Well, I started a new blog. Mainly for myself, to keep me in check with what really matters, to see the many blessings in my life, and to just get some thoughts out instead of a journal. It might be too long and boring for most people to read and I will continue to post pictures from our family events mainly here but if you want to check it out, go ahead.
lifeisbeautiful-esse.blogspot.com
So I am not much of a gardener to those who don’t know it- and that is a Big understatement. 
I pretty much kill all the plants inside or out, except for my one orchid so I kind of gave up on that. But when my mom was here in May she got me started with a few tractor tires planted with vegetable plants and so far they’re doing great. Besides that my mom helped plant raspberry plants, lilacs and other plants which I hope will grow fine. I’ve been most impressed by the tomato plants because they are bearing many tomatoes, except that it is hard to wait for them to turn red. Cucumbers are getting pretty big already and we had some sweet peas but next year I need to add a few more tires since the peas we get are gone just like that. Anyway, it’s been fun to see stuff grow and the kids really enjoy watching the vegetables grow. Here are some pictures from when my mom was here and now.
Just had to write something about today because it’s been an awfully busy day. Ehren and I watched a movie last night which I didn’t realize was a long movie so it was way passed my bed time when it was over. We watched “Defiance” and it was just awesome. As any WW2 movie about Jews it made me cry.
Anyway, I got up a little after 5am this morning, quick got ready and grabbed coffee to go and left the house around 5:45am to drive 2 hours to Fargo where my dental specialist is. So I pretty much drove 4 hours round trip to a one hour appointment – crazy. The appointment didn’t go too bad as it was just a regular cleaning versus a deep cleaning which I absolutely hate. I got out the dentist’s door at around 9:20am, got some gas and started the 2 hour trip back home. I had to fight to keep my eyes open quite a bit and really wished I had a chauffeur so I could sleep until we got home. Dream on girl! Despite the long drive though I always appreciate the total silence in the van that I get to enjoy with just my own thoughts and prayers.
When I was about an hour away from home Ehren called me and let me know about our other dentist from our town and how I need to stop by their office and talk to a Ukrainian woman patient who needs translating. I had no idea how this was going to go because most of the times I can understand Ukrainians but they don’t understand me but I said I’d try. I got there and the girl was getting her teeth cleaned and they were trying to explain to her she has some minor gum disease. After I’ve been trying to explain all the gum issues to her for 15 minutes it was pretty obvious they already got all that the dentist was telling them. I also couldn’t tell if the girl and her mom understood me because they only nodded if I asked them if they understand. But nevertheless, they both seemed very glad to meet another “Easterner” and wanted to know more about me while the dentist is thinking we’re talking gum stuff. I gave them my number to call so I’ll see if I ever see them again. The mom and her teenage daughter came to live here with the mom’s boyfriend who’s from here and are soon getting married. So I am not exactly sure how well the 2 soon-to-be-married communicate if she needed help translating at the dentist. That was a fun part of the day.
Then I got home right after Ehren fed 4 of the 5 kids lunch. It was great that he took the morning off to help me out and watch the kids. Besides our kids there was Emily who I watch every day and little 10 month old Charlie who I just started watching yesterday, for 2 days a week. So the house has not been very quiet this morning and in the middle of all that Anika’s physical therapist came to do her session. Ehren did great with all that chaos and I’m just glad he got a glimpse of what my days are like.
After everyone got done with lunch it was time to play a little bit and get ready for naps. At this time, it is very much up in the air how the nap time will go because of the extra kids. We got a good system down with Emily but for some reason Charlie did not want to nap today which made Anika stay awake. At least Emily and Kason got a good nap in but it seemed like all the kids were just cranky for the rest of the day – it must have been the cloudy weather. Finally, around 5pm Emily and Charlie went home, I quick made some dinner for us and we attempted to go to Kade’s last soccer game at 7pm. Unfortunately, the game got cancelled because a storm came through right at 7:05pm.
So it’s been a very long day and I’m more than ready for bed. I need to get on that treadmil in the morning too so I better get going. So much to do and so little time in the day.
So I just thought I’d write something about these tiny birds that seem to sabatage my morning runs every Spring/Summer. Since we are out in the country with lots of fields around, there are a lot of field birds that live here, especially a lot of “red-winged black birds” who by some crazy reason love to have their nests in the ditches by the road. I could care less about their nests or the fact that they are around me, but I do care when they freakishly attack me around every nest area. Ehren said he thinks it’s my bandanna which I love to wear when I run so my next project is to go running without anything in my hair. Why would that make a difference I don’t know. Anyway, every time I get close to their nest, the black bird shoots up in the air and does circles right above my head, sometimes just a few inches away. A couple years ago one of them was so mad that he actually landed on my head, flapped his wings around and took off. So maybe I’m just traumatized from that one time and now I’m waiting for every black bird that gets too close to do that. Someone suggested to run with a tennis racket and swing it at the birds, but that doesn’t appeal to me too much. I keep thinking though that I must look funny out there, running with my head up (and not running in a straight line), arms swinging around and yelling at the birds to go away. So that’s the story of my little “friends” red-winged black birds. At least they make me run faster so there is one positive about this. Hopefully though not wearing a bandana will help this craziness because I’d like to just enjoy my runs and not be on a look-out for the next bird to fly over me.
