Wind, wind, go away come again another day

When we were building our house, we noticed that the wind blew. And over the almost 5 years we have lived year, I feel like we have dealt quite nicely w/the wind situation. At year 1 we had our garage and mud room (under construction w/rafters) blow over in a thunderstorm. That night while we were laying in bed listening to the wind Brent had committed on just how strong the wind seemed to be. I think we both dozed off and the next thing we hear is a loud "CRASH-BOOM-BANG). Brent says to me "you get up and check to see if that was our garage because I just can't look" Yep it was, all the rafters laying on the concrete like a domino pieces that had fallen once they are lined up and pushed over.

We have also had to replace our grill that had blown off our front porch several times and finally busted so bad the last time that it was beyond fixable. The new one has more than a few dents itself from being pushed around. In year 3 our trampoline blew away twice, the last time while we were on vacation to yellowstone. I think it layed in our pasture a week before we could go retrieve it. Our trees that we planted when we moved in are still strong. But I truly believe they will be forever shaped/leaning toward straight south or straight north. Maybe just maybe in the end they will even out.

Anyway...this morning my good friend Julie called me in somewhat of a panic about their trampoline. It seems to have blown up against a tree and what could she do? So I told her that when we finally replaced the trampoline (my mother's day present last year) we bought pet stakes, the ones that you can screw into the ground w/a loop at the top. Brent got rope and he zig-zag(ed) the rope through and around the tramopline. I told Julie that really works. I said we are looking good out here today. If people in town are complaining that its windy there, that means it "VERY VERY VERY WINDY" at my place. I told her maybe find something to weight it down until she get something more permanant. Good luck I told her and hung up. 30 minutes later I look out the window and blew a sigh of relief, "GOOD, trampoline is still there..whoa what is that board? No it couldn't be?......

Yep...the kids swingset blew over. Ugh....I will be sure to keep you updated on our next "home improvement project" Oh and if anyone needs someplace to put a windmill/windfarm I know just the place.

Spring Break

On Sunday afternoon Brent and I and family along w/my sister Katie and husband Jeremy and nephew Carter went to Topeka for a quick "spring break getaway." If you call a hotel and the Topeka zoo a getaway. It does meet all "technical terms" We were did "GET AWAY" We all went swimming, well, to give the dads some credit Katie and I went swimsuit shopping and the dads went swimming. But then Katie and I got in w/the kids after supper. Brent made his first appearance to Toys R Us. Both families bought NOTHING! But it was fun to look. On Monday morning with us all refreshed, yeah right. Owen kicked me so many stinking times. It didn't matter what position he or I was in. We had gotten a "suite" and ALL shared a room to save a buck, but the "suite" was no more than a regular room but w/2 beds, pull out sofa and fridge and microwave. The bathroom couldn't have been ANY smaller or the door would have hit the toilet. Needless to say we won't be staying there again. BUT the pool temp water was great. Anyway...we went to the Topeka Zoo. Weather was great and had a good time looking. Ate lunch at the park and headed home. The rest of our Spring Break we are going to be around.

Maddie

Zoo pic (owen was about 3 sheets to the wind)
G-Man

Nice Weather

Some pictures of owen enjoying our wonderful weather this week. He had fun watering trees and stayed pretty dry. The hose kept him pretty entertained.

I wasn't sure he would actually chew on the stick but he did. He was actually laughing at me when I was making funny faces at him to show him how yucky it was. What a typical BOY!

Day #3

I thought I would update everyone on the Pacifier thing. Things are steadily progressing. But still hard. Naptimes are hard and last night he woke up once and cried for awhile. I tune out the crying a lot easier than Brent does, but he survived as well. When I put him down for a nap this afternoon I noticed that he held the "cut" pacifier in his hand a little longer than normal so maybe he is getting the point that he doesn't really need the thing after all. Hopefully like Katie said we are on the downhill slide. We shall see how tonight goes. Brent, Maddie and our friend Marc and daughter Reaghan went to a bday party this afternoon to a classmate of Reaghan and Maddie. So Garrett had his friend Holden over tonight and Owen and the 2 older boys are playing so good. Tomorrow morning we get the privledge of going to our nephew Karson's dedication. Hopefully will have some pictures to post. Oh and we also had a little rain this evening finally, but need so much more. Things are so dry here.

Sorta Chicken' Out

Some would say we fully chickened out...I am saying we partially did. After listening to Owen scream for 30 minutes (which all in all isn't that long) we decided to cut a slit into the LAST pacifier. Not actually cut a " off the tip" THat worked well. So thinking that we will keep it like that for a few days and make the slit bigger and/or start cutting the tip off.

Why or why didn't I get rid of it at a LONG time ago. Its 4 times harder now.

Can we be pacifier free?

Lord help us we are getting rid of the pacifier tonight! But its time. I am tired of making sure we have it whenever we go anywhere or do anything. Owen goes to bed w/out a blink, cry or fuss w/the pacifier. Not the case this evening. We tried cutting the tip off, but that did NO good. So we shall see how soon morning comes! Everyone sleep tight!

500 dollars +

Headline: "500 dollars or more in damage occured when Brent Craig, Wakefield and a deer collided around 4th & Jayhawk Rd's. No injuires were reported". Yes, we joined the many other unfortunate individuals in the county on Sunday night. I will have to say I had a second or two of de ja vu when the deer hit as I was sitting in the front passenger seat AGAIN. Thank God it wasn't like the last wreck that we had (Oct 07) and thankfully we can repair the van and not have to get a new one. Oh sure a new van would be nice but the thought of trying to sell this one and find another one (husband likes ebay for a good deal which in some cases has taken months!) is not on my top list of priorities right now. So we will head to the shop on Monday and the van will be as good as new (except for the miles). To bad those can't be fixed as well.