The Things I Hear

Ed spent two hours with 7 Legos making all manner of shooting and Star Wars type noises during Stake Conference.

Jessie told me I am the "Best Butt Wiper Ever."

We like to play 20 questions in the car. Ed, as is his tendancy in Hide N' Seek as well, just cannot stand the suspense and will give us "hints." We knew it was a thing, it was red, and it was a circle. He says, "Okay, here is a hint. It's the red light bulb that's in the back of the car that makes the lights shine red!"

Yesterday Will started talking to me about something (I have no idea what. That boy!) But he is talking and talking and talking, with no end in sight. That's what he does when he has designed something in his head. He talks it all out, FOREVER. I needed to tell a grown up something, so I told him to hold on a minute. He kept talking. So I put my hand over his mouth, said the quick thing I needed to say (while his mouth was still moving and words were coming out), took my hand off his mouth, and viola: Will was STILL yacking about his invention and all the materials he would need, and what if this was changed or........... on........and.........on.........and...............on.

Kacy delcared yesterday that since middle schoolers are so mean, she is going to grow up and be a nice middle schooler. "Of course, I won't be riding the bus by then, but still."

Hear this:  Our bus stop is being cut. Did I mention that? Because my family is six miles from the next closest family and it costs the school district thousands (I think it's around $13,000) a year to get my kids to and from school. With the govenor's proposed budget cut for 2013 of eliinating funding for school transportion, and with the recent cut in ADA money, this is one way for the district to save money. SOOOOO.... I will be driving 40 miles a day to take my kids to and from school. It's that, or drive 20 miles a day to a bus stop out in the middle of nowhere. Literally- no houses. The closest housing is this compound/business where Ryan has arrested people. Two strikes! On the plus side, this new schedule will allow me to wake up early, work out and shower, and THEN get the kids up without having to start my day at a dark and cold 5:00am. Because I DON'T wake up that early. It's DARK! There isn't a street light for a good 30 miles from my house. So I just don't wake up. My lack of exercise is showing. (Enter Pearl, the ACD puppy who has two speeds: 90 MPH and asleep. Boo-yah! Got myself a running buddy!) Anyway, this may make our mornings a little better if I can have more endorphins and be clean and the kids don't have to wake up so early. I can also have daily contact with the teachers if needed. There are many negatives to having to do this, but I'm trying not to think about them. I will say I did again contemplate homeschooling for a few minutes. Then I remembered why I won't do it (yet- never say never!).

I heard about a shoot out. Saturday night Ryan never came home. I happened to be up with Pearl for the millionth time that night, so I called him at 5:50am. Just to see if he was planning on coming home, you know. I don't worry about him, because he has assured me that if anything were to happen to him, I would be called right away. I was thinking he arrested someone and had to take them to jail. Instead, he told me a friend of his, who is a Sherrif's officer, got into a shootout. No one was hit, so that was good. The incident took place an hour away from anyone. Ryan was first on scene as back up, and he made it in 45 minutes. It also happened on a different family friend's property- crazy. Anyway, it's a little scary, and I can only imagine what was going through Ryan's head as he was driving up and over and around the mountains to get to his friend. I know the guy, and just in that split secone between being told "Shotwell was in a shooting." and "No one got hurt." I couldn't help but think of him, his woman, and his infant. Does it make me worry about Ryan? Not a bit. It's just a nice little reminder to appreciate those really boring days.

Right now I hear the rain, and pretty soon it will stop and turn to snow, because it's 36* outside. Friday was 75, and now it's 36. What a wacky winter!

Butter Fingers

No one admits to it, but I know who it is. They walk by, stick their dirty little fingers in the butter, and have a snack.

It's Jessie, mostly. But it's also Ed.

And, just so we are all clear, a seventh grade boy was running around with my kids for a few minutes the other day and declared, "Man, your kids have a lot of energy!"

I know. I KNOW.

Stuck!

