It's been a while....

...but here we are again. We're all settled in and are enjoying Spokane, often without Lincoln while he works like crazy. For instance this week he's working 100 hrs delivering babies. I'M NOT KIDDING. It somehow has to average 80 hrs per week over 4 weeks. Lame, I know. Actually last month he had an 8-5 gynecology rotation, which was nice. And even though Lincoln is on call every 3rd night, we have been able to meet him at the hospital for a quick free dinner.

Here are some fun or not so fun happenings with or without Linc since our last post. Sorry, but none of these pics have been worked on.

• Lincoln's old buddy Dave from Tennessee and his girlfriend Jen came all the way from Seattle to visit us. Since Jen is vegan I wanted to experiment with the vegan kitchen a little bit and we had almost all vegan food for a couple of days. I actually really like vegan food here and there. I've been especially intrigued with the vegan lunch box for some healthy lunch box ideas. Anyway, we also went on this really fun hike. If I would have known what we were getting into, I would have not taken the kids. It was full of adventures and the kids actually had a blast, though it was a little dangerous at times. The kids kept talking and talking about how fun it was though. I guess it was fine. The older ones enjoyed having some undivided attention -one adult per kid. Usually it's 1:4 when I'm with them. Dave was like:"Do they ever stop talking?" We wish we had some mosquito repellent and proper kid backpacks then (we finally got those now).

Volcanic mattervegan picnic

Jen and AvaPure FUNMore fun

mmh, does she always talk so much?

Dave practiced using Lincoln's 20D. Unfortunately some pics turned out blurred.

• Leea got another boo-boo. A few weeks ago she stumbled and fell "chin first" on our hardwood floor. She bled a little and some fat was hanging out, but I think the worst part was Luca being so freaked out. He was so worried about Leea, like he's with all of his siblings. He's very protective of everyone. I felt like he needed more comfort than her. We had a doctor friend over for dinner and he and Linc had decided to sew her up right at home. YES, at home, performed by my husband! I'm like: "Are you sure, I mean, don't you first want to have a doctor have a look at this." They just looked at me. Then I got it. Oh, they ARE doctors. Sorry! Still getting used to it. Well, they got some stuff together, positioned her on our very own operating table (our bed) and then said a prayer. Leea really calmed down then. I was in charge of keeping her still, while Lincoln numbed and sutured her up and the other doc gave pointers. I thought I'd faint, but it was very interesting and I felt fine. Leea even fell asleep a quarter way into it, which made the procedure a lot easier. I liked watching Lincoln perform the whole thing. He really is a doctor!

Like with her broken arm, Leea never complained about her boo boo. She took advantage of all the bandage options though! :) "Look, I drew an elephant-mouse!"

• For the 4th of July we went to the Riverfront park in Spokane to check out some rides at the fair and to view the Spokane Falls from the gondola. The fair place used to be part of the Expo in 74' and the huge tent frame is still there. My favorite part was the vintage Looff carrousel, which we rode like 10 times. Luckily we got a day pass for 50% off.

• One of Lincoln's fellow FP residents Tyler and his wife Amery have a HUGE Bing cherry tree and just wanted to pick a few for him and his family to make some cherry pie. He let us pick as many as we wanted. All he wanted in return was to borrow our minivan to get a couple large items from Home Depot. Sweet. We picked 75 lbs. of perfect worm-free organic ripe Bing cherries and stoned and froze them all!!! Thanks guys!

• It's been really fun to play in our yard. It's hot outside, but unlike Missouri, not humid. We go outside everyday and play either in the yard or on of the playgrounds nearby. There's really no use to drive anywhere, unless we need to haul groceries to our house, go to some fun library programs or go exploring Spokane.

I thought he was just going to play in the waterTurns out he must have been thirsty..oops

• Tuesdays we have a church playgroup with lots of kids. It's one of the highlights of the week. This time I was going to be especially prepared and packed a better snack than ever before. We were all ready to put our shoes on an leave, when I heard Noa crying. He's been doing that a lot in the past 6 mos. due to endless teething and him wanting to get more attention. I wasn't thinking anything bad at first, kept packing the snack, but when I turned around to finally check on Noa, the kitchen floor was dotted with blood that came from his little foot. I instantly knew what had happened and felt so bad. I needed to take the trash out the prior night. Being scared of the dark, I just put it on the deck and was going to take it around the house the next day. I forgot, of course. It had a broken glass jar inside, that's where Noa caught his foot on. We headed to the urgent care center, where Lincoln was able to meet us. Thank goodness it was "just" a deep cut and no tenants got cut. Noa was so tough the whole time, he just cried a little and the entire next week did not complain about anything. I was so glad we had a wonderful snack with us, since we spent quite a long time there. For two weeks we put one of Luca's Crocs and one of his own shoes on Noa, so he'd be able to walk without limping.
  

• My wonderful friend Deb and her family came to visit her husband's family in eastern WA and stopped by our house. Her son is one of Luca's best friends. They had really missed each other and were awaiting this day so bad. We had dinner together, went to the parks and had some good talks. A few days later the kids and I went to see them at her in-laws' wheat farm. The kids got to ride in the combine, play in the wheat truck and ride it to the grain elevator, from where it is shipped per train to Asia. The kids had a blast! Afterwards her mother-in-law made us a wonderful meal. She owns a catering service and cooks really well. It was so nice not to have to worry about cooking for once. Thank you! We also got to cool-off in their pool before we had to head home. I'm glad the kids got to hang out before we see you guys in like 1 1/2 years again. I really miss you, Deb! Thanks for the chance to see you guys!

• Another fellow FP resident Gloria invited us over to pick some of her raspberries. How fun, we LOVE fresh berries. She already had given us a huge container the week prior. I can't believe how nice people have been to us. She even helped us to pick more of her berries. She also let the kids dig in her garden and they were happy to help her pluck weeds. You need to know, our kids love to dig anywhere and everywhere we go. Sometimes it seems like an addiction -they HAVE to do it, even in the nicest yards or parks. They don't care. When we were walking through the Sequoias 2 years ago, Luca got tired quickly and plopped down with his toy truck and said: "I JUST want to dig ANYWHERE!" I learned in one of my classes that sand/dirt play is very important. It helps kids to cope with stress and just soothes them. Apparently my kids need to relax more. Well, Gloria became their friend instantly.

Noa wasn't quite sure about the tire swing, as you can tell

• We went to Riverside Park in Spokane in attempt to find the "bowl and pitcher", did a picnic and started a little hike when we thought it would be fun to just play by the river in the rocks. We stayed for over an hour and found rocks shaped like a pizza, hair bow, nose, soccer ball, and bugs that we later want to paint. Lincoln and the boys did some skipping, while we girls collected more rocks than we could actually carry. We limited everything to two buckets in the end. We didn't know that we were right by the "bowl and pitcher" until we googled it afterwards.

WOW, that was a LOT. Next time I won't wait THAT long to post updates! :)