Arrivederci

John and I are taking off on a long awaited trip to Italy today.  We'll be back in a couple weeks.

My fearless father has accepted the role of playing Mr. Mom while we are away.

So if my kids are looking a little more disheveled than usual, that's why.

But I have to say, I think I'm a little more worried about my dad.

I know the kids will be fine and safe.  They might be late to a music lesson or two, and eat frozen hotdogs (they never hurt me as a kid- in fact I remember thinking that those meat popcicles we only got to eat when mom wasn't home were pretty awesome) but I am sure they will have fun with Pa.

My dad however capable as he is of hiking miles through mountains for days with blistery feet by himself,  hasn't had the joy of taking care of four young'uns for quite some time.  Needless to say, he admits to feeling a little overwhelmed.  I eased into the job of mom one kid at a time, and I'm fairly used to it by now, but there are days when I think to myself - "If I were a drinker...", and then I go searching for my chocolate stash, and possibly a can of something cool and refreshing and caffeinated. 

With that in mind, the fridge is full of his favorite Pepsi, and I will be sure to disclose the location(s) of my chocolate.

Anyway- I'm not sure what, if any, blogging is going to be going on while I am away. I'm not taking my laptop with me.  I'll take pictures and notes and bore you all with an endless slide show of my travels when I return. 

I am over the moon excited though.  We'll be in Italy for 8 days, and we were supposed to return on the 9th, but John has work in Belgium for the whole next week, so I will spend a day with him there, then I will board a train BY MYSELF and head to Paris for a couple of days to take a couple cooking classes.  I'm pretty excited about that. Nervous.  But excited.  I'll head back to Belgium long enough to spend the evening with John on our 15th anniversary then head home to rescue my dad.

So, Ciao for now!

It's a mother's right

To be the very first to sign the cast.

PS- who is surprised she picked green over pink?  If I were a betting woman, I would have lost. 

A solution for the over-scheduled household

Finding yourself a little frazzled during the witching hours? 

You know, those hours after school and before dinner (generally speaking) where you have too many kids with too many places to be and many at the exact same time?

Cross country 6 days a week, music lessons (2 kids in piano, 2 in viola), orchestra rehearsals,  swimming lessons twice a week, dance twice a week, cub scouts, boy scouts, girl scouts, activity days, not to mention the additional activities that go on, like orchestra fundraising car washes, concerts, additional invitational cross country meets, etc. 

That's just an example.  Schedules and activities may vary.

And that's not even taking into account eating, homework, chores, or practicing.

Well, I have found a sure fire way to thin out that crazy schedule for 4-6 weeks at a time.

Invite some friends over for dinner (if you get really lucky they will offer to bring dinner, and then you are free to do what you do best- dessert).  Then when everyone is full to bursting- send all 7 kids and 2 dads out to the back yard to jump on the trampoline.

Odds are someone will break their arm, thereby lightening your load considerably. 

As long as you don't mind shelling out the dough for an ER visit, a visit to an orthopedic surgeon because the ER won't put hard casts on broken bones any more, buying clothes that will fit over the cast because she refuses to wear her older brother's old discarded t-shirts to school picture day the next day because that's all that will fit over the cast, and having to deal with the emotional side of a very disappointed little girl who is loving her ballet and jazz dance classes, auditioned and made it into the East Valley Youth Symphony, and also enjoys playing the piano along with her viola and now can't do any of them.

Of course all that free time just means that she has more time to do her homework now that it takes more than twice as long because she has to use her left hand for everything.

And just for the record the score stands as this-

Boys team (3 active boys)-  responsible for zero holes in household walls,  zero broken bones, but 1 set of stitches .

Girls team (1 girl) - 2 holes in walls (cartwheels and rollerskating), and 1 broken bone. Zero stitches.

I'm not sure who's winning. (definitely not me)

Of course my boys are giving it their best- just the other day I came home to find the two younger boys racing each other down the stairs in sleeping bags.  That slippery material sure goes pretty dang fast.

If the boot fits

Some good friends of ours celebrated the husband's 40th birthday party by throwing a "white trash bash".

I found this concept to be hilarious.

"What can I do to help?!" I asked.

I ended up bringing crackers with squirt cheese (that stuff in a can)  and jello with mini marshmallows.  Green jello. I didn't have a big enough jello mold, so I used a bundt cake pan.  About two hours into the process, I figured out why nobody makes these things any more.  Besides the fact that some might categorize it as "white trash food",  It's fairly time consuming. If I'm going to spend that much time and effort on a dessert, I want it to be something really good.  Like creme brulee.  Those stupid marshmallows don't want to be suspended in the jello.  They want to float on top. I poured through my jello cookbook, (yes, I have a jello cook book- go ahead and judge) but found nothing on suspending mini marshmallows. Apparently even the cookbook has it's pride.  I'm sure there's a better way of doing it, but I spent the better part of an afternoon carefully spooning semi-set up jello and marshmallows into a mold, then chilling, then doing it all over again, and again, and again.  I would have quit, but a) I promised, and b) I was not gonna let that stupid green goo get the best of me. I have my pride.

