Easter 2013

We popped right up bright and early and made us some little Easter basket offerings to present to the kiddo gods. They were happy, mostly. We discovered that Russell Stover is almost on par with Palmer for chocolate grossness.

Then it was off to the piano to practice "Beautiful Savior" some more. I finally got fed up and wrote my own treble part. Dumbed it down quite a bit, shall we say.

Church was nice. The choir performance went fine. I messed it up but it was nothing I'll suffer trauma over. Harrison stayed home with a sore throat and snotty nose, probably just allergies, but he was also deathly tired and we tend to be really cautious about letting him get too tired, as it seems to be a seizure trigger. We had Brennan stay home with Harrison. Poor boys, missing church and home alone with nothing but baskets of chocolate, the Xbox and each other. What a way to spend Easter. *weep*

Came home, ate more chocolate, did the usual Sunday "lay around till the kids bug us to get up" thing with Hubby. Then it was off to the kitchen to assemble hot ham water (Arrested Development!), funeral potatoes (Mormons!) and other culinary goodness. No dessert, though. With all the chocolate we bought last night, we'll be lucky if we're not diabetic by sundown.

Ate dinner - it was amazing.

Hubby took Carter and Rosalind out to try Roz's new sidewalk chalk. Looks like it works.

 

Happy Easter y'all!

What's the Saturday Before Easter Called?

We woke up this morning and headed to the ward Easter breakfast/Easter egg hunt. Our group consisted of Hubby, Bella, Carter, Rosalind and me; Harrison was off at the beach with the ward young men, clamming his little heart out. And Brennan was perfectly okay with not going. :)

At the ward breakfast, we met up with our good friends the Ts, and before the shindig ended they had invited Bella to join them on their Donut Excursion. Bella ended up spending the rest of the day with Jaydn, riding bikes and playing ultimate frisbee with some peeps they met at the park, attending a free concert in P-town, watching Dr. Who, eating burgers... fun stuff.

Hubby and I proceeded to go nuts on the house. Hooray! First we dumped the old couch outside. Just for fun we tried to pull out the hide-a-bed and it was STUCK. So glad I didn't have my high school friend David B. come to look at it (he expressed an interest in the couch when I mentioned on FB that we were getting rid of it). Embarrassing!

We swept and decluttered a bit more in the lounge, then moved the tan chaise couch from the living room into the lounge.

 

Then rearranged the living room thus:

Catness went back and forth between running, climbing, and jumping around, and stopping to follow us and sniff at whatever we were doing.  It was like having a four-year-old around.  "What are you doing with that?  Why are you moving that?  Where's that thing going?"  We tuckered her out.

Took off the door from the kitchen to the downstairs and put it in the attic.  YES!!

Put away all the cross stitch supplies I inherited from Uncle Tom and Aunt Betty.

 
Later, Hubby took six bagsful and a boxful of stuff I'd accumulated to the DI trailer (hooray!!).  The kids kept Hubby busy as well, as he took Carter and Rosalind to see Wreck-It Ralph, and then picked up Bella and Jaydn from their concert.  Busy, busy Hubby.

Harrison finally made it home from the beach trip, which he mightily enjoyed.  The clams were in abundance; he said they caught sixty-something clams, and of those he caught around twenty.  Our boy has a talent!!  Too bad he hates clams.  He came home very tired, but determined to still make it to the school dance.  Hubby took him a little while later.

I spent the day dreading playing the piano for the Easter choir number tomorrow.  How on earth could someone take a beautiful simple song like "Beautiful Savior" and muck it up till the pianist has absolutely no desire to play the thing?  It was IMPOSSIBLE to learn (maybe because I'm impossibly stubborn). 

Hubby and I went shopping later in the evening.  Easter baskets will be assembled in the morning.  The kids aren't little anymore, we don't have to be ready for Easter baskets (or pistols) at dawn.  Whew!

Daisy, Daisy

The very first thing this morning, Bella came into our room and said, "I had a dream that I went on my mission and it was to Gotham City...." Awesome.

So I've been dying to start a garden for a long time, at least a decade, and I've started seeds indoors before but was never organized enough to help them live.  They'd sprout, I'd be all excited, then life would pile up around me and I'd ignore them and not water them and they'd die.  But this year, while noodling around on Facebook, I saw that my friend Sherri J. from Logan plants seeds in recycled water bottles that have a self-watering system.  HOW COOL IS THAT.

