Spring Has Arrived!

"Fellowship with Firearms" was a couple weekends ago. While the boys went shooting, I set up a Spa Day here at the house for Natasha, Jo, and Katie. This picture cracks me up, because ... at what spa would you find a tub and candles all lit, with a toilet in the middle of it??! LOL! Buuut, spa at home, though certainly not as fancy, it's still wwwonderful, and in some ways even nicer & more comfortable than away from home! :) We did 23 beauty treatments in three hours. It was totally fun, relaxing, refreshing, and in all ways wonderful. :) [I typed up a Spa-at-Home sheet that you can do easily by yourself or with friends! Let me know if you'd like to see it!]



For Christmas Natasha received an Origami book! This came from good friend Jo, gift giver extraordinaire, who knows our children better than they know themselves! I had (I'm ashamed to say) forgotten about the origami book. A couple weeks ago origami animals began appearing all around our house!! This first picture was taken in N's room; the picture frame is another gift from Jo, and it lets N design/draw/color whatever frame she wants, but the frame is a tear-off pad of paper so she can re-design it whenever she wants! How 'bout that!



N has made some origami dudes for Justus's room! On the left is a specialized "Monkey named Jehoshaphat" ... for a different imaginary thing he and N were doing - ha. Why the monkey has antennae I still don't understand. On the right, clearly an owl.



butterfly - beautiful!



cat and chicken!



penguins



snake



swans [Oh, and this picture also shows that we have been enjoying another Shel Silverstein book, as well as a borrowed picture book *FROM* Pompeii, about Pompeii!]



Natasha finally had the opportunity to spend her $15 Kohl's gift card. She was hoping for shoes, but found nothing that would suit her. She settled for sunglasses which, she later said, "make me feel like a Hollywood blond." UUUH-OHHH.

Justus has mastered Battleship, the game. The game has been a fave of N's for a while and she is THRILLED that Justus can now play with her. However, they are sad it's a 2-player game 'cause they want to play it with Jeremy and me too! Jeremy to the rescue!!! He built a spreadsheet that is allowing us to play Battleship as a 4-player game, except we can't use the fun actual ships and little red and white pegs, but the fun is doubled since we get to play it as a family!! [The file is in Excel; if you want it(?!) let me know.]

On the topic of games, I want to share an idea of mine that I think is just smashing! As with most of my ideas, it was born of necessity/laziness. How often does it happen that the kids will play a game, and then put it away, but a day or two later, or a week or a month or ten later, a piece of it will show up in some inexplicable, odd-ball location?? One card, one pick-up stick, one Cootie leg, one marble, one coin, one die, one fake dollar.... I want to keep the piece instead of letting it get lost again or throwing it away, and I want it put away NOW, but 9x/10 I don't have the time/inclination at that moment to go digging through the game closet to find the game it goes in. Solution: Use packing tape to affix a quart-size ziplock bag to the inside of the game closet. Put it low enough that your young ones can easily reach down inside it when need be. Found a lost piece but don't have time to put it away? Slip it in the bag so it's in a safe, convenient place where anyone who wants it can get it, and if at a later date you have the time and desire to put it in its proper home (next time the game's out?), you'll be set.

Here's a funny. During art lessons, at one point Dianne thought it might be best to go ahead and get Justus going on his project before spending quite a lot of time with Natasha on her next step. Justus said, "Oh, go ahead and help Natasha right now if you want! Dianne explained, “Well, if I help Natasha right now you’ll have to wait a while for me.” Justus replied, “That’s okay! I’m perfectly patient!”

Justus has been SSSSSSSSICK the past few days. Temps of 103 and 104, decreased by only 1-2 degrees by the Tylenol/Motrin 2-hr. rotation! Eek! We had him at the doctor's office yesterday. They suspect a virus; prelim. strep test came back negative. Many times over the last few days I have said to Justus, "Once the medicine kicks in you'll feel better." So tonight he asked me, "If the medicine kicks out will you give me more?"

On the topic of Justus's visit to the doctor's office, I will inform y'all, our loved ones, of an upcoming medical journey we may be taking. J's PCP gave us a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist because Justus has had a tummy ache all his life. For years we chalked it up to having a 'temperamental' digestive system like many of the Folding clan, but in the past 5 years it has become increasingly problematic for him/us. All the things we've done trying to help him out with it haven't helped. [I was happy to hear the doctor say yesterday that we've been doing everything right....] Now, the last 2-3 months it has gotten to the point that he complains about it NUMEROUS TIMES EVERY DAY. It is starting to interfere with his daily life, but there are zero symptoms except whatever this 'pain'/'discomfort' is that he reports to us so often, pain that sometimes brings him to tears. The doctor agrees that it might be a food allergy, but since that ID process is long and arduous, he said the first best step is going to be for a PedGI to eliminate a host of conditions/diseases that are more serious and easier to identify, such as Crohn's Disease, Colitis, and Celiac Disease (This sounds most likely to me, though if so it must be a rather mild case because of no diarrhea, no weight loss or failure to thrive, or noticeable fatigue, tho' he does have the mouth ulcers problem which has recently been controlled by PB8.). His pain is not actually at his stomach, but way down low, below his belly button, poor buddy. Please pray?

I planted some seeds in a little greenhouse. It's my first time doing this. It's kind-of exciting. I took a picture but can't share it now because my computer is on the fritz. Use your imagination. :) Big tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, and cosmos flowers. I bought another little greenhouse, too, so inexpensive it is! The seeds I bought to start therein are Shasta Daisies, Impatiens, Sweet Marjoram, Rosemary, and Common Thyme. I like planting stuff and seeing if I can get it to grow. The more I can do in the spring, the better, since I FALL OUT in the summer. Oh, and by the way, mourn with me; Iowa has arrived in tornado season. I guess I thought maybe if I didn't think about it at all the past nine months, maybe it wouldn't come this year...? We've already had one warning and we're not yet out of the first week of April. Bugger.

And now, a quick video of Natasha reading to Charlotte, when we got to baby-sit her last week.

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