May 2013 – Month 5

We have been canoeing in the bowl at the ski hill for the past four years (I think). Click here for better photos from April 12, 2011. This year was the latest date, May 1st, we have ever paddled and March 16, 2012 was the earliest.

Jack took a video of Henry being cute pushing Nola Mae around on the upside down kitchen stool. While doing that he captured some crazy stuff. He put this movie together and titled it FourKidChaos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhjH403j_j4

I was putting Nola Mae down for a nap and I found Henry getting the boys’ after school snack ready. Henry is always so thoughtful and helpful.

Nola Mae has figured out how to climb on top of the piano to play music with her feet. I am not sure if this link will work from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4867423086535&set=vb.1326037913&type=3&theater

Grandma Helen came to visit us. We had a busy weekend with activities around our house and farm. Nola Mae watching a kickball game in the front yard.

Nola Mae bench

This is the tree that fell down or we cut down the week Nola Mae was born. That year on Saturday of Easter weekend we spent the morning making firewood. I went into labor that night and had Nola Mae in the morning. I will always remember this spot and refer to it as Nola Mae’s firewood.

At some point during basketball Robbie found a soft spot in the floor. Jack decided it was time to replace that part of the floor. He put the boys to work and had this done before the end of the weekend.

We got these stilts from Jack’s Aunt Corky. Charlie was the one that was interested in them when Jack showed them how to use them. I was surprised because he seems easily discouraged when trying new things. Now that I think more about this…He wasn’t discouraged because Robbie wasn’t trying them and if Robbie did and was good at it Charlie would have quit. (Something we have to be thoughtful of all the time!) Charlie practiced every day for many days and is able to take many steps.

A couple of years ago we had to replace the south stone wall of our barn. In order to minimize our cost with this repair we had the workers move the rock just outside the barn door into the pasture. I didn’t think through this when it was happening. This huge rock and dirt pile blocks my path to the north pasture and my access to the north side of the basement of the barn. Plus it is an eye sore to me. Last year, when I had a new baby, I wanted to work on moving the rocks. It never happened! So this spring, my plan was to move a bucket load a day. It worked for about two weeks and the progress was slow. I will get this path opened by the end of summer!

I started running this month and decided I needed to buy new shoes, more pink than I like, but they were the best for comfort and price!

Once the snow melted and skiing was done I would walk/run around town for an hour, while Henry was in preschool, pushing Nola Mae in a single child jogging stroller. My first run from home – pushing two kids loaded with water, snacks & a tablet (I didn’t want to have a restless Henry) in my bike trailer/stroller. This load is a lot harder to push compared to pulling them in the ski sled while skiing! It took me many runs to realize that I am out of shape but not terribly out of shape, I am just pushing a big load. My 4.5 mile loop that I do from home was taking me 1 hour and 20-30 minutes. One weekend morning I went for a run, all by myself, and ran that loop in 50 minutes.

Nola Mae napped in the stroller during my run. This photo is from later in the afternoon when my neighbor came over. She helped load up some rocks into my tractor bucket and watched Henry and Nola Mae while I delivered the rocks to her yard for her landscaping project.

Our sweet Nola Mae loves the phone. The same day we went for our first run, loaded and delivered rocks, I was working in the kitchen and I needed Nola Mae to be happy for just a little bit longer. I gave her the phone to play with. That was the last time I thought I saw phone for three days! I back tracked all my steps that day and all the places I was outside and in the house. I could not find the phone. I had Henry push the “find” button once I was in the garden, garage and barn. For three days I cleaned under furniture, cleaned closets and cleaned the mud room, sort of cleaned the toy room, and walked all over the yard looking for that darn phone. While I was walking around the yard I was reminded that I lost our phone last year, forever! I thought maybe I would find that phone instead of the current lost one. I will laugh so hard and probably pee my pants when I am 60 years old and working outside in the yard and I find a phone!

Since I was on a cleaning spree and the temps were dropping outside I decided I should clean out the ashes in the wood stove and wash the door window before I started a fire. I laughed pretty hard (didn’t pee my pants) when I opened the stove door and found the phone!

Iola has a city-wide rummage sale every year on the weekend of Mother’s day. Last year I missed out because I was really sick. This year, Henry and I hit a few jack-pots! I had to take a photo of our goodies from just one sale. All this for around $50. (bike $5, lawn mower $20, two plug in heaters for chicken waters $10, buckets $1 each, pretty denim fabric $3 for 5 yards, swimming stuff $2, buttons $2 and glass wares $6)

Charlie bought this chess, checkers, backgammon, domino set from his teacher’s rummage sale for $1. For as much as he loves to play chess this was his jack-pot! I think that boy now owns three chess boards.

Charlie has not been wanting to sleep in his bed lately. So he will fall asleep in the door way of his room or on the couch while watching a movie.

I haven’t had a flat tire in a long time. I got this one on my way to the ski hill to help my friend prepare for a bike race IWSC was hosting. I was thankful my Mom and Step-Dad made me take off and put back on all four tires on our family car before I could drive it. A good reminder to do that with our kids.

I discovered Nola Mae likes mud puddles.

Henry finished preschool and will go to 4K in the fall. His preschool was two days/week for 2.5 hours each day. 4K will be two full days/week and he will ride the bus. He loved school, enjoyed playing with most of the kids, loved his teachers and rarely gave me kisses good-bye. I was reminded every school day that he is independent, very confident and my 3rd child when he would tell me, “Mama, just drop me off at the sidewalk. You don’t have to walk me in.”

When the older boys went to preschool this is what I remember: Robbie didn’t want me to leave him, I always left quickly, he didn’t cry but was sad, and always gave me the biggest hugs and five kisses (that was the number of kisses he picked for our good-bye routine). Charlie cried when Robbie went to school. Charlie always gave me a quick kiss and hug when I dropped him off at preschool.

This soccer season was over so quickly. And was a lot of fun for me to watch them play.

Charlie is also in Robbie’s team photo because a few times Robbie’s team was short players.

My dream of having a track star to cheer on may come true. Robbie is showing signs of being a strong runner and he sure is a speedy boy. Nola Mae loves running on the track.

Jack took this photo. I love it because Henry looks so peaceful and angelic. I also find this photo to be funny because it looks like aliens are sucking his brain while he is rotting his brain while playing on the tablet.

Jack took all three boys for a camping trip with his brother’s family. Our boys adore their older cousins. I love these two pictures because you can see their happiness.

I met Jack and the boys at the nursing home to visit the Vater grandparents. I spent a little bit of time outside with Nola Mae taking these pictures. I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best so I had to include my four favorites.

Henry discovered these morels in my flower beds and strawberry patch. This is about a quarter of what we picked and I ate.

Robbie brought this note home. I was shocked only because he never gets in trouble at school! I was not surprised because this is the kind of stuff he would do at home!

Nola Mae rarely lets me feed her anything with a spoon. She has to pick up her food with her fingers by herself! Recently, I tried to give her some of my homemade applesauce but she has refused it because I was serving it to her on a spoon. I had applesauce on the table for everyone, she grabbed Robbie’s bowl and started eating it and loved it! She made a horrible mess. And now eats it off a spoon from me.