They Love Me, They Love Me Not

Monday was the first glorious day of summer break. And the day was beautiful. I was reminiscing about summer break when I was little and remembered how bad I wanted to just sleep in. I'm sure we did and all I remember is weeding the garden, but I wanted to let my kids sleep in and just have a true vacation day at home. Who am I kidding, I just wanted to have a quiet morning. Regardless of my own evil designs, the kids had a fun day with friends over (at one point I had 12 kids at the house), they went on walks, rode bikes to the library, watched TV, played games on the computer. They pretty much did what they wanted. They loved me on Monday.

They did not love me on Tuesday. LeRoy informed me Tuesday morning that we would have a couple coming to look at the house. If it had just been friends or even an acquaintance I wouldn't have worried about the house so much but these were possible clients - a contractor that could bring us work for at least 2 houses. They not only wanted to see LeRoy's quality of work but the layout of the house, cabinet, carpet and paint choices and get a feel for the home. I felt an overload of pressure to make a good professional impression (why toilets had to be included in that I don't know) but all of the sudden I could see and smell everything that needed cleaning.

The layer of dust in this house dates back to last fall, the kitchen floor had a layer of sticky on it that could rival velcro and the toilets, well . . . 5 toilet using boys in the house - need I say more? I was hoping to get all of the house cleaned over the next couple of weeks before we have company come, and the kids could have probably handled that cleaning schedule. But we only had one day, really only 6 hours since I had let them sleep in again. Bossy, fussy, perfectionist mom showed up and Tuesday was not the most pleasant of days.

Though the couple that came to see our house seemed impressed with the house, and it looks like we won them over as clients, I can't say that we appreciated the result of our efforts. Either I needed more than a few hours notice to lovingly work with my children on it, or I should maintain a higher standard of clean on a daily basis, or I should have let it go. They loved me not. And I loved me not.

I redeemed myself on Wednesday. I went with Derek and Justin to get flip-flops and swimming shorts and they thought I was "the best mom ever". If only they could always appreciate $2 flip flops. Erika and I went later in the afternoon to pick up piano and violin music so of course I'm back on her good list. And then the clincher: dinner. One of their favorite dinners (which their dad can't stand) is homemade bread and milk, eaten in a bowl like cereal. Top that with homemade jam and it's an even bigger hit. But I won them over even more when I paired the bread and milk with homemade waffles topped with ice cream, strawberries, and homemade syrup. Some may claim there isn't much nutrition in that but we did hit three different food groups: grains, dairy, and fruit. Ok, maybe four food groups if you count the "sweets". After the little boys went to bed we stayed up late watching So You Think You Can Dance and I let Erika go to a movie with a friend.

Why doesn't Cool Mom show up more often? They really love her.

The Dancing Tumbling Pirate (and camera mishaps)

Last year Justin took the 8 week ballroom dance class because they were short on boys and Erika volunteered him. This year he took ballroom because he has a crush on the girl next door who is also in the class. It is fun to see how much they can accomplish in 5 hours total practice time. It takes the first 1/2 hour class to convince these 3rd and 4th graders that they won't get cooties touching their partners.

Gymnastics fits Justin so well! He loves to tumble around, hang on things, bounce off things . . . he is always in motion. The few times that I have watched his class I sit in amazement (and jealousy) at the energy, talent, and lack of fear he has.

Justin's year end class party was a great show-and-tell of their accomplishments for the last trimester. The kids had taken fairy tales, rewritten the story, written a screenplay and then at the class party they performed a shadow box theater for us. It was a good thing Justin told me that he was Rumpelstiltskin because I wouldn't have even recognized him due to the ornery, raspy voice that he used in the play. It was entertaining to see the scenes that the kids had drawn and colored as well as the shadow characters they made and then to watch them act it all out.


Each child had a display of the things they had worked on during the last trimester. Justin's favorite was his pirate mask.



Camera Mishaps: Poor middle kid Justin! The camera was dead for his year end party so I missed recording his Rumpelstiltskin play. I was lucky enough to get 1 picture of his display. Derek did the recording for his gymnastics recital while LeRoy wrestled with Nathan and Hyrum (Erika and I were at a concert) and he (Derek) needs a bit more practice at recording and knowing the settings for pictures. The video would leave you feeling dizzy! We should have ordered the DVD.

The Three Stooges . . . er . . . Aliens

Derek opted to skip school because he jammed his big toe into one of the stairs and didn't want to hobble around all day for field day. He limped, or mostly crawled, around the house (Hyrum seemed to love having Derek down at his level), playing with Nathan and Hyrum all day.



He and Nathan morphed into aliens with choppy monotone voices, weird hats, stiff posture and a determination to not crack a smile.



Soon Hyrum joined the band of alien brothers. Blue is for apprentice, red is for novice, or so Derek claims. So much for not cracking a smile.



Nathan started pulling all kinds of faces. This was my favorite.

Patient: K

Name withheld to protect the victim. Photo is attached since even those who know her would not recognize the poor inflicted soul due to her past ability to fake normalcy . . . until recent days.

Diagnosis: Emotional wreck, patience non-existent, physically drained, nerves are shot, frustration level extremely high, hanging on to last shred of sanity (or so she claims).

Prescription: Single serving size (4 oz) Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche for comfort



Follow-up: Patient overdosed with a full PINT (16 oz!!!) Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche, ate the entire container in one sitting!



Current side effects: Intense sinus pressure due to dairy sensitivity (complaining of "frothy sinus cavities") , a very bloated stomach and swollen hands, and an ornery, guilt ridden mood. Also, maintains all previous symptoms.

Evidence:


Conclusion: Hopeless. Destined for the loony bin.

Season 1, Episode 4: Laundry Trauma

Nathan wears his "Ralph suit" every day! The ironed on emblem on the shirt was getting so bad from all the wearing and washing that I made a second shirt for him. I don't think HP intended their iron on printer paper to go through so much use.



I had a hidden agenda with that second shirt hoping to have one to put on him while the other one was in the wash. It didn't work. He packs around his spare shirt while wearing the full outfit. If he spills on his shirt he will take it off and put on the other one whether it is clean or not. He does occasionally change out of his suit during the day but it is never for very long and he is usually carrying it around with him when not wearing it. He never wears it to bed though he does sleep with it.

The suit had been worn for 5 days straight and could nearly walk by itself with the amount of spilled food and dirt that it was accumulating (not to mention the skin cells, but that kinda gives me the heebie jeebies). So as he got ready for a bath I tossed the suit into a pile of laundry that was in the hallway - thinking (or just hoping) that he was distracted enough not to notice.

He bathed, we read, he said his prayers, he climbed into his bed. He didn't notice! He was all snuggled into bed and I was working in the office (if you can call blogging working) and I heard his sweet little voice, "I need to go potty". Without any fuss he independantly took care of bathroom business and climbed back into bed. Later that night I went to put that pile of laundry in the wash. As I picked it up I thought to myself that I was sure it was a bigger batch than that but hey, it was past 10:30 so I wasn't really concerned about the size of the batch, just that it got done.

Some time around 11:30 I went to check on the little boys before I went to bed and as I covered Nathan I found a pile of clothes in his bed, all from that batch of dirty clothes that had been sitting in the hall. He was curled up in fetal position with his arms wrapped tightly around a red ball of fabric. It was the suit that I was supposed to have washed and ready for wearing the next morning. I gently tugged it from his grasp and put it back in the hallway with the other dirty clothes that had been in his bed, thinking that I could still get it washed in the morning before he woke up.

Boy was I wrong. He was up unusually early and the first thing out of his mouth was, "where is my suit". Even coming out of his groggy slumber he was well aware of his missing treasure.

He refused to let me wash it. I let it go assuming that I would get it washed during the coming night. No really, I would this time.

Later that morning he set his suit down (I'm not sure why he didn't have it on) to do hand actions to some songs that we were singing. He seemed distracted enough while singing that I thought it might be my chance to get out of some midnight laundering so when he wasn't looking I tossed it out of the bedroom into the hallway again. After the song was over he turned to pick up his suit, saw that it was missing and demanded from me in a very disgusted, bordering on panic, voice: "where did you put my suit?".

He stomped out of his room, found it in the hallway, scooped it up and held it tighter than ever before and in the strongest three year old commanding voice bellowed, "don't touch my suit ever again!". I tried to calmly explain that it needed to be washed. I had him smell it, hoping that his 3 year old nose could understand the stink. I showed him the food and mud spots on it. He was slowly giving in.

But on his terms. I was NOT allowed to touch it. He put it in the washer and watched the entire time that it filled up with water.



When I wanted to close the lid he stomped his feet on the clothes basket that he was standing on while I explained that we didn't want water to splash all over. He didn't go any further than the kitchen while the washer was running so that he could hear it the whole time. As soon as the washer stopped he ran in thinking his suit was all finished. Then I had to explain the drying process.

