Elly

I took the younger two kids to the zoo today. I don't think we will ever get tired of going to this zoo. Especially not Elly. She absolutely loves monkeys, and they wander around every where in the rain forest. She got to see them up close again, and although it was very difficult for her, she actually refrained from touching them this time. You probably can't see it, but she was eating a sandwich, and I think the monkey's wanted a bite. They followed her everywhere. She thought it was the best thing ever. Every time I tried to take a picture she stuck her head in, so I have tons of pictures of her this week, and not many of anyone else. She has started doing this goofy smile, and when she would smile, she looks more like she is scared than smiling. So I ended up with some completely ridiculous pictures of her, but I also ended up with some cute ones. It rained the whole time we were at the zoo, and when we got in the car to drive home, it finally stopped, but we had fun anyway. The kids didn't even seem to notice the rain until we got in the car and they were all wet. Elly fell asleep with her pants pulled up to her knees, which was a sight to see as well, but I was driving and couldn't use the camera. (And lets just pretend that she matches) The rest of the kids were happy to just play video games all weekend, and so like a bad mom, I let them play as much as they wanted. It kept them happy, my house clean, and everyone sane. They played outside almost everyday during of the week. I even bought a helmet for Jeremiah, so that Elly and I could go for bike rides after the gym and Jeremiah could ride in the infant seat on the back of mine. The weather was super nice, it was in the 80's for half the week, but by the time the weekend got here, it just stormed. They were disappointed that they couldn't go play, so they played video games. Hopefully this weekend we will actually get out and do something. So, I guess we made it through week two of Glen's deployment. Yes, I know those who's husbands deploy more often, that it is kind of ridiculous for me to count down every week that he is gone, but even though it may make it seem longer, I do the same thing every time I run. Instead of trying to distract myself I stare, completely fixated on the timer on the treadmill. I do however at least have the sensibility to break it down into small milestones, so that at least I feel like I am achieving something. I'm pretty sure that I am just nuts though, so I guess that is explanation enough. Anyway back to the whole deployment thing (I got a little side tracked), this week went much smoother than the first. The first week was very chaotic, but we seem to have settled down into our own little routine, and it seems to work. I do still have kids telling me that they miss their daddy. We set Aaric up his own email, so that he can email daddy too, but I'm not sure he even remembered he has it because he has yet to check it. I'm also going to post a picture that Glen sent me. He took a picture of some of the soda cans that they have over there. On one side is English, and on the other side it is written in some form of Arabic (that may not be accurate, or politically correct, so, Michaela if you, or Phil can correct me I won't be offended, I just don't know). Anyway, now that I have rambled on forever about absolutely nothing and have displayed exactly how crazy I am to anyone who actually reads this, I will go. Oh, yes, I almost forgot, 7 weeks to go.

Children's Museum

We survived our first week of Glen's deployment. Now we only have 8 more to go. Some how that just doesn't seem very comforting, but such is life in the military. For the most part the kids have done relatively well, they have each had a one day were they had a really hard time, but after they made it through that, they have done fairly well. Skype is a life saver. The kids don't talk much, but they each like to be able to wander by when their Dad is online and say hi. Just being able to see him and say hi, has seemed to be enough. Of course they love the emails also. Now if only we can get Ashleigh to reply to an email properly. Half the time you think she just sent you the email you just sent her, but apparently you have to search the email, because she just picks a random spot and starts typing. I guess I will have to show her how it works. This weekend we went to the Omaha Children's Museum. The kids had a great time. They love that place. They have a big science area, that explains a lot of physics, and they love the interactive experiments that they have there. They also love the big house that they have and the grocery store. I think they ended up playing in the store for about an hour and a half, and still I had to drag them out of there so we could go home. I let Jeremiah walk, which made it really difficult to hang on to him and take pictures. There were a lot of people there. Glen sent us a picture of his room over in Qatar, its pretty small, but he is one of the lucky ones, that gets a room to himself. He hasn't sent us any other pictures, but if he gets any more maybe I will post them. Anyway, that is about all that is happening here.

Easter

Okay mom here is the picture of Glen and I. I just hadn't taken yet when I updated my blog last week. Actually I didn't take it at all, Elly took it for us. And you can see my new hair cut too. It was actually fixed. Every time someone skypes me I haven't fixed my hair yet, so here is some proof that most days I really do. So we were busy this week. With Easter and Glen getting ready to leave, we actually had things to do. We had a lot of fun getting ready for Easter this year. We went to an Easter egg hunt with our ward. It ended up being really fun. The kids had a blast. It was at the Winter Quarters Mormon Trail Center, so we toured the center while they were getting the food ready. Jeremiah found a bunk that he decided to lay down in. It was cute. Glen took a picture from the visitor center of the Temple since it is right across the street. We had a potluck and the kids hunted for eggs. They had a good time. I have a ton of pictures. This ward always had great activities. The activities are always done so well. I will really miss that about this ward (assuming that we ever actually get orders out of here). The kids were super excited that Glen didn't have to leave until after Easter. They were very disappointed when they thought that their daddy was leaving in the middle of spring break. So he got to color eggs with us. We had a ton of different colors for the eggs. I think we ended up using a whole bottle of vinegar. We tried to let Jeremiah color

