Weekend recap

Oh dear, the weekend is over. And I'm actually glad.

Usually I dread Monday, but the weekend was only so/so, sooo I am glad it's over.

Why?

1.I got reprimanded for the behavior of one of my children. That was fun.

2. I was asked to substitute teach for the 11 year old boys class at church. Luckily they combined those boys with another class and I was off the hook. But the anxiety leading up to it was enough for me to be glad Sunday was over. I've taught a lot, but never boys that age. I guess I won't know if it was going to be as awful as I feared. And nothing against boys that age. I have one who is almost 10, so I know. Maybe THAT is why I was nervous to teach it.

3. I had to field many, many questions about what there was to eat. And my answer? Bread. Luckily tomorrow is shopping day.

4. The sun never came out and it rained all weekend. Booo!

5. And then Charlie came in several times in the middle of the night to tell us how much his stomach hurt. I won't jinx my family by talking more about it, but being awakened in the middle of the night makes you feel like you didn't sleep enough. Oh wait, that's because I didn't sleep enough. But when do I ever?

So Charlie stayed home today. Except for when I had to drive Julia's lunch to school. But he got to stay in his pajamas at least.





And highlights of the weekend.

1. Jeff finished the gates for the Willy Wonka play that Kate and Julia are in. Pretty awesome I think!



2. And the Candy boat


3. I got my hair highlighted. I feel better. My hair was starting to look like a "brown football helmet". (Name that movie) No pictures cuz who really cares? Just me.

4. We watched Mr. Popper's Penguins with Jim Carrey. It was really funny. Completely clean and Jim Carrey was really entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Happy Monday folks.

Big kids are kids too.

The sun is shining today.

When it does that, I feel like a huge anvil sized weight has been lifted off of me.

It doesn't happen much around these parts, folks.

I like the sun. So much so that I tempted Jeff with an offer to be alpaca farmers somewhere warm and sunny.

Ok, not so much tempted as floated the idea. He pretty much loved the thought of herding alpacas and shaving them for their fuzzy coats.

Ok, that's not entirely true. Something about liking his current job? Whatever Mr. work-y mcworkerson.

The truth of the matter is, when you are upside in your house-as is most everyone I know, you're pretty much going no where any time soon. Not that we would anyway. I kind of like how my older girls love and adore me right now. It might not be so awesome if we move when Kate's in high school. Kids don't like that for some reason. So here we stay.

Speaking of my older girls. They really are my own personal rays of sunshine. They are at an age that is sooo fun. It's like having other grown ups around that you can be SUPER silly with, but who you still can boss without feeling bossy. I highly recommend it.

Last night for instance, the girls were up later than everyone else, per the usual evening routine, because they have homework. We talk, we help if needed, we all laugh and act weird. Especially Jeff.



They hide from me because I won't stop taking pictures. (Note the sliver of purple sweater hiding behind the fridge.)



And then I ignore their pleas and take their pictures anyway.



I like to think that they will be glad later on when they can look back with new perspective and see just how truly adorable and beautiful they are.

But for now, I will continue to be annoying. Just the kind of mom I always wanted to be:)

Love/dislike

I have a love/dislike relationship with bedtime. I love it because snuggling with my kids is pretty much one of the greatest joys in life.

Listening to their little voices make comments on the stories, picking a song to be sung, hearing "I love you Mommy", it all just makes me all warm in the heart and makes me hug ever so tightly their squishy little bodies.

I also dislike it, because more often than not, when I leave the room and say good night, Jeff or I must repeatedly take them BACK to bed.

Here is Nora, going to bed, having insisted on riding daddy's shoulders.




Doesn't she look so sweet, as if she will ACTUALLY stay in bed?



On this particular night, we ended up bringing her into bed with us so that her and Anne Marie would stop talking and fall asleep. It was an awesome night.

And I'm not sure my kids grow out of this phase until they are in middle school. And by then, they WISH they could go to bed, but they have so much homework to do they can't.

In other news from the world of love/dislike, at our school we have a solution room.

