yesterday:  Gramma Betty said she'd feed the kids breakfast at her house, so my morning wasn't quite as hectic as I feared.  I didn't expect to be selected, but -- I ended up spending the entire day as Juror Number One.

We found the defendant Not Guilty on all charges.  The prosecuting attorney could be Horatio Hornblower's twin.

Picked up the kids from Gramma Betty's, drove to Helena as planned.  Kendric saw Carroll College illuminated and exclaimed, "That looks like a Wonder!"  It was nearly ten o'clock when we dragged ourselves into Mom and Dad's apartment; everyone went right to sleep.

today:  I decided to bring the kids to the Capitol two at a time.  (Myra's already been there, and Wilson doesn't care.)  After buckling Kendric and Logan into the car, I looked up and saw a deer bedded down on a nearby lawn.  It was perfectly still, so my first thought was, "Must be a lawn ornament."  I took a picture anyway, and viewed it at high power zoom.  That was real deer hide.

I saw its ear twitch, so I knocked on Mom's kitchen window.  "Bri!  Look!  There's a deer out here!"  Mom said it was no big deal, they're always around.  And their apartment is right next to the interstate!  Psycho.

Logan was mostly excited about the horses in the statues and paintings.  ...  Neither Kendric nor Logan was too eager to look over the rotunda through the railings on the balcony.  ...  The House was already in session.  I spent four months as a legislative aide, I had access to pretty much the entire building, so it was strange to wait this time for the doorman to let us through the lobby.  Kendric sat on Grandpa's lap, shook several hands, and got to watch Grandpa push the red button.  A press photographer noticed, and took several pictures, said the picture will be in tomorrow's paper (Helena Independent Record).  Cool.

I brought the boys to the House gallery...  Bob Clark (House Security) gave them lollipops...

Mari and Bri's turn:

Bri was so busy looking at the stained glass window, the paintings, the columns, she didn't notice the landing on the stairs.  Whoa, lost her balance for a second there:

From the Old Supreme Court gallery, we came down the stairs that end up in front of the Office of the Governor.  I had planned to simply take a picture of the girls outside the door, but the receptionist invited us inside.  She not only invited us to look at the hall of past governors, but brought us to the inner actual offices of the governor and lieutenant governor.  (I'd never been there before.  Never ever.)  ...  She said this bison is supposed to be "sacred," that if you rub its nose, "your wish will come true."  She suggested that Bri try it, but Bri supposed she would never be able to reach it.  Ahhh, trick photography:

Remembering Mom's directions, I found Dad's office.  The door was only labelled with a number, so I was a bit nervous when I tried the handle, but the pictures on the file cabinet were a substantial clue that we were in the right place:

Mari left a note in the phone message book...  Bri freaked out a bit because she actually hit a key, and the screensaver disappeared, revealing an official-looking log in screen:

The House was in recess when we went to say hello to Grandpa.  Fine, because we'd already heard a debate and watched a vote on an amendment from the gallery.  Instead, Mari and Bri got to sit in the page seats.  A few representatives were still in the room, happy to press their page buttons so the girls could see the way things work:

Photographer guy stopped to ask the spelling of Kendric's last name, noticed the girls' postcards from the Governor's office, "I took that picture!"  That makes him photo worthy:

Mom and I brought all the kids to Burger King (with the play area) for lunch.  ...  Mari and Bri are still in Helena, until Mom and Dad come home for Easter.  Kendric, Myra, Logan and Wilson slept most of the way...  Made it home at about seven.

Saw deer on the canal road:

Trees in the valley are budding, starting to have a green tinge.  ...  They graded the road.  ...  Looking forward to a calm day at home.

Taking a deep breath, 'cause tomorrow is going to be crazy busy.

random: Kendric, out of the blue, referring to Hoodwinked (which we haven't seen in... nearly a year): "Mom, the rabbit was nice to her at the beginning, but he turned into a bad guy."  Poor boy.  What a hard / unpleasant thing to learn.  Me: "He always was a bad guy.  But sometimes bad guys pretend to be nice, so they can make people think they're good guys."

Kendric and I were looking at the Wildlife Facts book (thanks to Kirby's Aunt Becky)...  One of his favorite features is the habitat maps.  I don't remember which animal we were reading about, but I pointed to the map, "Look, Kendric, it lives in France and Spain."  Kendric piped up: "And Portugal!"  Three cheers for our nifty globe!

(for Robin: Oregon Scientific SmartGlobe.  Freaked out at the price listed online -- we got it for considerably less at Costco.)

I dragged myself out of bed to make pancakes.  With peaches and cream.  Special breakfast for Palm Sunday -- but really it was because I needed the ends of the peach cans for my April Fools' joke:

We also had fresh butter with our pancakes.  (My first batch of whipped cream was a little ... overdone.)

Kent left us with five gallons of unpopped popcorn.  (Shares from a trip to Sam's Club.)  Preparing to be sick and tired of popcorn...

Thursday:  I started to clean out the strawberry beds, but after about three feet, I realized I wasn't sure how far apart the good plants should be.  Couldn't get Mom on the phone, so I called Grandma, "How can I tell which ones are suckers?"  She offered to come up and show me -- besides, she wanted some suckers to replace her old strawberry plants.  I cleaned out the garden shed.  Also saved a peach tree from being strangled to death by a stray grape vine.  *heroic music*

And, oh, guess who got a jury summons in the mail.  I'll give you a hint: it wasn't Kirby.

