You Just Do What You Gotta Do

In this case, it's baseball in the snow. It was close to 50 degrees when I took this picture this morning. Unfortunately, the boys still had to wear snowpants, mitts, and boots to keep them from getting drenched.

Easter Eggs

Kendall took great pride in his multicolored egg, as evidenced by this photo snapped by he himself.

I thought we were having fun...

Easter morning we skipped various activities. Saturday night we didn't get back from fishing until after 9:00. Evan was still sick and unfortunately the fishing outing wasn't quality family time. (Grouchy Mom and Dad.) We had lunch plans, Kendall had to sleep in the afternoon, we had church in the evening, and Kendall worked at night. So we knew that if we wanted family time we had to give something up. We gave up the sunrise service, community pancake breakfast, and Sunday School. We had another invitation for the morning too. Like a friend of mine said, "In Red Lake it's feast or famine." This was a feast weekend, but we had to opt out of part of it.

Anyway, Kendall and I put together Easter baskets for the boys and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of Easter eggs and rolls. It was time well-spent.

Ice Fishing

After cinnamon rolls, we went ice-fishing. We took 2 of Eli's friends along. Other than one stepping in a hole and sinking up to his thigh, it was uneventful. He was a very good sport about it. It was warm enough that he took off his snowpants and we rung them out, then let them dry a bit before putting them back on. And, though I can get really freaked out if I let my mind wander about the ice holes, they really are too small for a kid to fall through.
Catching a fish!

Eli and Logan.

Evan was still sick, but very diligent in watching his hole.

Work and Cinnamon Rolls

Kendall has been working lots of hours again. We’re all tired of it, but very grateful for the income. He’s been dividing his time between the hospital and the nursing home. We looked at the calendar and discovered why he’s so tired: By the time we leave for Stormer Lake Wednesday afternoon, he will have been at work 21 out of 22 calendar days. (That’s 17 shifts- most of them 12 hours.)

Thursday night was one of those rare nights that we actually were in bed at the same time. During the night Evan started crying so I went to help him. When I got back to bed Kendall asked me, “What did Evelyn want?”
“What?” I asked. I was confused because we don’t have a child named Evelyn.
“What did Evelyn want? Whose bell was ringing?” Hmm…

I’ll tell a couple more stories about Kendall since I can’t get him to be a guest author on the blog. He told me that one of the advantages of being a male nurse is the relationship he can have with the male nursing home residents. There’s not the tension of them flirting or being inappropriate. There is one gruff old man that has taken a liking to Kendall. One night as Kendall left his room, this man called out after him, “I love you.” I can just imagine the place Kendall has in these old people’s hearts. He can sit and talk hockey or fishing with the men and the women can mother him.

Although… Kendall did report his first proposition from a patient. A woman in her 90s was having heel pain. Kendall told her to take a seat and he would come look at it. However, one thing led to another and Kendall was completely sidetracked. By the time he got back to her, she was already in bed. The two of them decided that he would check her heel the next day. As he moved from her bedside, she said, “Give me a kiss.”
Kendall said, “Sorry, I only kiss my wife.”
The woman quickly apologized, “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were married!”

Anyway, I thought that Kendall deserved a reward for all of his hard work over the past couple weeks. So while he slept Saturday morning, the boys and I made cinnamon rolls. The boys helped me, which normally I’m not too good at- I get too grouchy when flour and sugar are flying everywhere. But it went fairly well and I took pictures to document it. (Thankfully, there is no sound with the pictures because I have to admit that I did get a little bit grouchy.)





Evan was sick this weekend. Beater-licking time was right after naptime. Evan wanted his beater, but took his time to work up the energy to do the licking part.

Good Try

Evan and Eli put forth a valiant effort at melting the snow with hot water. Unfortunately, all of their work didn't make much of a dent in the frozen mountains. It did make a very wet entryway though.

snow.

This afternoon was another warm one, although not as sunny. Eli’s greeting was one of disbelief when I picked him up at school: “Why are you wearing a sweatshirt?!”

However, as I sat down for supper with the boys something outside the window caught my eye. Nooo!!! Snow! And since I started talking angrily about how I was going to punch every single snowflake in the noggin (now we know where my boys get their violent tendencies), I suppose the ensuing conversation is my fault. Good thing Kendall was at work- he would have just been shaking his head at us.

We ranted and raved against the snow for awhile, telling it to go back up to the clouds. I proposed that we take a heater outside to melt all the snow. Eli pointed out the preposterousness of this idea- there is no electricity outside, after all.

Then Evan said, “We could melt ourselves! Then go to the clouds. Then go to Indiana faster!”

Eli had an even better idea: “Or we could go to Mexico and get some really hot sand to throw at the snow!”

The conversation continued to deteriorate as evidenced by the following:

Eli (to the snow): Don’t make me fart on you every day when I need to fart!

Evan (also to the snow): Don’t make me poop on you every day when I need to poop and pee on you! Ha ha ha! (low and menacing)

Eli: Pee would make yellow ice. That would be creative!

Eli would like me to add that he also wanted to throw hot water on the snow. (Not to burst any little bubbles, but I do believe that was my idea first.) Evan adds that we could have a fire every day to burn the snow every day.

Ah yes, the possibilities are endless.

P.S. I will apologize in advance for centering every entry on the weather. It’s sort of an obsession right now. Supposedly this too shall pass.

Small Patches of Hope

I would just like to announce that according to weather.com, the current temperature is 43! I don't normally check Goshen's weather (doesn't seem healthy for my psyche), but I did check just now and we are 3 degrees warmer! We've still got mounds of snow to get through, but the sun is on our side. Today we went for a long walk downtown. It was so warm. The boys had fun splashing in the puddles. And judging by all the snow we have, I think we will have puddles for a long, long time.

Eli is tired of winter. He often talks about it and says that he wishes it was summer. So we rejoice in the little things that show winter will someday end.

Today we were outside and Evan said, "Mom! Look!" I looked to see what was so exciting. He was pointing to the grass that was now visible. It surprised me that even he noticed the difference. How many months has it been since we saw the grass? It's lovely! To celebrate, Evan posed for a photo in his own little patch of hope.


Our roof still has a heavy layer of snow. The sun is chipping away at it every day, so we always have lots of drips and icicles to walk through on our way out the door. This afternoon on his way in the house Evan paused for a refreshing drink.