Crazy week!

Holy cow! Was this ever a crazy week! You have never had a week like this one! Okay, maybe you have, but it doesn't happen often because if people had frequent weeks like this one was, we'd all keel over and die!

The mayhem really all started last week. On Wednesday, Brice and I played racquetball with my dad. He slaughtered us, as you might expect but it was loads of fun. But the next day, I was the sorest I've ever been in my life! Well, I think I remember being more sore one other time in my life, but still... I was so sore that when I tried to drive myself home the next day, I could only use my 1st, 3rd, and 5th gears--I couldn't pull the stick shift down into the other gears! Pitiful isn't it! Good thing I didn't have to back out of my parking spot...

So, by Friday, I was still super sore and I was really starting to feel the pressure because Brice's parents were coming the next day and I really wanted to have a clean house for them to visit instead of one cluttered with kid shoes and toys and everyone's clothes and a sink full of dishes. The thing is, I really couldn't do anything! I was too sore. So I was stressed and miserable and then I loaded up the kids to go to my 3:00 class only to discover that my stinkin' car wouldn't start. Grrr. So I spent an hour trying to start it, I missed my class, and Brice got a ride home. Then he took me out to cheer me up. Thank you, William and Angel for watching the kids.

So Brice's parents came the next day to a house that wasn't quite what I would have hoped, but hey, that's life. We had a great weekend with them and then Monday came and the work began. In one week we: dug 27 holes by hand around our yard that had to be at least 2 feet deep through hard clay, poured concrete in them, and set fence posts in them (okay, we didn't really dig them by hand--we rented an auger. I had ya going there for a minute though, didn't I!); we dug and lined and shoveled rock into a 2 foot wide strip along each side of our driveway to widen it; we made a planter out front with a rock walking path along it from the driveway to the door; and finally, we put in a sink, toilet, and mirror in the storage room to make it a bathroom. All that from Monday to Friday! On top of that, Brice and I had school and homework and tests! If it wasn't for Brice's mom helping so much with the kids and the house, I don't think it would have been possible. She really went above and beyond the call of duty because she also helped outside and kept us all fed too! She's amazing!I LOVE this planter and walkway (above)! I think it turned out so well. And I can't wait to see flowers in it.

Ryker, true to form, is in the slop from cleaning out the cement mixer. He might have made a nice statue, but we got him out before the cement set...

It was really great to work hard together as a family and see so much progress. What a rewarding week. But oh, so exhausting! Ryker was a great little helper. He was so willing to do whatever he could to help, and was outside with us the whole time. Raelin was very good and kept herself entertained and out of trouble. She is a magnificent artist and created several masterpieces that week. She also got really good at writing her name. She can do it from memory now!

Today is Easter and we have another fabulous tradition: My dad hides eggs for the kids and we all follow them around and take pictures like parents and grandparents are supposed to. But then the real fun begins. My dad also hides eggs for the adults! And he hides them REALLY well! It usually takes us about two hours to find our eggs. We each have ten, and they have our initials on them, so you can't just take the first ten you find and be done. You have to find YOUR ten. Last year, we were down to the last two or three eggs and William (Brice's brother--this is an extended-family-and-friends activity) was getting pretty irritated. He'd had nine of his eggs for the longest time and just couldn't find that last one. So my dad started giving us hints. At some point Angel (William's sweet, gentle, innocent wife) found and egg, looked at it, and said, "oh, not mine!" and THREW it as high up the pine tree as she could. And it stuck. Of course, it was William's! He was mad but laughing at the same time and ended up climbing way up in the tree to get his last egg (I thought I had a picture of William way up in the tree, but I can't find it at the moment. Darn). So this year, William found the first egg (it happened to be mine) and he threw it on the roof! Oh, we were off to a good start!

So the hunt began and we were having a great time. I kept hearing William across the yard bragging about his eight eggs he'd already found, so when I came across one of his just lying on the grass out in plain sight I thought, "That's way too easy," so I picked it up and put it in a hiding place that was WAY better. I hid it in an egg-sized crack by a door and then I covered the opening with grass so you couldn't even tell there was an opening there! Heeheehee! He was the last one to find all his eggs. Again. Oh, good times! We love Easter egg hunts!This picture's kinda fuzzy, but the enthusiasm is there!