Tales from Happy Land: Some more

I'd better hurry up! It's the last day of August and I have only written once this month!

So... I'm going to start out this post with our sad news. Our cute little Mordecai has died.

He sure grew since this picture was taken. I think I figured he'd be around for a long time like Scratchy was, and I've been not as good about taking pictures lately, so I don't have more recent ones. I might have to steal some that Joshua took. I know he was just a little ratty, but he sure grew on me. He had a fun personality. He was a lot more active than Scratchy was. He was always pouncing around his cage and crawling all over Joshua. He was just so cute and sweet. We all miss him. I'm so sad for Joshua. Many tears have been shed.

So this is what happened. You know how we've been going back and forth between Globe and Thatcher every weekend? Well, this time I was driving as we pulled into Thatcher, and I wanted to hurry and get the shopping done so we wouldn't have to go back later. I forgot we had a little ratty with us. Joshua said, "What am I going to do with Mordecai while we're in Wal-Mart? I can't bring him in." I told him he'd just have to bring him in because he couldn't stay in the hot car. Under normal circumstances we wouldn't bring him in, but in this case there wasn't much choice. Then there was a discussion about it with Papa too, and somewhere in there Joshua understood that he could not bring Mordecai in, so he didn't. He was gone before we got back out to the car. I feel so, so bad. We never wanted that to happen. We love that little guy. He is gone too soon.

I'm not sure what we'll do. I'm certain that Joshua will want another rat some time, but I think right now might be a little too soon. We'll see.

This weekend worked out a little differently. Jeremy had to work late on Friday, so we stayed in Globe on Friday night. It was after lunch by the time we left on Saturday. And then when Mordecai died Joshua wanted to bring him back to Globe to be buried near Scratchy. So that's what we did. There was much groaning an gnashing of teeth over the decision to leave Saturday night, but for Joshua we did. We had a little funeral in the backyard at 11:30 PM or so, just Joshua, Jeremy, and me. And then I went and sat with Joshua in his room for a while. I felt like he needed that right then. His brothers in there were all asleep, so we talked about some things that he probably wouldn't have mentioned at all if they had been awake. I was really glad. It was a good talk. It was 1:00 when I got to bed, but sometimes it is very much worth it. And then I was up at 6:00 to shower and get the two older boys and Jeremy through the shower before 9:00 church in Miami. Phew! I'm feeling it.

You're probably wondering why we rolled back into Globe so late. Well, that's an interesting bit of story. Well, maybe not so very interesting, but I'll tell you anyway. We didn't hear anything all week from Home Depot about whether or not our laminate order was in, so we went over there and asked. It turned out they did have the order and that it could be delivered Monday. I didn't want to come back Monday, so we went back to the house and took the seats out of the van and then went and picked up the laminate ourselves. And in the meantime we decided this whole thing was taking too long, so we decided to do the laminate ourselves. We're hoping to get a good group of people together this coming weekend to put it in. And it'll be a long weekend, so that might work to our advantage as well. :) Anyway, the lady in charge of flooring was busy getting our order together when we got there. The laminate was already on a pallet and ready to go, but she had to get together the padding and the trim, and it turned out that the quarter round trim was all mixed up, so there were two sizes in one slot. She had to take it all out and separate it, and then put back all the wrong size ones. And there weren't enough pieces, but that's ok. They were short by 3 or 4. If we decide we need it later we can go get it. The trim is not the important part. Anyway, so between that and reworking the order to not include laminate installation (saving us nearly $2000 - yea!), we were there for 2 hours! Thank goodness for good babysitters. It was just Jeremy and me waiting at Home Depot for all that.

I'm glad we're doing it ourselves. It was a lot of fun last time, and this time the older boys can help. I think that will be a good experience for them, and I hope they enjoy it!

But we got all our stuff loaded in the van, and the kiddos helped Jeremy get it all into the house. Jeremy got a nice flooring removal tool, and in a couple of hours the flooring was all out of the kitchen, dining room, living room, and entryway. We still have a little bit of cleanup to do, but the majority of the sweeping up of green dust (because the padding under the carpet was green) is done, and the old flooring is waiting to go to the dump. Timmy was a particularly good helper during the process. He just decided he wanted to help, so he put on a glove and very carefully carried all the tack board out piece by piece. He also helped break apart the weird tile stuff that was in the kitchen and dining room. It was fun to watch him. :) By the time that was all done, with the exception of some cleanup, it was starting to get late. But for Joshua's sake we went ahead and drove home anyway.

