just a lil' ol' facebook status

Status:

I thought for three months now that one of our boxes from Switzerland had been lost (or stolen) on it's way here-- the one with our computer in it, with FIVE YEARS WORTH of PICTURES on it!.!.!. I was sick-- two babies born and growing up--all of the little video clips of my kids for FIVE YEARS, speaking their first words, dancing, playing, swimming in the ocean-- all of our travels in Europe, you get the picture. FIVE YEARS of pictures. *****MY MOM JUST CALLED AND TOLD ME SHE FOUND IT!!!!!!!****** Crying such happy, grateful tears. So happy. Sooooooo happy.

Venice

So-- sad story, short: the box we mailed from Germany to United States which contained our computer never made it here.  Lost, stolen-- I don't know.  All I know is that 5 years worth of pictures is gone just like that.  All our European travels.  Two of my babies.  Video of kids playing, learning to talk, etc., gone.  I am fairly heartbroken.  

WHY didn't we take out the hard drive with my pictures on it and carry it WITH us the entire way?  I do not know (which hard drive, incidentally, I made Brett buy so that we would HAVE an extra copy of everything, but we never got to the point where we put it in a separate, safe place). 

Yes, luckily there is my blog, however the pictures are much MUCH smaller and worse quality.  But better than nothing.  

Holy cow do I ever wish though that I had finished blogging about our trip to Croatia and Venice before getting overwhelmed with moving stuff and putting it on hold.  So much sadness.

Anyway, happily, I did make a video of some of the picture s from Croatia, and I did put up seven pictures of Venice on Facebook.  So I will post them here.  And keep praying that someway, somehow, someday, I will maybe get my pictures back.

Venice.  Seven measly pictures of it.

Tractor, cute kids, trampoline, schedule

So a few more quick catch-up pictures.

Talmage was lseeping like this one night.  Silly boy.

Before Stake Conference last week.  Jethro isn't in the pictures because he was late getting up and then he was doing chicken chores right up until the last minute.

We had a boy and his mother over for Sunday dinner because someone mentioned they knew a kid who spoke German because he is from Germany, so I wanted to have them over for the kids to speak with.  And they were really really nice and they built a tower out of duplos and they spoke German.  Sometimes.  When we reminded them to.

We got a trampoline.  $20 for a 15 ft. trampoline on Craigslist.  Pretty sweet.

Our ducks and chickies are growing.

 I ADORE Talmage's writing!!  This one says "I recycle paper.  I recycle bottles."

And this one is my favorite.  It says, "I drove my truck through the mud."

And on his birthday, Brett bought a tractor because he thinks he is a farmer.

We can mow the lawn with it and grade the road, so it will definitely be handy.

Talmage being cute.

Orrin and Wyatt being such good helpers.

Just for the sake of record-keeping, here is a run-down of the last two weeks' activities:

Monday (13) - ran around picking up chicks and chickens (and one duckling), Brett and I had a meeting with two life insurance reps so we can start being responsible adults

Tuesday - dentist appt for me and Ethne, Brett and Jethro went to something in the evening, I had pack meeting to go to (took the other kids)

Wednesday - Visiting teachers came, Jethro baseball practice, Talmage soccer, Jethro and I optometrist appt.

Thursday - Enrichment

Friday - Jethro baseball practice

Saturday - went and looked at the tractor and bought it, Brett leadership session stake conference, Jethro baseball game, Brett and I adult session stake conference, went out to dinner with a few other couples afterwards
Sunday - Stake Conference, Henri and his mom over for dinner
 Monday - Jethro baseball game
Tuesday - YM and Activity Days
Wednesday - Orientation piano lessons for Hazel and Jethro (luckily I found someone who seems great who is willing to come to my  home to give the lessons), Talmage's last soccer
Thursday - Hazel and I had mother-daughter bookgroup
Saturday - pick up Jethro's glasses, Brett, Hazel, Ethne, Talmage, ward service project all morning, 2:00 nurse came to draw blood, etc. for Brett and I as part of the life insurance process, 5:30 Jethro baseball game

And somewhere in there I planted peas, planted an apple tree, Brett's been working on shelves for a linen closet, taking apart his tractor to fix something on it, building a little PVC pipe chicken run, call about getting different lessons set up, and obviously normal things like getting groceries and cooking and cleaning, and so on.  And also (just to keep things in perspective), I still have several duffle bags of clothes on my floor in my room, waiting to be unpacked and sorted into closets and dressers.  I don't know when (or if?) that will ever happen.

I realize that this is a very normal, every-week type of schedule for a lot of people.  But I am not a lot of people.  And it feels kind of crazy to me.  But it is getting better actually and I am not feeling so crazy.   Only about a month left of school. 

 Okay dokey that is all.

Boy on a bike, planting an orchard, and --you guessed it-- more ducks and chickens

So if I had figured out things a bit better before I got my first chickens, I probably wouldn't have bought any at that first place.  But I didn't know.  And afterwards, I found a place through craigslist that offered all these REALLY REALLY cool breeds that were way more interesting and exciting than what the Agway had offered, and you didn't have to have a minimum number of each breed or anything.  So I already had chickens, but I wanted these new cool ones.  I asked Brett if he thought I should somehow trade in or get rid of some of the ones we already had, and he said no, because nature might do it for us.  Anyway, I got a Barred Rock, a Wyandotte, a Delaware, an Australorp, a Welsummer, a Black Minorca, and a Black East Indies duck.  They were the CUTEST little things EVER!!! 

Man I loooove these little chickies!

They're supposed to be all pullets, but I kind of wish our Welsummer was a rooster, because look how awesome it would look:

Anyway, that little black duckie is fast!  He just takes off whenever we let him out.  I can't wait to see him when he gets older and is green.

Black ducks are so cute!

 

 Also, I went and picked up my pair of Silkies that someone had been holding onto for me while our chicken coop was being built.  Remember how I mentioned how our coop is too small now?  Ooops.

I love watching the ducks running after the boys.

All that fun makes a boy tired.

Cutest picture!!  I love Wolfie in his snow boots.  :)

Wyatt had to walk with Brett with his hand also on the tiller to help him.

Hazel named the Silkies Clarinette and Claude.

I found Wyatt chillaxin' in bed with a book.

And lookin' bad boy in Jethro's baseball helmet on his bike.

Our baby chicks and ducklings live in the basement.  Hazel and Jethro are supposed to be responsible for cleaning and feeding them although I do it quite a bit too.

Digging holes to plant our trees.  Two apple trees (red delicious and honeycrisp), two pears (comice and luscious), and a cherry (stella).  We also have a gala apple waiting to be planted, and it's a little bigger than our other little stick-trees.

Girls playing barbies.

Another day with the ducks.

Wyatt was a menace and kept catching them and plopping them in the water.  Crazy kid.