It's Raining, It's Pouring

We have been experiencing incredible, record amounts of rain. Yesterday we got over three inches. Our yearly average is around 13 inches. We are already 200% above normal for this time of year. We have rain in the forecast everyday for the next 10 days.

Our kids use to love to jump on the trampoline in the rain. Apparently not having the sense to come in out of  the rain is genetic.

Chase was wise enough to stick his toe outside and decide he'd wait for a sunnier day.

Kailyn has been falling apart while she's visiting us. This is tooth loss number 5. We won't talk about how her tooth got lost in the ginormous pile of soap, towels, and other supplies being taken to church.

Our stake is working on disaster relief for Hardin. Many places in that area of the state are accessible only by a really good swimmer or a boat. We got a request to put together at least 500 hygiene kits in one day.  During times like these you really appreciate how wonderful people are.  A member of our stake volunteered to clean out the Heights stores while I wiped out the west end for supplies. I would not have been able to buy fast enough without her help.  Finding 500+ towels, toothpastes, toothbrushes, soaps, combs, and ziplocs is harder than you think!  Shelly's mom-in-law, Lynn, stopped in to see the Bassetts and stayed to help us count and sort.

We had over 120 people show up at the church last night with virtually no advance notice to put kits together. I am touched by the goodness of our members!

Lynn even ran to the store and made supper for everyone

while we loaded things up. Don't tell anyone, but Caden is seriously addicted to catsup. While you're at it, don't tell anyone that his addiction is also genetic--Shelly had the same issue. (At least I think the word is "had".)

I thought I was going to spent this week just hangin' around.

Now I don't even want to think about everything I've got left to do before this weekend is over-- Megan's graduation party on Saturday, graduation on Sunday.

Fortunately my favorite slaves will be in town--Shelly, Jessica, Ashley, and Amy when she's not working.

and we've got a duplex that needs 430.4 hours of work before our new renters move in on Wednesday. Wish us luck!

(Stan is adding a second bathroom)

Someone's In The Kitchen With Grandma

We got more than 8 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. 

Makayla really wanted to go outside yesterday and play.

Right up to the moment she was actually outside, that is.

I don't know why.  That 15 degree air cleans your sinuses right out.

We decided to come in, throw our wet clothes in the dryer, and wash up.

When I handed Hailey this soap, she asked, "Grandma, why are we washing with fish pee?" 

"Why," I said, "do you think this is fish pee?!?"

"Well," said Hailey, "look at the picture!"

Hmm. Next time I'm buying the one with flowers on it.

We thought we'd warm up the kitchen by baking pretzels: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/02/chewy-soft-pretzels.html.  Hailey and Makayla couldn't wait to try some raw dough.  I remember helping my Grandma Kenison make bread, and she'd tell Judy and I when we ate the dough that it would expand in our stomach and give us stomach aches. 

I figured out sometime last week that Grandma probably was just trying to keep us from eating all the dough.

But right now, that same fib works on Makayla.

 Unfortunately, Hailey isn't as gullible as Makayla.  Or me.  She managed to down several wads of dough while maintaining this angelic expression.

We roll our dough out.

Makayla was extremely impressed with her own snake making skills.

 

 Next we made our snakes into pretzels. 

Or at least something that won't make us think of Favio when we eat it.

We put them on parchment paper...

...brushed them with baking soda and water....

...and sprinkled with salt.

 Around this time we spotted a shadowy figure snowblowing the driveway. 

Which is completely pointless, because it's still snowing like crazy.

By the way, Makayla, anyone big enough to put themselves in the highchair,

and peel their own clementine probably doesn't need that mouthpiece.  Just sayin'.

When the pretzels were done,

Hailey offered to try them first to make sure they are good enough for the rest of us. 

She highly endorses them.

Makayla gives them a "ten". Or maybe separating those thumbs out is just too challenging.

We also had curried coconut shrimp on Thai noodles, using curry paste, leftover coconut milk from another project, and all the vegetables lurking in the back of the fridge which were 11 hours away from complete unedibility, all dressed up and disguised by the addition of shrimp.

Makayla had thirds.

She wants us to know she recommends this dish, too.

Hailey tried one bite, but her review can't be published on our family blog....
By the way, Hailey, it's not often you can top Makayla for "most interesting-looking hair".

No Words Necessary

Of Course

The high in Billings today was a toasty 4 degrees, but windchill made it -22. 

So of course, Megan skipped school again and went snowboarding.

It's like Megan is focused more on fun than school.  Let's hope that trend reverses itself before someone moves to college.

The entire country is buried in snow, especially the states east of Montana, with thousands of cancelled flights, backed-up airports, and power outages.

 So of course Stan left this morning to make a quick trip to St. Louis.  He actually made it, even though one leg of his flight was cancelled and rescheduled for later in the day. 

Of course, I'm being purposely mysterious about the reason for this trip, but I will be blogging about it again in about March or so.

Megan stopped by just long enough to change and leave for church.

Of course, now that she's warmed up and not skiing or hanging out with friends, she's feeling her wisdom toothless jaw pain.

Of course this means.

I've been left alone to care for these two scary people.

So of course I cleaned them, pajama-ed them,

then we had a serious talk

about winding things down just in time for bed.

Of course, I'm not too concerned about bedtime, since I'm not in charge of that tonight.

Yeah, Amy's going to fire me.....