The joy of finding a long-lost, life-long friend!

Via Facebook and the help of dear Jennie I found my long-lost friend/bridesmaid/partner in giggling Elizabeth! I met Elizabeth when I was a brand new Christian through Young Life and she was a dear, precious, supportive friend through my final years in high school. She was one of my 3 brides maids at my wedding and at some point we lost touch. I can't remember why. Maybe it's when we moved to Kansas City ... I just don't know ... but praise the Lord I found her and she came for a visit with her Mom and beautiful girls on Tuesday!

Elizabeth and Kathryn

It was as if not a day had passed except we were surrounded by children! She has two darling little girls, Ivey and Elsa, who hit it off beautifully with my girls. And, I remembered why I love Elizabeth so, so, so much ... she's relaxed like me! She loves the outdoors, the sun, the dirt ... and she lets her girls get dirty and muddy and doesn't even flinch when her daughter's taco hits my kitchen floor ... she picks it back up and sends her out to eat it! That's my kind of friend. Now if I could find her husband a job in Ft. Collins so we could be neighbors! Why does she have to live so far way ... that part makes me cry!
The crew eating tacos in my less-than-beautiful-very-well-used backyard. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the kids ... I'm relaxed but I'm not a good photographer. It was also a huge blessing to get to see Elizabeth's mom. I have wonderful memories of the Warren family and her mom was one of my first examples of a "mom of many" with five children! What a fun, joy filled day that I hope can be repeated much more often in the future! Thank you Lord for found long-lost friends!

Where to start ...

I have so much to catch up on with the blog. Garden plans, approaching birthdays, the joys of Spring in Colorado ... it's hard to know where to start when it's been soooo long since I posted. So we'll start with our kitten who is all of 7 months old and HILARIOUS! Last week we had snow dump from the heavens on us at the rate of 3 inches per hour for 4 hours! Wet, thick beautiful snow the day after a beautiful 70 degree day! Ha!

Sparkles playing in a box of snow we brought in for her. Not wanting her to be a feast for local wildlife she stays inside at all times.

She would take out little balls of snow and bat them around. Super cute! Kittens are so fun!
Being all girl she also likes to play doll house ...

Until she gets too tired and needs a nap.

And this is Molly who really could care less about snow or doll houses or the kitten ...
Timmy on his new bike. Typically our bikes are all hand-me-downs but by the 5th boy that 1st bike was unrepairable. Both it's seat and one of the pedals continually fell off and it looked like it had been through a meat grinder. So we ordered Timmy a brand new, red, beautiful, Tony Hawk bike. He had to wait for a few weeks for it to arrive and then it was bent and he had to wait for Mike to get home to fix it and then it snowed a foot ... no 7 year old has ever been as patient as Timmy and now that he can ride he's lovin' every minute of it!
I've posted pictures of the girls grinding wheat for me before but this was so silly because they had doll house people helping plus little cats and dogs riding in the wheat as it gradually funneled down. The canning jars are in the back because I took all the sour pie cherries I'd frozen from last summer and made beautiful, ruby-red jelly that tastes like cherry pie! I wish I had scratch-and-sniff pictures of the end result!
If the kids eat, get dressed and get their chores done before we start school at 9:00 they get free time. I looked out my window while getting dressed to see this ... Jacob coaching team "Squirrel Girls". Fantastic!
Elizabeth, Rachel, Anna and Coach Jacob
And, finally, the snow melted, the warmth has returned and we have a new volleyball net. Here the kids are playing badminton. I have a cousin who played badminton at the Olympics (I know, it's kind of funny) and I just don't remember the Olympic team using picnic tables and tricycles to reach the birdie. I'm wondering if Lizzy's choice of outfits might become the new team uniform ... a leotard, tutu and fleece. Poor Jacob ran into the net and got his braces stuck ... I don't remember that happening on the Olympic team either. Hmmmmm.

So here's a summary of the last few months ...

December ... we decide we're spending too much on health insurance that's not getting used, so we downsize our plan.

January ... we find out we're expecting baby #10, Mike is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and 2 more kids need braces. We frantically call Mike's company to reinstate expensive yet all-inclusive health insurance. Mike begins traveling almost every week.

February ... Kathryn feels sick and exhausted, Mike changes diet and begins losing weight by the day and 2 kids needing braces begin with expanders. That's 6 in orthodontia at one time. Mike continues to travel ...

March ... Kathryn is baffled as to why at 13 weeks she still feels awful, Mike continues to lose weight and looks fantastic and all the kids in braces have improved our tv reception. The big kids have had a great opportunity to make some money by babysitting their cousins while John's nanny is sick but I've missed their help. Mike is home for two weeks in a row allowing us to get a bunch done.

So, it's still March. I think I feel a little bit better than last week but I'm thinking someone is drugging me as I'm so tired at night I can barely function. The house looks like I've done the very bare minimum for a few months but I finally have some umpf to get on top of things. The basement is horrific ... I mean really ... beyond description. The carpets need steam cleaning and everything needs dusting. The little girls have out grown their clothes long before I can switch over to spring/summer clothes so I need to figure that out. Actually, I'm going to quit listing what needs to be done as I don't want to hyperventilate. I'll list positive things instead. We finally got the loft room a/k/a the boys room enclosed with a door. It's beautiful. The front room is fully painted as well. The snow is melting and Spring Break falls the week all the books say I can plant Spring crops ... so even though the ground is frozen I WILL find a way to plant. I have oodles of pictures to post ... State Chess Tournament, Celtic Competition, making cookies with Tammy ... but alas the basement calls for me or at least the creatures living amongst the junk are crying out to be saved from the mess. Pictures will have to wait for another day.