The XBox Must DIE.

So to keep the kids from fighting over who gets the XBox next and how much time they get and wasting their lives either in front of it or waiting for their next crack at it, I made a *gasp* schedule.  They absolutely hate it.  We started it on Monday and things went relatively well, aside from the complaints about hating it....until today. 

One kid didn't check the schedule when he came home from school, missed his turn, and the kid who was supposed to end his turn and give it to the first kid was NOT honorable and played through that next hour.  Then the first kid griped, and then the schedule was all messed up and it affected a third kid's turn... we worked it out and set up new rules - CHECK THE SCHEDULE, and if you make someone else miss their turn, NO ONE gets it the next day.  There have been so many times when I've wanted to go all Gran on the thing and toss it out the window and into the street.  I like video games too but COME ON.  I guess discipline is never an easy thing to learn.

In other news, I received a book in the mail I ordered on Sunday.  Wow, quick!  It's called Back to Basics, a Reader's Digest book my parents owned when I was a little girl.  LOVED that book.  It was so fun to have it back in my hands again, to see all the old familiar pictures.  The book is about skills and crafts - anything from buying a piece of land and building a house and a well on it, to smithing, basketweaving, gardening, snowshoeing, skinning animals... raising trout in a kiddie pool in the backyard... it could not be more chock full of info.  I spent some good quality time with it to the exclusion of almost everything else, but now I know how to spin wool into yarn.  Sort of. 

 

I also made a list of what we want to grow in our garden this year, and went to the store.  Picked up and dropped off kids and did the usual stuff.  Hubby came home early and took Carter to an early afternoon practice; then he and Bella went to her practice later. 

 

I went to orchestra rehearsal tonight for the first time since our Mother of the Year gig at the Embassy Suites in Tigard, earlier this month.  A couple of ward members have joined it in the last few months - Keri W (also the ward choir director), who plays the violin and is a young mommy of two, including a new baby boy; and Spencer B, who is between Bella and Harrison in age and plays the cello.  VERY fun.  I mentioned to Harrison today that we should get another trombone for him and have him join me on Thursday nights.  Bella would of course be an awesome addition but her soccer FATHER wouldn't hear of it (joke). 

Held Keri's baby boy at orchestra and did not get baby hungry. For once.

Hubby always encourages me to go to orchestra, even when I don't feel like it - like tonight - and I'm always glad when he does.  It's always fun, challenging, enriching, wonderful... I go home inspired and happy and so grateful for all my blessings but especially my ability to make music.  Not that I'm great at it, but I do love it.  I appreciate Hubby for being my cheerleader.  :) 

Tonight, somewhere between midnight and 12:30 (our little joke), is our twenty-first anniversary.  I don't feel old enough to have had a twenty-first anniversary of anything except maybe being born.  Hubby is staying home tomorrow and we're planning a fun day of EATING.  And getting the cars' tags renewed.  Maybe one or two other things... a movie? 

Up and At 'Em

Rosalind and I went to sleep early last night while Hubby was still out with Carter at soccer practice and getting pie at Shari's restaurant. I'm not a good napper - it's all or nothing - so I briefly woke up when Hubby came in to tell me he was home and we now have pie. Then I went right back to sleep and was wide awake at 2:48 AM. Luckily Roz is still sleeping, and hopefully I'll have time for a nap today.

A quick update:

The kids have taken well to the new house. Every kid has his own room!  Shocking!!  The only big change (which we still haven't made) is that Carter and Rosalind should be attending a different elementary school. We made it a good month before the old school found out, and that was probably my fault because I made arrangements with Harrison's school so he could start riding the schoolbus - which ultimately I didn't have him do. I remember the schoolbus from my school days and I'm sure the kids' language has only become dirtier over the years. I'm still driving the three of them up the hill to school every day. Bella's school, on the other hand, is about four blocks away. She walks home most days now.

Bella is in 11th grade, Harrison 8th (last year of middle school), Carter 5th (last year of elementary) and Rosalind 3rd. They've enjoyed school this year. Brennan is still home and doing well. He stayed at the hospital for a week over Halloween last year and seems to be fine. Along with major depressive disorder, he was also diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and panic disorder and was prescribed new medications. He keeps at his schedule and has wonderful plans for the future. I love him dearly, and it's wrong, but I love that he's home with me. We still envision a "normal" functional life for him someday, but are happy he is safe at home with us.

