School's out

Solveig the Shaggy Dog (we watched the old Disney movie last night- ha!)

Jonah takes his haircut like a man.

Thursday was the older kids' last day at school--and they got out 2 hours late at that!  So, yesterday we all ventured out to Bemidji to reward them for their good report cards they brought home Thursday (We let the O-'s and S+'s slide just this once) and to buy the food for VBS which starts next Monday.  Jonah had a $5 credit card he found in a cereal box burning a hole in his pocket, also.

The day started out well for us, but by the time we were done with the garage sale, bank (more things to be notarized for the adoption), haircuts, lunch, mall shopping (extremely pitiful mall, but they had the glow-in-the-dark fabric paint that Solveig "needed" to finish up her t-shirt project), and Target excursion, the kids were in rare form to head to pick up the groceries, which had to be purchased last because of the frozen/cold items.

We wielded two carts- one for VBS and one for us.  Anju demanded to be carried, and yelled, "Mom!  Mom!" right into my ear making my ear hurt like it had an infection.  If I set her down, she ran off.  If I put her in the cart, she screamed bloody murder and made everyone look at me like I was one of those terrible moms who takes their toddler to town to shop when they should really be napping.  And of course the other two were whining, "He touched me!" and "Make her stop following me!" and the like.  When you live 35 miles from town, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and pray that you (and I guess the kids) will recover from the post-traumatic stress of it all later.

It was fun planning the VBS menu- all with this year's fishing theme:

Day One: Starfish Soup w/ Fish Crackers, Bobber Brownies

Day Two: It Got Away PB&J, Rainbow Trout Crackers, Bait Cups (oreo crumbs, choc. pudding and gummy worms)

 Day Three: Fish Sticks, Dolphin Nuggets, Happy Fisherman potatoes, Lake Jello (blue jello w/ Swedish Fish inside)

 Day Four: Seashells & Cheese, (leftovers), Matey Mix (graham fish crackers, M&M's, Marshmallow Matey's cereal)

We serve the evening meal before VBS starts at 6pm, and on Friday we will have a potluck at the lake and actually go fishing following our closing service!

We've got an auction to go to on Sunday following church, and two more the next weekend--the summer auction season is off to a great start.  If you don't know me well, I just love to attend farm or household auctions, and it seems there have been a couple lean years lately for auctions.  Hopefully this year will be very productive for a family on a budget!

Prayer request:  You may recall my grandma having medical issues last fall/winter after falling in her home.  My grandparents just moved back home on Sunday after a long winter of recovery and therapy.  Well, on Thursday morning, I got a call that my grandpa had fallen in the night and was being taken to the hospital.  He was put in the ICU and apparently has heart problems requiring intervention/surgery of some kind.  Please keep my parents, aunt/uncle and family and grandparents in your prayers during this troubling time.  We know you are in God's hands, Grandpa Clinton!

Well, Shawn's out mowing the lawn, and the kids and I need to weed the garden so we can plant next week.  Our growing season up here is so short--and on the news they said we're about 2 weeks behind because of all the cold weather.  The joys of living in the tundra!  It's supposed to reach the mid 60's here today.  So, I might be safe putting away the snowpants now!