Anyway, it turned out well, people laughed, and I took home an empty tupperware lid  (it served as my platter).

I stopped by their house earlier in the day to drop off a couple things, and ended up helping to "decorate".  Tin foil in the windows, old Christmas lights barely hanging on, toys in the front yard, laundry still hanging on the clothes line.  I was even happy to help supplement with a couple of items for the clothes line, including some long underwear, a semi broken truck (missing the door), and a broken rocking chair that I just can't seem to get rid of. 

The rocking chair was mine as a little girl, my kids have all used it, and it has been repaired several times, but I think it has seen better days and the hoarder in me can't let it go.

And although they ended up playing music from Pandora, when her "white trash mix" CD wouldn't play, I offered to let her borrow a stack of CD's based on the music from that CD.  Van Halen, Aerosmith, Garth Brooks, Guns N Roses....

Dressing up for the party was optional, but John and I decided to go for it. I couldn't help it, I amused myself too much to pass up the opportunity.  Most of our costume items we had on hand, I did pick up some horrid fake fingernails at the mall (note to self- should I ever again find myself wanting to purposely wear horrid fake nails, don't use the super glue they come with.  They are way harder to get off than those stupid Lee Press On Nails of the 80's, and you might end up with three very stubborn nails still on when you go to church two days later.)  And John just happened to be in the Ohio airport talking to me on the phone when I was discussing costume ideas and happened to come across awesome matching t-shirts for us.  Not matching, exactly, more like complimentary, different designs, but they both said "Nothing tips like a cow"  only mine was yellow with green print, and his was green with yellow print.  We both decided it was a shame we had no idea where to find one of those booths at the last minute that do air-brushed t-shirts.  (I think it's a good bet they don't exist anymore.)

The rest of our costumes we found in our own closet.  John dusted off his old mullet wig from the 80's party we threw several years ago,  cut off an old pair of jeans (don't worry- he didn't ruin them, they already had a hole in the crotch) and pulled out his old cowboy boots.  The cut-offs and boots were an awesome combination - btw.  He even earned himself a new nickname- Joe Dirt.

I put my hair up in a scrunchie, was very heavy handed with the blue eyeshadow, dug out some old gold high heeled sandals (remnants from the 80's party) and found some temporary tattoos I had stashed away. 

I was especially proud of the unicorn.  I put it on my ankle. Which I thought was the perfect spot for it. 

I also had a little yin-yang symbol kinda behind my left ear.  My partially completed outfit drew some funny looks when I went in to pick up Madison at girl scouts.  Only one person actually commented, she spotted the yin-yang symbol and asked if it was new.  I explained about the party and her comment was something along the lines of "That explains the make-up."

Anyway, the party was super fun.  I even unknowingly ate spam and liked it.  Those of us who dressed up were definitely in the minority.

 But afterwards I got to thinking about some of the comments made and other stuff, and how they hit a little close to home.  Nothing mean, of course, but when you add everything up, I find myself a little closer to that "white trash" label than I thought.    For starters, I was able to go scrounging in my garage for broken stuff to decorate with.   Technically speaking, the truck is still perfectly good and is played with regularly, but still... Some comments made were -"Wow John! where did you get those boots?  Are those Kirsten's?"  (No, they were his from high school.)  "I would have worn blue eyeshadow too, but I didn't have any."  (for the record, my blue eyeshadow came in one of those palate things with lots of colors.   It's actually quality make-up, a gift from a good friend, but I have to say my favorite part about the make-up are the names.  Oil slick. Grifter.  Last call.  Mildew.  Polyester bride.    - Clearly I am easily entertained.)

And then there were the tattoos.  That I bought from those coin machines at a grocery store.  In 1995.  (not an exaggeration)  The unicorn was too awesome to throw away, and as long as I was keeping that one, who knew when a few temporary tattoos might come in handy?

jello cookbook...scrunchies (yes, plural)....blue eyeshadow...broken crap in garage...ugly gold high heeled sandals (think Peg Bundy)...16 year old tattoos...the CD's (in my defense- those are Johns)

It all adds up to one scary conclusion....

XC

Nick has been busy.

He elected to join the cross country team this year.  It keeps him so busy he's had to choose between that and a few other things, like EVYS, drama club, and even Tuesday night mutual activities.

But it's been good for him.  He's making new friends.  I think it's great to see him branching out and looking elsewhere for friends.  They seem to be a close-knit group and a really great bunch of kids.  I'll get to see more tomorrow night when I help out a their weekly pasta party  to help them  "carb-up" for their big race every Wednesday. 

