because i told him i would write it down

i'd like to forget that the last 8 days ever happened, but as jesse and i were talking this afternoon, someday we will look back on this past week and say "remember that time...."

it started last wednesday- jesse got sick.

friday- i got sick.

friday afternoon- jesse's chest x-ray comes back clear of pneumonia, but we have confirmed that we have influenza.

friday night- our amazing friends take the kids for the night so we can "get some sleep".

friday night- kate get's sick.

saturday- the 3 of us spend the day in bed.

saturday night- we decide it's ok for jacob to come home too. after 2 hours of him being home, we realize that was a bad idea, so we sent him back to our friend's. i started taking tamiflu(hallelujah!).

sunday- blur.

monday- blur. jacob comes home in the evening.

tuesday - take jesse to the dr to find out he has pneumonia and bronchitis. jesse gets a big dose of meds (hallelujah again!)

wednesday- finally on the road to recovery. praise the Lord!

i should really update my blog

this thought has been running through my mind now for... oh... 8 weeks maybe? sorry to the grandparents and aunts and uncles and stalkers who use this as a way of keeping up with our family. life has been a little, um, busy, or crazy. but that doesn't stop the memories that we've been making over the last 2 months- so now i need to perform my do diligence and start logging....i mean blogging. :) scroll down for post-dated updates of our fam...

he's going to kindergarten

i'm ready for time to start slowing down. i absolutely cannot believe that my firstborn is going to be a five year old in a little over a month. and here's the craziest part- we just registered him for kindergarten this coming fall!

jacob is growing up so fast! i love watching him learn and discover new things every day. his favorite thing to do is build with his legos- he can follow those teeny tiny instructions that make me go cross-eyed. he loves to draw tractors, and furnaces, and pretty much any kind of machine. he even makes some up- like the one he did today: a tractor pulling a weed-sucking machine. awesome. after we put him to bed at night, he asks for us to leave his light on so he can look at his big book "How Things Work"- he loves to figure things out!

last night when saying goodnight to him, he stroked my cheek (i can't make this stuff up) and said "mom, i love you 20 hearts." ahh!!! love him!

mommy, will you play with me?

i've been wondering how other moms of young kids deal with the pull you feel (or maybe you don't feel this pull and it's a no-brainer for you) between accomplishing things around the house and playing with your kids. i daily battle this in my mind. when i look around, don't have to look very far, and see all the things that need done- dishes, laundry, cooking, etc., and at the same time have my kate and jacob asking me to play with them.

the one that really tugs at me is "mom, will you read this book to me?" i feel like maybe it should be just a little bit illegal to refuse to read to your child when they are so willing to put their "literary" hat on. one of these days i know i will be telling them to have their own reading time, but for now, i am their reader. i digress.

so tell me, if any moms are reading this, any practical ways you have found to balance the laundry and the "play with me" time? i know i don't need to entertain them all the time, and that independent play is good for their development, but i also don't want them to see me engrossed in chores all the time. i've tried to incorporate them in to help with some of the chores, so we are working on that...

strange weather we've been having

no question this was the mildest winter i have ever experienced (minus the one when i was living in the tropics). i think we've only had 2 snowfalls where the snow has actually stuck to the ground. a bit disappointing for this colorado girl.

this month of march has brought some very strange weather-related events. we had a cluster of severe storms pass through at the beginning of the month, producing tornadoes that touched down and devastated neighboring communities. days later it was snowing. the following weeks the temperatures were in the upper 80s. we took several family hikes over the property and actually found some papers, photos, and bank statements from henryville, indiana and louisville, kentucky, that landed in our yard during the tornado. crazy that they travelled over 60 miles in those winds! some pictures of our crazy weather, starting with one i took of the tornado-producing storm as it was leaving our area.

and last week, after we mowed our lawn for the 3rd time this season, we planted our small garden. let's see if i can actually make it work this year- last year the chickens ate all my tomatoes before i could pick them. :)