President's Day Weekend

Saturday evening Zane, Ethan & I drove to Firth to watch the boys' basketball team play at districts.  When we left, it was snowing, but as we drove farther south, it turned to rain.

We watched the team play, and they lost in the final minute, 41-48.

We stayed to watch the first half of the next game, and then left.  When we walked outside, we saw the biggest snow flakes that I have ever seen!  It was quite beautiful.

But driving it the weather was another story.

(photo from Google)

We were lucky to drive 30 mph.  We finally reached Idaho Falls & stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things. Ethan decided to "let" me drive the rest of the way.

The driving was "fair" when we were in town with all the lights, but as soon as we were on the interstate, we went back to barely being able to see more than a few feet in front of us.

I felt like we were driving at "warp" speed, only going 25-30 mph.  We could have easily been in this scene from "Star Wars" (so I guess that makes Ethan a wookiee like Chewbacca??)

The 65 mile trip (mostly on the interstate) took us almost 3 hours (including the 10 minute stop at Wally World).

I had a prayer in my heart the whole trip--and I made sure that Ethan & Zane were on the look out for the rumble strips to make sure I was still on the road.  I said many prayers of thanksgiving when we finally made it home.

Now onto the rest of the weekend:

Sunday after church, Benjamin decided to get his own snack.

 A whole bag of goldfish crackers into his Buzz Lightyear bowl!

 I guess he was really hungry!

 He thought it was quite funny

 Maybe

 But he was still happy with the 20 goldfish crackers we did let him keep in his bowl.

 Then Emmalee wanted her picture taken--and wanted to see how many funny faces she could make.

 (Notice how good her eyes look!)

 Ethan took a nap Sunday after church.  I'm sure he would have liked a longer nap, but there were too many little children playing around him...

and with his pillow.

Monday was our cleaning day--I was way behind on laundry, so did laundry non-stop.  But I had all the bedding from the beds to wash to try to get rid of all the germs.

And we really thought the boys' room could be cleaned before lunchtime, but for some reason, it is always harder to get them to clean, than it is to clean it myself!  But I had them clean, clean & clean (and they found a few extra loads of laundry in their mess of a room).

 I think they would have liked to clean their room like this,

or this, but they actually did a good job.  And I was able to vacuum the bedrooms--even along the edges.  

So while the rooms aren't as clean as I would like, they are much, much cleaner.  We will work on the rest another weekend!

Ethan's Crazy Adventure

WARNING:  Yucky, icky photos of Ethan's banged up elbow.  If you are squeamish, you might want to close your eyes!

Yesterday (Saturday), Ethan got together with 2 of his friends & they decided to have some "small town fun".

They got a scooter, bike & a big piece of cardboard & see how many crazy things they could video.

So Humpty Dumpty Ethan was on the wall scooter and had a big fall crash and all the kings men his mom couldn't put fix him together again.

I was grateful Rusty was here to help wash off the blood & bandage it up.  I started helping Ethan, but then called Rusty in to help him.  

So here are the pictures of the elbow about 12 hours later:

 this is right on his elbow bone & it was swollen up a lot.

 All I can say is:  yuck & gross!  (and he still would go and "play" with his friends--the fun outweighed the hurt)

This is the elbow tonight--about 36 hours later. 

He'll have a scar.  I just hope he doesn't split it open again and that it doesn't get infected.

Little Bobcat Basketball

I love our Little Bobcat basketball program & the volunteers that run it.

 And the kids are really good with Callum.

 Callum dribbling the ball down court.

Fun, fun times!

Benjamin's faces

Whenever I get the camera out to take a picture, Benjamin wants his picture taken & then he immediately wants to see it on the camera screen.

 So here are some of his funny faces:

  Here's a picture with me:

So Emmalee wanted one with me also:  (I think he's trying to say "cheese")

She's such a cutie--even with those sick eyes!

Emmalee's Sick Eyes

Saturday night, Emmalee started getting goop in & around her eyes.  And since there were a couple of kids at the elementary school that had pink eye, we assumed that's what she had.

 So Sunday we started the eye drops for pink eye (we have some on hand since we live so far from Dr. & pharmacies--and our Dr. prescribed some for us).

 But after all the gunk & redness of the white of her eyes disappeared, the red "raccoon" eyes haven't disappeared.

 In fact, they have gotten worse.  I didn't take a picture today (Tuesday)--these pictures are from Sunday night.  But the redness goes from her eye brows to her cheeks below her nose.

( I told her to look sad in this picture)  So, I am going to call the doctor in the morning to see if I need to take her in.

Except for her eyes bugging her, she has been acting & playing like a well child.  And playing nicely with Benjamin at times, but then also teasing, hitting, wrestling & fighting with him too.  If she wasn't already in bed, I would take a picture of her.  Maybe I'll take one in the morning.

Emmalee's Valentine Treats

Emmalee didn't get to go to school (notice her eyes), but Daddy brought her Valentines home for her.

As she sorted through all of her goodies, she got really excited & said, "Look Brie--I got a Dip Stick!!!"  She l♥ves fun dips dip sticks.

More Valentine Preparations

Continuing from the last post....

 Brienna helped Emmalee get her Valentine cards done, while I hot glued the candy cane hearts.

 I bought these candy canes on clearance about 1 month ago (left over from Christmas).  They were Sponge Bob, Dora, Diego, and a couple of other characters on the wrappers.  But I decided this would make the perfect treat for the elementary-aged children, at a fraction of the price of Valentine candy.  (less than 2 cents per candy cane, so about 4 cents per candy heart)

 Then I rolled out the sugar cookies & the kids took over in cutting them out.

 You can see Emmalee's "sick" eyes.  (And she was really aware of not spreading germs--she had just washed with soap, cut a few out & then said she was done since her eyes were bugging her again.)

 Benjamin took his turn.

 He's asking if he could eat a little bit of the cookie dough.

 Sunday evening, we decorated the cookies (frosting & sprinkles) & divided them into 3 groups:  Emmalee's class, Callum's class (elementary parties) & Brienna wanted to take some to her class.  So I took Brienna's cookies to her at the end of science (about 1:15).  Then it was off to help at Callum's party.  Thankfully I have games that I put together/made when Ethan was in elementary school, so I don't have to re-make (or re-think) games for most parties.

 We played Cupid Bingo, pick the conversation hearts out of the bag of beans (blindfolded), & then worked on a word search while they ate their treats & opened their Valentines.

Benjamin had a blast at the party, too.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!!