I'm impressed with the coaches as well.  They seem to really care about the kids. 

 Nick seems to love it.  Personally I am perplexed as to how anybody can love running in 100+ degree weather.  I've never cared much for running at all, and to do it when it is miserably hot outside seems like my own personal hell, but Nick says he enjoys it.  So, you know, power to him and all.  But although I may not understand it, I am still proud of his him and the hard work he puts into it, and am happy to support him. 

candy garden update

Christopher is LOVING school.

This is a picture of him waiting patiently for the bus to come.  I walked by and he was just lying there, on the tile, listening for his beloved bus.

All weekend long he asks to go to "candy garden".  Last weekend was especially rough on him cause it was a three day weekend.

While everyone else was happy for the extra day off, Christopher was down right annoyed.

And we're seeing improvements.

A month ago, he couldn't write his name.  Now I watch his handwriting get better with each passing day.

And- here's my big news-

He pees in the potty!!!!

He still mostly wears pull-ups.  But they stay fairly dry. I did change a wet pull-up before he went to bed last night, but it stayed dry all night.  And just this week, they are working on "big boy pants".

He still won't sit on the potty,  so #2 is still out of the question,  but he will regularly "make the water yellow".

One step at a time.

 They are miracle workers at that school.  I think I will be sending them a giant fruit basket or school supply basket when this is all said and done.

car talk

As we are still a one car family (and still happy with this arrangement), John brings home the occasional rental car whenever work requires him to be somewhere else in the valley.  (sales calls, meetings, tests...)

Anyway, as his work has a contract with the car rental agency, and it costs the same no matter what car he rents, John naturally prefers the "upgraded" cars.  The other day he snubbed his nose at the Chevy Malibu they offered him, and came home with a brand spankin' new Saab instead. Paper license plate in the rear window and all.  I think the two cars before that were a couple of different types of Cadillacs. 

The kids really liked the little Cadillac SUV.  "Oh please, can we get one?!?"  Uh, no.  Yes, it was nice to drive, but not worth the price tag in my opinion.  Right now, in this time of our lives, there are only three things I need in a car.  Size (family of six), reliability, and air conditioning.  Okay, make that 4- a DVD player is essential on those long road trips. 

Don't get me wrong- my top three on my fantasy wish list are currently Porsche, BMW, and Audi.  But when it comes to justifying anything over and above my needs, I can't.

Anyway, I'm kind of off topic here.  I mentioned that John had rented a couple different Cadillacs during the past few weeks, and he let me take the sedan to the mall to pick out new glasses (I'm still wearing the broken ones) and I had a little flash back to a time when we were newly married.

We were living at our first place in West Valley City, Utah, and there was this lady from our church who sold Mary Kay.  Her name was Holly.  I was young and impressionable, and trying to make friends and she was the pushy sort, so I let her in the door once to give me a facial and a sales pitch and once she talked me into going down to the local HQ ( I think that's what it was) for a "free make-over" and a chance to win something (money?) with my before and after pictures. 

The "free make-over" consisted of them handing us a bunch of samples, then giving us instructions on how to apply our own make-up.  (there were a few other poor suckers there as well) For starters, that wasn't my idea of a make over. Then, this other lady launched into this whole sales pitch about the history of Mary Kay, the piles of money we could make, the incentives and prizes we could earn, blah, blah, blah. 

I was getting fairly annoyed by the minute.

And then while talking about the incentives and prizes, she started gushing about the pink Cadillac they give to their super-sellers.

She actually said "Now, who here would not want a pink Cadillac?"

And I actually raised my hand.  (I think that particular pink is a vile color, and Cadillacs have never been on the top of my list of fantasy cars)

The lady yelled at me.  "It is a status symbol!  It is a trophy car!!!"

To me, that trophy car symbolised only one thing- I sold a TON of over priced make-up to all my friends and family members, and probably drove off a few people in the process.  (I realize some people love their products, but as I am not a make-up person in general, I could really care less).

I stopped returning Holly's phone calls.  I was looking for a friend.  She was looking for a customer.

I do enjoy driving John's snazzy cars when he brings them home, but I still won't pay for them, nor will I ever aspire to "earn a free one" in that nasty shade of pink.

Zach turns nine

Zach was looking forward to his birthday for weeks. 

With four kids and two of them having birthdays in December, we can't do parties every year, so the kids really only get parties every other year.  This year was not Zach's year.

But still... He was excited.

At nine years old I am sure you can guess what he was excited about.  The presents.

He had a plan.  He's obsessed with Legos these days, especially Harry Potter Legos, and he really, really wanted the Lego set of Diagon Alley.  Unfortunately that set was out of everyone's price range, so he asked for money for his birthday from everyone and he could purchase it himself. 

And after he added up his birthday money and the money he had saved, he had enough to purchase the Hogwarts Express set as well. 