Watched Flags of our Fathers.

Friday:  Kirby stayed home with the little kids, Mari and Bri went to Missoula with me.  We listened to The Horse and His Boy on the way -- currently my favorite Narnia book.  ...  Saw Lincoln, his wife (what is her name?!), Darbee, and new baby girl Kanan (say "cannon").  ...  I had mail to deliver to Nicole; she met us at Costco, took us out for ice cream at Cold Stone:

Mallards and canada geese are nesting...  I was attacked by a suicidal bird -- it blindsided me on the highway between Evaro and Arlee.  I escaped with barely a scratch.  I saw it flapping on the road in my rear view mirror, and there was nothing I could do about it.  ...

Kent and Lois showed up at oh, 9:45.  We stayed up late talking, as usual.  Idiots.

Ben stopped by to show us that he shaved his head.  Completely.  Freaked me out.

today:  Kirby made a potato blaster.  Spent the morning planting a potato field above the house.

Bella invited Myra to an Easter egg decorating party:

Any other day, it would have caused problems with her big sisters, but they were happy at home, entertaining Grandma Lois and Aunt Katie.

Saw Jared Kingery at the grocery store.  He asked Myra if she'd like to see a snake.  Surprisingly, she was very excited about it.  He lifted a five gallon bucket from the bed of his truck, popped off the lid, and pulled out a four-or-so foot bull snake.  When Myra heard that it wasn't poisionous, she reached right out to feel its scales.

Rob and Robin came up for dinner.  I guess Lauren wants to be an ASL interpreter, so Lois talked with her about that...  We thought we might get in a pinochle game, but we were far too busy yakking, never got around to it.

I'm tired.

zzz z z zzz  z  z    zzz

I think I have a fever.

Being around farm people only makes me realize how much of not-a-farmer I am.  I like being clean.  The flipside is, when I'm around "city people" I am, by comparison, a total country bumpkin.  Stuck in the middle.  Which is funny, 'cause some might say I'm an extremist.  My husband and I didn't even kiss before our wedding...  Our kids were born at home..  We don't do blanket immunizations ('cept tetanus, but I digress)...  We teach our kids at home...  No Nintendo (or PS2 or whatever), no licensed characters on our clothes, blah blah blah...

When we're around, say, my cousins in California, we might as well be Amish, with lanterns and buggies and button-free dresses.  Then, when we're around say, other homeschool families, we might as well be goth punkrockers.  I wear jeans -- and not a skirt!, my kids play (occasional) computer games, we listen to music besides Bill Gauthier and philharmonic orchestras, I don't own a wheat grinder, I wear earrings and makeup!, we watch movies, I don't milk a goat, etc.

The girls have been plotting a tea party for quite some time.  Today I finally got around to choosing a date.  Bri made invitations...

Warm, sunshiny afternoon, so we accepted Danielle's invitation to see their baby goats.  The green has made quite a bit of progress in the valley.  Everything looks clean and fresh and ... springy.  We used the back roads so we could enjoy the view (cow pastures, gulches, farms) on the way.

I remember riding the bus home from school and thinking this patch of snow looked like a map of the United States / Canada:

In place of South America is a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  (More so back then -- I think the clearing is growing in...)  When I stopped for this picture, Mari noticed the map, too.  Ha.

I am basically walking dead.  Up with sick / restless boys for several nights in a row.  Wilson had a scary bad fever last night.  Our thermometer is broken, but he was hot.

Tommi and Jerry came up yesterday afternoon.  Jerry watched the kids while Tommi and I took a walk.  We were so busy talking, we went all the way to the Lake, then all the way to the mailboxes.  Once upon a time, my legs gave out before my lungs, but yesterday I was a huffin' and a puffin' -- and my legs were fine.  Probably didn't help that I was jabbering...

Myra noticed buds on the hedge outside the kitchen door:

Welcome, baby grass!  There's more soft and green in the front yard than brown and soggy:

I love rain.  When I'm tired, though, the perpetually overcast sky messes with my concept of time.  It might be noon, it might be dinnertime, I can't tell, it all feels the same.

Kirby and I were walking out the door to feed the horses, and I noticed Sandy was up at the top of the field, near the barbed wire fence.  She was rocking back and forth, jerking her head up and down, had me totally convinced that she was tangled / stuck.  I was wondering how long she'd been there, thinking horrifed "what if"s as Kirby and I hurried up the muddy hill to help her.  Kirby passed me, "I think you're right, Kari, she's stuck!"  Turned out she was just standing under some thick brushy branches, scratching her back. 

Daffodil progress:

Two years ago, Bri was picking a few tulips for Gramma Betty, and a bulb came up with one of the stems.  Gramma told her to take it home and plant it.  Bri keeps a close watch on the place she buried it.  I noticed a little tulip leaf today.  Cool.

A snow (or hail) shower that lasted all of two minutes, then the clouds broke.  The kids ran across the living room, jumping over the paths of light:

When the girls were little, they used to line up at the far end of the room, "1, 2, 3, run to Mommy!" and jump into my arms.  Funny, I haven't ever really done that with the boys, but Kirby does: