The Sees: Busy Bees

April has whooshed by us with a streak of vibrant colors and a ferocious wind, much like standing alongside a major thoroughfare during the morning rush hour.

Our days start early and end late, sandwiching our 24 hours into a plethora of non-stop action and activity. To put it plainly, we're busy. Buzzing about all day long on borrowed energy and little sleep to conquer impossibly long to-do lists and struggling not to forget anything along the way.

So, here is what we've been up to:

First of all, we're remodeling. Well, kind of. All our home improvement projects are cosmetic in nature, repainting bathrooms and bedrooms and our front door, adding wainscoting to bathrooms, framing bathroom mirrors, and Clarke has constructing a window seat with storage for one of the bedrooms in our house.

Yard work. Okay, honestly, this one I write with a pang of guilt because there is so much work to be done and ZERO time to do it. Clarke constructed a raised flower bed that will have it's own picket-fence and he removed, with sheer muscle alone, a huge tree stump (managed to break a steel rod in the process. My man of steel can break steel. Nice!). Our garden, however, is a weed patch with two giant piles of manure in the middle. Yup, no time for our garden either. It's frustrating, but unless we give up sleep completely, the garden might have to wait for this weekend. But it will get done. This weekend!!!

Jobs. Employment. Call it what you will, but April has proven crazy busy for Clarke, who is working extra long hours and some days has to forfeit his breaks or his lunch because he has so many orders. April has also provided me with many photo shoots and, of course, lots of proofing afterward. It's been a real blessing, though.

We're adopting! We're going to try at least. :) We've attended adoption education classes, turned in our application, received our bishop's referral, and received three letters of recommendation from great friends. Only one more recommendation to go! In the meantime, I'm working on an adoption blog that we are excited to put "out there." Once it is finished, of course.

The big yard sale is going to be a tremendous undertaking; purging our garage of "stuff" we are no longer using, however, will be awesome! I've been going through rooms and closets and my pile of "stuff" is mountainous and continues to grow. I find inexplicable pleasure in adding another "thing" to our yard sale piles. Who knew dejunking could be so satisfying?! Our yard sale is in less than 2 weeks! Have you marked your calendars for May 8th yet??

Scouts. Alright, so this one is all Clarke's. Even though I see him stress about it at times (think Court of Honor), I know that deep down inside he LOVES serving and spending his time being a "boy" with the boys.

In addition to being exhausted every single day this month, we've also been challenged, emotionally, several times over. It's like being suddenly tossed into the refiner's fire and coming out stronger afterward. Sometimes you never know your own strength until you weather the storm. And the Sees, I can attest, are astute sailors.

Happily, warmer weather and thoughts of sunny days, literally and figuratively, are motivating! We're excited to conquer our home improvement projects, our garden, and look forward to less crowded days when we can just play.

And, of course, no post would be quite complete without pictures!! Clarke created a new sword for our swashbuckling boy. It has been a source of hours and hours of pleasure. I think Brock even insisted on sleeping with it for several nights. One morning, I suggested that he paint it; a thought that he excitedly embraced, but after painting one side, he grew impatient and refused to paint the other side because it meant that he would have to wait even longer for that side to dry. So, it's a half-painted sword that never leaves Brock's side. He commissioned these pictures (with hugs and kisses) and even created the poses without any help from mom. Gotta love a photographer's child.