My Dad's the Greatest Dad

It's true that my dad is the greatest dad, but today we're talking about my girls' dad.  Their dad is the greatest dad and made this past week and a half AWESOME for them! 

The day before my birthday, we had a snow day.  The girls and I had a blast playing in the snow.  On my birthday, Braden came home early and took the girls outside and played for 2 1/2 hours.  It started with pulling them on sleds around the yard...

 ...and ended up with making the greatest snowfort ever!

After I took those pictures, he added a slide, which made for a ton of fun the next day when we had 14 kids in our home!  I loved seeing my friends!  And a few days later, he made a recliner and foot rest.  Fun!

 We had Spring Break this past week (early, I know) and it was his goal to do as many fun things as a family as we could.  We went out to dinner, went swimming, went to the Bounce Depot, and on Friday night, he created an in-home movie theater for the girls, complete with movie bucks so they could buy from the concessions stand...

 ...that he set up and made this awesome costume for.  The girls loved it!  We had borrowed a projector from our friends which he set up in the basement, blacked out the windows, and put Christmas lights down the stairs to make it feel more real.  While we watched "Lady and the Tramp" he made s'mores for everyone because after the movie...

 ...it was an indoor campout!  He set up the tent for Keara and Taryn and hung out with them until they fell asleep.  It was a dream come true for Keara.  And they loved having the tent up for 2 days so they could play in it!

But the best part of the week, for me, came today, when I saw the best part of Braden.  This morning, I had to get to church early to practice a musical number I was participating in.  I left a little after 8:20 with Mazie, leaving Braden to bring the three older girls by 9.  When church started and progressed all the way to the speakers and he still wasn't there, I was a little worried that maybe someone got sick and they were going to have to stay home.  Pretty soon it was time for my musical number and they still weren't there.  After we were done, I went into the hall to call him.  I noticed I had missed his call at 9:30 but I called 4 times and never reached him.  At that point, I thought maybe someone had split their head open and he had to take them to the ER.  So I sat down for the rest of the meeting, and as we stood up to leave for class, they walked in!  Their cheeks were red, their hands were cold, but they were smiling, and they had a tale to tell!

After loading the girls in the car (and doing their hair in beautiful braids...impressive), he noticed that we had a completely flat tire.  He tried to get the spare off the bottom of the car, but it was rusted on, so no good.  After a half hour of trying to figure it out, he finally decided they would just walk to church.  Thankfully it was only 18 blocks, but hey, it was 18 blocks!  With three little girls!  Keara and Taryn rode their bikes and he and Avery walked.  But Avery couldn't keep up, so he had to carry her.  Keara's training wheels kept shifting, so she finally gave up riding, which meant he had to push her bike along. 

I was SO impressed and SO grateful that he didn't just throw in the towel and say "Oh well, guess we're not going to church today."  Instead, all 4 of them had to sacrifice to get to church.  He set a great example to me and to the girls of the importance of attending our meetings, and doing whatever we need to to be where we need to be.  I am so grateful for that. 

Over dinner, he decided that next time, he'll take my bike and the bike trailer and get there in less than 45 minutes...

Too Busy to Update

Hello?  Is this thing on?  Is anyone still out there?  I'm sure you've all given up on me and my blog.  We're boring, I know.  It's not that we're boring and have nothing to write about, we're just too busy to write anything.  So here's the reader's digest update:

*Braden is looking to go back to school for a second Bachelor's degree, this time in accounting.  He applied to a university here in MN and was accepted.  As long as the classes can work out, he will begin classes there at the end of August and should be done with his degree within 18 months.
*Because this university is 1 1/2 hours away from where we currently live, that also means we'll be moving!  At this moment, I am organizing our yard sale which has been planned and scheduled for about 3 months, and conveniently will be perfect just in time to move.  After the yard sale, I will devote all my time to packing and getting ready to move.  We are excited for a new adventure.
*Keara will be starting kindergarten in the fall and a move means finding ANOTHER school to enroll her into.  But thankfully, the area we'll be moving to has a spanish immersion program!  Yeah!  I would have been VERY sad to give that up for her.
*Taryn is loving summer time and the lake.  If it were up to her, we'd be there every day.  Unfortunately, this summer has been "weird"...just like every where else in the country and just like every year is "unusal".  But there's been a lot of ups and downs in the temperatures as well as a lot of rain, so we haven't been to the lake as much as we'd like.  We went last night and today and we may go again tomorrow, but we'll have to see.  Taryn hates having her hair washed with shampoo, but after a while, she either smells like a dog or fish, so shampoo is very necessary, much to her chagrin.
*Avery is very nearly two, and you can tell.  She is the sweetest angel and is so delightful, but then all of the sudden she'll whack her sister in the head or pull their hair or, like last night during dinner, stab them in the head with her fork.  She's testing her limits, but thankfully, she's doing it with absolute cuteness, so we can't be too upset.  She doesn't throw fits or anything...yet.  She's just an angel baby, with a two-year-old mean streak.  This too shall pass, I'm sure.
*Baby Girl #4 is growing and moving around.  I'm 25 weeks along and I'm grateful I still have 15 weeks to go!  Sometimes I think I'd take another 25 weeks, knowing how much needs to get done between now and then.  But I'm sure that the time will fly by faster than I want it too.  I am a little (or a lot) sad about moving right before having a baby and not having all my dear friends around when she's born.  I appreciate all the support and help my friends give me.  I really do love all the people I've met here. 
*Next week, we're going to Nauvoo for my friend's wedding.  I am very excited to take the girls there, but particularly Keara.  It's been fun to talk about church history a little with her.  I'm also excited because my sister and brother's families will both be in Nauvoo that same weekend, by coincidence, so we'll have a little family reunion too. 
*After Nauvoo, I'm planning on taking the girls down to Chicago for one last visit before who knows when.  I just can't imagine that we'll really be going down there within the next 9-12 months, and perhaps 18 or more.  We'll see.  But I haven't been to Chicago in the summer for an extended period of time in over 8 years, so I'm looking forward to spending time at the lake and doing the summer things we used to do.  I'm especially looking forward to being at my parents' house.  I love it there...so edifying.
*We'll get back from Chicago one week before our projected move (as long as everything sifts out right for his schooling).  It'll be a crazy time.

So there you have it. That's what we're up to. Here are some pictures to prove that we're still alive.

Braden Makes Springtime More Beautiful

Way back last fall, Taryn and Braden planted bulbs and we waited (a LONG time) to find out what kind of flowers they were!  Oddly, only half of them grew, but they were fun and different!

For Mother's Day, he ordered some flowers for me (thanks Living Social!) which started out a bit...white.  But ended up BEAUTIFUL!  Check out these lilies!

He also made a wonderful dinner for me and while he was cutting the broccoli, he had a flash of creative genius.  He got the girls together and helped them work on this before dinner craft.  What a great mother's day gift!  It was so fun! 

They painted cotton balls, stuck them on toothpicks and stuck the toothpicks in the broccoli stems.  Who would have thought?