The weather is beautiful for the time being. 70's and sunny from the time we get up til the time we go to bed. I have taken advantage of it by allowing Beau and Anna to walk to the bus stop by themselves. I still watch them the whole way and stay outside until I see they are safely on the bus, but giving them the freedom and me the break has been nice. Anna loves walking and usually runs the whole way, Beau complained the first few times but as long as I don't make him walk in the mud or rain he doesn't complain anymore.
Only 5 more days of school, and they are packing everything in. I went on a field trip with Anna yesterday, I will go with Beau to one on Wednesday. Luke has his preschool performance on Friday, and then he has an ice cream party.
Beau's baseball is going very well, he has learned a lot and improves each game, I'll do a post separately with pictures soon. His favorite activity lately has been shooting his BB gun. He got it in November and has finally gotten really into carrying it around. He would love to shoot a snake although we are not encouraging that, it is only BBs. So in the meantime he follows behind Oscar, the mouse catching dog. Oscar catches the mouse, chomps it once or twice and leaves it for dead. Beau is never convinced its dead and swears he sees it breathe, so he pops it with a few BBs just to be sure it doesn't come back. The mice seem to have found the shed a good place to hang out so soon we are going to lock the cat in there for a day to solve the problem or Oscar.
Anna and I got to spend an afternoon alone together in Great Falls. We enjoyed grocery shopping, dinner out at our favorite restaraunt (well the one in Great Falls anyway, choices are limited when you live in the middle of nowhere), and a quick jaunt to Old Navy for some new flip flops. She knows how to use her time alone with me to her advantage. We don't get to be alone together very often so we make the most of it.
Luke has really enjoyed preschool, and we are choosing to do it one more year as he barely makes the cutoff and there is no rush. He has really enjoyed when the baby sticks a body part out far enough for him to see and he can push it back it (we've had to work on teaching him to do it gently for my sake). Yesterday an elbow or foot or something came way out and Luke was shocked. He pushed it back in and then assured me the baby wanted out NOW...I asked Luke why and he said the baby was scared in there. I said what would the baby be scared of...Luke was incredulous in stating that he was scared of all my bones and blood in there and he really wanted out. I assured Luke the baby couldn't see it and that put his mind at rest for a short time. Luke is full of questions about the baby, not only when is it coming, but how, where, and all sorts of things that I'm not ready to answer. The answers that worked for Beau at this age do not satisfy Luke so hopefully we can just ride it out til the baby is here without getting into the real details.
I got another peek at the baby yesterday, Owen Benjamin is still a boy...not that was really a question. He looks good from the grainy screen and the doctors words. He moves all the time, and thankfully in the last two weeks he finally turned and the doctor is no longer worried about him being breech. That was the primary reason for the ultrasound as he was breech until this appointment. I am a little more comfortable now too, so I'm really thankful for his change in position.
Ben has been extremely busy at work due to heavy snow melts and rain overflowing everything on the reservation. We're hopeful he can get everything in line so he can take a week off after the baby is born. We're busy planting trees and flowers and hoping they live, the kids have gotten involved this year and enjoy being part of the decision making...even when we don't want their opinions.
Looking forward to the summer with the kids...swim lessons, summer camps, and a new baby...it doesn't get much better.