Bella is freaking busy all the time. She was called to be the Laurel class president in our ward, and then in December, the stake young women presidency asked her to serve as the stake Young Women camp president. She, her four counselors and secretary have the intimidating task of planning and carrying out Girls Camp this summer (with the help of the adult stake leaders). We are proud of her. It's taking its toll sometimes - she's been sick the last week or so and was sick with the rest of the family when we all had the flu in December/January. But she loves it, usually. Her school load is quite heavy and will become heavier next year, so she will drop her orchestra class. After President Monson's announcement that the missionary ages had been lowered to 18 for young men and 19 for young women, she's also been planning her mission. I love her drive and ambition and desire to serve.

Harrison's doing well. He's currently serving as the 2nd counselor in the deacon's quorum presidency. Scouts is "boring" but he loves soccer and video games. The seizure activity since December has been minimal - a week or two ago his tongue did its old swelling up thing, but otherwise he's been great. He loves his friends at school.

Carter is also well. He has a great group of friends from the old neighborhood and from soccer. He is hoping to get into the local arts school for sixth grade through high school. Our dear friends, the Ts, have had all their kids go there, along with Carter's friend Ethan's sister, and various other kids in our stake. Ethan, Tyson G, Carson and Carter all went to a Saturday workshop to "audition" for the school. We are trying not to be too invested in his being accepted but it would be so awesome... and so sad if the rest of his friends make it in and he doesn't. Trying to be positive.

Little Goose is great too. She loves Activity Days and her little friends and is always begging me for a playdate with someone. Cute babe. She was baptized last August. It was a great day. We're trying to get her into a free dance class offered by the school Carter's trying to get into (everything is at a premium since it's a public school and free, but they only have so many spots).

THE CATS!! Catness is getting big.  

Olive is still a mess, but is slowly coming out of her shell.  We see her occasionally.  It's so weird to think we have a cat living upstairs that we never see.  The girls get to interact with her, since their bedrooms are upstairs.  I think we should have named Olive "Snuffleupagus" since for a long time, all the Sesame Street peeps believed he only existed in Big Bird's head.

After serving as the Beehive adviser for over two years, and LOVING IT, I received two new callings - Young Women secretary (when the old presidency was released in November) and ward choir pianist (January).  I'm grateful to still be in the ward Young Women organization and enjoy my time with Belly.

I still go to orchestra, but have been hit and miss since November. All the holiday concerts, I decided to blow off in order to get things packed and holiday stuff done. Oh my goodness, we could not have been busier for Christmas. I played the piano and Rosalind sang for the stake Primary children's choir at the Festival of Nativities and I put together the scavenger hunt for the Festival (awesome job, I will do it till I die if they ask me to) along with getting the Mackey nativities safely to the church (ALWAYS a killer) and safely to the new house. ACK. I'm still sighing with relief that nothing broke.  We had Christmas in the new house and loved it - it was worth the stress.

Hubby is still doing the soccer thing up big, but he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. He'll stick with coaching Bella's team through her senior year, and then that's it for her. He does some side stuff like helping coach Harrison's or Carter's team, and stepping in when Bella and her friend Samantha can't coach Roz's team, and he still goes to the occasional board meeting. He also holds two callings right now - teaching the fourth Sunday Elders quorum lesson (Teachings for Our Time) and as the ward co-librarian with our friend Jeremy C. Those two keep the good times rolling in that there little library.

He is still working at the same place and loving it and coming home with hilarious stories - one lady recently told him she thought he was gay (a domestic violence victim, I guess she's only used to men who hit her) and a guy who "couldn't" give a urine sample because Hubby "breathes too loud" in the restroom. OH MY GOODNESS did we die laughing at that one. 

Also, soccer-related - Carter's coach BEGGED Hubby to let Carter play a Sunday game (against our family policy) and Hubby finally had to use the old "My wife won't hear of it" excuse. Which is fine by me, I couldn't care less about this woman's opinion of me, and he's welcome to use me as an excuse. But she said, "I don't know how you can be married to someone like her. I could never be with someone who isn't as committed to soccer as I am."  Quite funny. 

