Pictures from Easter weekend

Scott and his great grandpa B.










Playing on Miranda's fun toy.

Our little Easter bunny

ER, company & too much fun for the weekend!

I tried to do the strike out font like fantastagirl does but it didn't work for me. Basically I showed the list of things that I did and didn't get accomplished over the weekend. Below is the reasons why:

Between the time I made this list on got home, I had 20 more things on it. I received a call that my cousin was coming to town. I knew that he was coming but it just hadn’t clicked before. All of a sudden it hit me, MY COUSIN IS COMING and MY HOUSE IS A PIT! So, I took Thursday off to get my house picked up. It was Dr. Honey’s half day at work so I had plans for him to do the boy chores. Dr. Honey came home feeling sick. He was hoping a nap would make things all better. Three hours later he informed me that he wouldn’t be going to supper, to bible study or anywhere else. The poor thing stayed in bed the rest of the evening. I went over to my folks to have supper and visit for a little while. Went back home to find a sick hubby. He was up during the night every hour visiting the porcelain king. Each time I was awake with him and our small fry. At 4am, he was not happy. Small fry was also awake and crying. Got the little guy calmed down and back to sleep and went back to bed. Chatted with Ryan for a few minutes before deciding to head to the ER. With child in hand (and a few diapers), we headed to the big town down the road. From 530 to 815 we sat in the ER. They ran lots of tests on Ryan, gave him some fluids, played with my kiddo and eventually sent us home. I stopped at the grocery store and got him some juice, soup and popscicles. I ended up staying home with him for the day. I piddled around the house (doing his boy chores) while he tried to rest and maintain hydration.
That night my cousin was coming to town for the weekend (which is a big deal when you’re 2,200 miles from where you were raised). Just before jumping in the shower, I checked on Ryan again. He wasn’t feeling good. And now he had the chills, was light headed, not holding down his liquids and feeling horrible. Called the doctor like we were advised to do in that situation and they thought he should come back in. I headed for a quick shower. Before I could even get the towel off my hair, Ryan said “let’s go”. I picked up the kid, his diaper bag, brushed out my hair and headed back to the big town. This meant that I wouldn’t be hanging out with my cousin at my mom’s house later on. So, I called my mom and let her know that we were headed back to the hospital and I wouldn’t be there for supper. We arrived at the ER for the 2nd time and once again my honey was dehydrated. After poking him a few more times, they left him alone for a while and he fell asleep. My small fry was in a good mood and making lots of noise so I went out to the waiting room. Next thing I knew they were wheeling my hubby past me to admit him to the hospital and take him upstairs. He got to have a pajama party with the nursing staff. Not too long after we got upstairs my folks met us there with my cousin to pick up Scott and take him so that I could attend to my honey without getting my kid sick. It was nice to visit with my cousin AND to eat some awesome enchilada casserole that my mom brought. It was now almost 9pm, I think, and I was super hungry. At 10pm, I went home and crawled in my own bed for some shut-eye.
The next morning, the doctor let him have some liquids. After keeping those down, he discharged Ryan at 11am. We headed home. In the mean time, my mom, Ralph and cousin were enjoying my kid and running around checking out the local sites like Pike’s Peak and visiting the big stores like Cabelas. Ryan was starting to feel a bit better by now and was even getting sassy with me. I was having a hard time encouraging and very stubborn and independent person to drink plenty of fluids. Saturday afternoon my family came over. I made shrimp scampi for supper while attending to a sick hubby upstairs. He still was feeling bad, running to the toilet and didn’t have any energy. Finally though he ate some food – he requested blueberry muffins.
Sunday was much the same although he was moving around a little. I left him home and went to church. After church I hung out with my family at mom’s house. Then I went home very briefly to check on hubby before heading back out the door to go fishing. We headed to a nice little stream to do some trout fishing. It was feeding time for the fish and we were catching trout every time we put the line out. It was really fun. They were all small fish so we through them back each time. Mom had a nice one though. Jimmy says it was 14” but it got off the hook at the surface of the water. We had bent the barb back on the hook to make it easier to get the fish off which made it easier for the big ones to escape as well. Three hours and two dozen worms later we headed back to town.

So, long story short, I didn’t have the weekend to get to my list of things. I had company and a sick husband instead. Maybe this week. I really need to get on the ball though. In other news… one of my buddies and his wife are expecting a baby in October. I won’t name names till it is super public information but until then a big congrats to THEM. And yesterday one of my co-workers (whose daughter works with my husband and he is there vet and we live in the same community) went into a diabetic coma. Good thing that the kids had a short day at school and Matthew was home early to find her. That could have been a super scary deal. That’s it for now. Still hoping to get some Easter pics up. I want to remove the red-eye first.

