What a weekend!

We had such a wonderful time with my family this weekend. We're still recovering...all the kids were in bed by 7PM Monday night and slept fabulously in their own beds all night...#2 just got up at 8:15! A weekend running and playing and staying up too late (11:30!) and sleeping on the floor in a heap of cousins and a lot of video games will wear a kid out. Wear them out is a fabulous, memory-making way. I'm sure they will remember for a long time this wonderful time of family because of weekends just like this!

The adults had a great time too...a lot of visiting and eating and hanging out. Now that our kids are getting older and older they take a lot less constant supervision and Grammie and Grampie's new house is perfect. A "kid heaven" in the basement left the main level and the upstairs "man-cave" for the adults to spread out and enjoy.

My big brother was happy, I think, to see everyone and get a chance to visit before he is off to Iraq. The bookmark for him was a big hit, the big kids gave it to him themselves and he was kind and grateful for it...I even got a kiss on the cheek.

I did all my laundry before we left in my mom's fabulous large capacity washer, which turned 3 loads into one. And my sister folded it all for me while I was on a date with my husband (more on that in a later post). So today I just have all the laundry that didn't get done before we left and the sheets that had a accident last night. Oh and all the unpacking and reorganizing and joining real life again after over 4 days away!

I am missing my girl today already though, I'd gotten used to her being around and now that she's going to be gone for the next 7 hours I'm feeling the void. And Mr. Wiedz started a new term today. It was sad to see them go down the driveway this morning.

Off to get that washer moving!

Spring Break Recap

Oh my has it been busy around here!

We enjoyed a family day at Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Interpretive Center. We went to the tide pools and found all sorts of fabulous shells and even saw some rock seals resting on the rocks. We had a second day at the beach with Grandma D at Neskowin. Digging in the sand and making a sandcastle. It didn't rain on us the whole time but #3 got knocked down by a wave and was so drenched we had to go back to the car and changed. By the time we got loaded up and to the car it was raining.

After Yaquina Head we drove down to Florence to visit my cousin and family. #1 and my cousin's oldest were SO excited to see each other. And everyone got to hold the new little. We had dinner and then at bedtime we drove home. It made for a LONG night but everyone slept better in their own beds.

Part of coming home from Florence in the night was that the next day we'd have time to do some of the home projects we'd planned. One of the home projects was shelving in the closets we got during the remodel project. I keep much of my craft supplies in one of the closets and it was quickly becoming unusable as I piled more and more into it without a organization system. The shelves are WONDERFUL! I'm not quite done putting everything away but I've enjoyed being able to move around in there. And get to my stuff...especially my scrapbooking, it was becoming a heap without any hope!

The kids have gotten to get out some of our messier craft supplies as well. Mr. Wiedz found some great watercolor paper on super sale at the University Bookstore the last day of classes before the break. There have been some great masterpieces come out of our dining room table.

We've really enjoyed our Spring Break! We have one last great part to experience. This weekend we're having a party for my brother who will be deployed in May to Iraq. My whole family is getting together at the parents to let the kids play, visit, eat, be together and enjoy our family.

Have a great weekend.

Bookmark

The kids and I collaborated on a gift for my brother whom we're having a party for this weekend. He leaves for Iraq in May, this weekend is a family get-together to wish him well and let him know how much we'll miss him.

I saw this post about these great bookmarks with a link to download the instructions. I was telling the kids about them, thinking of future gifts for some people in our circle and they wanted to make one "for Uncle Bill to take with him to war". They worked on the drawing together and #1 wrote the name. I did the embroidering and the sewing to put it all together. I am so please with how it came out. So are the kids. What really makes me smile is my brother is a big Oregon State Beavers fan but my Duck fan kids picked yellow and green as the colors.

I hope that he will take this little reminder of us with him and think of us praying for him while he's gone.

I've left you in suspense long enough

My news was that I had a job interview. It was on Wednesday and I think it went well. The position is the volunteer coordinator for the Red Cross. A great organization and something I think I could be good at. It is a part time position, although it is 5 days a week and could be more than 20/week during busy times.

I know that the Lord has plans for me and for our family. These plans may or may not include this job. I did my best and Mr. Wiedz thought I looked the part to be sure. I am positive that the Lord will provide what is best for our family.

I'll keep you posted.

Gotta Post SOMETHING

A family hike at Bezeall Park, in Kings Valley on the 9th. If you're near-by you should try it. It is beautiful!

There are so many things to blog about...

• spring break has started...and started well.
• I'm sure my kids have had many cute moments since I posted last
• We've done some wonderful and free home improvements that I want to share
• I'm working on a couple of projects
• I've been inspired by some great stuff in blog-landand
• news...there is life-altering news (not pregnant, just to take that one off the list).

I'll be back after I've uploaded my photos. Got to get to learning time this morning.

Another ball player

#3 has more interest in basketball than all the other kids put together. While #1 was playing this season #3 would get a ball out in the house and try and try to dribble...while running. He got so frustrated with himself that the ball kept hitting his foot. I finally talked him into practicing just dribbling while standing still.

Last week, during the beautiful weather we had, I found #3 working on his dribble again and trying to shoot. When Mr. Wiedz came out I talked him into lifting #3 up so he could make a basket. He was so excited.

Heavy Load

#3's job is to take dirty laundry from the bathrooms and bedrooms and deposit into a pile in the laundry room (someone else sorts it later). Last week he found a quick and fun way to get all his job done.

He loaded the dump truck with as much laundry as he could and pushed it to the laundry room and even "dumped" it out in there!

So cute!

