Jayne's First Step

...was up not forward. Tuesday I looked over and there she was on stair #2. Caleb, sitting on the landing, stared at her in horror likely thinking, "What?! You've got to be kidding me!" The stairs have been his last refuge from a persistent and pesky baby sister who is now able to follow him ANYWHERE he goes. Since Tuesday Jayne has continued going up and now easily makes it to the landing without help. Time to barricade.

Spring

A couple of weeks ago spring came. And we had some days of truly beautiful weather. I saw my first flower outside, a small purple thing letting me know winter was really gone.

Nate and Evander started to work on the wood pile. Some year maybe we'll actually burn the wood instead of just collecting it. All of our trees survived and are budding, even though the deer took a good deal of bark off our aspen. The rose bushes have leaves and are looking healthier than ever, maybe because they got a whole summer without being transplanted...well, some of them did.

We got a new swing set that I love. I mean that I LOOOOVVVVE. Oh, this summer is going to be amazing!!!

Evander has been reading labels of boxes and has been letting me know all of the toys and games that are not suited for his younger siblings. So, being the responsible older brother he needs to take them away from Caleb and Jayne. "Mom, this car track says for 3+, Caleb is not 3. He is 2. He can't play with it."

And I'm just going to toss in some random other pics because my kids are funny.

Canstruction

A chance for architects, engineers and others to use their creativity and skill to build something with cans. A design/build competition that benefits the Food Bank of Iowa.

Nate's team made a canned peas replica of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world.

Evander came as Superman that day. After he told a woman the name of the building, she asked him, "Are you going to be an architect like your daddy when you grow up?" To which he responded, "No, I'm going to be a construction worker. I will build skyscrapers!" I do not doubt that he will.

Road Trips

I have it in my mind that I can drive from here to Utah with my 3 children whether or not Nate is able to go. In the past two weeks we've done two practice runs.

I realized that Kansas City is close and that 6 years is way too long to have gone without seeing my dear childhood friend Maren. Since last seeing her I have gotten married and we each have 3 more children. So, early one Wednesday morning I packed the sleeping munchkins in the car and headed off. With just one stop to feed them breakfast and get them dressed we made it to Maren's house by 10:45, just shy of 4 hours. Promptly after arriving, Jayne puked her breakfast all over me. So, we spent the day doing just what I would have been doing at home. But this was much better since mundane tasks are always better with friends. At 7 pm, we repacked the car and headed back north, getting home at 10:30 on the dot. Caleb did cry most of the way, but Jayne and Evander slept through it so I consider it a success.

Trip number 2 was to Le Mars, Iowa. We all went up for the groundbreaking of the new St. Joseph's Catholic Church that Nate designed. Jayne must have a weak stomach because she threw up twice on the way up, soaking herself and her car seat in formula and a purple/orange mix of regurgitated baby food. Pretty disgusting. We let her sleep in it for an hour after the second episode. I am so glad I didn't have to clean that mess up on my own.

It was very windy and Caleb doesn't like wind, or the sound of microphones, so he and I spent the ceremony sitting in the old church on a pew enjoying a cookie. The church is 130 years old and in spite of the peeling paint on the ceiling, it is beautiful and a pleasant place to sit. I always enjoy my quiet sit times with Caleb anyway.

Outside, the Bishop of the Sioux City Diocese walked the footprint of the new building sprinkling holy water and blessing it, then all of the parishioners participated in turning the soil. Evander brought up his 1/32 size excavator and used that. Father Kevin noted that Evander's machine was like the excavator sitting there that would start the real digging tomorrow. Evander corrected him and said, "Yeah, but that is a Volvo, mine is a Caterpillar." That boy LOVES his construction vehicles. Recently, someone asked him, "Are you going to be an architect like you're Daddy when you grow up?" To which he responded, "No, I'm going to be a construction worker. I will build skyscrapers!" I do not doubt that he will.

We stopped at the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor for a quasi-lunch and then headed on home. Le Mars is the Ice Cream Capital of the world, apparently. I would have figured that such an amazing dessert would render a larger capital than this small town. But it is great to look at the huge white factory on the hill and know that it's sole purpose is to make ice cream.

So...I feel the kids and I have spent today getting caught up and recuperating from our trip. Nate's working, so I don't know what he feels. But it does make me wonder, could I do a multi-day trip with them? They must learn to road trip if they are truly my children, so I guess we'll just have to do it and see what happens.

Observation: Apparently Catholics are not refreshment ravenous wolves like I often feel we Mormons are. There was a munch and mingle after mass and before the groundbreaking that included punch and an impressive variety of cookies and dessert bars. Three full platters remained untouched during the ceremony. Then afterward, teenagers and kids came up, grabbed a napkin and a dessert and walked away. No hovering over the table or hoarding one of each kind of dessert. It was remarkable.