his own this year, but I ended up coloring most of them. He thought that all of the cool colors looked like they would taste really good. He kept trying to drink the dye. Finally I let him, I mean all it is was water, vinegar, and food coloring. I also had a cup of water for him. I figured he would take a drink and than would rather have his water, but no, that didn't work out so well. He would still rather drink the egg dye, so he didn't get to finish coloring his eggs. That was OK, we had fun coloring them for him. I mean isn't that the whole point of having kids, so that we can do all of the things we had fun doing when we were little and people don't think that we are completely ridiculous? Sunday the kids got to find the eggs that they colored, and their baskets. They had fun with that, I mean what is better to a kid than getting to spend 2 hours eating nothing but candy? This was the first year Jeremiah was old enough to find the eggs (if they were easy enough) but he got really upset at the stickers that the kids used to decorate their eggs. If he picked up an egg with a sticker on it, he wouldn't put it in his carton with out removing the sticker first. We spent the rest of the day doing things that the kids wanted to do with their Dad before he left. We ended up watching a lot of cartoon (they love The Penguins of Madagascar on Nick), and we went to the park to swing. Of course it ended up raining, so we didn't get to stay too long because everyone ended up all cold and wet. Glen left today. His deployment is 60 days (of course it ends up being longer because they have to leave a week early and they come home a week later), so it could be worse. He will be in Qatar, which is a peninsula in the Indian Ocean in between Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. So anyway it will sure seem like a long time, but it could be far worse. At least this time he has access to skype so that he can call us and talk to us a little more often than the 2 15 minute phone calls that they are usually authorized. We will have to see how well it works. I guess a lot of that depends on the shift that he is working. It is an 8 hour time difference. So we will see how it goes. The kids were pretty upset when we dropped him off. They were excited though to come home and have a package waiting for them from Aunt Becki, so that was a nice way to redirect their attention. And they loved the picture that Glen left for each of them. He wrote a special little note on the back of each of them (they are in clear acrylic frames) that they enjoy being able to read. Well that is about it. There is a lot of pictures this week, but there were so many cute ones, that I couldn't decide between them.

This Week

Well, we haven't really done anything very exciting. Most of the time has been spent running around and doing all the last minute prep for Glen's deployment. Since this is his first desert trip, he has lots of little stuff to get finished. Plus he has been on a mission to finish up all the little odds and ends of things that he has been meaning to do around the house. He made sure all of the light bulbs were changed, trimmed the kids nails (I don't do that one because I end up cutting their fingers), and making sure things around the house are as ready as they can be. I thought it was awfully nice of him to think about the little things like that even though he has more important "military" things to get done as well. This weekend we took a picture of each of the kids with their Dad, so that when he leaves they will each have one of their own. The current plan is to get them printed up for them and in a frame, so that he can wrap them and leave them for the kids as a little present when he leaves. I think the kids will be very excited to get them. Well that pretty much covers all the excitement for this week. P.S. Mom that Prosciutto Wrapped Cod was excellent!!!!!

