Chicky Babes

Took the kids to Coastal Farm and Ranch today.

Checking out the chicks

It was so great to sleep in today. I got up and showered, dressed, and tidied up the living room with the kids so we could watch General Conference. Hubby made breakfast of pancakes and bacon and we ate while we watched. I love Hubby. :)

Conference was, of course, great.  I loved President Eyring's talk during the morning session.

Last night before we went to the movie, Carter informed us that he had a serious need for stick-on fake mustaches - why, I have no idea - so we promised him we would go buy some today, between Conference sessions. I am still in chicken mode and was thinking it would be fun to check out chicken coops at Coastal Farm & Ranch, so we went first to Fred Meyer for mustaches (yes) and antifreeze for Amy Fisher, then took off for Coastal in Gresham.

Oh man, were those little chicks and ducklings cute. I wanted to take some home right then, but we don't have a place for them yet, and with two major trips coming up in April and May, it doesn't seem like a great time to establish a chicken situation. But we did some good research on the kind of coop kits we could buy, their costs, etc., and I did end up buying a simple round metal chick feeder, just so that spoiled chicken-wanting brat in my head would pipe down. If we can't do it this spring, we'll definitely do it next year.

Afterward, we drove through Burgerville and had milkshakes, then drove home jovially, joking about the Bee Gees and how they sound like Elmo the Muppet when they sing falsetto, and about my plan to patent what I call the Bee Gee Scream, and singing along with "Nights on Broadway". Brennan and Bella ended up with their fingers in their ears. Good stuff.
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The afternoon session of Conference was also wonderful. I loved Elder Jeffrey Holland's talk about envy, LOVED it. Brennan baked the Brie I bought yesterday until it was all melted and gooey, and we ate it and slices of roasted garlic on French bread. Mmmm!

As this second session was ending, a man rang our doorbell and when we answered the door, he asked if he could buy our white minivan, Charlotte. We told him to come back in a month and he could buy Amy Fisher from us instead.

The Hunger Games

Rozzie stayed home another day with what I think was influenza - fever, headache, sore throat, snotty nose, cough and achy little body. She was even walking slowly, which was a telling sign - this child is always dancing, twirling, flopping, jumping, running. Brennan took care of her again. Such a good big brother.

Bella, Harrison and Carter all went to school and had a good day. I went to work and was anticipating a not great time of it, but as it turned out, I was mostly alone with J the whole time. Boss Lady didn't make it into the store while I was there, and didn't call to give any instructions. I put myself to work and poured pans of dark chocolate raspberry swirl, maple bacon, and dark chocolate caramel sea salt fudge. It was nice, I did very well except for one pan, which ended up a little lumpier than it should have.

Picked Bella and her bass up at school and dropped them off at home, then went to the gas station and Winco and stocked up on groceries. This being General Conference weekend and the beginning of spring break, I bought a few extra treats. I came home and put the kids to work, then rested a while; went to Cinetopi@ and bought tickets for The Hunger Games.

Brennan left in the early afternoon and spent time with his friend Olga. They ended up in Portland at Lloyd Center. We were glad he was spending some social time with someone besides us.

After Hubby came home, we threw more food at the five "mouths" and took off for Cinetopi@, but when we arrived, with plenty of time to find seats at a normal movie theater, there was nowhere to sit except in the first two rows, and I absolutely refused. I watched one of the Twilight movies that way and it was miserable.

We went and got a refund (two movie passes) and I used my phone "find a theater and movie times" app to see where else it was playing. We drove there, got into the showing we wanted, and parked our butts. No one was taking our seats! The movie was excellent, excellent, excellent. I loved every minute, though I cried all my makeup off.

After the movie, we went to W@lmart for a few last minute pre-Conference purchases, went home and flopped into bed.

Temple with Rachel

Illness report: Bella didn't feel all the way better this morning, but wanted to go to school a bit late to get some things done. Rosalind is sick with a fever, barking cough, snotty nose and headache. She stayed home today. I took Carter and then Bella to school, then came home and took Harrison.

I had to work, so I got ready and left Roz in Brennan's capable hands. He did a good job giving her medicine and taking care of her.

