Random Stuff (Warning: A Bit Long…)

Not much new is happening these days, but as I type that, I wonder why we always seem to be so busy if nothing’s new? I used to have more kid stories than I could keep track of to tell about on my blog but I can barely remember any these days. And I know why. Having 4-5 kiddos under 7 years old at my house is way too much busyness for me to be able to actually listen, much less retain, most of the stories I used to blog on. I need to keep some paper nearby and jot things down now, I guess.

Let’s see, about Steve... His doctor appointments have settled down, he’s down to a blood test every 3 months to keep an eye on his levels, so no more barrages of doctor visits for now. He’s still unemployed and, thanks to this wonderful economy we’re living in, it’s likely to stay that way for awhile barring a miracle job from God, which is always possible.

As for me, no big changes. Family…work…family…work…i.e., normal life.

Lucy (the pup) is doing great and is a little W.I.L.D thing! She is living up to her breed type, highly active, but she’s doing well. We can now take her on walks to tire her out since she’s handling the leash/choke chain well and that’s been good for her, and for us too. We are blessed to live where there are many beautiful trails to walk on and many of them are dog-friendly. We’re thinking of going to Fowler Falls to walk her to the falls, then picnic in this beautiful weather. A pix of her before we move on to the important people... =)


We’ll be heading to South Lake Tahoe for a few nights soon. We’re staying in a condo owned by my sis-in-law/bro-in-law while Jamie & Mike attend another Farmer’s event. It will be beautiful with the snow, view of the lake, etc. Steve and I are heading over a day early for a “just us” night in Reno first, so we’re looking forward to that too.

We’ve had some great weather lately, sunnier and warmer days. It has given us the opportunity for some motorcycle trips with our friends, Gary & Gloria. With a young puppy, we can only do short day trips right now, but Steve’s working on a nice dog run for longer day trips. And, we found a great boarder for her stay with so we can do some motorcycle trips to Crater Lake, Tahoe and the coast this summer. We’ll also be going (not by motorcycle) to San Diego for a week in May, staying with my brother Mark, for Jamie & Mike’s yearly Championship trip. We’ll mostly hang out on the beach with the kiddos, maybe do Sea World and who knows what else. So we have some fun mini-trips coming up between now and summer.

Emily has dance with a recital in a few months, I loved watching her practice a few weeks ago, she seems to love it! Allyson has also started soccer so there will be weekly games to go to for her. She’s really adorable in her soccer clothes, picture below (that I stole from Jamie!).


Devon...

We’ve had Devon over a little too. Josh recently bought him a blue racecar bed, which he loves. I asked him the other night how he liked his new car bed. He looked confused and said, “What car bed?” I said you know, your blue car bed that daddy got for you.” He said, with patience as though I was just a little stupid, “You mean my batman bed?” Oh, I stand corrected.

Nathan...

We had Nathan’s first sleep-over last Friday, along with the girls, and it was busy at our house! He slept until 4:45 a.m., then fell asleep again, just 5 minutes after Ally got up so there was no going back to bed for me. She walked out from the bedroom when she woke up and instead of saying good morning, she stopped, looked at me and said, “I don’t like going in the deep water in the pool, I only like the little pool.” All-rightey then, we won’t make you go in the big pool. What big pool? A little later I asked her if she dreamed about swimming in a pool and she looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Nooo.” Maybe I am crazy.

Allyson...

Ally also loves to ride her scooter with Emily in the front yard (or “ard” as she calls it). It’s a new thing we’re letting them do together (which is hard for me to do), they can go about 8 houses down one way on the cul-de-sac, and about 5 houses the other way, where I can see them easily. The problem with Ally? She purposefully stops at the mailboxes to see if there are bugs on the ground. She’s deathly afraid of bugs, but she stops to see if there are any. Then she runs home upset, leaving her scooter where it fell. I’ve had to escort her to get the scooter back and told her if she wants the privilege of riding her scooter in the front, she can’t leave it down the street. Let’s just say she didn’t make it playing in the front after the next scooter ride because the girl just can’t seem to stop herself from making that stop at the mailbox. Silly girl…

Emily...

Emily's so much fun these days, she writes stories that crack me up, but are amazing for her age too. She is a smart little cookie, that one. She was asking me when I would take her back to that place that had the fish tank, the one where she always cried because she didn’t want to go to the daycare center. I was thinking…church? No. The gym near our house? No. Then I remembered, it was the YMCA gym I used to go to in Redding. When she was barely 2 years old. I couldn’t believe she remembered that place, the fish tank, how she cried. She said I should take her back there and she’d be fine this time.

Rylee...

And Rylee…I think she’s going to be an interesting one to watch grow up. She marches to her own drummer for sure. We were at Big League Dreams last night watching the 2nd half of Jamie & Mike’s game. Out of my eye, I saw Rylee starting to head around the corner to the playground on her own with no one to watch her, and she wasn’t bothering to tell anyone she was going. Because Rylee’s just self-sufficient that way. I caught her just before she rounded the corner and called her back over to where we were sitting. She heard me, turned around and said, “Awwww, man!!” Is she really just 2 years old?? The other day I came in to find her changing her baby...


I had a great “Nana moment” last night. I was taking Rylee and Nathan home for Jamie and Mike’s double-header game, Emily and Ally were given the choice to go to the game and play on the playground during the game, or come home with me (because at that point, I didn’t plan on going to the game). They chose to come home with me and really, I was surprised. They’re getting older and I figured coming to our house would definitely come second to Big League Dreams, a more exciting option. Made my day!

Nana and Papa’s house rules!! (At least until tomorrow…)

Below are a couple of pictures of the kids' room that's (nearly) finished, another of Devon at his birthday party, and one of the Littau kiddos.





Whew!! Congratulations, you made it to the end of this post!