I was still not allowed to touch it and had to help him reach into the washer to get his suit and put it in the dryer. Once again, he did not leave the kitchen/mudroom area until the dryer buzzed. Then he ran to the dryer, nearly climbed in looking for it and pulled it out . . . without me touching it.




Reunited at last!




He then ran to the kitchen, pulled off his clothes and put on his suit. It was "warm and all clean".

With the separation anxiety gone he is once again a very happy hero!




Though I love the smile in this picture I think I'll skip the rerun and just get it washed while he is sleeping.

Nathan and Kish

Each morning Nathan does his self-declared job of feeding Kish, the neighbor's horse. As soon as Nathan exits the garage Kish perks up and comes over to the fence and together they run up and down the fence line. While running along the irrigation ditch, Nathan gathers bundles of tall grass, and presents his offering for snack time.

Only once has Nathan's finger been nipped by Kish, presenting just barely enough blood for a band aid. When I suggested that he not feed the horse anymore he replied, "it's ok, it was an accident, he still loves me". I'm sure he does love Nathan, but those are pretty big teeth to be eating from the hands of a 3 year old. We're in the country now so I guess we are up for country battle wounds.

Levi and Caytlyn at Prom

Just Kidding!

This is at the ballroom dance recital the night before Prom. Caytlyn was in the last dance of the night, an 80's medley (which I totally had a hard time not singing and dancing to) so she was still in costume for the picture.

A better Prommy picture:




Once I gave up my expectations of what a Prom dinner should be I had a fun time preparing and presenting their dinner. It was a bit hard not to go all out with my own menu and decorating but to do what the boys had asked for (which seemed a little Idaho picnic to me, but again: not my prom). I tried to use their menu and fulfill their expectations with a flair of my own expectation without taking over their night. I couldn't help but use the dishes that I had borrowed, or fancying up the dessert that one of the other mothers brought over on a paper plate. I even swallowed my salad snob pride when another mother brought over a bagged salad and a bottle of ranch dressing as I put it in the fancy serving dish without a grumble (of course that could have been lack of snob due to the migraine that was soon to take over the evening).



The kids got back from playing at the ice caves and sand dunes in time to wash up (and shake of the sand) for dinner. Notice the picture of all of them hiding their faces? They are actually in their "cubbies". Anytime someone does something that Caytlyn is embarrassed about she goes into her cubby, a bit of silly which the rest of us have picked up and copied. To show their embarrassment for being a bit under dressed for dinner, they took a picture of all of them in their cubbies.



The rest of us left the house so that they could have a private dinner and because there was no way my migraine was going to let me make dinner for anyone else so we had to go out to eat (I actually slept in the Yukon while everyone else ate at Wendy's). I admit I was pouting a little because I had wanted to see all the kids in their formal clothes but I let go of that expectation and sent the camera with Caytlyn (not Levi) with pleading instructions to take pictures for me to look at later. Caytlyn's mom caught on to that pretty fast and gave them strict instructions to come back to our house so that I could see them all and take some of my own pictures. (Thank you, Barbara!) I mustered up the energy to enthusiastically Oooh and Aahh over their dresses, hair and flowers (oh and the boys a little too) ignoring the pounding, echoing, stabbing pain in my head just long enough to get some pictures and show my sincere appreciation for them coming back to the house. They all really did look fabulous!



The prince and princess rode off into the sunset in their carriage (ok, it was a yukon) to dance and laugh the night (and a bit of the morning) away while I crashed in bed with a very unhealthy dose of drugs in my stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~

No need to feel sorry for me and my migraine. It was totally brought on by me. I had been fighting that headache for two days when I went to an IHOP breakfast with some friends and I gave in to the overwhelming craving for a Belgian waffle and butter pecan syrup. The friend time was exactly what I needed to boost me into the hectic week to come but the physical aftershock from the food was not really worth one bite of that waffle. Don't know why I can't learn that lesson already!

When strawberries were on sale

I picked up enough to do a batch of freezer jam. This is the first time I have ever bought fruit for jam and it really made me miss (and in hindsight, appreciate) my strawberry and raspberry gardens at the other house.



Nathan is a great sous-chef!



He measured, mixed, twisted all the lids on, and licked his fingers with yummy enthusiasm.

If anyone close to me knows of free raspberry or strawberry plants or berries, please let me know. I would be happy to transplant and/or pick.

