Spring is Here

Well, It is 4 AM and I am up as usual. I have struggled this pregnancy to sleep much and usually fight getting out of bed. I usually lay there - tossing and turning and watching the clock change every few minutes. But today, I thought I would just get up and do a couple of things. So I am trying to catch up on my blog this morning. It is so quiet this early in the morning and I can actually spend time thinking and pondering the many blessings I have.

I am so grateful for spring. I love the flowers, warm sunshine, being outside, and blue skys. Yesterday was Saturday and we spent the morning cleaning the basement (getting it ready to paint) and afternoon working in the garden. We mostly weeded and at the end we actually got to plant some tomatoes, onions and other veggies. We struggled to get the kids to help, but they did do some and I hope it is something they can appreciate as they look back. We will let Collin and Megan grow some of their own plants and be in charge of weeding some sections of the whole garden. As we were out there working, I have to admit it wasn't fun, but there is a good feeling once you do work hard and can see the results. I wish I could learn the trick of teaching kids the value of work.

I want to catch up on some of the things we have been doing this spring. Back in April, the kids had spring break - just after Easter. It was beautiful and warm on Easter day. Monday we had a picknic at the park and the kids wanted to play in sprinklers. The kids settled for playing with their waterguns in the backyard. By Thursday, we had a huge, wet snowstorm. We enjoyed building the best snowman of the year and eating our peeps in hot cocoa. It made for an interesting spring break. My daffodills were in full bloom this week.

The begining of May the kids got to spend a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Bogue while Ryan and I traveled to some neat places in the East. We went to Detroit and saw a Tigers Game, then drove to Kirtland Ohio, next to Palmyra, NY, and then back to Niagra Falls. It was a fun long weekend getaway for us. I don't know how much Grandma enjoyed being in charge of kids for a long weekend. But she sure had a positive attitude about it. We appreciated all she did to take care of the kids which gave us a few days to spend alone on our trip.

Now we are approaching the end of the school year. Both Collin and Megan earned their "Distinguished Dragon" award - which means they worked hard this year and did well in their classes. To get this they had to pass off some minimum requirements for their grade level and even did some extra credit work. The kids have been working on end-of-the-year programs, along with tests. We just went to Collin's "Rock" Concert - where all the 4th graders sang songs about rocks. It was kind of cool. Megan's program will be next week - along with having her birthday. She is looking forward to the begining of June when she will be baptized.


Caleb is anxious for Collin and Megan to get out of school. He loves it when they are home. Caleb and I spend a lot of time together and he gets rather bored with my entertainment. I think he is enjoying the warm weather as well. His favorite things to do are play with friends, ride bikes, jump on neighbor's trampolines and go to the park. I have started him on a computer preschool program where he gets to learn some of his ABCs and pre - reading skills there. We hope to find a good preschool with other kids in the fall. He still has another year before starting Kindergarten.

Well, Ryan and I are keeping busy trying to get the basement finished and house in order, along with keeping up with the kids and their many needs. We are getting anxious for a new baby to join the family soon. We love our kids but they sure take a lot of energy to raise. The trip we took gave us some valuable time together - to focus on our relationship. I am so grateful for a loving husband to work with in this life. Ryan helps me in so many ways.

Basement Update

It is amazing how fast this project is coming along. We are ready to paint. Here is a picture of the drywall (before mudding). We hope to be done soon.

Project - the Basement

This project started back in January with Ryan just going to Home Depot to grab a few 2x4s and planning to make a closet to enclose the water heater and heater to be a mechanical room. This was an effort to make the basement more safe for kids to play in. After feeling good about some little framing, Ryan decided to make a closet next to the mechanical room, and then even expanded his framing into the main part of the basement. Now - 3 months later, the whole basement is framed and has plumbing in a soon-to-be bathroom, heating vents and some electrical outlets and light fixtures. We still need to get the permit finalized to make this all official, but he has had some great help from neighbors who have finished their own basements and know a lot about what needs to be done. This has kept Ryan busy and has forced us to go through all of our junk in the basement. We are excited to watch the progress and hope to finish it most of the way by summer time.

It's a Girl!

Well, it's a little girl. This is a view of her hand waving "HI" and the profile of her head from our ultrasound. This little thing that has been growing inside me over the past few months has made life a little harder for me. I am finally feeling a lot better after a few months of nausia and tiredness. So far everything seems to be normal and we should have our new baby in July sometime.

We had a good Christmas and New Years, and survived a snowy January and February. The snow has now melted, finally and the grass is coming out of hibernation. I am always glad to start seeing the first signs of spring - buds on the trees, daffodils poking up out of the ground, yellowish/brown grass starting to turn green, and warmer days.