This is Jessie's life, and has been since she was old enough to walk. The kids came in and said, "Ed left Jessie on the cement mixer."
"Ed did? How do you know this? Did you see it and let it happen?"
Silence.
Anyway, I walk all the way out there to find this sad sight. I asked her why she would climb up there, and she replied, "Cuz I just wanted to do what Will did, 'cept I didn't know how to get down! And now I'm stuck."
Not the first time this has happened.
My grandma M says her two older brothers used to put her on top of stuff and leave her there. I believe they also used to lock her in the chicken pen.
Thankfully, we don't have the chicken pen yet. (But soon, I hope!)

Pearl is HERE!

Here she is in a quick pic with George. She is the best puppy in the whole wide world according to her fan club. She is starting to respond to her name, she sleeps a lot (but not all night), and she likes to chew stuff.
Last night she woke the kids with her crying, so she slept with me most of the night. Puppy breath! Tonight's not a school night, so she can cry it out a little more. First 24 hours away from her litter and mon can be rough!
As a side note, the kids are pulling empty propane bottles around with tie downs attached, like they are riding horses.
Anyway, more pictures later!

Hiking!

It was a mile up and a mile down. 800 feet. To an old mine. The kids were disappointed there wasn't a cave with carts and rails. Jessie still got tired, but she was sick the last few days. I like hiking with the kids. It is time well spent and I love how they love it. They really do. We have some funny conversations, and today they realized they were lucky to be able to hike, because in Bakersfield there are no mountains. Sometimes they wish they lived in the city, because their cousins and grandparents are there. Today the older two said they loved the mountains! The hike was their idea. Awesome!

Good Times!

I just have to share that I love Awkward Family Photos, the website. It is hilarious, and I just spent the last 10 minutes looking at the Valentine's awkwardness. Love it.

Awkward Family Photos

House Update, and No, It's Not Finished Yet

Here it is, the long awaited, highly anticipated house update. We are nearing completion, with Ryan building the kitchen cabinets as we speak. We bought a dishwasher- ah, the stuff dreams are made of! So is a functioning kitchen. I am going through cook books and earmarking recipes. Can't wait to bake again! On that note, this February 27 will mark 6 1/2 years of living in an RV. Yipee. That's 2,372 days. I will be glad when that count is over. On with the pictures! In no particular order:

 Looking in the boys' room. It's finished, closet organizer and all. (Yes, it's a little dusty. I'm not cleaning until construction is OVER!)

 The fireplace. I think I blogged about this already, but in case I didn't, the actual fireplace is a wood burning Napoleon 3000. Works like a charm, heating the whole house if we keep a fire going. The stone work was done by Ryan, and is local. So are the beams (and most of the wood on the interior of our house- came from the mountains behind our house via a local lumberjack.)

 Looking out from the girls' room. The alcove will house a bookcase, but for now it houses lots of tools. And supplies.

 The girls' room. It's finished, too! I think. It may need door trim on the... yup. It does. I just checked the picture above. The trim is sitting in the front room.

 Looking down from the stairs and into the kitchen. We have sinks! And the dishwasher is in the middle of the room, and the framework for the cabinets are in. The "L" island thing will have a bar on one side, so we can seat 12 people! How awesome is that? And yes, two kitchen sinks. That was Ryan's idea. I didn't think it was necessary, but the idea is growing on me.

 Part of the loft, with Will posing on a portion of the sofa we moved in. The sofa is elevated, and we have these cool secret doors behind the TV wall that will hide curtains. We can pull out the curtains for movie night and enclose the room!

 Looking up. If you stand in the kitchen or dining room, and look up, this is about what ya see. We still need to build the lighting fixture over both rooms, that's what those hanging wires are on the right side. We still have some hardware to install on the beams to hold some things together, too. Then we can get that scaffolding OUT! I hate scaffolding. Just because I hate high places...

 The stairs...sort of. Again, there is some hardware that needs to be installed, but they are fully functional and all that!