I needed a break

from all the running around that has been going on during the last week. Once Kara and Max headed home to Utah and I had the little boys down for a nap I found myself wandering around the house not knowing what to do in my free 2 hour block before the teenager rush would hit at 3:45. I should have showered, or done some laundry, or blogged about all the activities I have been to with the kids during the past week, but I decided to play around on Photoshop.

I started with this picture of Erika (she's sending out a kiss to . . . )



I added a grunge background, erased the grunge from Erika, gave her a glow, added soft focus and here is my first experiment with Photoshop. The key (for me) to ending up with a great photo is to start with a great subject. Isn't she gorgeous!

Dates, Dates and More Dates

Date with Derek ~ April 3rd

Derek planned a fabulous date with a lunch at IHOP and a tour of the Titanic exhibit at the Idaho Falls Museum. Lunch was sweet! I haven't had a waffle with butter pecan syrup in about 6 years! I paid for it later with a terrible sugar headache but I sure enjoyed it while it lasted (the waffle, not the headache). Derek finished off a grand slam breakfast with all the trimmings and then finished everything that I had left. No wonder he grew 3 inches in a year!

The Titanic exhibit was fun to go to with Derek. I had gone with LeRoy the week before and did it the way LeRoy does a museum: no reading, no stopping, just look as you walk through. Derek on the other hand stopped at nearly everything and read all about it, which also gave me the opportunity to really take it in as well. He commented, he was amazed, he criticised some decisions, he almost cried when he read about some of the people, especially the kids and he was nervous at the end when he was looking to see if the person that he was representing had lived or died. Luckily, to end our time there on a happy note, we both lived. However, he was in awe looking at all of the names (and totals) of those who had not. We spent almost 2 1/2 hours there.

I then added my twist to the date. We went shopping for food storage. I had planned everything that I wanted to pick up and where to pick it up so that it would be fast. Derek had no clue that I was using him as free muscle labor. He didn't hear at all that we were shopping for boring food storage, he only heard that I needed a buff, strong, handsome young man to lift all those boxes for me . . a job description which he filled perfectly. We laughed and joked so much that it will forever stand as my favorite food shopping spree!

Date with Justin - April 18th

With the freedom to choose anywhere he wanted to go for lunch, Justin went with Taco Bell.

The meal came with entertainment as Justin tried to eat a taco that he overfilled with fire sauce. Fire sauce Dragon breath and Root Beer burping belly . . . cheap date but unforgettable memories.

Justin wanted a more active date than museum wandering so we went bowling. We have always been bowling in a large family group so when we were asked if we wanted to bowl just one game or bowl for an hour Justin said an hour. An hour goes by so fast when you have 7 people bowling and you don't get a turn very often. Our hour still went by pretty fast but WOW! did our wrists and hands hurt as we rolled our way through five games. That's 50 turns per person! When our hands started to hurt we had to get creative with our bowling which only made our scores dropped considerably as our concentration go to full silliness and laughter. We started out terrible with the left handed game but by the end we weren't doing to bad. It takes a lot more brain power to bowl lefty if you are right handed, especially if you want to stay out of the gutter.

Levi and Caytlyn - May

Levi asked Caytlyn to prom using Shawn's (brother-in-law) toilet seat idea. Levi has been planning to use the idea for as long as I can remember and now he has found a girl that can handle that kind of silliness. Just like a wishful teenager, he is hoping it will work as well as it did for Shawn (he asked my sister Kellie to prom their senior year with the toilet seat, survived the separation of a 2 year mission, and have now been married 10 years).

Levi's creation:

Caytlyn's response:

What potty-mouth kids!

(Nathan thinks the plunger is his special sword from Caytlyn)


Future Dates:

Friday - 8th: Lunch with Bunco girls, Ballroom dance recital for Justin, Erika and Caytlyn

Saturday - 9th: Breakfast with friends, make dinner for Prom kids

Sunday - 10th: Neighborhood Mother's Day lunch

Monday - 11th: Fuller family over for dinner and FHE

Tuesday - 12th: Levi's orchestra concert, Biggest Loser Finale party at my house - girls late night :)

Wedneday - 13th: Derek's orchestra concert, Erika and Justin's choir concert

Saturday - 16th: Dress shopping with Erika

Sunday - 17th: Dinner with Dabell family

Wednesday - 20th: BUNCO!

Thursday - 21th: Caytlyn's graduation

Friday - 29th: Last Day of School!!

Saturday - 30th: Justin's gymnastic recital

There, now I shouldn't forget anything in the month of May. (I hope!)