If you are naughty on the playground, you and whoever you are not getting along with must go to a room with a teacher and talk it out. Then you must write down what you did wrong, if you are in the wrong, and bring it home for your parent to sign.

Yesterday Anne Marie had to go to the solution room. It was a very unpleasant experience for her and I won't embarrass her by telling you what she did. And I acknowledge that she was completely in the wrong. BUT! I take issue with some of the way it was handled.
It seems that the solution room teacher told the girls that if they did such and such again, she would write down that they were all bullies. I don't like that. (Their school, like many, has a very strict no bullying policy.)

On second thought, I will tell you what she did, lest you think it's something really awful. One of her friends was mad at another friend, so she got Anne Marie and another girl to add Enemy to the end of the girls name and call her that. Gwenemy for instance. Not nice, but not the worst thing either. I'm more concerned that my daughter was a follower, actually. Anyway.....

When I signed her solution room paper I wrote of my my displeasure at the bully label threat on the back.

I said, "While I appreciate the purpose of the solution room, I am concerned that threatening the girls with the title of "Bully" is actually intimidation and a form of bullying itself. I would much rather they hear that they would be known as kind when/if they behave appropriately."

Look at me, being all assertive and stuff.

Seriously, give the kids something to live up to! I would much rather hear that I would be known as kind and good then be threatened to be labeled a bully. It puts the solution room teacher in a good position as a mentor, rather than just a punisher.

Maybe I'm wrong and kids need a good dose of angry-ness. Especially on their first trip there. But I don't think so.

Also, in love news, I decorated my mantel for Valentine's Day.



I found that lovely Monet giclee at Deseret Industries for 5 buckaroos. The rest of the stuff I had, and the banner I made out of some vintage fabric my great aunt gave me.

It could use more Valentine-y goodness, but I am low on mulah so it will do. You realize that the next round of chocolates and calories is almost upon us? What is a chocolate loving girl to do? Take deep breaths and repeat: "I like chocolate, but I LOVE fitting into my clothes." Try it, it sort of works! Ha ha ha

Have a wonderful day, full of love and likes. And hopefully no dislikes!

Oh my! Life was interesting last week. We lost power for a few days. But it was sooo fun! We spent so much time together as a family with Jeff home sick and the kids home from school. Today is rather depressing as everything turns back to normal.

And in case you're wondering, no I don't pay Jeff to say such nice things about me. And yes, I get a little embarrassed. I have a hard time with attention. But I do love him and I'm grateful that he loves me.

Though everyone is back at school today, there was still a two hour delay because of icy roads. So we are off to a late start and my day is basically cut in half. I don't mind. Sleeping in one more day was great!

But because my camera battery was dead, I took no pictures of our white out/power outage. So instead I'm sharing a picture of my nephews. It just made us laugh.



There is a 14 year gap between them. I think baby Sean is lucky to have a big brother (3 of them actually, and a sister) to look after him. And of course an aunt who is especially partial to him. (that's me!)

Anyhoo-I must get the last of my school kids on the bus. Toodles!
I apologize for being boring today. Sometime THAT is my reality.

Power Outage, School cancellations, and Other Chaos

Many of you may be wondering what has happened to Amy's Spoonful of Sugar over the last couple days. I miss her wit and wisdom; I miss her words of fantasy and fun; most of all I miss her dose of reality that sends me over that emotional precipice on a daily basis. I love her more than anything. Amy is a wonderful woman and a kindred spirit to so many of you, but also to me. We laugh together; we cry together; and we are growing old together.

She is amazingly talented, too. I love hearing her voice whether she's singing, speaking, or sharing a story with me or the kids. Her voice is like sweet nectar in my ear.

Anyway, we lost power at our house yesterday around 1pm and so I am in the coffee shop up the street so I could work. And Amy asked if I could update the blogosphere with her latest. So, with the power out, Amy's brother came over and helped us get the generator running, ( I didn't know you had to have a clean spark plug to have it work). We watched a movie by generator power, we told stories and had a mini talent show. School has been cancelled the whole time. I had kidney stones so I couldn't go to Atlanta, so was working from home the last few days, too.

