A Christmas Treat for the Eyes

So, #2 decided to take down the colored lights on one side of our front yard in order to take some artsy pictures for Photography class.  I wasn’t home, so I can’t tell you much more than that the girls were involved.

The next day, I discovered the massive tangle of colored lights still plugged in down in the basement.  I asked him 4 (he says 3) times to put them back up on the bushes.  Here is the job he did.

Note the tasteful blob of lights at the right.  He claims that he couldn’t get them untangled.  AND, that the tangling is the girls’ fault!

13 going on ??

So I was just looking outside while on the phone with my sister.

#4, who is a) in 8th grade and b) currently grounded, had some friends over.  (I know – it doesn’t sound like punishment if he is allowed to have friends over, but trust me on this one.)  You know how sometimes things don’t seem funny until you’re describing them to someone else?  Here was the scene…

There were three very awkward 8th grade boys and two very cute 8th grade girls playing a game on the trampoline.  The game appeared to involve the following:

• the boys and girls shove each other down (or tackle, in a couple instances)
• the boys and girls help each other up
• the boys and girls shove each other down and kick each other.

My best guess is that a year from now the girls won’t want to play this game with the boys anymore.

Makeup by RoseArt

Today I did something I had never thought of before.  And I swear I’m not making this up.

I was so on top of things this morning.  I got out the door with the kids an hour early to go vote.  Since I was going to be working all morning at the book fair, the girls and I decided Starbucks would be a fun before-school treat.  We settled in with our hot chocolate, free coffee, and Math homework.

Just as we were getting our things together, I had the sudden realization that I had never finished putting makeup on this morning!  The girls were happy to verify this for me, which made me a little self-conscious.  Alas, my eyebrows and eyelashes are invisible without makeup.

Well (stick with me – this is where the pace picks up), on the way to school in the car, I managed to find a Sharpie in my purse, which I used as mascara.  And #5 dug a brown colored pencil out of her back pack, which served as a scratchy eyebrow pencil.  It wasn’t exactly a professional makeup job, but can you believe my resourcefulness?  I am a cosmetic MacGyver!

The Cutest House in Tennessee

Check this out… http://127mariners.com/

It’s my mom’s house.  If you’re thinking about moving to Tennessee, the price is right!

Happy birthday, #5!

10 years ago today, in the wee hours of the morning, we were on our way to the hospital.  I was beginning to consider whether Daddy could deliver you in the pickup truck.  I blame the cutting-it-close to my insistence that he run back in the house for my gold earrings 10 minutes earlier.  (I wanted to look cute for pictures.)

When you were born, we could hardly believe we had delivered our first baby girl.  Grandma and Grandpa were sure we were kidding.  When your birth was announced in church later that morning, there was actual applause!

You have such a kind and tender heart, and you always stick up for the underdog.  You are sensitive to what God wants you to do, and we see you learning for yourself how much He loves you.  You are helpful and fun and refreshingly girly (even though you asked Dad if you could say “crap” now that you’re 10).

You have been a joy to all of us, and we are so glad you were born.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Summer is getting loooong

No, he didn’t break his neck, but wouldn’t that have taught him a lesson?!

I will be checking myself into Happy Hills as soon as I drop the kids off at school next Tuesday.

UH DOY!

File this one under “Dumb Things I’ve Done Lately.”

Today I decided to bring a platter of sand & small shells home in my car.  A platter.  I also decided to balance a vase full of sand and small shells on top of the platter.  With my elbow.

Sand in the cracks of the seat.  Sand on the floor of the front seat.  Sand in the cup holder.  And the vacuum that worked last week mysteriously has no suction today.

I clearly overestimated both my driving skills and my reflexes.  And maybe my reasoning skills, too.

Maggie

One of my best friends is on her way to my house.  I’m so excited I could pee.  She’s blowing into town for a family wedding, so I won’t get to see her for more than a couple hours.  Completely my loss.

Maggie is tall and funny and loud and beautiful.  She can talk you into anything and talk her way out of anything.  She has tall, athletic, beautiful kids and married a quiet, brilliant guy with a great sense of humor – probably the only man who could tame her.

She and I have laughed and cried through the ups and downs of life.  Throwing parties for each other, bringing casseroles and visiting each other in the hospital, serving on committees and raising kids together, attending funerals together, sharing countless pots of coffee (and a few gin & tonics), and bailing each other out.  Omaha called her away 5 years ago, and I miss her more each year.

