Welome May!

Yay for May!!
For the past two months I've been simplifying, organizing, and cleaning out bedrooms/closets, the hall closets, clothes drawers, bathroom cabinets and drawers, bookshelves, and the kitchen cabinets.  I have roughly four to five garbage bags full of "stuff" to donate. I generally purge fairly frequently, and I was amazed at what I let go of this time around. It always feels so freeing.  I was thinking about what I could work on next. I ended up organizing my earrings according to style and size, and I got rid of some.

Rhaevyn and Elsa made two pairs of earrings for me this past week.

Aeva is learning to crochet, and I forgot to add this painted rock of hers in the last post.

Meg is working on her words....reading and writing them. I've learned to be patient as usually with writing them comes a work of art 😊

This week Meg went out and helped Chris work on his bug:

Thursday night, at 10 pm, as I was making my way from the kitchen and living room to my room, locking up windows and doors, and tucking in Meg, I peaked out to make sure the garage door had been closed. It had been, and I went to close the door from the laundry room that goes out to the garage when a sound caught my ear. I yanked the door open again, turned on the light, and the sound mixed with the sight suddenly registered. There was water all over the floor!! Water was cascading at a good volume and rate out of the hot water heater !!!😨 We were a little perplexed because this water heater is not very old. Our first one lasted at least 18 years. This one has only lasted about 6 or 7 years.
The water had gotten into the oil drain container that Chris uses when he changes the oil in the cars. The garage floor looked like the Exxon Valdez disaster.
So many things to be thankful for in that moment................
#1: The water  heater is in the garage and not the house.
#2: I had recently gone through all the bath towels that looked rather like rags (they were older than Myles) and given them to Chris for the garage, which could be used to soak up the mess.
#3: Our neighbor two + years ago gave us a whole box of doggy wee wee pads (I didn't know when we would ever use them), and they worked great to soak up the mess too.
#4:  Chris was home when it  happened.
#5: The mess didn't make it down to the end of the driveway.

It all could have gone so differently. I had Rhaevyn get Chris up, and I pulled the car out of the garage and rolled up my pajamas. Chris and I got to work on laying down wee wee pads and towels to contain the oil and water. Myles was good to stay up and get us anything else we needed for the cleanup. We got everything settled in the garage around 11:30 pm. I was tuckered out and ready for bed.

I got up early the next morning to boil water in three stock pots plus two big glass measuring cups in order to get ready for the day. First, I washed my face, which was a little difficult. Trying to poor water using one hand and rinsing using the other hand didn't prove to be too successful. Then I washed my hair leaning over the bathtub. Rhaevyn was so good to help me with this part. Lastly, I tried a makeshift shower using Rubbermaid pitchers. Rhaevyn, again, was so helpful. She kept refilling the pitchers with hot water for me.
That was fun!!! I realized that I am so very thankful that I didn't live in the pioneer times. I can see why they only washed once a week or even once a month. It's a lot of work to get hot water ready for one person. I can't imagine filling a bathtub up for seven people plus have extra to rinse hair.

Friday after work Chris met a friend from church at a Home Depot in Portland. They brought  home a new water heater and installed that. Then Chris decided it would be best to also replace the expansion tank because that  had never been replaced. Now we have a new water heater. I was never so happy to be able to do dishes and laundry!! Chris just has to put one more strap on because the second strap wouldn't fit around the new water heater.
We are so blessed to have such a good friend who was willing to come help us out 😊

Myles's fish tank is really coming along, and now he is starting to think about what he wants, and can afford, to add to it. His filtration system is now set up in the garage.

Rhaevyn painted my nails Friday night. The color is so cheery!!

I've started Algebra I. I've taught three kids pre-algebra and parts of Algebra I, but I have never taken it, except for that one week at the beginning of my Senior year. I learned that I didn't need to have it in order to graduate. Since I really struggled with higher math, I dropped it like a hot potato. Now, I've decided, I'm going to actually sit down and learn it.

And now it's time to say goodbye to this family car. It's been wonderful to have. I've loved driving it. It's probably my most favorite vehicle we've owned. We just aren't sure it's worth holding onto for the two times a year we use it. Having it just sit for long stretches is not helping to keep it in good running condition. It would be a great time to drive it, with gas being such a great price, except now there really isn't anywhere to go since everything is closed down.