Anyway, She'll be back as soon as possible. Maybe I'll set it up so she can email her blog post in.

Thanks,

Jeff

On a snow day do you play or clean?

I bought blackberries yesterday. Why would I do that? In the summertime they grow unabated over my back fence. I hate them, they come up through the grass and wreck stuff and are sooo hard to get rid of.

So why would I spend 2 dollars for a little plastic container filled with them? I don't know. I didn't realize it until this morning and I'm super annoyed at myself. So I fed them to Nora, who has no prejudices against blackberries.

In other news:



We are snowed in. But people are finding ways to get around...



So while other people have cool snowmobiles and lots of winter gear, we are watching tv. And what my kids don't know yet is that I am making them clean today. Because I hate fun. Yes. I'm perfectly evil. Bwahahahah!

No, they get to actually enjoy the snow as well, but not without a few chores thrown in. We need balance in our lives, right?

Luckily I made a run to the store last night when the roads were still passable and I stocked up on almond milk. Cuz, you never know when a craving will hit, am I right? What I really wanted to stock up on was Doritos and ice cream and cookies and pop. But since I have decided to leave that junk behind in my 37th year of life, it's a no go. So if anyone runs out of fun stuff and really wants some almond milk, I am your gal!!

Enjoy the day.

Birthday weekend.

Have you ever celebrated your birthday all weekend?

I have.

Have you ever eaten your weight in cookies and cake and hamburgers? I'm pretty sure I did this weekend!!!

Highlights of Saturday were Charlie trying to explain to me a toy he wanted that his friends all have.

Turns out he was talking about one of these:



But when I was a kid, we called them Water Weenies. Well. My kids laughed and laughed at that. No one calls them that now. Henry especially enjoyed saying, "water weenie! water weenie! water weenie!" And everyone school age was just embarrassed.

On Saturday night Jeff took me to dinner and a movie. The evening was fun and mostly uneventful except for the lady knocking on our car window.

20 minutes before pulling into Red Robin, I was telling Jeff about an article I read in the NY Times about crusty punks in Central Park. Apparently, most don't consider themselves homeless, just "travelers" who don't shower, ever. Hence the name crusty punks, they are the crustiest you see.

The article linked to a blog documenting through pictures and interviews, many of these folks. And from their own mouths, most were junkies of some type. They even talked about begging for money specifically for the purpose of being able to buy their next hit.

I shared this with him and then so wisely said,"That's why you should give them food, and not money".

Then as we pulled into Red Robin, a woman knocked on the window.
"I'm not crazy, or a druggie. As you can see I'm pregnant and my 12 year old and I just left an abusive situation and we haven't eaten all day.(She waved in some vague direction) If you could spare anything?"

Now upon first impression, the woman was obviously not crazy, but WAS most likely a druggie. But I decided that Heavenly Father has a funny sense of humour. Here I was, all knowing about what you should do when faced with someone begging 20 minutes before. Well, this lady wasn't someone on the sidewalk with a sign. She was asking specifically for our help. And I honestly didn't believe her or her story. But what if she wasn't lying? Then I would have turned someone away. And if she was lying, well, then that's on her.

I was very sheepish as we walked into Red Robin. Lesson learned. In general I should be quiet:)

On Sunday, my brother and his family came over and ate dinner and had cake. Jeff got some great pictures, but missed me blowing out the candles. So I recreated it for him.


There is a piece without frosting on it especially for me. Frosting is so over rated.

Monday, some friends took me to breakfast, and made me cry, and afterwards another friend and I went shopping. And then Monday evening, my older girls and I went shopping. So I was in food and shopping heaven pretty much all weekend. And I didn't clean or cook all weekend either. Which I am paying for today. But I will probably not clean today either, why? Well....

I was going to have this all blogged about this morning after Jeff left to go to Georgia for 5 days for a conference. Well, he is still home. 45 minutes before he was supposed to leave for the airport, he started feeling really sick. And then the nausea and stuff associated with nausea hit, and turns out he has a kidney stone, or stones. He is currently in a drug induced sleep upstairs.