I could go on and on, but I really wanted to say that one of my very favorite things about her is her one and only daughter, Annie.  She is exactly 7 weeks older than my #4, so they got to be babies together.  Theirs has been a unique friendship; they see each other once a year at best since she moved away, but they pick up where they left off.  I keep waiting for them to be awkward with each other (especially since they’re 13 now, and she is a good 8 inches taller than he is), but it doesn’t happen.  Go figure.

Anyway, I’ve got a house to clean and lunch to prepare…

Dessert

Sometimes the simple stuff gets a bit complex.  Take dessert for example.  Usually dessert is one of those simpler things that makes everyone feel good.  However, getting to the everyone feeling good moment can take some doing.  Here’s how…

9:30am:  Grandma is excited about a dessert her friend Jan is making for tonight – it sound really yummy.

Noonish:  Grandma mentions that the dessert needs to be picked up from Jan’s at 4:30.

3:10pm: Grandma hands me a note with Jan’s address and a pickup window (4:15-4:30).  Grandma is going to town with the girls and won’t be back for awhile.  Someone needs to pick up the dessert.  I am the chosen one.  Grandma explains where Jan’s house is, how to get there, etc…  I’m on the job.  I finish my chat with #1 and drift off for a nap.

3:50pm:  I wake up.

3:55pm:  Grandma calls my cell phone to make sure I know where I am going.

4:10pm:  Time to go.  Mom has my keys and the car.  #2 can’t find his car keys.  I call mom (shopping with Grandma).  She doesn’t have his keys.  We look around for keys.  Can’t find them.

4:20pm:  Screw it – I am taking Grandma’s car.  #3 decides to come with.  Off we go.  We can make it before 4:30.

4:26pm:  I’m about a quarter mile from Jan’s house.  Aunt J calls me, somewhat apologetically, to tell me that Uncle K has already picked up the dessert.  She thinks he probably tried to call me to let me know.  Sure enough, Uncle K left voicemail about 2 minutes ago informing me that he had indeed picked up the dessert already.  I turn around and go back to Grandma’s house.

4:58pm:  Jan calls Grandma’s house and says “whoever picked up the dessert only picked up one pan.  You’re probably wondering what I was thinking making so little, but there is another pan.  I can bring it over.”  I tell Jan not to worry and that I would be right over.  I jump in Grandma’s car and off I go, again.  I am going to complete this mission!

5:08pm:  Jan greets me at her door and I am happily assaulted by her 400 pound yellow lab.  She introduces me to her husband who, as it turns out, has been pivotal in this ordeal.  Apparently, when Uncle K clairvoyantly decided to go pick up the dessert and then tell me that I didn’t need to when I was on my way to do the same thing, Jan’s husband gave him only ONE pan of dessert.  As I stood in Jan’s kitchen, her husband was still maintaining he only thought there was one pan of dessert.  No time for excuses – Jan gave me the other pan and I trustfully bring it back and put it into the garage freezer.

5:54pm:  Still no sign of Uncle K or the other pan of dessert…

Special Olympics

Okay, I haven’t written about this yet because I’ve wanted to take the time to do it justice.  But I gotta tell you about one of my favorite things in life.  And I am not exaggerating.

#3 has been running track for our local Special Olympics team for the past three seasons.  The season is short and the weekly commitment minimal.  This keeps kids like #3 interested.  My friend Linda started our local group and has worked her magic to find funding for very cool team track suits, which also keeps kids like #3 interested.

Special Olympics track meets are like one big goose bump.  It is an absolute joy to see teams made up of people of all ages and all abilities gather to compete and to cheer each other on.  Yes, those stories you hear are true: the athletes actually cheer each other on.  I commented to my husband at an earlier meet that I didn’t notice any screaming coaches or athletes throwing tantrums. Rather, it was common to see the athletes hugging each other after the races.

And how could you not love to watch events like the tennis ball throw and the 100M walk?  If you are even alive enough to breathe, you’d get just the tiniest bit teary watching a Special Olympics meet.

Here’s a picture of #3 after he won his 100M race.

Yep, he won. =)  We were so proud.  It meant that he qualified for State.  We’ll post about that later.