Surprise #5

Well for those who don't know, we are planning on a new adventure in parenting as we are currently expecting our special surprise baby #5. We will say that the arrival is sometime during the beginning of September, at first they said my birthday (Sept 2) then after the ultra-sound on Monday they said Aug 26th. I say later, because I seem to like to bake them a little longer; who is to say really, as everything has been completely different this time around.

I have been in denial for some time now, perhaps even 4 months, but we are all warming up to the idea. I thought Eli would take it the hardest, but in fact he has been the most delighted and has certainly prayed the hardest to get a little brother (everyone else was hoping for a girl). He is thrilled that he will not be the baby of the family anymore, and that he will have someone to teach all the important things to, like playing Legos and other such great things. Hopefully he will be able to deal with the inevitable noises that said small child will most certainly make- he has been known to make fairly direct comments to our friends who have babies, like: "Where is that thing you can put in their mouth that will make them be quiet?" He is obviously my child- I don't know where I get my hyper sense of hearing from, but my over zealous use of the "please be quiet" type phrases has rubbed off on him for sure!

So it sure is a good thing we got rid of everything a few years ago! Where would the fun be if we were actually prepared for such an event, right? I am still trying to brace myself for the long hot, muggy summer and the prospect of having Joe out of town for July, August and part of September. We are hoping he can at least come home to be present at the blessed event! What can we say, we have just impeccable timing!

Spring Flings

Well this spring has been quite wonderful, we have a little robin that has built her nest right on our back porch railing. We have watched her from our kitchen window as she built her nest from the ground up, she started on April 5th and took a few days to finish that process.

Eli has been completely enamored by the whole process. When she first laid her eggs around the 11th or 12th there were only 3, then as a surprise for Eli's birthday on the 14th, she laid another one. He just had to call Joe at work to tell him the news!

So along with all of the beautiful spring blossoms (and there is nothing more lovely than the smell of apple blossoms and lilacs permeating the air), and nesting robins, we have been overly occupied with pruning trees, preparing the garden areas, planting 20 new fruit trees and 35 blackberry and raspberry plants/canes. We are preparing for another shipment of berries and other lovelies to go into the yard- we decided an edible landscape was the best way to spend our money- hopefully we can figure out how to care for everything along the way!

Eli loves that he turned 5- he tries to rub it in to any of his friends that are younger than him. He has just been longing for a Darth Vader Lego set- so that was his special gift this year; as I type he is humming Vader's theme song!

He is an exceptionally funny kid, and is always trying to get me to let him do anything that involves electronics, for example every morning he says to me, "Mom, can I go on the playstation? (NO). Can I go on the Wii? (NO). Can I go on the computer? (NO). Can I watch a movie? (NO)!!!!". This is a daily conversation, even a few times a day we might go through this, then he will find my phone, duck into the other room and play something on there.

He has a love of Lego's, just like his dad, and has found that Bella is a great comrade in the Lego realm- they took some time to come into this relationship, but finally they are solid friends and play well at most anything! He likes to play checkers, ride scooters and is working hard on the bike riding. And to his father's happiness, he likes to dig in the dirt!

Joe had his final Organ Concert on Friday the 16th and we were lucky enough to have our sisters and their families come up for the event. What a great weekend, and what a relief to have all of the concerts over with for a while!!

The kids were so delighted to have some time with cousins, they had tents set up in the backyard and we had a great surprise from our friends who found a trampoline for us that their neighbors were getting rid of- oh what joy has returned for our children, they had really missed having one. Uncle Mark took the troops out on a Geocaching expedition which they enjoyed. We loved having extra help in the yard on Saturday, the guys cut down some trees and did some mowing and gathering of branches, while the gals went shopping!! There is just nothing better than having great times with family and friends- we consider ourselves so fortunate!

Eli's best day

So that snow storm came and it put a smile on a little boy's face!

That small person would be my Eli.

Good thing for me, I decided to put everything else aside, and go outside for some awesome bonding with my little guy. We went sledding to start out with, which worked out pretty good just right here by the house. I didn't even have to take him to the back of the property, he was that happy that his mom would come and play with him- Zero complaints. This is one time I can truly say I did exactly the right thing as a mom; those moments sometimes seem too few and far between, but I aced this one.

Joseph just happened to stop by the house on his way to the city (Mission KS organ instillation) when we started sledding, so he had to get in at least 1 run with Eli!

Eli really wanted to build a snow fort, so in between sledding runs we shoveled and piled snow until we made something that symbolized a snow fort. The temperature was perfect to be outside in the snow- sunny and 40's- it really doesn't get better than that. However, the snow was melting at a rapid pace as we were trying frantically to shovel and pile and assemble said fort.

It worked out to stop when we did- 2 1/2 hours later, because he really just wanted to sip hot cocoa, on his sled, in his fort!

Yes, we have weather!!

Well, we have been thinking that there is just nothing like the springtime; one day (like Thursday for example) you have a picnic in the back yard, and enjoy the first color you have seen in months and relish that the umbrellas can protect you from something other than rain, and best of all, having children delighted to do yard work just so they can be outside in all the loveliness!

Luckily the next day we got to enjoy an outing to the city, what a blessed event to get out of the house after a week of bleak cloudy skies, not to mention the fact that the kids have been out of school for Spring Break and were restless- there are only so many chores you can do and computer games you can play without the inevitable gloom setting in.

There were 2 whole days of sunshine- so much it almost hurt your eyes, a torture we were ready and willing to take upon us!

Then the white wickedness came in from the north and shared her fury with us..... (insert sad faces)-

We did end up somehow having the Christmas lights, that we never took down on the front porch, turned on just for effect. Kaija played a few Christmas songs on the piano- by default really, and then on Sunday when church was cancelled and we listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on I-tunes it ran through the gamut of CD's and ended up on the Holiday discs. Oh well, it was kind of like Christmas, Joe and I went out in the storm on Saturday to check out the new Menards store in Sedalia and came home, (after a very lengthy stay there and more supplies for household projects) to put up new light fixtures- well not exactly new, we actually purchased them on amazing clearance 2 or 3 years ago- but we finally have places for them to go!! So add a nice warm fire in the fireplace to that and you have a cozy, cold weekend to add to the nice warm days with sunshine! Aahhh, Springtime!! Now I must venture outside to go sledding with Eli- he begged all day yesterday, so I have to go now before the snow melts. I think he has about got the back porch cleared off from throwing snowballs, first at the windows, then onto the shed. Time to freeze, then we will thaw out this afternoon!

NO REALLY??!!!!! Kaija's Musings

So on Friday we decided to go to Kansas City and just hang....(you know) The weather was glorious..... As we were coming home the temperature dropped about a thousand degrees and some very dark clouds moved on in. (This is where the NO REALLY??!! part comes in) After weeks and weeks and weeks of snow, ice and rain we had 1 day of sunshine and heat. I was superrrrrrrrr tired of the cold and wetness *slow down here* and chores........ *resume desired pace* Just because of that the snow came back to bother me.. After about three inches of snow there was a slight pause then the real stuff came. (oh yeah ;P )By the time it was done snowing we had about 8-10 inches of pure boring whiteness. So absurd. Church was canceled because of it. It (in this case) =The road conditions ETC.... Anyway the snow is melting away now. (I don't even know the point of it coming here.) My mother bets we will have school tomorrow- I 2nd that motion, though I don't really want to say it out loud. School school school school school school school......

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Concert Recap and Time Torture

Well I never actually posted anything about the St. Louis trip and Joe's concert, so I guess that I should at least recap the highlights!

Well, long story shortened, kind of:

After many long years- let's call it 7- of random practice and a few times playing for church, he began practicing in earnest again, spending many long hours at the church and some on the piano here at home. All of this to bring us to this point. He did a trial run of his concert at the church here in the Burg, which went well and we were so grateful for everyone who took time out to come and hear him.

His confidence has skyrocketed and he has been playing better than he ever did in college. Honestly it still boggles my mind that he can actually play all of that. I had the torturous task of turning pages for him, one which I would relinquish to anyone (I tried Kaija but her arms weren't quite long enough, even offered to pay her). Poor guy has to do head flipping gestures to show me when he is ready. I try to keep up, really, he is just playing a thousand miles an hour and I can't read music that quickly- not to mention not knowing which hand is playing which line of music and where, sometimes I can follow the pedal, but alas it is not my forte!!

The concert in St. Louis was wonderful and couldn't have been played for a more grateful audience- they beam about their organ and love the fact that a little bit of Joe is literally there in the organ- as it has a rank of pipes (the green ones- for anyone who remembers our old friend!) from our very large musical instrument that was once housed in our basement!!

Share the wealth, that is what I say!

Anyhow, we spent all of Saturday night, OK from 5:30-10:30, at the church while Joe practiced and set registration. We the people spent our time in the church library (which is their favorite spot in the building) reading books, playing games and drawing. Funny we never actually took a picture at the church, oh well!

Sunday we lucked out and made it to Sacrament Meeting before Joe had to be at Trinity for their service. We dropped him off and spent the next 4 hours driving around St. Louis, looking at great architecture and walking around Forest Park. These pics are from the area around the Korean War Memorial, and the Jewel box. Luckily the weather cooperated for us to be outside!

So that was a great time to spend together- now we just have 1 more concert, same line up, just here in the Burg again at Mike Quimby's church (Joe's boss). That one is coming up on April 16th- then a small break, until he starts on new music for another concert!

And now we are back into the swing of things and experiencing the unfortunate reality that is known as the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. It has struck hard at our house- it is a gift and a blessing that it is Spring Break for us this week. Problem is: we always end up staying up later than usual and getting up later- we follow the Fall pattern each time instead of the Spring option; I mean really, who wants that anyway!!

The kids have been helping out with jobs around the house and any moment that jobs are not looming over their heads (also sometimes when they are), you will find them playing legos or marbles and very often reading a book.

Unfortunately everyday so far has been overcast and a little rainy- I am hoping for nice weather to get us all outside tomorrow!

Concert time

So, it has been a while since I seriously played the organ. I think I got burned out getting my degree at KU. Anyway, I started playing again, when Trinity Episcopal St. Louis- where we had installed a new instrument- asked if I could be on their concert series. This has been a new awakening for me, a journey into unmapped territory. Tonight I give a pre-recital recital at the church. I don't know how many will come, but I am excited.

Linda is busy baking really yummy treats for all those who come. She is awesome. I am pretty Lucky.