So yesterday we got some happy news! My baby sister Kelly, whom I lovingly refer to as Kell-o, is engaged to Rick Eastham! We haven't met him yet, but we're hoping this weekend might be the big day for that (meeting him). :) We're excited! When she called I picked up my phone and saw that it was Kelly and got all happy about it, and then Jeremy said, "She's engaged." He was right! Here's a cute picture of the happy couple, stolen shamelessly from Facebook. Aren't they cute? And isn't her ring gorgeous? Right now that plan is for a December wedding. It might be a very busy month! I guess we'll see. We're so happy for her. :) Well, and I guess we're happy for him too because he's getting a terrific gal, but we don't know him yet, so... ;) Also, Kelly Eastham has a good ring to it, no? It sounds very British. *wink, wink*

And now for some other, more random pictures from August.

We've been sleeping on cots in Thatcher. Timmy got out of his bed and into mine one morning. Yes, he is hugging Iron Man. We bought that guy a month or two ago, and it has been some money well spent! Timmy had started playing with Jill's Barbies, an it was kind of disturbing, so we decided he needed he own manly dolls to play with. This is what he picked. About a week later I went back and bought Jeremy a Hulk one, and it has been so great! Jeremy has liked The Hulk since he was little. Anyway, so now Timmy brings Papa his Hulk and they play together and have a great time. I love it! Timmy likes to make Iron Man say, "I'm going to poop on my pants!" And then he makes tooty noises and repeats. Typical boy stuff. They all go through it, and they all grow out of it, but at some point they all think that bodily functions are hilarious.

Here are most of the boys walking to church. :) We go across the street from our house and cut through EAC. This is right by our house on EAC campus.

Looks like Papa got tired on the way home from church.

I love this picture! It turned out better than I thought. :)

Michael's selfie

Bubby was sad one day, and he was also diaperless. That's not uncommon. I try to keep a onesie on him, but that only helps his diaper stay on most of the time, and then I run out of onesies. This particular day, Benji went to his rescue. He comforted him and then got him a diaper and some other clothes, right down to the shoes, and then he lent him a hat from his collection. Bubby was pleased, but it wasn't long before he had stripped off everything from the waist down again.

Benji's selfie

Here's the new HVAC unit being hoisted onto the Thatcher house. The crane parked behind our back fence to do it. I had a great time watching. :)

The old swamp cooler going bye-bye. :)

One great thing about our house in Thatcher is this long bench thing on the fireplace. There's a bit on both sides. And another great thing about Thatcher in general is that they have Cocoa Roos! I know it's silly, but I love those generic brand Cocoa Puffs, and they are no longer available anywhere in Globe. There are some store brand ones, but they're no good. Anyway, so there has been much eating of Cocoa Roos at the Thatcher house. This particular morning Jeremy and I went to the Temple, and then when we came home Timmy was up and completely dressed and ready for breakfast. I thought he looked cute sitting there eating. :)

Bubby found Timmy's underwear laying around (Thank heavens it was clean!), so he put it on backwards all by himself. And then he found Papa's glove and some soap from the bathroom. He was a happy boy.

Here's our backyard. There are two doves perched on the back gate. They looked like were kissing at one point. We always liked that there were so many doves in Thatcher. It's fun to be around them again.

Benji and Michael got clever with their notebooks. Benji's arrow shot Michael's book. I don't think they know it, but these guys are going to miss each other when they go to school!

Timmy had me print him Mario and a Hulk mask, and then he put them together. He thinks it's super funny. He also drew that M in crayon right on the wall. His art is all over our house, and I mean that quite literally. I cannot keep up with it!

Timmy has been talking a lot about Halloween and being a pirate, so one evening Jeremy made him a paper pirate hat and found some "treasure." It's a little chest full of old scout belt loops and fake coins. He was so happy!

This day we walked down to the EAC Activities Center to see our friend Andra's scribble art exhibit. It was pretty awesome! He made it all with tiny strokes with a Sharpie! On our way we rolled down the hill in front of the auditorium. I was glad we weren't on our way to church because we couldn't do this in those clothes. ;) It was quite fun. Here are the 4 older boys.

Papa, Jill, and Bubby

Timmy and Michael

Bubby! I put him in overalls to try to keep his diaper on. It usually works. :)

We like to stop by the bell tower and hear the bells chime the hour.

Bill Reed was one of my Institute teachers and is dear to my hear. His name is on a brick with his sweet wife Claudia for donating to help build the clock tower. President Eyring's name is on a plaque on the tower because he dedicated it.

This was my favorite picture that Andra did. Unlike the other pictures, she only used one size of Sharpie on this. It's all just a bunch of tiny marks. It's so neat! I wish I had photographed all of the pictures, but Jill and I were stuck in the bathroom (that was the weekend we were so sick) for too long, and then everyone was ready to go. You should go see the exhibit if you can, though. She has a bunch of signs talking about how she did this and that too.

Jill with the dancer

Bubby and me

We love playing with these blocks together! Jill made apples one day, and I thought they looked like little roses.

Timmy colored Cookie Monster and had me cut him out, and then he took a picture of him.

He drew Om Nom and his candy from the game Cut the Rope. In that game, you have to strategically cut the ropes so that the candy swings down and feeds the monster. It's a cute little game.