Retreating

This was what I was left with when Ty left for his missions trip to Mexico last Tuesday...

All my bathroom, kitchen, dining, bar and entry way furniture and appliances were literally piled in the living room! So my dear mother showed up that day to help me wrangle the kids, so I could finish various cleaning, painting and tile mopping projects. Then, when the kids went to bed, I made her get down on her old hands and knees and help me seal the grout lines with this product (NO VOC's). I know, I'm mean. And it was a serious chore, too! But we got 'er done and got a few key pieces of trim back in place, along with a few key pieces of furniture and applicances. Then, the next day, we retreated.

We packed up the kiddos and went to my mom's. It was totally worth every minute of the 2.5 hour drive to go and relax for a couple days. Only problem was, I couldn't blog!!! Mom lives twenty minutes outside a small town, right next to the wilderness in central Washington. The internet out there is horrible! So I will have a few blogs in a row coming up quick about the trip. First, I have some random pics to share...

The first morning, we went to town. This is what the little town of Cle Elum looks like from the Dairy Queen driveway...

It's a cute little town - small, old and very western. While we were in the drive-thru, this guy was anxiously waiting for his food...

Sorry but he cracked me up. He was fixated on that window for several minutes, not moving a muscle. I'm betting he regularly gets something outta that DQ bag!

We gave this little gal a bath...

I had been neglecting her hygiene with all my tiling madness! Bad mama! She's squeaky clean now. But spoiled rotten from being rocked and coddled and sweet-talked by Grama for a week!

As always, Mark got to help Grama Sue make cookies...

See how he put that row of dough all close together in a line? He told us it was his motocross track. Is there anything in this world that does not somehow turn into motocross? For those of you who don't know, that is racing dirt bikes over lots of jumps on a track. Yeah, he's obsessed.

After dinner, he was shelling and eating his pistachios...

Papa taught him how to shell pistachios. While he was eating them, he notified me, "I am never going to stop, Mom." When I was done laughing, he calmly said, "I was just kidding Mom," as if to say, "It wasn't that funny." Such attitude. He's only 3! He changed my name from Ma to Mom a few days ago. I'm still grieving Ma; he sounds so grown up when he says "Mom" for some reason.

Anyway, we came back to my house today; the kids, Mom and me. Ty is driving, on his way home from Mexico, which will take a couple days. So Mom is going to help wrangle the kids so I can finish getting the house put back together. Moms are the best. So are friends -- thanks to a dear friend and her man, we got the entry trim back on today (it required a belt sander, table saw and lots of muscle). Now me and my handy dandy little brad nailer will go around finishing all the baseboard trim, and then, I will finally bring some after-tile pictures to you!