Work was a frenzy from beginning to end. I walked in to find Boss Lady frantically preparing for an "event" (taking fudge to another business to sell) and she asked me to help her finish getting ready. I did so, and she pointed out a mistake I made last time and gave me the day's orders. After she left I couldn't quite shake that rushy feeling and hurried through my work. I made a kettle of chocolate and poured it, washed the kettle, and made vanilla and poured it; finished the two pans of Caramellow she started; poured pans of Death By Chocolate, rocky road and Chocolate Oodles (which I screwed up and will catch crap for later); and waited on more customers than I'd anticipated.

Afterward I picked up Bella and drove home. It was pouring down rain, so I met Carter at the corner to see if he wanted a ride; he didn't. Cute kid. He ran and I drove home. Bella's friend Katie was coming over, so we picked up the house. I went to get Harrison after school, but he also walked. I came home, rested a while, then made creamy vegetable soup and biscuits for dinner (and macaroni and cheese for Carter). Bella and Katie played Xbox while the kids watched.

Hubby came home and I changed my clothes and left to pick up visiting bloggy friend Rachel at her motel. We drove to the temple and made it to the 7:30 session. She had never been inside this temple, so after the session we found a nice lady who said we could go up to the third floor and peek at the sealing rooms. Predictably we got lost and spent most of the time quietly giggling through the temple hallways, and enjoying the beauty of the rooms. It was fun to be with Rachel in the temple; she's the first of my blogging friends I'd ever done that with. Then I couldn't find my car keys - for some reason I'd put them in my coin purse - and we finally found them and drove back to her motel. I hugged her goodbye and went home.

Today has sucked!

It was a yucky day for dumb small reasons that seemed hugely frustrating.  I managed to wash towels, wash some dishes, prepare and serve food to people, make cookies, eat a milk chocolate hazelnut candy bar from Switzerland, cry on the phone to Hubby, and spend the day in bed watching television. I have decided to boycott Wednesdays. Seriously speaking, I think I need to give myself Wednesdays off from doing anything that isn't absolutely necessary, and start doing something I like every week.

Bella stayed home sick from Seminary, school, Roz's soccer practice and Mutual.  I hope she can go tomorrow. The other kids were all on time and had a good day, except Harrison, who came home starving because he keeps forgetting to ask for or take his lunch money.

Tyson came over to play with Carter. Hubby took Roz to her little practice, then went to the church to learn about his new calling (yay!). I met him there with Carter later, and dropped Harrison and Brittany La... off for Mutual. I came home to find Bella in my bed, watching the movie "Gypsy". I love that she likes to watch old movies. Hubby brought everyone home afterward.

Bright spot: a lady in Montana fulfilled two of my Findagrave photo requests, for Lena Clark (Grandma Keithler's mom) and her son John Clark. Both headstones looked wonderful.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Temple Day

After getting everyone off to school, I drove to Portland and went to Deseret Book for a temple bag and found a cute "Families are Forever" silver clock for 50% off. Then I went to the temple and attended the 11:00 session. It had been a long, long time; it felt wonderful to be there again. I went downstairs afterward and had lunch in the cafeteria. Next time I want Hubby and/or the kids with me.

I picked up Bella, brought her home, did household crap and made appointments for the kids and myself, for various medical, dental and eye care needs.

Hubby and Bella went to her soccer game. They lost 0-3. We ordered pizza and they had some when they came home.

Surprise

What a beautiful, gorgeous, sunny day. I went to the grocery store after dropping the kids at school and came home inspired to get busy with our "farm". We spent the morning playing with the peat pellets, planting dill seeds in them, studying our seeds and their growing seasons and made a plan for where to plant everything. It was overwhelming. I hope we can do this.

I went to get Bella and after we were home, spent some time in the garden plot, shoveling and weeding. That ivy is from hell. Seriously.

I enjoyed going with Brennan to the feed and garden store last week and thought maybe the kids would like seeing the baby chicks there, so after Harrison came home, I took the three youngest there. They thought the chicks were cute. Carter and Rosalind both wanted a peacock feather, so I bought them each one. I bought more peat pellets.