I am sad for him because I have had kidney stones and they are the pits. In fact, my first blog post ever was  about it. And I'm sad for me because I was going to have the bed all to myself. Except for the little corner where Nora would end up. Because I brought her in with me:) I love snuggling that little girl.

And....my kids are out of school today because of snow. Yes, snow in the Seattle area shuts down schools and sends people running to the grocery store to stock up. My friends from RI will laugh at the pictures when they see how much snow cancels school!








We did have more after these pictures were taken, and the roads were pretty icy and snowy with little snow equipment available for clearing, but it's still funny when we've lived in places where we get real snow.

And let me tell you, folks around, here for the most part, LOVE IT. Especially the kids. It means no school and sledding. To me it just means cold and that I can't take my rear wheel drive vehicle out of the driveway.

Well, I probably should check on the hubby and give him some more meds. They make him pretty tired and loopy and possibly forgetful. This might be a good time to ask for those new boots that I want.....hm.

New makeup and a funeral

This morning I treated myself to... makeup.

New concealer, foundation, eyeliner, shadow, lipstick!!

Do you know how long it's been since I splurged on more than one item at a time? 

My mom gave me some birthday money, and I blew it all!!!

What brought on this sudden desire for all new makeup?

Will you think I'm awful? Shallow? Have my priorities out of whack?

Well I promised to be really real. 

I bought all new makeup because I had a funeral to attend. 

And for some reason, that I can't even explain to myself, I wanted to look fresh, and lovely, and not as sad as I felt. 

My friend from high school died on Sunday. From uterine cancer. And somehow I think I wanted to look younger, and better than I feel.

I wanted cancer to know it would not be allowed to follow me home. Somehow in her death, I desperately wanted to feel more alive. 

I did wonder how well thought out it was as I sat with another friend from high school, and cried. Was my makeup running? Was I being shallow for caring that my makeup might be running down my face? What does it say about me that I was worried about my makeup running when someone's life was over? 

It meant that I am still alive. That part of being a living, breathing person is that I still care about little things, even if I'm not proud of it. It means that knowing how precious life is, and feeling sorrow for her family, does not change that I have quirks and idiosyncrasies which are a part of who I am. It's what makes all of us human, the fact that we are not perfect. 

I think Dorie would forgive me for thinking of my makeup right then. She liked looking pretty, she always did her hair in fun and interesting ways. And it didn't change that I am sorry she is gone, that her life was too short, and that her death leaves a empty spot in her family. 

The nice part of the day was that I drove to and from the funeral with one of my best friend's from high school. We laughed, a lot, and caught up with each other. We ate pizza afterwards at Mod Pizza. Super yummy, and I loved getting asked how my pizza with no cheese was. The guy made a special visit to our table to ask because in his own words, "I've never had a pizza without cheese before. " I also had two cupcakes from the funeral. They were so good that I felt guilty eating them. It seemed almost as bad to enjoy the cupcakes as it did to be happy with how my makeup turned out. 

When dropping my friend off at home, I desperately had to use the potty. And since I was already in her house, I promptly plopped myself on her couch and talked to her and her husband (who also went to high school with us) for 2 hours. 

We laughed some more, talked about our friend and just kind of basked in the glow of a friendship that goes back 25 years. 

I'm utterly exhausted. So much emotion, guilt from buying makeup for a funeral, and wonderful laughter will wear a person out. 

And though I may love me some new makeup, it was not lost on me that I got to come home to my family. That my arms are still strong enough to pick up my children, and that even on my worst pain days, I am still here for them. 

But I also know, that if I was gone tomorrow, my family would be forever. This life is not the end. And I take enormous comfort in that. It means I don't have to be afraid. And it means that they're stuck with me for always. 

My only concern about life after death: I hope there is some sort of makeup in heaven. Or at least I hope I have a really lovely, golden, Heavenly glow for all eternity:)

I was in love with today

I love sunshine.

I love taking naps on the couch with Henry and Nora snuggled on top of me watching a movie.

I love homemade bread with homemade jam.

I love talking to older, great-grandma women. Especially who like my canned peaches.