Pictures

I have downloaded my camera from Easter BUT my honey snagged it this morning. I hope to have it tomorrow to load some pictures. For now, here are a few non-Easter pictures of my small fry:




This is one from a while back that I was having fun playing with the contrast of colors. I wish I would have left his bright blue eyes but I thought about it too late.







I haven't quite finished playing with the color contrast on this one. It's cute though. We bought small fry his first soccer ball for Easter. We also bought him a toy TV remote. So, he got a gift that represents his mom and one that represents his dad and we didn't even plan it that way.

Things to Do

1. Put away clean dishes
2. Sweep and mop filthly floor in kitchen
2.5 Clean out refrigerator
3. Laundry (this one is kept up)
4. Remove wax from table cloth from Valentine's
5. Dust, Sweep and Vacuum living rooms
6. Run on treadmill or outside
7. Clean off desk
8. Vacuum stairs
9. Clean wood floors in upstairs bedrooms
10. Clean asian beetles out of window sills
11. Nag husband to clean his bathroom
12. Condition leather coat
13. Take hand-me-downs to Shepard's
14. Clean closet
15. Spray pasture to kill grass
16. Till killed grass for new garden spot
17. Buy garden plants
18. Do soil test for septic system
19. Get permit from county for septic system
20. Call one-call for septic system
21. Get loan from bank for septic system
22. Finish potting shed
23. Pot plants
24. Fix the goats zip lines
25. Bathe and trim Keller
26. Get baby bath out of attick for mom
27. Get other baby stuff out for Tera

This is why I need some time off. And these are the things I can come up with off the top of my head! I need some sanity days. And I just asked my boss this morning for 2 days off next week. Take a guess at what I'll get accomplished this weekend and 2 days next week.

Life

It's been a rough week which is why I haven't written. I love to write when things are going well but I don't like to share the bad things and nag on people. So, I've been pretty quiet about things. But, today I'm thinking I'll write some things down:

Last weekend I spent Saturday with Michelle and my kiddo shopping in Waterloo. It was a good day, even though I spent major bucks. We had a good time together and it was nice to chat. We shopped for a friend who we through a pantry shower for. It was hard to buy groceries when we weren't sure what they liked. But, it was fun to be able to do for others. Wednesday night after work, I took all the pantry items over to the house, gave her a home-made card with some extra cash in it and visited. I was so excited to see her appreciation - for her to know that her church family loves and missed her.

Tuesday was also a hard day at the office. I've been in this mood where I hate work. I do enjoy my job, but I hate that it takes away from me being at home to be the full-time wife and mom that I need to be. Anyway, so Tuesday morning I come in late. And there was a client on the phone for me. Which was an ongoing thing from Monday. I expressed my irritation with the client not following the protocol that I gave him. And so, in a very irritated manner, I told my boss that he could give the information if he wanted to. That I wasn't willing to lose my job over it being it's against the law. Well, that was the first time in almost 4 years that I've seen my boss mad. Following the phone call, I chatted with my boss and we were in disagreement on how we could provide information to farm operators. He made a call to his supervisor who agreed with my boss. I couldn't believe it, I know what the law says. I've trained my area on this very subject and yet no one seems to remember, or care, about it. So, it wasn't good that I didn't respect my boss in an appropriate manner.

My honey was gone Tuesday and most of Wednesday. Usually we have one night together at home which is Tuesday. So, I was missing my honey this week.

Bad mood mom. I sat in my house and and felt completely overwhelmed - my house is filthy (according to my standards), I haven't read the mail in over a month (honey has paid the bills), I haven't completed the soil tests for my new septic system, blah, blah, blah. I figured out that I'm home 2.5 hours a night before I go to bed. In that short time, I'm supposed to be a full time wife, mom and maid. It just isn't working and I'm stressed to the max. I know my husband loves me but I begin to question that a little. I know that I don't get to sit and relax or do the things I want because I don't have the time. And it bothers me so much that he takes the time to sit, relax and watch tv when trash needs to be taken out, recycles need to be dealt with, etc. My mind wonders why he doesn't do those things to help me out when he KNOWS that a clean house equals sanity for me. So, that's been adding to the stress.

