Did I mention I had to pack away the shorts and bring out the coats?

I think I bragged last week about wearing shorts...well, winter came back this week, complete with snow and hail.  We are not sure yet if the fruit trees, which had blossomed, made it through, but the peas and squash still look alive.  I think maybe mother nature thought it was a funny way to remind me of Gypsum, "Oh you miss gypsum a little?  Here's some snow..."  hehe.  As for Ella, is doesn't seem to matter what the weather is, she will only wear her summer dresses now.  And as of Thursday, her new purple butterfly wings and tutu, which she bought with all her saved dollars at Claire's Boutique.  She had never been in that store before, and I tell you what, it was exciting.  She wanted pretty much everything that she saw, until she hit the butterfly wings, then nothing else mattered. :)  When we first came home, she disappeared downstairs with her bag and come back up wearing ONLY the wings and tutu.  I stifled a giggle and told her she had to wear a shirt and shorts underneath, which she was not thrilled about, but did it anyway.  She has worn them everywhere since then (except church), and gotten lots of compliments from admirers. 

As soon as Caleb was from Kindergarten and saw Ella's new purchase, he wanted to go to the store and spend his dollars, too.  He 'finally' got the Lego tank he's been dreaming about and spent the better part of the weekend building it.  I was impressed - I noticed when we brought it home it said "8+" on the box, but that didn't stop him.  He has also been very busy in the last week writing books, he is quite the prolific author on all sorts of subjects: birds, dinosaurs, silly faces, families, Rumpelstiltskin.  Each on has full color pictures, games, mazes (complete with 'start' and 'dun') and is bound with staples.  Very cool. :)

Rachel is learning more words, but as I was telling mom it is more about inflection than anything else, she is a master of imitating sounds.  So "gaga" is "cracker," I can tell by the way she says it..."gaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"  is "surpriiiiiiise!," which the older like to say when the hide and then jump out me.  She also communicates in other ways.   She is walking now a few steps at a time, but particularly like walking holding onto fingers because then she can zoom around.  So one night she grabbed my fingers and guided me to the stairs...up the stairs...into the kitchen...in front of the sink, where she laid down on the floor and fake-cried.  Translation: "I am ready for my bedtime bottle."  Very often I lay her on the kitchen floor to drink it while I make breakfast (morning) or clean up dinner (night).  Funny girl!

Kip's work is going great, the girls and I visited him at the trailer on site this week and met some of the co-workers.  Nice people in general.  I think things are going along pretty well, although this week someone from the hospital come out and asked if they were going to always be so noisy.  Well, yes sir, it will be.  Constructing new seismic additions can be a little noisy.  I know it must be difficult, especially for those treating or suffering from ptsd, but i don't know what the solution is.

And (drumroll), we signed for a house in Fruita on Saturday!  It had not been easy to find a place that was in an area that we wanted, with enough space, preferably a yard, that would sign for only 6 months, since we don't know exactly what is happening after that.  But we did find one (thanks Darcy)...plenty of room, fenced yard, we're excited.  We are set to move at the beginning of June.  We will miss being here with grandma and grandpa, gus, ike and tahoe.  We have enjoyed it, and I hope we'll still be back here a lot in the summer helping in the garden and having fun.

Well, I think 2 out of 3 kiddos are awake, so time to start another day!