a big (little) family

Trying to maintain my sanity and live to blog about it.

It just adds… character?

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Friday afternoon, Sterling and I headed to town to track down more pallets for him to work with. We traded vehicles with Blaine, and took the pickup to follow up on a couple ads for free pallets. Blaine’s truck has its old-truck issues, the passenger door lock being one of them. We fought with it, […]

Sterling’s Pallet Creations

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Sterling worked in South Dakota with my Dad on pallets, tearing them apart and making things. He came home with quite a bit of wood, and has gotten more pallets here. He set up extension cords to power his own little portion of the barn, was given a couple sanders from Grandpa, borrowed a jigsaw […]

Kids: 0. Germs: 2.

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And… we’re down again. We finished up meds last week, everyone has new, bright pink skin on all their spots that stand out in untanned fashion against their brown little bodies, and Pierce came down with something new. We saw the doc yesterday. Pierce has viral meningitis. From the way Stellan is now acting, he […]

Back to the… rat race?

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Stellan had a supervisory role in the building of Dad’s chicken coop.  I bought myself a new sticker for my van. I rather love it. And I had to drive all over town and stopped at three stores before I finally found a South Dakota sticker. South Dakotans don’t care to spread the news. They […]

South Dakota fun.

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South Dakota has been a blast for the kids this year. Croquet tournaments… Windy days… Providing a different use for the hammocks… And swimming in the local lake… We have three days left. Monday morning we head back to Missouri.  

South Dakota Summer 2018

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We’ve been in South Dakota for a week now. Croquet, jumping on the trampoline, bicycles, dominoes, and Rummikub are the things that fill our days. We built pallet wood trays… as in, I sanded and picked wood and cut it and Dad did the rest. I tried. Goal: to get good with power tools. One […]

Stellan Babysits.

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He’s dedicated to his babysitting-for-Elliot doll watching duties. Or he’s learned to nap when the baby naps. Or he’s beginning to understand how I feel with this parenting gig. Take your pick. Actually, he might be on to something I haven’t learned yet. Lay on the baby and you can get a quick nap while […]

Under Pressure

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If the half gallon jar of sourdough starter gets capped too soon, this is the end result. Now you know. (But the pancakes were delicious.)

Happy Independence Day!

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We’re getting ready to go to South Dakota. Blaine will stay home for work… and jury duty!… while the kids and I head north for two weeks. We leave Monday. Of course, I got a chest cold, then Liberty woke up and got sick in the night and now Stellan is threatening pink eye. Feels […]