We found a fun local ice cream store that sells soft serve ice cream in a myriad of flavors, including one of my weird favorites, black licorice. Carter, Roz and I had cones; Harrison wanted Dairy Queen so we went there after I dropped the other two at the park by the house. He ordered a blizzard and I read the Nickel and played the crossword puzzle. Afterward we drove home, stopping by the park first when we saw Brennan's car parked there. Daddy had seen us drop the kids there and drive away, and decided to play with them.

Hubby had a soccer meeting all evening.

Well, then.

I woke up at 4:13 today - Hubby tells me he is having a hard time sleeping next to me while I'm awake and has threatened to keep me up past 9:30 tonight. We'll see who wins this contest. I'm thinking I will.

We got up and dressed for church, and made it mostly on time again. During Sunday school time, I found my friends Brie and Brandee, the ward Young Women president and Laurel adviser respectively, sitting in the chapel, and sat to chat with them for a while. We talked about one of my Beehives who has a bad habit of monopolizing class time with her talking and interrupting, and Brie mentioned a trick she uses in her school classroom: she holds an object out for the class to see and tells them that whoever is holding it gets to talk. So while she's talking, she holds it, and when she wants feedback, she lets one of the kids hold it. Brie visited my class last week and agrees this girl needs some training in social skills. I said I would try her suggestion.

Before our Young Women meeting, I was caught in the hall by Brother Lor... of the stake high council. He let me know that he hadn't heard anything about me going to Girls Camp this summer and he was worried I would be upset if I wasn't asked to go, but said he was reminding everyone that it isn't a calling and we shouldn't assume we would be asked back. I told him that was fine, I would go back if they wanted me but wouldn't be offended if they didn't. I just want to know either way, so I can plan my summer.

In Beehive class, Brie's idea WORKED. Part of the success came from the girl already being upset from finding out ten minutes earlier that Girls Camp falls on the same week as her old ward's annual beach trip. Sad, but she was much quieter. Once the lesson got going, I used my sparkly beaded bracelet as our talk permission, and it was really hard, but by the end of class she was waiting to respond until I called on her and I was remembering to follow up each question with, "Raise your hand if you have a comment". I hate having such a formal class setting but she needs to learn, and our class is a good place, I guess.

After church I talked to Ann about my talk with Brother Lor... and she confessed she may have "messed up my chances" of going this year by begging off going herself. Her Dallin is planning to leave on his mission that month and she will not only lose her babysitter, but will be getting him ready to go. So it sounds like I probably won't be invited if they were planning on keeping Ann and me together. Oh well. :)

When I finally made it out to the car, the kids were there waiting. They were giggling and directed me to look at a nearby tree next to the church sidewalk. Some brilliant soul had taken blue sidewalk chalk and drawn a picture of male genitalia on the tree. I went into the church and grabbed cleaner and a scrub brush from the closet, and cleaned it off. No idiotic artwork like that deserves viewing. As we were driving away, we noticed another HUGE phallus drawn on the asphalt, more graphic than the one on the tree. I dropped the kids at home, had Roz grab our brooms and drove with her back to the church. We got a pan of water and dipped the brooms in it and basically mopped the graffiti on the parking lot. It made a difference but the image wasn't totally eradicated - the rain should take care of it.

Came home and lay down, watched TV, ended up taking a nap. Hubby took Bella to her YCL meeting and I later took Rosalind to Chloe Ha...'s baptism. They're in the same Primary class. Unbeknownst to Roz, the Primary chorister planned for a Primary chorus to sing during "intermission", and when it was time, Roz stood up with the three other little girls who came and tried to sing, but she didn't know the song. It embarrassed her and she ended up hiding her face in her little hands. Poor baby. She sat down next to me and I snuggled her and she shed a few quiet tears. The Primary president came over and cheered her up, and then the chorister, then Rozzie's Primary teachers... It was sweet. On the way home I told her about the time that same thing happened to me, except I was singing a solo in Sacrament meeting.

Came home, ate dinner and mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate syrup, watched TV in bed.