And every day for the weeks leading up to his birthday he would get online and look at the Lego sets.  And we would have to stop by the toy department of Target whenever he came with me so he could check out different sets.   And he would talk about it ALL THE TIME. 

"I'm just so excited for my birthday!  I can't wait to get Diagon Alley!"

At one point, after listening to this for several weeks, I looked at him and with a totally serious face said, "Really?  I had no idea you were so excited."  To which his reply was a very exasperated "But mom,  I talk about it every day!"

Despite being low-key, I think he still had a good birthday.  He said it was great one. 

His dad made his favorite breakfast, pancakes, and then we headed off to the Lego Store.   A good part of the day (and the next) was spent building Legos with his siblings. 

We did let him invite a couple of his best friends to go to Jump Street- an indoor play area for bigger kids with trampolines that even kinda go up the walls.  After they wore themselves out, we picked up dinner at Freddy's then headed back to our house for cake and ice-cream.

His friends (who are brothers) surprised him with the Knight Bus, which he was totally excited about.  And just the other day he got a package in the mail from another one of his best friends who recently moved to Texas, in which he found the Lego set of the Forbidden Forest. 

Zach really wanted me to take pictures of his finished products.  He was really excited about them and worked hard on them. 

I personally love the details.  Hagrid's pink umbrella.  Luna's head turns around so she can wear her Spectra-specs, or not. The snack trolley with a little chocolate frog. Fred and George with the Marauder's map. Just to name a very few.

I'm secretly hoping all these presents of little colorful molded plastic will help me with my other gift I've been trying to give him for a few years now- The gift of the love of reading.  For all his love of Harry Potter, he has yet to read the books.  Legos are great.  I think they inspire creativity and imagination, but there's nothing like a good book. 

Lake Trip

Several months ago, the youth in our church held a fundraiser to help raise money to send them off on their various camps and activities over the summer.  It was a huge success.  They auctioned off service projects, and anyone else who wanted to get involved and donate something to auction off could.  Then everybody bid on stuff. 

We ended up bidding on and winning a boat trip to a nearby lake with some friends of ours. 

It took several months to coordinate our efforts, but the wait was worth it.

After taking Christopher up to a lake with my dad to paddle around in a little boat, I didn't think he'd do too well on this trip, and I was really worried he'd freak out about having to wear a life jacket (sorry- personal floatation device) and so I debated staying home with him, but they talked me into going and I was so glad I did.

I am happy to report that Christopher wore the life jacket with very little complaint. (much to my surprise.) 

Anyway, it was a way fun trip. 

We started off with some water skiing.  Nick's friend Dayton got us started off right, and apparently it was his first time ever making it up.  He'd been trying for some time, so apparently it was a BIG DEAL.

Next up was Nick, who got up on his very second try ever.  So that was pretty cool.

John was third and last to strap on the skis but despite his years of experience, wasn't able to get up once.  I thought it was pretty funny watching him throw a temper tantrum in the water because he was so mad at himself.  He knows what to do, coached Nick even, but instead of following his own advice, kept trying to help the boat by leaning forward too much.  He tired himself out and decided he'd try again later. (hint- later didn't happen)

After water skiing, they attached some tubes to the back of the boat and the kids all took turns being pulled behind the boat.

The shocker came when Christopher wanted a turn.  They have a big tube that seats at least three, and so we plopped Christopher down on Zach's lap and took them for a ride.

I think he liked it. 

He didn't ask to go again, but he didn't seem too freaked out by the ordeal, so that is total success in my book. I seriously was a pretty proud mama.  Nick and Maddie are always up for a new adventure, and Zach can still be pretty timid, so I was proud of him for this too, but after I had to be talked into bringing Christopher along, watching him actually enjoy himself was a happy surprise.

We all had a really great day and we all had so much fun, but unfortunately our fun came to a grinding halt (literally) when we ignored some warning signs, and ran the boat over some rocks.

Although our experienced boat driver had been there many times before, we aren't sure why this time was different, maybe the water was too shallow this year, but we crippled the boat on a reef.   The boat itself was fine, but the propeller was badly mangled.  We were stuck at the far end of the lake, and had a few miles to go to get back to the car. 

Enter the Sassy Lady.    Luckily just around the bend there were some people out enjoying the lake and offered to help tow us. ( we had only asked if they could take a couple of us to find the Sheriff, so the Sheriff could come rescue us)  But they went above and beyond and towed us themselves.  They towed us for close to an hour, then wouldn't accept any payment or gas money or anything for their efforts. 

Good Samaritans do exist. 

  

Other than that mishap, it was nearly a pretty perfect day.  (Well, the other blemish on the perfect day being John didn't get good coverage of sunscreen on his arm, so he ended up with a painful sunburn in the shape of a large duck.)