Excavating and Other Shenanigans

My parents' water line sprang a leak recently. Allen and Dad came up with a plan. Choose a warm day, rent an excavator, and get to work. The warm day came sooner than expected. Fifty degrees was predicted in mid-February, so they decided to dig in! 

I was holding a different kind of challenge for myself. Wake up at 7 or before every weekday morning so that (maybe) a happier Mama could greet her littles in the morning. I asked Deanne if I could be accountable to her and hesitantly gave her permission to dish out unique punishments for the days I didn't succeed.

The morning that Allen happily toed the excavator to my parents, I sadly texted Deanne "7:16 😖". 

Thankfully, she was merciful and told me, on my way out the door, to go on a walk before doing anything creative... 

A couple hours later, this is the picture I texted her. It was quite fun, and brought back sweet memories of the walks I loved to take while I still lived at Mom and Dad's.

We walked while Allen dug. A long row of dirt piled high next to the deep ravine as he steadily worked. The children took turns riding along with Daddy and going for wagon rides with Mama.

Too soon, the children got hungry and sad and tired. As mom and I got lunch ready, Gracia sat on the couch looking around and seeming much too big for her age.

After lunch, I wondered how to get them all to sleep. Mom needed to leave at two o'clock to drive the school bus, so I let the children play and then loaded them into the van for a quiet drive. After only 10 minutes they were all asleep.

I was excited to work on the creative piece of my day, drawing. 

For supper we had chili soup and chocolate peanut butter bars. Deanne helped me take babies home and put them to bed. Allen and Dad worked late into the evening, putting the new water line in and filing the hole back up. 

The project was still not complete the next day, so Jasper went with his daddy to help excavate again. Allen sent me this picture mid morning, apparently the day had been pretty sleepy for Jasper.

That evening, Mom, Deanne, and I cared for little people, coated treats with chocolate, made biscuits, heated a freezer meal on the stove, and then sat down and waited for the men to pause the digging and join us. The children were quite hungry so we decided to dive in. As soon as the last Amen was repeated around the table, we heard Dad and Allen coming in the door.

After supper they were back at it and Allen crawled into bed around midnight for a second night in a row. The holes had been dug and the excavator was ready to go back to its home. 

By the third day of the project, Mom and Dad had running water again and I had my husband home by 5. It was a busy couple of days but fun memories were made.