I love making a dinner that most everyone likes.

I love going to bed with the house clean.

I love having Nora snuggle between Jeff and I telling "scary" stories. Her little voice telling us the 3 little Pigs. And then making Jeff and I each tell it too.

I love random silly shots of my family and I.

That was my day. And I loved it.





The teenagers seem to not like getting their picture taken.





Nora likes having her picture taken ALL DAY!


King Jeff

Split personality day

Today started off awful. I ain't gonna lie. I hurt so bad that I was limping, and I couldn't even imagine trying to walk on the treadmill for 50 minutes. So the gym was out.

This sent me into a sadness that I haven't felt for a long time. I emailed Jeff. I called Maile. I complained to them both. They both have auto-immune diseases where they are afflicted by a lot of pain, so I knew they would understand.

(I don't know what's wrong with me yet, I just know I hurt a lot.)

I sat on the computer for a while, which never helps and then finally decided that getting ready, instead of moping, would help me feel better.

Showering, plus 4 advil, began to put a new spin on the day. Then Kate called, asking me to pick her up because her ear hurt terribly. And from that moment on, my day was wonderful. The sun came out, I got lunch for us, ate some chicken (the first time in 6 weeks) and talked to my daughter. Amy brought Shawn over again so she could teach an art lesson, and Kate cuddled him most of the time.

We decided he is a fuzzy headed, squashy ball of love. Yes he is.

I somehow had enough energy and lack of pain, that I cleaned the whole downstairs and even got some laundry done. I made a yummy dinner, got MORE laundry done, and just felt productive all around.

It was really a miracle in my day. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, but I don't always think He blesses us just because we stomp our feet and say it isn't fair. But He certainly knew what I needed today.

And Julia turned in her Renaissance project. The 7th graders study the Renaissance, and then they make a project that shows "renaissance" thinking. So Julia designed and built, with the help of Jeff, a water wheel.





I like Julia because she really sees the world as anything is possible. She's very inventive and has very little fear. I like her can do attitude.

My attitude stayed happy all day. Even when I went into Anne Marie and Nora's room at 10:30 and they were still awake. It seems all my nagging about keeping her room clean inspired Anne Marie. She was up arranging her drawers. They looked nice. But I think my message was lost, and a new one about perfect dresser drawers was found.

It was really amazing to me how I had two totally different days, within the same day. But boy, am I grateful.

And of course, Advil helps.

Squishy, squashy 5 year old w/ big sister.

I didn't have a big sister to tell me I was cute, to babysit me and cuddle me and squish my chubby cheeks.

Henry and Nora are really lucky.

But so am I. I have two girls who are big sisters. And they love on the little ones all the time. 

Today, that was my reality. Oh, and I was showered and ready before noon. A good day all around. 

I'm obviously easy to please.

Grey days

I have found the downside to 365 days of reality. Some days, my reality is such that I want to go to bed instead of blogging.

But I have committed. I am not very good at writing in the journal that sits by my bed, so I need to be good here so that when my brain becomes addled I will be able to read this and maybe a glimpse will come back to me.

Just like The Notebook. I bawled my eyes out to that movie, by the way.

I woke up to more gray, grey? I can never remember. When it's grey, I feel the same. Which is not a good thing when you live where it is grey a lot.

But luckily, my SIL brought over her two youngest, and that baby especially puts me in a good mood.

Kate was home, sort of sick today. So when baby Sean started nodding off and looking sleepy, she happily acted as a crib of sorts.

And then Amy came to pick them up, and Amy herself is like sunshine. I always feel happier after talking to her. So maybe it's not the grey outside as much as feeling trapped inside. People talking to me helps. Talk to me people.

Henry then had a play date, and I had a date on the couch with Nora watching Dora. Our favorite. It seemed that time slipped by rather quickly, meaning I fell asleep, and then it was time to get Henry.

Now being the wonderful mother that I am, I asked Henry if he was hungry when I picked him up. He said yes, so we headed to McD's for some french fries. He wanted an ice cream cone as well. I said no. Not because I care if he has an ice cream cone, but because those waiting at home would be unhappily surprised to see Henry chowing on a vanilla cone and me empty handed.

