Dear Anonymous
Thank you for your comment and your interest in the happenings here at Plattner Ranch. Since my pregnancy has gotten past the first tri-mester (we are at 26 weeks, in case you were wondering) I have been feeling much better and spending my extra energies on projects around the house.
I will try to give a brief summary of some of the things I would have posted if time had allowed.
Since my last post was about our colorful boots I will give a brief update. We learned that the more expensive boots does not mean better quality and as of this post have returned two pair to the store for a refund and went back to the old black or navy boots, yellow when available.
The boys built a playhouse for the girls out of old pallets Chad brought home from work.
They have been spending a lot of time in the sand box these last few weeks.
My landscaping that was planted last fall by Schrocks Landscaping is looking wonderful and I am very grateful for it.
I am currently on the hunt for a used swing set: if anyone knows of one let me know. Chad would like to build one but it isn't likely to happen soon and my children love for me to push them, so it would be nice to be able to push a couple or several children at once.
We went to Warren Dunes, MI over the weekend on a camping trip. We arrived late Thursday night (after dark), and returned home Sunday night. The girls and I took a trip to the restroom as soon as we got there and immediately ran into someone from Mansfield OH that we were aquainted with from church. Come to find out Ron and Kay Rufener were camping with two of their married children and two grandchildren just around the corner from us. We enjoyed visiting a few times during our stay and spent a little time around the campfire Friday night singing together.
Friday we climbed Mt Randall: Javan was up and down it twice before I made it up once!!! If you have never climbed a sand dune you may not know that every step you take your foot slides down with the sand until it becomes firmly planted again, this makes it very difficult to climb the hill when you are in sad physical shape. After reaching the top and taking a break we followed the sand trail that led to the beach. I tried to stay on areas that required the least amount of climbing whereas the boys chose the most amount of climbing they could find. We spent several hours on the beach watching the children play in the sand and freezing water (well, not quite freezing but VERY cold) and taking turns napping. We took the trail back and though it was still a little difficult it wasn't near as bad as getting up Mount Randall. Going down the hill was easier but still took me a bit of time as I volunteered to carry the childrens toys and bucket of rocks someone thought he HAD to take home. The children ran down the hill tumbling as they went and Chad video'd on his camera, I don't know if they turned out but perhaps will blog them when time allows.
Saturday was very windy and overcast so we decided to head to the Curious Kids Museum a short drive away. When we returned I took a wonderful nap with Jubilee and Jonas while Chad took the others out for more punishment!!! Actually, he is in much better shape than I and enjoyed climbing the dunes with them. Up and Down and Up and Down every dune they could find and came back exclaiming how much fun they had! Although I did really enjoy my nap, I hope to someday be able to enjoy the dunes a little more than I did this time.
Sunday we packed up early and headed out to Valparaiso, IN for church. We thought we were running late till we realized they are on CST and not EST, so we were actually plenty early. There was a lot of company and we were aquainted with some of the families that were there. We stopped at Chad's brother Kyle's apartment on the way home and spent some time visiting. Dad and Mom P. also met us there.
Jonas is talking more and more all the time, putting together two words instead of just one. He will be two on Wednesday. It's time to do some potty training, but I am waiting till we are done with the normal school year.
I plan to do some summer school this year to practice math facts and reading skills; also some letter writing as we got off track on that this year and I know the recipients enjoy them thoroughly and it is good practice for penmanship and composition skills.
I have about two summers worth of priorities for this summer, so if anyone is bored feel free to come visit, I can keep you plenty busy and thankful for boredome when it returns!!! :) Actually, my first priority is having fun with the children, so a lot of the things I would like to be priority are not really that important after all: so, if we live here for 10 years and my house is still not finished, but I can say we had fun together along the way, I will be a happy Mom!
There is much more I could write, but for those of you who like short but sweet I will try to at least keep it at "sweet!" and say good-bye.
P.S. I forgot to tell you, our computer is not working right again, so we are waiting for our next hand-me down from Dad Plattner. We helped him finalize a decision to get a new laptop he has been thinking about. :) We are currently working in "safe mode" so I cannot use all the functions available. For example, right now I have to save my documents in a shared documents file and print it from our school computer. At least it is still faster than the early days!!!
GOOD BYE!!!!!
