City Council, Peaches, and A Splint - Week 55

For Labor Day, we headed to the DeMonbrun home for a meal. We did the Diet Coke and Mentos rockets. The boys really enjoyed it. We really like to be with them.

Underfoot started orchestra. An orchestra isn't currently available at the charter school so after school we take Underfoot to a different elementary school. He is getting to know the student at 2 new schools.

I canned peaches. They were yummy fresh. They are pretty in the jars.

We had one of the tiles pop up from the floor the man who installed the floor took 3 weeks tot get to our house. The repair took him 45 minutes. 
The mom who made the treats for soccer made a real cute. It was worth passing along.

The boys won their game by the way. Underfoot was also playing goalie. He got hit by the ball and kicked in the hand in the same movement. We watched the hand and took him to Urgent Care on Sunday.

He will be splinted for 2 weeks. It doesn't look like it was broken.

The boys beds were finally assembled. They made it in to the room.

The beds were ready for story time.

Sweetheart writes:

On Monday we labored. We cleaned house, organized the garage, and

On Tuesday I attended a town council meeting. I've been working with a group of neighbors to defeat a proposed zoning change on a vacant piece of land 500 feet from our house. It is currently zoned commercial.

The town council meeting started at 7 and ended at 11:30. The public comment session lasted just shy of two hours. In the end, the town council voted unanimously to deny the rezone request.

On Saturday I worked on Wendy's car. It has made an intermittent rattling noise when the air conditioner is running. I took everything apart and removed a couple of twigs that were making the noise.

Late Friday night Wendy put on one more coat of paint on the boys' beds. On Saturday afternoon we assembled their beds. The beds look good. We now have 6 beds in the house. Hotel Locey is open for business.

The Pie Party is 11 November. We hope to see you this year!

Be Well!

*****

 Harvest Moon

Clean Garage and Jilli Visits - Week 54

I was asked to help with Singing Time for Primary. The Primary Program is in 3 weeks. There was a change and instead of leading the music in the Primary room we practiced in the chapel. The children did remarkable for a 2 hour practice. On Wednesday night, I go to go and be the Webelos substitute. This was just the weeks where I got to substitute a lot.

Sweetheart held a community meeting at our home to talk with neighbors about the how to present and pass the word to our community. He and I have talked extensively about this issue. It has kept Lance up at night because he is concerned. His concern is that the developer changes their information each time he looks for information.

Back to School Night was good. We got to meet the teachers for our boys. One of their specials teachers is speaks Spanish. Sweetheart spoke with her. She learned her Spanish and lived in Spain. He came away saying he felt rusty with his language.

 Instead of Scouts this week, the youth had a Temple Trip. Sweetheart went to the temple to help. He enjoyed being in the temple.

The next morning Sweetheart had his silver fillings replaced. Our dentist recommending removing the silver fillings because the fillings expand and contract. This will damage the teeth further unless changed to a newer filling. He called after his appointment and talked funny complaining that his mouth was numb. It was funny for both of us.

Underfoot needed to complete a requirement for Webelos as a service to the community. He went to  trash pick up. Two Webelos showed up and picked up in what Underfoot called the Glass Graveyard. He had so much fun doing it.

The Eckert family helped us so much one year ago we decided to have a celebratory dinner. The house looks so different than a year ago. We were very grateful for their help. We've a few things left to do in the house like put a floor in the Master bedroom and closet, paint the doors upstairs, get a new dishwasher, and then there are big projects to do in a few years.


Jilli returned to visit Missouri again. She did a few home improvement projects there. She had a long layover in Denver. She came and helped us on a project as well - organizing the garage. This was a huge blessing! She coached, directed, and helped work through the the different areas. The work table shrank by 3 1/2 inches. This made such a difference and allowed for us use the table.


Sweetheart wrote the weekly email about his experience with our neighbor. We are happy to report that Mr. Wayne has moved from the ICU to a rehabilitation center. He will be there for a few weeks and then return home. The miracle is that only about 5-10% survive.

Be Well.

The Great American Eclipse - Week 53

The Great American Eclipse happened on August 21. Sweetheart found the coordinates for where the center line would be.

We got up early and drove to a field. It rained really hard and then cleared up. We saw the eclipse, and it was awesome! The temperature dropped. We saw fireworks in the middle of the day. The crickets chirruped. The asphalt on the freeway cooled down and gave off an odor.