Well, on that note, I think I've typed myself silly and covered everything that needs covering. I've spent some good quality time figuring out how to access this blog once again, and I want to keep things more updated. The time goes by so fast and I feel these babies slipping away from me. Roz will be my only kid in elementary school next year... the oldest kid's "firsts" are exciting, but the last kid's "lasts" just make you feel old. :( I wouldn't change a thing though. They're wonderful and Hubby and I are so happy. We're coming up on 21 years of marriage on Thursday/Friday (that whole Leap Day wedding thing) and we're still having a great time.

Till next time...

Sad News

Harold H. passed away today.  He and his lovely wife Marilyn were among the first people we met when we moved to the Couve.  He was a witty, wonderful, kind man and we will miss him.

The Church Report

Choir practice went OK.  I was really good, once upon a time, at being able to play parts for the choir.  Today I had Pam help me.  :)

After choir, Pam, Jaela, Karilyn, Liberty and I practiced "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" for Sacrament meeting.  They sang and I played.  Later, we performed it and it was absolutely beautiful.  They did a great job.

Sacrament meeting was so great today.  The Swat...s spoke and she hadn't given a talk in fifteen years, she said.  Her talk blew my mind.  It was exactly what I needed to hear, and made me quite weepy... then I had to get up and play the piano for that song.  No fair.

Later, after church, the very kind and lovely and generous Sandy P. brought me a plate of pecan bar cookies she'd made. As Rosalind says, "They're like eating a big bite of heaven." OH seriously. I'd ask Sandy for the recipe, but then I'd make them and eat them. 

 

Workshop

Hubby took Bella and Roz to Eugene for a soccer game; they were gone most of the day.

We Young Women leaders were told last Sunday that the Young Women had been assigned to do a musical number for this Sunday's Sacrament meeting (tomorrow).  Rather than try to get them all together to practice something, Karilyn came up with a mother-daughter situation with me accompanying them.  We got together to practice at Pam's this afternoon.  I got to sight-read.  Yay :)

Harrison had an early soccer game, and later that day, a birthday party at a friend's house.  He said it was fun.

Carter spent the afternoon at the arts school he wants so much to attend. They held a workshop for fifth graders from our district today. We also had to ask his teacher, art teacher and principal to write recommendations beforehand - hopefully they were great. (His teacher, Ms. W, said at fall conference that she would be more than happy to write a STELLAR report for him if that was his goal - how could we not try, after that?)

He enjoyed it. He danced, played bongos, and did other artsy stuff with other kids from the area, including his buddies Ethan, Tyson and Carson... Hubby and I hope so much that they all get in, or none of them do :) Pam, whose kids attend/ed this school, says the boys have a much better shot at being accepted than girls do, since there are always more girls than boys who want to attend.  I told her about his outfit (cargo shorts, and a button down shirt, mismatched) and she said that was PERFECT.  The nuttier, the better. 

Here's hoping! 

Today I did this.

I pity the fool who wears steel gray glasses when they could be ELECTRIC BLUE!!

 

Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails... color: Blue It

 

Loving that if I get tired of the blue, I can get out the old nail polish remover and take it off.  That's my kind of crafting, baby.

 

And... I'm pretty sure I see even better now.

 

I also spent some quality time with the new iPod that Hubby's parents gave me for my birthday (via gift card).  Messed with iTunes, set up a new playlist, bought a few new things, loaded everything up on the iPod, popped in my earbuds and within a few minutes I was completely and utterly blown away by:

 

 THIS SONG RIGHT HERE

 

 

***getting verklempt, talk amongst yourselves***

 

So, so beautiful.  He used FRENCH HORNS and a BASS CLARINET.  (I am a geek.)

 

My favorite quote:

 

McCartney said "'God Only Knows' is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I've actually performed it with him and I'm afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in and to stand there singing it with Brian."

 

Oh Brian Wilson and Sir Paul.  I heart you forever.

Yikes

Sorry, man.  Not a good day.

This was the scene on our street today.  The brick-enclosed mailbox lying in the driveway and the car parts strewn about didn't look great either.