Because of afternoon traffic, it took twenty minutes to get home. And the whole time I heard this: "Ice cream cooooone!!!"  Repeated 800 times, combined with wailing, crying and screeching. I ignored it. Which you would think would end it since he was getting no attention for it. However, he was still crying as we walked into the house. And then he was still crying as he sat to eat his food. I finally stopped ignoring him and told him that he could keep crying as long as he did it upstairs in his room. He decided to stop crying. Sort of. Enough that it counted.

I then found out that a friend from high school passed away. It just made me so sad. I cried at my computer for a while. Kind of in shock that someone so young could be gone. She was among my group of friends, but we hadn't spoken since high school. Just Facebook. But she had still been my friend at one time. She was 37. A mom, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a wife. Too many stories lately of people in their 30's passing away. It really made me pause for a moment to see how much I appreciate my life, this body I have been given, the family I love.

Even on the grey days.

Being a birthday boy rocks.

The birth of my most favorite man in the whole world was celebrated on Saturday.

I was really excited about his presents. Why? Because we gave him awesome ones.

But, the day started with french toast and orange juice and sausage. Except the sausage had one bite taken before it was realized that it had been in our fridge too long. Ewww.  Jeff had been in charge of the sausage, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Hi birthday boy. Rwaarrr!

We were hoping to find something fun and awesome to do, but alas, part of being a grown up is that you still have things  you have to do, obligations to fulfill. Even on your birthday.

Jeff has volunteered to build part of the set for the girls play, Willy Wonka. So he was working on that, on his birthday. I would have said it can wait, but he's all full of integrity and stuff. Pshh.

And while he did that, I feel asleep on the couch. Whose birthday was it?

But then I made dinner. Jeff's FAVORITE dinner. White sauce enchiladas. Some of the kids and I had pizza, cheese for them, vegan for me. But Jeff was REALLY happy about his dinner.  And it was really sweet of him not to care that half of his family couldn't or wouldn't eat them. Just like I won't care that my family won't want to eat the

Seitan Stuffed with Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Mushrooms

that I'm going to have on my birthday. 

After dinner we had him open presents. Drum roll please. First Anne Marie and Nora gave him their presents. We like to recycle gifts in our family. So Jeff got a lovely pink blanket and a broken wonder pets boat. It was really sweet. 

But the big surprise? We got Jeff a gift certificate to IFLY. Have you heard about this place? It's an indoor sky diving facility. It's supposed to be awesome. He was uber surprised and excited. He usually guesses his presents, just kind of knows somehow what he is getting. But he was really surprised this time. I guess usually my gifts are lame, because boy does he look surprised:)

I also had this idea to get him mechanics coveralls. He had been out replacing the starter on the van, and he had to search high and low for some clothes that would be warm enough, but that he didn't care if they got wrecked. And I thought, he spends so much time, and saves us so much money by working on our cars, that he should have something to wear while he's doing it. It only took me 15 years to think of this. That's how long he's been fixing our cars. The funny thing is he thought the exact same thing that day. So he was genuinely pleased and happy about the coveralls when he opened them. 

Then what would be a birthday without one goofy present. Jeff and I saw this thing on an infommercial,  that is supposed to help you squeeze the water out of your tuna fish can. We made lots of fun of it, because, who can't just use the lid? And then I saw one in Safeway, and bought it! He laughed and laughed when he opened it. Plus, he does eat a lot of tuna fish, so maybe the thing will actually prove to be useful. 

After presents, everyone was still too stuffed for cake, so we watched the new Winnie the Pooh movie. It was so sweet. And what a great dad to watch a movie that his kids (and wife) wanted to see. Henry had commandeered the camera, and even though I know he loves his dad more than me, he seemed to be intent on taking pictures of me, not his dad. He especially thought he was funny when he took pictures of my "boo boo's". You can guess what those are, and no, I won't post a picture. I do have some self respect. 

