Full house...

The end of last weekend Krieg finished up his last exam and came home for the summer - on his 22nd birthday. Erin followed Friday when she finished her last final for the year. Momma had a full house!

Our weather this weekend was wonderful - finally. We were in the low 80's. Saturday Matt, Brit and Erin went Bird Banding. As Erin is majoring in Wildlife Research Management these trips count toward internships for her school. Mike hooked her up several years ago thru Birds of Prey when he volunteered there regularly. They had great weather. Sunny, not too hot. It was a different group organizing it thru BLM this time but they ended up with John, a retired BLM wildlife biologist who we have gone with for years.

Mike, Krieg, Tate and myself stayed home and held down the fort. Tate and I went to Lowe's to buy some birdseed and a couple of new feeders. Hopefully these are more squirrel proof - if there IS such a thing... Tate filled the feeders - I'm always surprised at his dexterity. We bought tomato and pepper plants. He helped me plant those along the fence. I turned the hose on low and he wandered around being a very important waterer. He also helped me move rocks from the pond spillway and redirect water so it didn't run off the sides as it was doing. Mike sat and cut boxes for recycling and then cut some of the branches from last week's trimming session. Tate tossed them into the rolling bins. They both kept busy. Krieg got the yard mowed and replaced two sprinklers and then got the sprinklers set up on the timer and adjusted. We felt very productive.

Sunday the kids wanted to take Tate to the zoo. Boise's zoo isn't very big so it only takes an hour or so. We got down there about 11am as Tate was being difficult and we weren't sure we'd actually go.

Matt kept thinking he should be working on the house. We promised to all go help at the house when we were done. I think we actually started at Matt & Brit's about 3:30. Krieg mowed their lawn and taped off windows and trim in the bedrooms. Erin, Brit and I painted bedrooms. They rolled the walls and I did the corners, ceilings and edging. After we got Tate's room painted, I ran to get cleaning supplies and a couple more rollers. The girls painted the front bedroom and then the "office" bedroom as well as the master closet.

I picked up Papa Murphy pizza, cooked it at home and brought it over. Thought maybe Mike would come but he wasn't feeling very well so stayed home. We stayed at the house until about 9:30, came home showered and watched the DVR Survivor finale. It was a very LATE night.

Chaos is the only word to describe the way things are in our house right now between Mike's extra sleeping areas and paraphernalia, Krieg moving home, Erin visiting and Matt & Brit focusing on getting their house done. I'm just trying to maintain until they are ready to move out and we get bedrooms cleaned and shift Krieg. One day at a time.

I love having everyone around. Erin is heading back to Moscow today. She has a new job as a bartender at a place called Mix. She's very happy with the atmosphere and her new employers. She also has a set work schedule - Thursday-Saturday. We may get to see her a few extra times this summer. Krieg has his interview with Costco, though he was already told he had his old job back. The meat department manager actually asked him last Friday if he wanted to work the afternoon - before his interview.

Mike hasn't felt well the past two days. I don't think he's eating well enough when I'm working. Mentioned it to Krieg. He'll keep Mike on the straight and narrow. Yesterday it was so warm in the house. We tried turning on the A/C and it failed. Freon leak again but this time it froze up and won't work at all. We nursed it along last summer. We are digging into our pockets this year for a new A/C - like it or not it's a necessity. Of course we didn't learn of the non-working status until it was too late. House too warm. We came home from Matt & Brit's - no A/C and the ice maker wasn't working but at least we took most of the large screens off the windows to be replaced Friday too! :-) When we fall apart we have epic failures!

Not to worry - there is a weather front already threatening to take away our beautiful warm, sunny days!