The Soccer Farmers

I woke up at 4:05 AM, but was grateful to have slept through the night after that regrettable feeding frenzy known as "last night's date".  I spent the early morning blogging, checking Craigslist, adding links to local businesses on the business blog sidebar, and researching fun things like raising chickens.  I don't know if the landlord would mind us raising a few chickens if we used a mobile coop - they wouldn't be inside the house (his policy is "no pets" unless they're contained in a cage), and we'd move the coop around so it wouldn't ruin the grass.

Day Off

Bella and Harrison already had the day off, and I was wildly disinterested in getting Carter and Rosalind ready for school. They were only too willing to stay home.  So I let them.  I know, I'm a terrible mother.  I've made my peace with it.

Snow Morning

We woke up to a beautiful, record-setting snow this morning. At 5:00 AM we received word that school would be two hours late, so once Carter and Rosalind were awake, they were dressing warmly and heading outside to play. Everyone spent a fun morning doing whatever they wanted, and everyone was on time for school except Bella.

In between school trips, I went to Walm@rt and bought a new business phone. Another step accomplished. Brennan made lunch. After bringing home Bella and her bass, I ran down to Best Buy and had the geeks test the netbook; its battery was fine, its charger was not. That was good, cheaper news.

Harrison went to the kids' club after school again. Carter has been learning "Silent Night" by ear and asked me to teach him the last part of it. Roz played with Leah. Bella napped. Brennan is doing all right, still hanging in there.

Hubby met Bella and me at Bella's school for her studen-led conference; she's doing okay but has fallen behind in a couple of classes, in which she will eventually bring her grades up. She registered for next year's classes (while I goofed around and looked up people on Ancestry on the computer next to her). We went home and Hubby and she went to soccer practice.

I picked up Harrison from the club, dropped him at home, and went to orchestra rehearsal. I hadn't touched my clarinet once this week, and with some songs it showed, but others were just fine. It was an especially fun night - my fellow clarinetist Jenn and I were cracking each other up. I think Conductor must be over whatever reservations he may have had (or I may have imagined) about me, because things with him feel a whole lot more comfortable. He praised Jenn and me for sounding so good together on one song, and he asked me to sight-read the piano part for another HUGE medley. That was exciting. Afterward, I asked Gail Po... for a couple of trombone pieces for Harrison to play with, and when she gave them to me, Conductor encouraged me to take home the piano music I'd played and work with it. I felt very happy.

Then I came home and enjoyed my sweet family, and we went to bed.

IKEA

After three days straight of catching up the laundry, it was time for some fun.  Brennan and I escaped to IKEA for a while this afternoon.  We tried out their cafeteria, buying some spinach and cheese crepes - meh - and looked around at living room and dining room furniture.  I took a couple of pictures of possible future purchases, something for our future new television to sit on.  Also noted were the dining room chairs and a long, long bench for the piano (which was free and came to us benchless).  We were disappointed to find that part of the store was being remodeled and the plant Brennan planned to buy wasn't available.  Maybe next time.

Make it stop!!

Spent another great day at home, doing laundry and housework.  I really do love being at home and it's been neglected lately with all my busy-ness elsewhere.  But the laundry can quit reproducing any time now.

Harrison went to his after school club again.  Bella and Hubby went to Bella's soccer practice.

Vernal Equinox

Back to school and work! Hubby decided to see how Brennan's car liked the light rail station. Bella woke up with a nasty stomach, feeling nauseated, so she stayed home from Seminary and school. Everyone else made it to school on time.

Around noon I became aware that my cousin Joe Dy... had had an episode on Sunday night that landed him in the hospital in Portland. His sisters Candace, Lynda, Becky and Karen all live far enough away that I knew they couldn't do much, and Aunt Sherri has multiple sclerosis and she and Uncle Doug are raising two grandsons, so I figured maybe they could use some help. I got some sandwiches and snacks together, grabbed two throw blankets, and brought them to the hospital when I visited Joe later that evening.

Aunt Sherri and I had a nice visit. It had been years since I'd seen her, and the last time I saw Joe was 1987, the year he was born. I had to introduce myself as his cousin - sad, but funny.

On the way home, I got stuck on the I-5 bridge during a bridge lift - so not my idea of a good time. Just the night before I had a scary bridge dream. I hate those! But the ship went through, the bridge went down, I made it home and everything was fine.

Spring arrived at 10:14 PM our time.  I had read that during the vernal equinox, an egg can be stood on its end and will stay there.  I tried it earlier in the day and it didn't work, but around 10:30 tonight, I remembered to try it again.  Brennan, Harrison and I were all able to get an egg to stand on end; Carter tried but it didn't work for him, poor guy.  The girls were already asleep.  Hubby did not participate, but was impressed enough to take pictures.  Here's my egg:

Ahhhh, Sunday

Hubby and I got a late start getting ready for church, but we managed to have him and Harrison there in time for Harrison to pass the Sacrament. The rest of us followed shortly after. We are LOVING this two cars thing! My Beehive lesson went well and everyone else seemed to have a good time as well.

After church, Hubby left for the sports complex to deliver some equipment and oversee the day's soccer game for a few minutes. The rest of us lounged mightily. The home teachers, Brother Cr... and Brother Ri..., came over for a visit, and after they left, we ate dinner, fettucine Alfredo and salad and garlic bread and leftover grasshopper pie. We watched the movie RED.

Bella and Harrison had a youth fireside and Hubby took them and Jaydn to that. Carter and Rosalind and I went for a walk/bike ride and enjoyed the chilly twilight. The sun had just set and the sky was beautiful. We made our way around the block and up to the nearby Methodist church, where they took turns ringing the bell (Roz needed some help from her brother). They also had some muddy fun riding their bikes through puddles. "It's like a water park!" Carter said.

 Whiizzzzzz!

 The bell has a sign that says "Please ring the bell."  Once a man came out of the church, smiling, and encouraged us to ring it.  "Let people know there's a church here."

 A group effort

Rosy little cheeks!

Then home; the Tu...s brought Bella and Harrison home, and then Brennan and Bella took off for a short walk. Brennan is doing well. We had him skip Sunday school at church so he wouldn't be overwhelmed - large crowds seem to be hard for him.

Then more TV and bed. A very nice Sunday indeed.

St. Patrick's Day

Today was the first Saturday in months that I didn't have to drive everyone everywhere for everything. Wow. It was nice.

Hubby and Carter took off first for Carter's soccer game, and then the girls and I left for Rosalind's first spring soccer game. Roz scored the first goal of the season and the little girls did very well. It was horribly cold, but at least the rain held off. After her game, I took Roz home for a warm bath and then went grocery shopping.

I then spent the rest of the day working on our neglected kitchen and making St. Paddy's dinner: roast beef and veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli casserole, biscuits, "leprechaun pee" and grasshopper pie. Mmmm. I cut daffodils from the backyard and arranged them in a vase, and we set the table beautifully and had a nice dinner and dessert.

Hubby took Harrison shopping for a new video game headset, and then came home. Bella was picked up by the Tu....s for the stake dance. I crashed on the couch.

Two Cars???

No way. After everyone left for school, I took off in Brennan's car for the Department of Licensing and bought a tiny, expensive sticker, and now Amy Fisher, the blue minivan, is driveable! Woot! I drove her to work and everything. Dare we hope for three? Will Charlotte run again anytime soon? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I am grateful that year without tabs is finally over and Amy Fisher can take us where we need to go, as long as we carry antifreeze around with us and don't leave the area.

I went to work and spent a frustrating day there. I'll be glad when I can do more on my own. I'm doing well with some flavors of fudge, passably okay with others, but a few I'm not ready to do alone and man, I hate sharing space. Space is one of my things. I don't like people in my kitchen when I'm busy and I hate crowded aisles in the grocery store - will go out of my way to avoid them. Today was hard because three of us were trying to make fudge and dipped Oreos in the same little space, with one microwave to share. It was a long, drawn out day.

Bella went to Katie's house after school. Harrison was invited by a school friend to go to the friend's club's supervised youth activity, so after picking up Bella, we drove through Dairy Queen and bought dinner for him, Carter and Rosalind. Then we took him to the activity and bought Chinese food for ourselves and the big kids.

