a plane?"

So when I went in his room in the morning to wake him up, he got a great smile on his face. "Why do I need to get up?" he asks with a grin. "I'm not sure." I say. "I can't remember... what is going on today...?"

"I GET TO FLY A PLANE!" he squeals and leaps out of bed. "I'm ready to go fly a plane!"

Here is a photo I snapped as they drove off at 7:40 am.

Before he got in the pickup, I knelt down and gave a quick pep talk to him. "Now, if the plane stalls out, push-- don't pull." He nodded his head. "Don't fly into any weather." Nods his head again. Then I turned to Leif. "If you crash this plane, I will kill you!" I think he just rolled his eyes and laughed. I'm glad he is confident!

It turns out they didn't do any stalls, spins, dives, or crash the plane. They just flew to Garrison for a fly-in breakfast event held by the local firefighters as a fund raiser. It was a nice, smooth flight and Thor had a blast!

When he got home we gave him his Father's Day card.

Leif noticed that I left myself out of the plane. Hmmm... it really was unintentional.

We had a really sweet day, full of happy kids and good daddies. My Dad gave the kids rides in the semi, the old international, and the VW Bug. They rode around on various bikes, four-wheelers, golf-carts, and power-wheels.

Thor rattled off all the things he got to ride around on. And then he said matter-of-factly, "It is my day today."

I'd say it was a pretty great day for all of us!

Not What I Had in Mind.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 4:31

In the process of trying to help my kids remember this verse, I cleverly created an impromptu song to the tune of Jingle Bells.

♫ "Do do do, - do unto, do unto oth-ers- do unto others as - youwouldhavethemdotoYOUUUU!" ♫

Clever right? Nah. It just turned into a bunch of do do do, do do do, do do do do POOO! Followed by hysterical laughter, of course.

We are going to work on it again tomorrow [because there are so many times that we can apply that verse during the day.]

Though I think I will nix the song.

On a side-note, I discovered that Dax can sing the entire song of Jingle Bells almost perfectly using only the word "poop." {Sigh} Boys.

Next memory verse: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up..." Ephesians 4:29

Wish me luck!

Fair Weather Friend.

Meet Dax.

He is a soulful, sweet, sincere little dude. He loves to be held... by anyone. He loves attention. Being the third child, he sometimes gets the short end of the stick.

The older kids are not usually mean to him (though they have their spats). 

It's just that they ignore him. 

Which is the among the cruelest thing you can do to this child.

The girl perched in the background may have something to do with his crying.

You decide for yourself.

But tonight, for the first time, Maycee decided she was best friends with her little brother. 

And it was so sweet.

She wanted to share a swing with him.

Unheard of.

She followed him around and held his hand. Usually she doesn't let him in a three foot radius of her peaceably.

He ate it up.

He loved it. Look at him lean in to hug her.

She even gleefully climbed rocks with him.

Even if she is never nice to him again, we have some photographic evidence that they were friends. 

For a whole 20 minutes.

I just love these sweet, silly kids!

Happy Kitchen.

Today I had a happy kitchen.

It must have been a good morning for flower pickin', because I sure filled every vase in the kitchen with wildflowers [and assorted weeds and grasses of course.]

I love my three year old girl... she says she is going to pick me flowers every day forever.

My kitchen window sill... lovely!

My island countertop... shades of purple wildflowers. 

This has got to be the prettiest little bunch.

Love.

Yes that is grass on my table.

Can you spot the one from my flower garden? Ha.

And also to add to the happiness... glass etching. This is awesome!

I like to separate the cream from my raw milk and have a 1/2 gallon of skim (adults, lattes, etc.) and 1/2 gallon of whole (children, baking, etc) "in operation" at all times in the fridge. I wanted to jazz up some plain mason jars.

Enter some sticky contact paper, etching cream, and a cool font.

I cannot wait to decorate more mason jars.

Aren't they cute?

Life is Blooming!

We have had some great weather this May and early June. One weekend we decided to plant some shrubs and flowers along the front of the house... for some much needed curb appeal!

We are enjoying the sun, warmth, rain, and all the things coming alive this spring.

Note the awesomeness of the Dr. Suess-like shrub... my favorite by far!

Looking better! 

Thor loves to play in this sand pile. He says it is wet concrete.

Bike riding after a good rain! Note the backwards cowboy boots.

Right after our rain, Maycee set out to capture some wildflowers. 

A few of the flowers planted in the front.

Main attraction around here.

Lovely leafy spurge...

The back of his shirt says "Justice League." ha!

Got to love this photo... 

Pure sweetness! Love these two.

Looking at the water in the creek below.

Flower-picking madness.

Fresh picked wildflowers... so lovely!!

Dwight Drives

Poor cat. I can almost hear his cries for help.

 

 

 

He is certainly well-loved!