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April 22, 2009

amazing

We moved into our house in December...the trees were dead, the pool was covered and cracked and I was completely in love with the yard as it was. Now, however, every single day is a new surprise. The former owners were apparently the weird variety who loved planting things everywhere. Each morning when I wake up there's something else blooming in either the front or back yard. I know if this requires any upkeep on my part, those plants are doomed but OMG this year they look so beautiful! I have no idea what most of the trees/plants/flowers are, so maybe I'll take some pictures and seek help from the dear innernets on how to not kill them so quickly.

Posted by krystal at 2:28 PM | Comments (1)

April 17, 2009

max's words du jour

mama
doooown
duuuude
NOOOOOOOOOOO

Posted by krystal at 8:53 AM

vacation: friday

Today is the day before the day we go home and I'm just about ready. Yesterday we took the kids to ihop. It was against my better judgement because I think when you're in a new town you should eat at new places but there we were, selling out to the man...again. After that we got Trevor's haircut and then Dan, Trev, Tess, Max and I went out and got lost in the mountains so we could take pictures. That was really cool. We went to eastern menonite university, keezeltown, rockingham and some other places. It was fun right up 'til max decided to scream his fool head off until we went back.

Yesterday afternoon I took Kendall and Tess to the build a bear thing at the bottom of the hill. Tess refused to build her own and we had to buy the display dragon. Kendall got a pretty purple unicorn in a cheerleader suit. My girls are so very different.

Last night we had an overpriced under-tastey meal at Hank's smoke house. Mine was good, but I think I was the only one who enjoyed it. Tess enjoyed the fishtank, she stared at the fish through the entire meal.

Today we're going to the water park. I really have dug my heels in and not wanted to go because i know I'll end up stuck with the babies while everyone else plays but, ya know what? I woke up in a better frame of mind about it. I'll go, watch babies, take pictures and enjoy myself...being around them all, knowing that tomorrow everyone will scatter again, is going to be worth it.

It has been a much more peaceful week than I had imagined. I think Caylor made part of this possible. He's got a calming effect on both boys. I also think it's because we all knew it'd be tight quarters and everyone's done a good job of just getting along. I never thought that could happen!

Posted by krystal at 8:07 AM | Comments (1)

April 15, 2009

vacation: day 4ish

Well, I'm a dummy. Last night Dan and I got ready and left the kids and went to the convention center building to see the murder mystery dinner theater thing. We were cringing as we stood in line and saw that we'd be sharing a table with at least 6 other people. That's not the evening we had in mind, but we were going to grin and bear it. Then as we got closer to the front desk I saw the menu for the "beer lovers dinner" and I was so grateful that we were not having THAT for our date night because ...ew, the appetizer was mussels and the main course was duck. Yuck. So we got to the desk and gave them our names. The hostess said "well I don't have your name down here on our reservation list". At this point it clicked and I realized that the reason the Beer lovers dinner menu was out was because it's TUESDAY and the theater thing is Wednesday. We practically skipped out of there, happy knowing that we don't have to eat dinner with strangers. We agreed that we'd cancel our theater reservations. So we did the burgeois thing and went to Outback and then bought books. It was a good break. The kids hardly noticed we were gone and we got this cool book called "weird virginia" full of odd places and things. If we get inspired we'll start seeing some of them on weekends.

Today I believe the kids are going to the water park. It's a good place for them since it's raining and will most likely rain all day. Dan and I are going to study, vegetate and maybe take the babies to the pool. The goal today is to not spend a dime. Let's see how we do.

Posted by krystal at 8:51 AM

April 14, 2009

vacation: day 3.5

Monday was pretty fun for everyone. Everyone got his own breakfast which was a break for me. Then, without any nagging from me, everyone got ready and we went to the mall and downtown harrisonburg. The big kids all have their own money so I only had to fend off the insane spending craze from dan and myself. At the end of the day we ended up with lots of new flipflops and some new clothes for dan and max. We also got Play-doh because the clay for Cranium somehow dried up in the 2 years since we last played.