Elsa learned a new step for the sword dance. Her teacher rattled off the first six beats and wanted Elsa to just do that part, except Elsa just kept going. Her teacher was completely amazed that she had learned it just by watching other dancers. She was also amazed that she did the whole step without error, as I guess a lot of students get mixed up on the turn portion. That made Elsa feel really good. Elsa is also starting to  really work on high-cut leaps, at least that is what I think they are called.

And that is all for now. Farewell until next time 😀

I'm Late, I'm Late with a New Post

 Greetings!

 
 I'm gobsmacked at how long it's been since I posted!! I was flabbergasted when I realized that, while I thought I had posted events that took place at the beginning of April, I had not posted anything from April at all.

Sigh.................
Well, time to stop lollygagging and hop to it then!
So, here's a minimalistic view of what our April has looked like:

 

Rhaevyn has started to make her own postcards using her watercolors. I think they are beautiful. She posts them on Facebook, and the first person to respond is who she mails it to. She just asks for a letter or postcard in return. If you want one, and are not on Facebook, let me know. She'd be happy to paint one for you and mail it off. These are the ones she's done so far:

 

Rhaevyn has also been baking for us. It's hard to resist any of her baking creations because they are so scrumptious!

Aeva has been painting rocks. I don't even know how she does such little lighthouses....

 

We got our garden going, but I think we are actually going to need a few more garden boxes with all the starts we have. We are growing corn, radishes, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, carving and baking pumpkins, Walla Walla onions, and butternut squash. I hope they all survive. I'm sure with Rhaevyn and Myles's green thumbs they have a good chance. Rhaevyn wins for the prettiest garden with her herbs and flowers.

Rhaevyn and Myles keep bringing me little bouquets from the flowers growing outside.

 Aeva was playing dress up with the two little girls. They were really enjoying that!

 Of course, what's a post without some pictures of Molly?

 

 We have bunnies that love to hang out in our yard. One has a specific spot it sits in everyday and has left an indentation to mark its spot. Usually in the morning we see two sleeping under the trampoline. I took this one morning when I came out the door for my morning walk.

 Silly pictures:
Rhaevyn had put some red lipstick on and came up and gave me a kiss. Then she darted away giggling.

 One of our treats from General Conference weekend was red licorice ropes...

 

 Aeva let  Meg play with her dinosaurs, and she spent hours happily entertaining herself:

 We celebrated two birthdays this month. It would have been easier to combine the two, but having two separate birthday celebrations, actually, was best. 

Elsa wanted strawberries, whipped cream, and angel food cake for her birthday dessert. She got her free birthday burger from Red Robin, and we all ordered kids meals because the restaurant was running a $1.99  special. She also wanted us all to play the Xbox and Kinnect that Ben and Stacey had given us. We had a lot of fun, and there were a lot of laughs.

 

 

Aeva painted Elsa's nails for her birthday. Elsa just thought that was really awesome! Besides that, the only other presents she got were from Oma and Opa, and a violin peg cover crocheted by Rhaevyn (which was Toothless the dragon). We wanted to "do" something rather than "get" her something. So, we'll have to wait for things with the virus to settle down.

 

 

Rhaevyn wanted a Boston creme cake from Chuck's bakery. They happened to have two left when we ventured out to the store. She wanted to go to Lewisville Park for her birthday. We had gorgeous weather, and we had a nice relaxing time spent there.

 

 Myles building a rock dam.

 

 

 

 

 This last video is of birds swooping down and skimming the top of the river. I think maybe they were catching bugs. I just loved watching them.

 

Mr. Myles and Chris have been busy getting the aquarium set up and going. Myles has been thinking about what he may want to do once he finishes high school. So many different ideas and directions he could go. He thinks he'd like to go into a trade. Chris gave him a  plumbing job a couple of weeks ago. We had a clogged sink and he let Myles take care of it............taking the pipes apart and cleaning it out.

 

 

Elsa participated in a Mass Highland Fling. Dancers in the Pacific Northwest took part. It was kind of fun. This is the link to watch the video. See if you can spot her.....

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2874015872666135&external_log_id=ed94a9d35a37e2ff49a54f33aa0597bf&q=mass%20highland%20fling


All the games/competitions have been canceled, at least until the fall. We aren't sure if, in the end, all competitions will be cancelled for the entire year. The Tacoma games will be hosting a virtual mini games, which Elsa is wanting to participate in. We will pass along the link for that once it is posted online. It will be like getting to experience the music, athletics, and dancing all from the comfort of your own home😀

We hope that you are all staying safe and healthy, and bid you farewell until the next post!