Elly's Birthday

This weekend we had Elly's birthday party. She turns 4 on Wednesday. I can't believe how old my kids are getting. I don't feel like I am old enough to have kids as old as I do, but I am. Of course when I say that my mom likes to remind me that she doesn't think she is old enough to have a kid that is 30 (obviously me). That just always seems to make me feel so much better (not really). So, anyway, Elly is such a girly girl. She picked out strawberry cake, strawberry icing, and cherry chocolate chip ice cream. Her favorite color is actually purple, but she just couldn't seem to find a purple cake at the commissary last week. She was pretty excited about her birthday. She decided she wanted to go to the zoo. It seemed like a great idea at the time considering that it was 65 degrees that day. Of course when we actually went it was more like 40 and overcast. It really doesn't matter, there are so many indoor exhibits at this zoo, that we found plenty to do. Elly also got to touch a monkey, though I'm pretty sure she wasn't supposed to, but I guess that is what happens when monkey's roam freely and there is a 4 year old near by. She absolutely loves monkey's, and was so excited to actually get to touch a real one. Elly was just happy that her Grandma Ellura came to visit her. Of course Grandma, she now thinks that you are going to come to her birthday every year now, so keep that in mind. We had lots of fun with my mom visiting though. Not only did we go to the zoo, but we took her to the range and taught her how to shoot. After the first shot I thought she was just going to hand me the gun back (preferably pointed down range), but she shot off two clips and hit the target all but two or three times. She did have a ginormous target. I'm still not entirely sure what made us decide that taking an almost blind lady shooting was a good idea, but she did better than I did my first time. I know she loves this picture, she deleted it off of her computer, but since it was taken on Glen's camera, I still have a copy of it. We also took her to see the Missouri river, since it is like 4 miles away. Out of all the times that she has come to visit, this is the first time she has actually made it to the river. Its a fairly decent size river. Not the best picture ever, but pretty good considering that it was cold and windy. The girls were extremely excited. Grandma let them each pick out a cookie recipe and than helped each girl make it. Elly got to make hers while the kids were in school, and Ashleigh got to make hers Saturday night. They definitely picked out kid cookies, so the adults also got to pick out a cookie. I should let the kids help cook more often, they absolutely love it, but I just hate cleaning up the mess, plus it takes so much more time, because they just aren't fast (because I never let them help), so I just get frustrated and tell them no. I'm just a mean Mom I guess. I don't like them to clean the house either (except their rooms). It is just more work for me, trying to explain to them, why even though the middle of the room is clean, the room isn't actually clean. I'd rather just do it myself and have it done right without all the extra drama. The conclusion I have drawn is that I am just lazy. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when you have 5 kids. I always have so many cute pictures and never really that much to say. We had our first tornado of the year this week, and than of course tomorrow it is supposed to snow. You just have to love Spring in Nebraska. I can tell that my kids are used to living in places with tornado's. They hear the sirens going off, and what ever time, day or night, they all pile into the hall (that is our only inside room). They used to get really scared and not be able to go back to sleep, but now it is nothing exciting. Well that is about it for our week.

In Grandma Schaaf fashion, a picture of the 3 Ellura's.

This Week

Okay, so anyone who knows me, knows that I am not an animal person. Coreen volunteered me for a cat (Cringer), that we have, and now we have a dog. This weekend, Glen decided that before he deploys we need a dog. He wants us to have something to help keep us safe while he is away. Although the dog we ended up with is so mellow that I'm pretty sure that he is not going to be much protection. He must not have much confidence in my shooting abilities. So anyway, we ended up spending most of the day Saturday at the Humane Society looking at dogs, and talking to an adoption counselor to find a dog that would be perfect for us (of course the dog that would be most perfect, would be not to have one). So, anyway we ended up with a 3 year old Chocolate lab named Logan (he came with the name). I said no to puppies because I can't handle housebreaking an animal, plus Jeremiah would probably try to carry a puppy around by its fur. Logan is housebroken, thankfully and crate trained (although a crate his size is going to be rather expensive) and knows the basics like sit and out. The kids absolutely love him, and they are the ones who take him outside and walk him around the neighborhood. I'm sure that will be short lived. We did all go for a walk on Saturday, Elly ran down a hill and through a puddle of mud and lost a flip flop. We looked for about 20 minutes, and never found it. She ended up having to walk the rest of the way home with only one flip flop. After they get used to having him, they won't be so excited about walking him. The weather has been so nice the past week, that I took Elly and Jeremiah to the zoo twice this week. Elly absolutely loves the zoo. Her favorite animals to go see are the Gorillas. Jeremiah love the petting zoo. He followed the little goats all over the place. This zoo is so big I could probably go there almost every day and still not look at the same things. Elly is very upset that she has to wait 3 days for Grandma to come visit. She is so excited that she is going to be here for her birthday. She thinks Grandma should take her home with her for a few days. This past week was pretty nice. Glen was back and forth between night and day shifts, so he was home a bit more during the week. He has started to out process for his deployment. He got to take a class because he is deploying to a combat zone. It had lots of cool stuff (for him) he got to learn some krav maga which is hand to hand or close combat mainly for threat neutralization. He of course absolutely loved it. Plus they get to go on a field trip to go shooting. Overall he thought it was a great class. He also had to go get his anthrax vaccinations (not something he thought was so great), he gets to wait until he is in the Desert before he has to get small pox. He can't get it here because the boys have eczema. So it is starting to get close to deployment time. The kids are getting a little anxious. He hasn't deployed since any of the kids can remember. The last time he was gone was when Ashleigh was 2 1/2 and Jayson was 18 months. This one will only be half the time as that one, so I guess that is good. We still have about 3 weeks before he leaves. Well I have a bunch of cute pictures, and not much to say, I was out of anything worth while to say a long time ago. So anyway, I guess I will go. Oh and I let Elly take a picture of Jeremiah and I. He was mad because he thought he should be able to play with the camera. I thought it was a funny picture. He has the funniest expressions.