The rest of the stairs, going on up to the loft. On the other side is where the TV goes, and right up there are those secret curtain doors. Oh, and way up high is the gremlin door. That's where we keep the creepy creatures who eat small children who are naughty. Is that too scary? I'm trying to think of something that is both kinda creepy and funny at the same time to scare small children. To make them wonder. Maybe I can tell them an old crow made it's way in there and Ryan locked it up because it threatened to peck his eyes out. We have crows, so that would work. I'll work on it.

Puppy Love- almost time for our Heeler to come home!

Can't wait to go pick this girl up! She's on the right. We are counting down the days! She's just over 4 weeks in this picture.

Ed's Fall

Tonight Ed fell from the top bunk. Our first concern was the blood from his nose, followed by an arm and back check. About 10 minutes later I noticed his fat lip, and he excitedly told me about his loose tooth! A top tooth is now loose, and a little bloody. He can't wait to loose it and have the tooth fairly visit. He doesn't know that if it does come out, he'll be toothless for about a year! He didn't even cry- he whimpered a little. Tough kid.

Today...

We are hosting preschool at our house. Jessie is excited like always! (She's always the worst behaved. Her excitement level is really high, and she giggles a lot, talks constantly, and acts just like a 13 year old. Help!) We were using Joy School curriculum, but the first semester is over, we had a meeting, and we aren't thrilled with it. So, we are using a book that Krissy has. I'll write about it later, as it is a great Pre-K at home or at school kind of book. I've seen a lot, and I like this one!

I may start doing touch up painting. Yuck. I mean, it's good that we are to that point, but I really hate doing jobs twice. I painted already. Now I get to do it again, albeit less...but not much.

I'm going to take a walk. A short thought on my "dieting:" I don't do it. I'm terrible at it. I quit ages ago. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. It just makes me feel like a liar. I am, however, working on being more active, and as this is a list of my day, it's included.

I like Costco. Especially their muffins. (See previous about dieting.)

The house- the house. At the end of this month will mark SIX and ONE HALF years of living in the trailer. I've been told I should write a book on small space living. I might. When I find the time.

Will constantly forgets things at school. How do I fix that? He's in second grade, and hasn't outgrown it yet. It's really frustrating.

Pearl comes home this month. Can't wait!

Ed is motivated by love. He will do anything for a hug and kiss. Anything.

Kacy and I are using a baking soda shampoo and ACV rinse. Works! Love it! More on that one later, too. Maybe.

Income tax return should be here soon, so we can stucco our house. Too bad our refund is spoken for- our house just eats up materials. I guess it's a big house, and that's what big houses do. I'm so used to the 320 square feet I've had the last 6.5 years. We are going from one extreme to the other: I'm not sure how big our house is- somewhere between 3000 and 3400? I thought it was 3600, but I can't always do math off the top of the head... which is fine because even at 3000, it is 10 times the size I've had for more than half our married life. I just said that... wow. We are looking at 12 years of marriage. Time is going by so FAST! Life is good.

I need to remove the polish from my fingernails and toes, and redo. Probably only my toes.

Jessie turns 4 in four weeks. Hoping to have a party at my house, but I doubt it. The house might be done, but there will be no place to sit, so that's just weird. Seriously, I love when people come over, but we just stand there. For ever. We need a table and chairs, fo sho!

Added a marble baking station/table/island in the kitchen. In our minds anyway... must go purchase said island thing somewhere.

Started watching FOODNETWORK to get inspiration for when we can eat more that just camping foods. I need to get my cooking mojo back- I gave up so long ago. Especially the last six months or so- it's been easy, easy, unhealthy foods.

I am still in my jammies: last night it was a pair of forest green basket ball shorts of Ryan's, a bright pink Sesame Street t-shirt of mine, and my new (old) Ugg boots. I look awesome. (See above to 12 years of marriage.)

Have a good day, and be good at school! (lol)