Sweetheart saw the first part of the eclipse, and we all put our glasses on and watched and watched then the clouds rolled in and covered the sun. We saw the eclipse through the clouds.

Miss Sunshine Rae yelled at one point, "I see the diamond ring." That's very important to a 6 year old.

When the eclipse had finished we jumped in our car and started the trip back. The traffic was smooth sailing until we hit the Kansas border. There was an accident that had a car jackknife with a semi-truck just before the toll booth in Kansas. It stopped all traffic, and we snailed along for about an hour.

We stopped for supper at Wilson, Kansas. It has the Largest Czeck Egg.

We ate at Grandma's Restaurant that serves Czech food. They are also a soda fountain, but no sodas were consumed there. We made it back home around 1 am. The next morning Jilli, Dark Hair, and Blondie Bear boarded a plane and returned to Idaho. The whirlwind trip was so much fun!

Sweetheart organized a group of neighbors to oppose a zoning change for a piece of property in our neighborhood. The zoning meeting happened this last week. The zoning committee recommended that the property zoning changed. Generally in our area when a zoning recommendation is given to the city council follows that recommendation. Sweetheart is hopeful that a neighborhood appeal to the city council will influence them.

I returned to the dermatologist for a follow up on my back. I have a clean bill of health, but I also scar with what's called a keloid scarring which is a raised scar tissue. I have read a bit about this type of scarring that recommends to not get piercings or tattoos.


Soccer has started again. The miracle is that the boys are on the same team, practicing at the same time, and games at the same time. This is such a blessing for our family. The boys are really happy to play on the same team.

*****

 Mr. Tiger at church snacking

 A good Sunday nap does a lot of us good.

Grateful for Dark Hair. She's the best!

 Eclipse Sun

 Wilson, Kansas

Wilson, Kansas

One Year - Missouri - Week 52

The boys started school full day. They were really happy to get out of the car together each day and be picked up each day. We spend less time in the morning and afternoon with carpooling and messing around before and after school like 1.5 hours. The boys started full day school this week.


The library hosts a free art class once a month. We signed up and took 2 friends with us. They made galaxies in a bottle. With the upcoming eclipse, this was a good preparation for them to learn a little more about the eclipse.

Hurricane's front teeth have been touching. After consulting with the dentist, we started with a plastic retainer last fall. It didn't move this teeth enough to make a difference. So we started with the next step, and he was fitted for a pallet expander.

The hope is that it will be 8 weeks with 4 weeks to stabilize his mouth.

The Relief Society hosted a Favorite Things evening. The idea is to bring 1-3 things that are your favorite. I brought Sharpie markers. I love them. They are in my purse. It's a go to for me.

The school takes pictures the first week they are they are back. I got to volunteer. There was a little disorganization, and I got the students to get organized. One of the office ladies asked if I worked with teenagers. It was fun to work at the school. I really like picture day.

I joined a book club and picked the summer book for Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. As the summer went along, the book changed to The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The ladies came and we had a great discussion. We had a rainbow fruit plate and a yellow brick road with crackers (cheese and crackers). We are reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

We celebrated one year in Colorado. We took a family selfie before we left for school and work.

It was a momentous day. We are more settled into our house. We still have to put flooring in our Master bedroom and closet and then the work outside will begin with a garden, trees, and other fun surprises.

We made arrangements to go and visit my sister and her family for the eclipse. As the plan came together, my Mom and nieces came to join us.

We checked the boys out of school early and started the drive to Missouri.

We stopped 1/2 way through Kansas at a soda fountain.

The place was a lot of fun. The fountain was made out of wood and was beautiful. We got to Katie and Shaun's house real late.

The next day we played at Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. It was blast.

Later that night we went to a Royals game.

The boys really enjoyed themselves.

*****

This was the art project from the previous month.

It was a diorama that the boys made from a story they had been reading.

We took a picture because it was time to move on to the next thing.

Art Stop Diorama

This was our supper one night.

It was pretty and yummy.

This grasshopper was just hanging out.

It didn't startle but posed for his picture.

One year selfie before school

Sunflower on the border of Colorado and Kansas

Soda Fountain in Kansas

  Soda Fountain in Kansas

 Royals Game

 Worlds of Fun

  Worlds of Fun