After the movie, everyone ate cake. Peanut butter cup cake. It's basically a chocolate cake, with peanut butter frosting, covered in mini peanut butter cups. Jeff loves peanut butter and chocolate, so he was in pb and c heaven.



After we attempted to put the kids to bed, Jeff and Kate and I watched  That Thing You Do. Do you remember that movie? It was still good, 16 years later.

I think Jeff had a good birthday, he seemed to.

Saturday was a good day, all day. Although the weekend did have a few awesome quotes that I have to share with you.

Anne Marie was getting reprimanded for her messy room. And I in my annoying motherly-ness, was telling her that it was her responsibility. That Nora's room didn't get messy before her and Anne Marie shared, so I knew that Anne Marie was largely accountable. So she said to me, in all her 8 year old confidence, "Well! That's because I don't just want to sit around WATCHING TV all the time. I like ADVENTURE!"

I wonder how she likes the adventure of cleaning the mountain of clothes and toys that is her room.

The second awesome quote came from Henry. He came crying into our room. "What's the matter Henry?"

"Charlie sat on my bed in just his underwearrrrrr!"

Lil man did not want to sleep in a bed that had been touched by big brother's underpants. This went on for a while. Henry retaliated by sitting on Charlie's bed sans pants. This escalated to a point that I don't want to tell you about, but I can sum it up by telling you this: Boys are weird.

But not Jeff. Or maybe its just that I don't mind if he sits on my bed  in just his underpants.

Happy Birthday Jeffy dear!

Highlights of Friday

-Woke up hurting all over. I don't know why some days are worse than others.
-Anne Marie had the kind of cough that made it so I would have only felt guilty if I sent her to school. Not because of how she felt, but because of infecting all those other kids. Except for the cough she seemed fine. But you never know how other people will respond to the same virus. So she stayed home today.



And because Anne Marie is sick, Nora felt sick for a few minutes too. Monkey see monkey do.



3. Sat around in my nightgown until 11, 2.
4. Decided that I would not feel guilty for being lazy today. My house is in decent order, everyone had their lunches made and ate breakfast. So what's to feel bad about?
~on a side note-Mormon's place a lot of pressure on themselves to be perfect. Honestly, this is more of a cultural thing. Church leaders, the Bible and the Book of Mormon have never stated that I need to have a clean house all the time, be thin, or have perfectly coiffed hair. But somehow, we Mormon women have adopted policies of not good enough unless we can prove it through perfect homes and appearances. And that is not the message of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is to be perfected through Jesus Christ, which will  not happen in this life. So I for one am choosing to believe the Savior and cut myself some slack.
~Second side note-I am feeling sensitive today because I happened upon a blog that made me angry. I will just say about it that I wish people would grow up and stop blaming others for their unhappiness. I'm not saying others don't cause us sorrow, because they do. But if you're stuck in a cycle of blame, you will certainly never be happy.

I love this quote by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi:

“… when I refuse to forgive someone who has wronged me, I mobilize my own inner criminal justice system to punish the offender. As judge and jury, I sentence the person to a long prison term without pardon and incarcerate him in a prison that I construct from the bricks and mortar of a hardened heart. Now as jailor and warden, I must spend as much time in prison as the prisoner I am guarding. All the energy that I put into maintaining the prison system comes out of my “energy budget.” From this point of view, bearing a grudge is very “costly,” because long-held feelings of anger, resentment, and fear drain my energy and imprison my vitality and creativity.

-Kate and Julia have play practice until 6 today. I miss those girls. Everyone went back to school, and they had play practice til 6 the very first day. 

It's tough, because I want to go on a date with Jeff, but I miss them and I don't want them to have to babysit when they've had such a long week. So instead, I think a movie in bed will do the trick for some husband/wife time. What do you think Jeffy?

5.Because it's Friday, I think it will be pick your dinner night. I will make whatever anyone wants, as long as I have the ingredients on hand. Veggie stirfry for me, meatloaf for Jeff, waffles for whoever, mac-n-cheese? My pantry's the limit!

And tomorrow is Jeff's birthday. We will be the same age for 1 week before I become a year older than him again. I'm REALLY excited for his birthday presents. I think he will be very pleasantly surprised. 

