The End

Well my stint out West is over and I'm already in Florida....quite the change! All the return travels went fairly well, however I got picked for the complete security search (quite ridiculous!)It was an odd feeling leaving the Mortensen's and I don't think it's quite hit me yet, but I'm going to really miss them. The kids made pictures for me to rememer them by and as a thank you :) Even during the 2.5 hour drive to Casper I kept thinking about houselhold stuff that needed to be taken care of, etc! It's going to be a major transition to non-mom mode again. Overall, I learned so much and will never forget this whole experience. It truly was a gift in many ways and I ask that all of you continue to pray for the Mortensen family. They still have some trying times ahead. And for me too please!!! that whatever is next for me falls into place. For now I'm going to enjoy the breather and the beautiful sunshine =)

I hope you enjoyed all the blogging....CHEERS!

The fruits of a certain naptime activity for your viewing pleasure.....can you guess which one is mine? (difficult I know seems how one is of a horse ;)

Kids say the darndest things

I walked into the room today just in time to hear Magdelena say... "and then she tore him to pieces!" as she was playing imaginary something with a water bottle. This child's imagination is CRAZY! Oh and over lunch she told me that only women married to men have babies and that women married to women, and men married to men cannot. Smart cookie, but where did she hear of such things?!?! This is the same girl who somehow overheard her mama say that McDonald's supports gay rights, translated in her lingo to "bad things," and that is why they don't go there. So while Grandma was in town before my arrival and decided to just take the kids to McD's to give herself a breather, Mags said that's ok Grandma and walked up to the counter and told the cashier to "please stop giving your money to bad things." In her mind this solved the whole problem and she still hasn't forgotten. In the car this morning I heard her say, "our McDonald's doesn't give money to bad things because I asked them to stop, while the other McDonald's do."

Dear Santa,

Magdelena would like a different big sister...Thank you. Oh and to be a witch for Halloween next year. So whatever you could do that would be great! (We are currently under a flood of tears)

Halloween!

I sort of skipped over Halloween, so figured I could just revisit now. During the day it didn't feel any different and I wasn't really feeling the Halloween spirit. But once evening hit I guess the magic kicked in! We had kids running all over the house digging through the dress up bin of clothes and trick or treaters ringing the doorbell. They live in a small little neighborhood so we actually did have kids come through. It's sort of like a mini-suburbia out in the middle of the mountains. But anyway, I had a great time passing out the candy for once. Above is a picture of the kids (admittedly a bit blurry, but the best one of the bunch)...Marietta was a Japanese princess, which took some convincing. The poor thing desperately wanted to be a princess and her grandma had sent dresses for the girls that looked liked Belle's from Beauty and the Beast, but both were too small for her. Beth just happened to have this vintage Japanese ensemble that is at least 50 years old and hand made by her grandmother. Marietta was not so convinced (if this thing would have been any bigger I would have worn it!) but after some coaxing and my agreement to don a silk bathrobe and do my best Japanese princess imitation possible, she said yes :) Magdelena was a ballerina (well first a butterfly but the wings just kept getting in the way, so minus the wings what do you have? a Ballerina of course!) and Joseph, well this year he decided to be a baby ready for bed....PJ's and all! The college had a dance/party that night so I took the girls. They hosted a great party full of skits, musical performances, a costume contest and lots of great dancing! By the time we left it was already 11:30 and the girls passed out in the car.

Back to the present....I put Joseph down for his afternoon nap about 45 minutes ago. He went down so easily this morning after I held him and sang to him a bit. So we tried the same this afternoon, however the crying and screaming still has not ceased. Fantastic...And the middle child (Mags) who still has issues at meal time and never takes naps is currently passed out on two kitchen chairs......cheese and crackers still unfinished. ha, I love it.

(sorry for the wierd word layout at the top but it won't let me change it!!)

A Small Miracle

I witnessed a minor miracle today...after naps all the kids were running around on the first floor and the two girls decided to go outside to see if the neighbor girl could play with them. Once shoes were on they were both running out the door. Joseph caught on just in time to see dresses flying and the sliding door slam shut. He immediately stopped what he was doing (taking all the pots and pans in the kitchen drawers out and spreading them all over the place - his favorite thing of all time!) and ran over to the door. He started hitting it and pointing and sort of grunted at me, all of which I needed to translate into "I want to go too!" Before I could even say anything he was running around the house and actually picked up every pot and kitchen item and put them back in the correct drawers!!!! Unbelievable! I applauded his valiant efforts and told him he still needed shoes. He immediately took off into the other room and I found him sitting on the floor trying desparately to get them on. This kid is quite smart when he wants to be!!

Unfortunately, with this whole daylight savings business it gets dark way too early. And out here it has been gorgeous during the day while the sun is out, but the second it starts to set the temperature drastically changes! But we enjoyed the last bit of daylight outside playing some pretend game in which Joseph was Prince Charming (hilarious! he really could be). However gentlemanly he was supposed to act he still laughed his head off at hitting his sisters with a stick he found and was again intrigued by the various piles of deer droppings that seem to be everywhere!

Today, I also had my first real scare of losing a child.....Mags just walked away at point and before I knew it she was gone!! I started yelling her name and took off running to find her....all said and done I noticed the kitchen door to the house was open so went inside. She was lying down on the couch "for a rest." While trying to catch my breath I tried to calmly tell her never to do that kind of thing again. The little stinker had a smile on her face! I really think she did it for the attention because she was more clingy for the rest of the afternoon and usually she is Miss Independent. Hmmm....I could really use that extra set of eyes mothers have on the back of their heads!