Last night was another fun night though. See, I'm having a good time being out and doing things for others which means I have no time for myself or my "to do list" at home. Anyway, last night we visited Hugo and Gladys. Hugo spoke in our wedding and is such a neat guy. His wife is adorable and I love to give her hugs. Six of us from our small group went over there and visited, listened to Hugo sing, shared stories, sang hymns together and ate cake. H&G are 92 years old and both have walkers now. They don't get to church hardly ever and so it was a blessing for us and for them to visit with them.

Today we head to PC for the weekend. We hope to hang out with some of Ryan's childhood friends and then spend Easter with Ryan's grandparents. I'm looking forward to a weekend off even though it will be a busy one. Next week we get our new help at the office and after he's here, I'm hoping to take a few days off to get things in order at home.

Christ died a brutal death on a cross for you and me, that's why we call it Good Friday. Three days later he rose from the dead, we celebrate Easter that Sunday. I hope you appreciate that Christ died for your sins, that He paid the price for you, as you celebrate Easter.

Story of the Day - not a fun one either!

Got pretty scared last night. Scott, the middle of the night, was fussing. Most the time, I'll let him fuss for a while to see if he'll go back to sleep. Last night I checked on him right away for some reason. Walked into his room and it was smoke-filled. Thought I was seeing things in my half-awake state. Nope, it was smoke in his room. He has a vaporizer for his cold/congestion. Water must have caused a short or something because there was smoke in there. I unplugged it, left the door open and took my kid to my room. I had Ryan go in to make sure I wasn't imagining things and yep, it was smoky. Not full of smoke like a fire, but enough to scare me. We close his door to keep the humidity in his room so the smoke wasn't able to escape either. If I would have waited, he could have very well passed out and I may have just thought he fell asleep. It was scary. Praise God for the prompting to check on him right away last night!!! Scott-R, I love you son!

Story of the Day

[from monday]
On my way home, just a few miles up the road, I noticed something abnormal. In a newly terraced field of Kevin's (my office did the work), I saw heifers. Now, this field doesn't have fences so it didn't make sense for animals to be out there. Sometimes, people put up a single strand of hot wire for short term. I slowed down to look for that knowing that animals shouldn't be grazing in new terraces. My immediate thought was that they belonged to Dean. [I wouldn't typically know any of these people, but I did the cost share paperwork for Kevin's terraces and Dean is a neighbor to some of my friends]. I tried calling my friend to have them alert Dean. But there was no answer, so I turned down the gravel road to Dean's house. At this point the cattle appeared to have just crossed the gravel into the open field. As I drove, I noticed the top wire was down on Dean's fence. But, sometimes those fences are 30 years old and the top wire has been down for 20 of those years. I knocked at the door and was greeted by a confused Joanne. I aked her if they were grazing cattle in the field up the road and she confirmed that. I alerted her that the cattle were in Kevin's new terraced field and got back in my car. As I headed back towards the blacktop, I drove slow enough to assure that I didn't hit a cow or heifer in the road. By this time (less than 5 minutes later), the dairy animals had headed quite a way down the field. In this one big field, there is one long strip of grass. The cattle were biting on the tiny bit of green grass that is there. I imagine that Dean had quite the time getting his cattle rounded up and back into his own farm. I would've offerred some help except my mom was sick and was eager for me to pick up my child since I had already stayed 45 minutes late at work. Anyway, it was quite the entertaining story of the day - for me at least.

[little guy's attitude]
It has been bad this week. He goes from angel to heathen real quick. He's been throwing quite the little fits. I thought it was because he was sick but they're still happening. Maybe it's because he's teething and wants his mommy to hold him. I'm trying to teach him that bad behavior will not be accepted and that he won't get away with those little fits at our house. I don't like disciplining him but he needs it.

Great Photo Op

I just had to share a photo of the Buitenwerf siblings: Alise, Roy and Reva. They live spread out in the US but managed to get together recently in AZ. This picture is a treasure!
Pictured below would be our little guy's: Great, Great Aunt Alise, Great Grandpa & Great Grandma and Great, Great Aunt Reva

Pictures

RJ - my little niece. She's so cute here and I love her smile so I wanted to share it.

Have I added this picture before? It was a while back. Scott was playing with Ryan's [wrapped] cigar.

Scott sporting his ISU jersey while taking a break from his favorite toy.

Scott eating prunes. He seems to like anything he can get in his mouth with the exception of peaches so far.

Our small fry. Caught this cute picture yesterday when Scott was relaxing on the couch with his dad. He is growing so fast.