Head over handlebars

The lessons are being learned around here that going topsy turvy on the bikes can result in handlebars into cheekbones and knees onto gravel roads. We are not without our wounds from the new two-wheel action. So far though they get back on as soon as they've been tended to. #2 shiner a couple of days ago turned all sorts of great colors, even a great green/yellow line from the corner of his eye to the cut.

A weekend with a little and a quilt

A couple of months ago I got this little pile of fabric ready to make into a quilt for my cousins new little that was due in the beginning of March. Inspiration took a long time to strike so I didn't start the quilt until about a week before my cousin's scheduled c-section.

The top went together really quickly; the purple, blue and green polka dots (from my mom's stash) I did into four-patches and paired them with blocks of the cute alphabet fabric I found at Joann's. Then the quilting I had to just fit in whenever I could spare a moment or two for some stitches. I kept finding my quilting hoop with the needle stashed in the fabric against the backdrop of the rest of my day, cooking dinner, reading to the kids, settling down for a nap time or for the night.

I got to go to Florence this past weekend to meet the little miss that was born the 23rd of February. What made the weekend even more special was I got to go ALL. BY. MYSELF. I helped with laundry, cooked some meals, and held the little while mom was taking a shower or eating dinner.

I really liked this quilt and loved the way it quilted up. Cousin Scary (family nickname) really liked it and the little got cuddled in it but was otherwise unimpressed. I'm sure it'll be a "special blankie" sometime soon.

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As a side-note, I'm wondering what people pay for baby shower gifts. Please leave a comment letting me know a range of the money you're willing to pay for a gift for a shower or a new baby. I've turned on anonymous comments so PLEASE leave a comment, even if you don't know how, and let me know...it'll help me really!

#1 followed her brother

After we got home from the last basketball game of the season #1 asked Mr. Wiedz to take her training wheels off.

She then took off around the loop like she'd been doing it all her life.

She was so excited and proud of herself.

And as soon as she came in she was making plans for the next day of riding. What time in the morning, afternoon and evening would be available for riding. How many times around the loop they could go in the amount of time they had. A picture of the loop in case they forgot the route and pictures of their bikes. I loved her plan, I've saved it to put in the scrapbook.

Unfortunately it rained most of the next day. Though they did go outside whenever the rain stopped.

Outside

I've never liked running. Or even exercising. There is a family tale of my stopping on 2nd base when I played little league softball. When asked why I stopped since I could have kept going I said I needed to stop because I was sweating. In high school I wheezed whenever I ran or rode a bike, especially outside.

I've been content to stay inside in my new desire to exercise and walk/jog on the treadmill. Over the years any attempt to exercise outside has left me wheezing for air and strangely, my two front teeth hurting.

In the last couple of weeks though I've wanted to set a goal for myself and I picked a 5K as my goal. In May during the Florence Rhododendron Festival I'm going to attempt jogging my first 5K.

In order to do that I have to do 2 things. Be able to run the 3 miles without stopping. And be able to run outside.

I'm working on increasing my run time/distance. I'm up to 15 minutes of jogging which depending on my pace is about 1.5 miles.

This weekend I went to Florence to visit cousin Scary (family nick-name) and her new little (another post coming up on that one). While there I went on 2 jogs. Outside. Without dying. But I did stop a couple of times. Pavement is a whole new world to my legs and they were none too happy about it.

I was sure grateful that yesterday was Sunday (my day off) so that I wouldn't have to go again but I'm proud of myself for sticking it out, trying it, and making it.

Many hands...

...makes light work.

We had a "all hands on deck" cleaning day last Saturday. I hate admitting that, that I can't/don't keep up on it on my own. But it was great to have almost everyone assigned to a room/area and have the whole house looking good at once. Instead of how it goes as I work on it all day, the room I just finish is being torn apart as I work on another room. Plus when we got home from basketball that afternoon, the house was clean.

#4 being the baby wasn't assigned any room but took his cue from his big brother, #3, and carried his own loads of laundry to the laundry room. So cute I had to capture the moment.

Go Ducks!

Mr. Wiedz got to go to the home opener of the Duck's first baseball season in over 30 years. His best friend's dad was honored at the game as a hall of fame-r from the Duck's previous time in collegiate baseball.

He had a great time. The weather had been going back in forth from raining and sunny all week. The day of the game was a fabulous spring day.

And the Ducks won!

Trying Something New

sitting outside while the boys play in the early spring sunlight

Stalking around the blogs I've been inspired by all the crafty-ness and sometimes want to try some of the beautiful stuff I see out there. Crafting is one of the reasons I started this little blog, actually. Mr. Wiedz, bless his heart, is just not all that interested in every little project I do. With this little space I can take pictures, of say pillowcases, and then put them in the closet. You out here in blogland can tell me how great they are and Mr. Wiedz is off the hook.

Well, one of my favorite blogs, soulemama.com, has many posts written about knitting and shows off all of her beautiful knitted creations. Seeing much of her knitting I have wanted to try my hand at it but as I've heard the best way to learn is from someone I didn't know where to start. Then for my birthday I was giving a pair of slippers by a dear friend. Thinking they were crocheted I asked for the pattern as #1 really liked them and I thought they'd be a good future gift. But they are knitted. Now I had a project to start with and a friend to teach me!

I purchased myself some needles and yarn and headed to sit with Charlotte for a knitting lesson. I've gotten the first slipper done and now I'm working on the pair. The plan was to make a pair for each kiddo for their Easter baskets...we'll see.

another great kitting space...wrapped in a quilt with Edward Ricardo on my lap