And lastly-Day 3 of the Ninja Mask. He wanted to sleep in it as well last night, but luckily we temporarily couldn't find it. I just can't stand the thought of him sleeping with something on his face. The suffocation factor, plus potential ick factor of drooling all over it. 

We went on a date! Woo hoo! A real date, not just a quick trip to Walmart. We went to Red Robin and then saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. My oldest and youngest were asleep when we got home, but the middle 4 were awake still, at 11:30! Why? Cuz the Wizards of Waverly Place movie wasn't over yet. Wah.

But seriously, thank you Julia for babysitting even though you were tired.

Day 1 of 365 days of Reality

Today started earlier than normal. For the kids. Julia had a orthodontist appt. at 8, so I had to have everyone dressed, fed, lunches made and in the car by 7:40. Including Henry and Nora because I was going to the gym afterward.

Good morning. Check.

But on the way to the ortho, two children lost priviledges for coughing in each other's faces, poking, bothering and generally annoying each other, and therefore me.

On the way to school we realized the missing-ness of one coat for an 8 year old girl. I told her to just wear the boy coat that happened to be in the car, to which I was informed that all the girls at school wore pretty girl coats and that she would be embarrassed. And nothing is a worse punishment for this child then to be embarrassed. And we couldn't have that.  So then I started to feel bad that her girl coat that she left at home was way too big for her, being a hand me down, and just a plain sort. Plus the fact that we would be late if we went home for it, and it was FREEZING outside today.

So we stopped at Walmart, and I bought her a pretty polka dot coat for 17 bucks. She was happy, and I wasn't that much poorer.

After dropping everyone off at school, I headed to the gym with Heinrich and Nora. I pushed through some major desire to NOT be there.

After getting sweaty enough to call it good, I headed to the store where Henry and Nora proceeded to drive me nuts for a solid 20 minutes. Not until they each had a doughnut in their mouths was there any silence from them.

The rest of the day then consisted of me watching the Biggest Loser and other random videos on the Bum Breaker, (that's the hard kitchen chair I sat on for 3 hours),while Henry and Nora entertained themselves.




It was with a final sad realization at 4:30 that I should tidy up enough so that Jeff wouldn't think I sat around all day, and that dinner might be something to consider. Cleaning up wasn't too bad since I had busted my behind getting ready for the missionaries yesterday.

(Really. This is not bad at all. I promise. It only took a few minutes to spruce it up.)


 And for dinner I made a yummy stroganoff, which I didn't eat.  But everyone said it was good. I was considering adding some vegetables to the table, but then I thought, "Who am I kidding? No one will eat that" and instead I added cheese filled breadsticks as an accompaniment.

I then spoon fed my 5 year old with the ninja mask on so that I could be sure he actually got any sort of nourishment in the PM.



After dinner, everyone pitched in to clean up. And I don't think I had to threaten anyone. It was pretty awesome actually.

Henry was asleep before 10! Do you know what a miracle this is? I honestly thinks it's because I  put him to bed while Jeff was running an errand with Julia for her school project.

And I don't mean that I have better putting to bed skills than Jeff.  Henry just adores his father sooo much, that I sincerely think that he had no reason to get out of bed without Jeff home.

 But then Nora came down, after I thought she was in bed for good, claiming to be hungry. I should have known by how NOT tired she looks after her afternoon nap.


But her still being awake made all the shushing I gave to Charlie feel unnecessary. Although it provided much humour when I finally told him that I would penalize him a dollar for every word he spoke. So instead, he mouthed things at us, and made weird shrieking noises and contorted facial expressions. But he never spoke a word until I finally told him that I would let him talk again if he promised to not make ANY of those noises again. He complied.

I was asleep by 10:30. I'm addicted to going to bed early. I'm pretty sure that there is way more activity in my house after 10 than I know of. But 10 o'clock hits and I start to panic that I won't get at least 8 hours of sleep so off I go to dream land. Except for weekends, wherein I stay up to ridiculous hours of the night watching shows with Jeff.

But that is how it should be.