We came home and ate, and I crashed hard.

Good News!

We've almost survived this week of hating Daylight Savings Time!

After the kids were at school, I worked on the house and practiced the clarinet for an hour or so. I didn't get near the practice time I wanted to have this week, though. I will have to make more time from now on.

I went to the school for the kids' Grandparents Lunch. All our grandparents live far away, and we never know about these things until it's the week of, and so I stood in for the grandparents today. I sat by Roz while she ate her lunch and went out with her to recess. Carter saw me and wanted me to stay and I wished I could have. I really miss my free time.

The very good news: at work today, Boss Lady said she liked all six pans of my fudge! This is huge! She was very happy with everything I did in her absence yesterday. I was happy to hear it. We worked on chocolate peanut butter swirl together, since anything with peanut butter is a giant pain, and we cleaned the kettle and I made chewy praline and started a Caramellow and waited on customers while she did her administrative stuff. We had a busy day.

After work I picked up Hubby, who was a block away paying a bill, and we picked up Bella and dropped her at home. Then we went to get his new driver's license, then to Walmart for groceries, then home again. Later, Hubby took the car to soccer practoce while Bella and I caught the bus down to her school for her concert and my rehearsal. Her concert went well.

Orchestra was interesting tonight. It hit me when I took Bella to the school for her concert, walked into the band room with her, and noticed that all the chairs and music stands we use for rehearsals had been moved to the Commons for the concert, that perhaps some school building schedulers forgot about us and didn't tell us our equipment would be unavailable. Since I was there early, I was able to speak to the band teacher and he found a box of the smaller foldable music stands for us. As orchestra members came in, and our conductor, we decided to hold rehearsal in another room and took the little stands with us. It was odd but it worked. We had a fun rehearsal, and I sounded great. Yay!

Hubby came later to get us and we dropped by the store to buy a ruler for Carter's homework, then home to bed.

Fudgy Fudgerson

After getting everyone off to school, I went to work and had a busy day.  Before the morning was over, Boss Lady called to say she and Boss Man weren't feeling well and were staying home, and I was on my own until J and M came into work.  I straightened up the fudge counter - noticed some new flavors, quite a few green for St. Patrick's Day - and served a few customers, made a popcorn gift basket for a donation, changed an appointment and took messages for the Bosses, and made six (!) pans of fudge.  Dark chocolate/raspberry swirl, dark chocolate/orange swirl (used too much color and it looks like Halloween), dark chocolate/caramel with sea salt (looks AWESOME), two chocolate walnut, and rocky road. 

Everyone had a good day at school.  Brennan is taking it easy still and getting used to his medication. We had a quiet afternoon. I made an early dinner of burritos and quesadillas.

Things exploded around 5:00 when I took the girls to Roz's soccer practice, and stayed till 6:30 to bring them home. Then we drove to Tu....'s to pick up Jaydn for Mutual, then home to pick up Harrison and drop off Rosalind, then to the church to drop off the kids and pick up two of our Beehives, Hannah and Shilo, then down to the bowling alley for our class activity.

We bowled, and we sucked, but it was fun. Joni and George Gi... are great Wii bowlers but the real thing has them a bit stymied. I still have the basics down, but still stink, and the girls weren't doing well until we had the bowling guy pull the bumpers out. It was fun, we had a good time and ate cupcakes for Lillie's birthday.

Took the girls home, picked up Harrison at the church and Bella at Hannah's house, came home and went to bed.

At the bowling alley, Joni took pictures of us, and later, when I saw the one she took of me and posted on Facebook, I decided it was diet time. Seeing myself so fat made me cranky and sad, but I'm keeping emotions out of it and thinking of it as a problem to solve or a project to do. It keeps me from giving up and eating junk. So that will start tomorrow - back on the beans again.

Skirt Work

Mother Nature teased us again with snow, but once again, no sticking. We could tell it wasn't too serious.

The kids went to school at the normal time, which gave me most of the day to myself. Yeah! I spent some quality time with the clarinet, then got busy with the house and catching up the laundry.

Holy Hairdo, Batman!