It's not often you see a car this smashed up AND upside down on this road.  Thank goodness.

Never Before and Never Again

Today I made these.

They were huge and stupid and expensive and they took hours to make and gave Brennan and me stupid hot glue gun burns on our fingers.

Whatever blessing I may have gained from performing this service (they were for a Young Women activity) was probably complained away by me.

The activity ended up being fun. I was assigned to dress up as Vanna White and conduct a matching game "game show" for the girls. Loved it.  I would rather get up and act goofy and embarrass myself for hours on end than make one stupid craft.

And that was my day today. :)

Hubby and the Mouths

I finished Wynne's book today (she recommended it).  It's quite empowering. 

Today being Presidents Day ("he ain't my president"), we decided to go blow a major gift card at IKEA and sample their lovely frozen and reheated food choices.  OK, not all of them are frozen and reheated... but it took some of the IKEA magic out of it for me when, after eating there the first time, I went downstairs to leave and noticed a great big frozen foods section with everything they'd been serving upstairs.  Can't you romance it up for me just a little, baby?

The gift card, from Kristy and Steve, was to help us furnish our new house, and we were oh so very grateful for it.  We ended up with a new futon, a bright red bench for the piano (I'd been eyeballing it), and some square wicker basket drawers for the entertainment center - stuff we wanted but would have taken forever to buy by ourselves.  Thanks Kristy and Steve!

We normally wouldn't subject the Five Mouths to so much IKEA food all at once, but since we belong to the IKEA Family, the cost of the meal would be deducted from the cost of our purchases downstairs, so we were all over it.  I think we were able to get an additional $60 worth of stuff.  Which, again, we would have bought anyway. 

So who came out the winner?  I think we all did.

The rest of the day we spent putting together our new stuff, feeling incredibly handy and capable, and loving life.  Hubby took Harrison and Carter to indoor soccer, while I contemplated a double feature at the $3 movie theater, but those Swedish meatballs said I was staying home and laying belly up.

Good times.

Sweetheart Ball

Oh Sweetheart Ball, how I live for you.  How longingly I wait, how lovingly I get ready... how dorkily I dance with Hubby.  How wonderfully he tolerates it.  How much he loves the food.

This year was no exception.  This was the first Sweetheart Ball in three years that we had enjoyed, though, due to my being sick and completely high on NyQuil in 2011 ("I'm medicated") and missing the thing entirely in 2012 due to crap happening and not feeling it AT ALL.  Which was a big mistake, I should have rallied myself and gone with Hubby anyway.

I liked how I looked. Especially in this shot with Roz.

We went, we had fun, it was awesome.  The end.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Wore this on my feet.

 

My wonderful bloggy friend Jean Knee made this and of course I fell right in love with it.  SICK.

Jean Knee also made my awesome bacon Christmas tree ornaments.

 

Today, I went to P-town to help with some huge orchestra thing Bella's orchestra teacher had asked for help with.  It went fine, I folded about 200 t-shirts like the boss mom of five I am, but then I got texts and calls from Hubby and Bella that Bella was NOT doing well.  Dizzy, and unable to walk straight.  Like, needs a wheelchair unable to walk straight.

 

So I left.  Glad to have the excuse.  Bella is still kind of dealing with her dizzies but is most often

 

STABLE AS A TABLE :) 

Dad's Birthday Weekend

Dad and Neenaw came and stayed the weekend of his 70th birthday at the beginning of this month. We had a really great day on his birthday. After I took the kids to school, I brought home donuts for breakfast, and then the three of us drove to IKEA (they'd never been to one before), and out to Sara to see Grandma and Poppy's old house.

 

Then we went out to Carol's Corner Cafe for breakfast/lunch (HUGE as always), and after the kids came home, we found a dealership in Portland that sells classic cars. 

Neenaw admires a fine automobile.

 

We spent some fun time ooohing and ahhhing over the awesome cars - this one was a '57 Porche convertible, black. LOVELY. I'm not into cars but I could certainly get into that one. :)

Revelation

Dad and Neenaw are here visiting for his birthday weekend.

We're watching the Super Bowl with Neenaw, and the suspense is killing her!  I never knew she was such a football fan!

And then this happened

Not even cat napping - she was FAST asleep.