We had a nice lunch at a buffett filled with townies and then came on back. The kids hung out here except for Kendall. She's got go-genes so she walked to the club house and went to the game room and little store. (she actually made 4 trips because we kept thinking of things we needed).

I made some homemade guacamole for our chips and we had burgers on the grill, potatoes, and freshly sliced pineapple for dinner. After that we played a game of Cranium, watched 24 and TMZ and went to bed. For the first night the babies slept in their own beds so Dan and I got more sleep than we have for the whole vacation....aaahh.

Today it's raining but we have some indoor activities planned. I think the kids want to go to the movies and tonight Dan and I get "date night". We're leaving the babies with the teens and going to a murder mystery dinner theater. I'm not anticipating much, so maybe it'll be pleasantly surprising.

***
I need to start writing down the funny things that go on here because I forget by the next day. Here's one though.

Jake: when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace
Trevor: that's fantastic, ghandi...now let's play runescape.
Jake: it's jimi hendrix.

(it was funnier at the time I guess)

Posted by krystal at 8:49 AM

April 12, 2009

vacation: day 1.5

Ha! they finally got wireless up here in the mountains.

We checked in last night around 5ish. There was a little hassle about them wanting to show us more resorts etc. but we deftly avoided that. Kendall and Trev went swimming, we all went to the deli/pizza thing and had dinner then we crashed hard by 9pm while the big kids stayed up playing video games etc. At 3am the alarm in our room went off playing gospel music. eek.

This morning I made bacon and pancakes for breakfast and then went out and bought the kids passes for the water park. The challenge for this week will be cooking using a hotplate, a microwave, a toaster oven and a grill. This place has a "partial kitchen". What this means to me is that we'll be eating out more than usual. Yipee!!

The kids are at the water park now and we've done our grocery shopping. I really just want Max to take his nap so Dan and I can watch Body of Lies and drink mimosas. Life is good. We've crammed 8 people into a 6 person condo and so far we're all still speaking. Let's see how long that lasts.

Posted by krystal at 1:23 PM

April 9, 2009

Spring break

In just a few days we're going on vacation. I don't really know what to expect since we're going to a ski resort in April, but at least there's a water park and we'll be out of town. I imagine it'll be a good vacation filled with playing and sleeping and being very lazy and in the case of Dan and me, some studying. We're going to start working on more certs so we can be insanely well equipt for anything.

***
We celebrated Easter with my family last weekend. We all went to church and then after a fiasco at communion, we went to mom and dad's house for delicious ham and all of the fixings. It was such a pretty day. The kids and mom and I had an egg toss and they hunted for eggs too. I feel pretty relieved that this Sunday I don't have to do much Easter bunny stuff because the big kids are going to the water park and the little ones are easily pleased. I can't completely skip the holiday but it doesn't have to be the huge hassle that it usually is.

***
Max chucked my cell phone into a sink full of dish water two days ago and thankfully Sarah gave me her old phone to use because it honestly felt like i'd lost a limb all day yesterday. You really don't know how much you depend on things until they're gone. I don't even like talking on the phone, but I found myself looking for my phone all day long. I've learned a valuable lesson about letting the baby play on the counter, too.

***

Posted by krystal at 1:48 PM | Comments (1)

April 2, 2009

April Showers

Our pool is filling up with water as we speak and so far the water is not running out. Hoorah! I have been daydreaming about getting this thing going and by the time the sun comes back out we'll have it ready. We're definitely going to have the heater working because I'm a big sissy who can't stand totally cold pools.

Jake's graduating in a couple of months so we're going to have more reason to celebrate than ever. When they graduate can you kick 'em out? It's not like he's home much so I guess he can stay for a while.

There must be more on my mind but right now I can't think of anything good. I'm off like a prom dress.

Posted by krystal at 10:40 AM