Predictably, Harrison and Carter hated their haircuts, and also predictably, they developed wrenching, debilitating stomach ailments when it was time to get ready for school. Dear children, that's why we have the Xbox... it comes in so handy as a bargaining chip.

Forget the bullying awareness movements.

I want to know where the "Hey kid, stop being a total douchebag" movement is.

Daylight Savings Time

"Don't make me go to church tomorrow," Brennan begged us yesterday, and we figured it's hard enough for a depressed kid to go to 9:00 church without adding Daylight Savings Time in the bargain.  Also, we're under a week away from getting Amy Fisher's new tabs, but until then there are only so many of us that can go to church at the same time.  So it ended up being only Bella and me going to church. 

My Children are Dipwads

Woke up early and took Hubby and Bella to the sports complex for a day of soccer games.   Afterward, I went to Winco and bought supplies for a chores and appointment poster, then stopped for gas.  When I came home, I interrupted Carter and Tyson's video gaming and Roz's goofing off and being cute to take them over to the Tu...'s and care for the dog.

Teeming With Life

Rosalind had a hard time staying asleep last night. She woke up and wandered the house, chattering to us with her chirpy little voice, eventually settling down in the living room to watch TV and fell asleep. It sounds darling, except that it totally messed up her morning. But she did eventually get to school and have a good day.

Back at the shop

I had a great day at work today.  After everyone was dropped at school, I picked up the house and then left.  Wore my black and white Vans today for the first time, they were GREAT work shoes and are cute, so they will be good go-to shoes from now on (I have all these shoes to try out). 

Angst

I was absolutely certain I could not live in this house another second, with our space limitations the way they are.  We need a fourth bedroom YESTERDAY.  After I got the kids to school and spent some time on the house, Mom and I texted back and forth about it and looked around at real estate together online.  Gotta love the Internet and texting.  We didn't find anything, but Hubby and I are indeed thinking of moving once we find a bigger place and a landlord who will sort of compare to our current one, who has been wonderful.

Tuesday Morning Meltdown

Roz and I were just not feeling it today. She and I were at cross purposes pretty much all morning long, and she finally broke down and said her tummy hurt and was hurting at school yesterday as well, so I let her stay home. At any rate she got a mental health day out of it.

Pizza Party

Still in the clutches of The Hunger Games series - finished the first book Sunday and finished Catching Fire tonight, and started on Mockingjay. Also spent some quality time catching up dishes and laundry and messing around with old pics on this blog.

Brennan is doing better and went back to classes today. Whew...

Rosalind started her spring soccer practices. She's very excited! Bella and Sammi are coaching again.

Harrison played in his basketball game, and sadly they lost. One more game and the season will be over. He really enjoyed basketball "because it's easy" and we were happy to see him have a good time. Hopefully he'll keep this up along with his technology club.

We went to Carter's end-of-season team party at Round Table tonight. He received accolades, a lovely team picture I would scan if we still had a working scanner, and a nice medal.


The one true pizza place.  Besides Pietro's

I talked for Mom for awhile last night and told her about this blog. Hi Mom :) Apparently I woke Bob up with my early morning texting. Ooops!

Home from church...

Brennan didn't sleep on Saturday night and didn't feel like church today. I took Hubby and the four other kids to church and stayed home with Brennan.

Seeds and I'M SICK OF DRIVING

We were up early this morning for an early soccer game and Carter's basketball jamboree. He had to be at his school by 8:00, so I first dropped Hubby and Bella at their soccer game spot. The gate was still locked and three or four cars were waiting to get in. Hubby got out, messed with the lock, called someone who knew the combination and let us all in.

Orchestra Gig

... at our local Barnes & Noble.

It Is ALIVE

Still not feeling all the way healthy, but doing fine. I'm grateful it's a mild cold. Everyone made it to school, except Brennan, who has Fridays off.

Snow!

This morning, we woke up to this:

And poor little Rosalind parked herself in front of the TV and watched the news ticker for quite a long time, hoping to see our school district's name listed with "two hour delay" or "closed", but we knew it was not to be - it was too warm and slushy. It was wonderful to drive in, very fun.