Anticipation

S is ready to lose.her.mind. She has a sleepover planned with her Grandma Sherie this week. They made the plans on Saturday, and S can't stop talking about it. S has gotten it into her head that Grandma Sherie is going to call her very, very early in the morning on Wednesday, before she even wakes up. I hate to say it, but the plan is for her to go later in the day Wednesday.

S packed her bag on Saturday night for the trip. Yesterday, my mom reminded her to make sure and pack a swimming suit, in case they went in the hot tub. She was wild to find her swimming suit last night and pack it, but since we didn't get home til nearly 10pm, I put the kibash on that.

Here's a couple of the conversations that S and I have had today, two full days before said sleepover.

"Mommy, we have to find my swimming suit RIGHT NOW because we won't have time to look for it later. No, NOW, Mommy. I don't care if you are eating breakfast/potty training Z/going to the bathroom/taking a shower. We need to do it NOW"

"Mommy, when Grandma calls in the middle of the night, be nice to her, ok?"

"Mommy, when grandma calls, she'll say 'Is S there?', and then you'll tell me I have a phone call, and then I'll come running to the phone"

Her excitement is so cute. I love to watch her facial expressions as she talks. She's such a funny kid.

Thanks S!

I put a soda in the freezer about 15 minutes ago so that I could get it cold fast.

I just asked S to go get it for me.


She just brought it to me, and said, "I know it's not frozen, Mommy, because I've been shaking it, and I can hear it moving around in there."


Um, gee. Thanks for checking that out for me.

Now, she's encouraging me to open it and double check that it's not frozen.

Already?!

We took a trip to Yellowstone recently. I'll post more about that in a bit, but first, I wanted to post this picture of our family.
This was at the base of Uncle Tom's Trail, a gnarly hike that is more steps than anything else. There were over 300 steps to get to the point where this photo was taken. It was raining on the way down. We didn't feel like the little kids could make the hike, so J and I each carried one on our backs. As it turned out, Z has gotten too big for me to carry for something soooo rigorous, and my dad ended up having to carry Z most of the way back.

I got that picture back, and two things struck me. First, Z refused to look at the camera because he was so entranced by the waterfall. Secondly, hmmmm, why does K look taller than me? Could it be?

Can one of my children have already grown taller than me?


Nah.


Couldn't be. Could it?

I insisted that I was either weighted down by Z, or that the ground was uneven.

Tonight, we actually measured. I am still taller, but only by 1/4" or so. Yikes.

Cool Pullups Giveaway!

My friend Natalie has the coolest giveaway on her blog for those of you who are the seventh circle of hell (aka potty training).

While I really want to win this for my family, if I can't win it, I'd prefer for one of my friends to win.

So, hop to it! Go read her blog and enter!

New pictures of the chickens

I know you are all DYING to see how my chickens are coming along.

J built a beautiful new chicken coop, so now we have that little coop and a much larger one. We moved all eight chickens to the big coop. Unfortunately, Skye and Sunkist, the two roosters, were bullying the smaller chicks, so they've been banished to the small coop. They started crowing a couple weeks ago, and it was hilarious to hear them. It sounds like someone had stepped on a cat. They sound like regular old roosters now, so I guess that means it's about time to eat them.
I can't believe how big my chicks are getting. The four Easter Eggers and the Silver Laced Wyandotte are all about 6.5 weeks old now. Lucky, the one I was so show was going to die, is definitely my favorite amongst the Easter Eggers. I think she is definitely the prettiest. Paula is the most friendly of the bunch, but none of them feel like "pets" to me. None of them are willing to let us pet them or hold them. I'm hoping that if I go out to their pen every day, eventually they'll be ok with me petting them.

I won I won I won!

One of blogs that I like to follow is a blog that is done by Andie for RC Willey, a furniture company around here. It's called "Room to Talk", and a lot of her posts remind me of our newlywed days. Over Memorial Day weekend, she announced a contest in which the winner would win a Blu Ray player and "Avatar" on Blu Ray. I hadn't seen Avatar yet, and was dying to see it. In her contest post, Andie said that she was looking for creative reasons why you should win the prize package. Well now. I can be very creative when I want to be. This is my entry:

I am being held captive by some really mean aliens. They are threatening to destroy the earth unless they are able to watch Avatar at *my* house. See, they are extremely ugly, and there would be no disguising them if I were to attempt to take them out in public. I offered to get the dvd to play and show them, but noooooooo, that's not good enough. The evil aliens want to watch it on Blu-Ray. I have tried to explain to them that I don't have a Blu-Ray player, nor the Blu-Ray of Avatar, but they don't seem to understand. (They don't seem to be a super smart race of aliens, like you THINK aliens would be) They also took away my credit cards to use at ear floss (no, you don't want to know). So, as you can see, the FATE OF THE WORLD is in your hands- If I win, I can show the aliens Avatar, and then they'll go on their happy way. If I don't win it, the world will be destroyed. You don't want that on your hands (well, what will be left of them, anyway), do you?

There were a total of 39 entries, and I won! I was so excited because this is definitely the neatest thing I've ever won.

I picked it up from RC Willey a couple days ago, and watched most of Avatar yesterday. Sadly, at the most interesting part of the movie, I had to leave and go to my part time summer job. -sigh- I will finish it today though.

The only downside to all of this is that J now wants to go buy a new tv. Technology has improved since I gave him the current tv for our anniversary almost five years ago. He's just sure that the display would look even more amazing if it was on a NEW big screen tv. He's sensible enough (I hope?!) that he won't replace a perfectly functioning tv.

RIP Bruce Knapp

On Thursday, we lost J's grandfather. As sad as it was, I think it was for the best. He was such a strong, in control person, and I imagine the last couple years were very difficult for him.

On Monday, J's mother got a call that Bruce had developed pneumonia, and that he was quite ill. The decision was made to not give him antibiotics or otherwise treat him, but instead provide palliative care. J and his sister spent quite a bit of time there on Wednesday, and were there until almost midnight. He got up early Thursday, and went back to the nursing home.

When his grandfather passed, J and both of his brothers were there, as well as my MIL and one of my SILs. J's dad missed the passing, but only by a couple minutes. It seems like a peaceful way to go, surrounded by loved ones.

I think we'll miss him, but he is free now. He is with his wife, and is healthy and young again. I know he lived a long, happy life. He enjoyed his life with his wife, enjoyed his children and grandchildren, and enjoyed the time he spent with Gina, his girlfriend.