Finally a Weekend at Home

This is the first weekend in the past three weeks that we didn't put 700 miles on the Subaru. That is, it's the first weekend that we haven't had things to do out-of-town. First it was a trip north to Nebraska to retrieve the Land Cruiser. We went up to Columbus on Friday night, and Uncle Justin and Pops went further north to Stanton to get it with Justin's pickup.


Justin's truck makes the Land Cruiser look small. I guess it is pretty short. It just seems big when you're next to it...it's because it's tall maybe. Anyway, we made the trip to Wichita with no problems, and now the Land Cruiser is taking up space in our garage instead of someone else's for the first time in about five years.

While we were in Stanton picking up the Cruiser everyone else hung out in Columbus.


Emma pulling all of the books out of the basket at Grandma and Grandpa's.


Desmond being Desmond.

The morning following the trip with the Land Cruiser we went out to the motorcycle track. Uncle Justin brought a four-wheeler so that he could come riding with Desmond and Pops.



It was really fun riding that day. The girls said that they had fun too. It can be like a trip to the park for the little ones. A really noisy park with no playground equipment, I guess, but they seem to have fun running around playing with dirt and rocks.


Kayden doing just that...running around (astray).


It won't be long before he's riding; he already knows how to start the four-wheelers and rev the engine.


Later it was ice cream cones. And shortly after that Uncle Justin, Aunt Heather and Kayden had to head home. I don't remember much about the day after that, but I know that it involved naps...everyone was exhausted.

The weekend after there was a wedding in Holdrege, NE.

There's not many pictures of this weekend because Jennifer had the camera most of the time, but here's a snapshot of the ceremony...well, the ceremony as we saw it. The kiddos aren't much for sitting in the church so we spent most of the time in the church's gymnasium. You'll notice that Kayden knows how to play to the camera in the background.

The wedding was nice, the drive was long...Desmond got to ride in the limo.

Maybe the most exciting thing last week was Desmond's first day of preschool!

He was super excited. He got a new "proper" backpack that would fit all of the things he needed for school. After all half the fun of going to school is the supplies right? At daycare he gets some exposure to the things he needs to know before kindergarten, but he's been a stinker there on occasion lately. We thought it'd be good to give him a chance to get away from the routine at daycare he seems to be bored with. He gets to be in a different atmosphere with different kids and teachers, and he gets to exercise the ol' brain muscle for a couple hours twice a week. He can tell you how to spell his name now. Progress, especially because it includes the only two letters that he seems to have trouble with: M and N.


A photo to show Desmond being dropped off at school. It's a drive-by drop off, where the teachers come out to the car and grab the kids.

It's crazy...Desmond in preschool.

Last week we went to a pancake feed. A fund raiser for our neighbor's church's daycare center.

It was a fun mid-week distraction. The guys making the pancakes were professionals. They were feeding as well as entertaining everyone. They would toss pancakes onto your plate if you wanted them to, and they would flip them high in the air. Desmond and Pops caught theirs, and Jennifer caught hers and Emma's...while she was holding Emma. Everyone was impressed with this; I think some people may have even clapped. Desmond and Pops agreed that it was showboating and really not worth the risk. Anyway, breakfast for dinner, and they had as much Tang as you could drink.


Still Emma (far right in photo) was not satisfied...she wanted to play on the playground. Everyone else just wanted to go home, so she was out voted.


The next day we had cake after dinner to make up for denying Lady E her swing time the night before.

This weekend we kind of played catch up, relaxing outside in the near-perfect weather, and catching up on things around the house.

It was nice to be outside. A picture of Desmond running through leaves and Emma midair in a jump...total chaos!

Sunday afternoon Diamond D and Pops finished painting the backyard shed.


We both dressed for the task.


Desmond did all of the work...and with a 1" brush no less.


He was laying down paint at such a frenzied pace that he even managed to paint a bug. That's a pretty big deal for a little boy.

Of course that kind of hard work can only be done for so long. Well, long enough to merit a break on the swing. At our house popsicles are an integral part of every work break. Pops plugged away at the painting alone until it was done. Part of the time D sat in a lawn chair, with a chilled beverage, watching Pops and asking questions endlessly as he has taken to doing. It's alright though, "Why" is a question that really does need to be asked...over, and over, and over, and...