Basically it's a water bottle cut in half, the top half turned upside down with a hole punched in the lid and a knotted string strung through the lid, which acts as a wick, and the top half filled with dirt and seeds and placed inside the bottom half of the bottle, which is filled with water.

I saved some water bottles, which wasn't hard because my children always drink about half of a store-bought water bottle and then leave it in the car for eons until it's a science experiment and no one will touch it, let alone drink out of it, ever again.  My dear friend Heffalump sent Livingstone and Shasta daisy seeds to me for my birthday in January (we have a thing about daisies), and I had some potting soil.  Brennan helped me by hammering holes in the plastic lids.  The planters are so easy to make.  I made a dozen and it only took about fifteen minutes.

"Now seeds.....start growing!"

I put them in my very sunny bedroom window, and there they be.  A couple hours into their sunbathing, I read that Livingstone daisies must have darkness to germinate, so then I had to do a little digging to discover which seeds were Livingstone and which were Shasta (they're easier to spot), and hopefully the right planters are in the lounge closet on a shelf, germinating away. 

After this adventure, I walked to Bella's school for her honor assembly.  She received a certificate for keeping her GPA between 3.3 and 3.59... we are very proud of our smart hardworking girl. 

Smarty Smarterson

Later, I visited Heff at her mom's house here in town and gave her one of the planters I made.  She gave me a sweet but mystified look as I handed her this thing.  "Here's a water bottle cut in half with string coming out of the lid."  I'm nothing if not generous.  We had a fun quick visit and then I drove quickly home so Hubby could take some kids to soccer practice.

Orchestra was awesome.  We really worked hard and intensively on a few pieces.  I love it when we do that. 

Wookin Pa Nub

I'll be so glad when this house is finally sorted out. Good grief. Some rooms are still so "moving-y", I can hardly think.

So I tried giving away the old dead hide-a-bed on Craigslist, because someone could use it, right? I received two "nibbles," one from a lady in a city north of us who didn't feel like driving that far, and another lady whom I kept trying to call back, but she never answered the phone - her family members, though, were always there with a "Can you call back tomorrow?" What, really? It inspired this Facebook entry (with a little help from my friends):

Status Update: Starting a new book called "Oh the Weirdos You'll Meet on Craigslist"

Me: Chapter One: Telephone Etiquette
Me: Chapter Two: Selling Your Ex-Girlfriend's Stuff Without Her Knowledge
Me: Chapter Three: Your Family Owns a Phone, Why?
Me: Chapter Four: Read the Posted Location Before You Call About the Ad and Find Out It's Farther Away Than You Feel Like Driving
Me: Chapter Five: You Better Answer the Phone Yourself Since No One in Your Family Can Find a Writing Utensil
Me: Chapter Six: It's Free. How Nice Could It Possibly Be?
Emily B: May I write the prologue, discussing the ins and outs of negotiating the price AFTER you've come to collect the item?
Me: Chapter Seven: No Seriously, Your Family Is Completely Telephone-Challenged. I Think They Have Community Ed Classes For That
Me: Em, YES.
Me: Chapter Eight: Developing a Good "No, Your House Doesn't Reek of Cat Pee At All!" Face
Mark P: PM me for advice on how to get rid of your cat pee smell.
Robin B: Has a few claw marks on the back of the couch, Interpreted as looks like it came out of a feline blender
Me: I don't have cat pee smell. Other people's houses do.
Jenn B: Chapter Nine: When Non-Negotiable Means To Offer Half.
Jenn B: Chapter Ten: Its For Sale But I Will Never Respond To Buyers
Me: Chapter Eleven: I'm Here With Money to Buy Your Unwanted Thing. I Don't Think It's Any of Your Business if It's "Going to a Good Home".
Robin B: Not my boat,it's not for sale, I don't know why it would be listed on craigslist are you sure you have the right number? "reads add to phonee" divorce sale what divorce....
Me: Chapter Twelve: I Called You About My Ad Yesterday, Your Idiot Brother Told Me You Weren't There and I Should Call Back Tomorrow. I Was Stupid and Took His Advice. Today I Got Your Grandmother and Her Stupid Yapping Dog and SHE Told Me To Call Back Later. I'm Starting To Wonder If Your Family Is Illiterate
Me: Chapter Thirteen: Giving Up and Sticking the Thing on the Curb With a "Free" Sign
Cousin Lynda: Chapter Twelve: How to deal with showing up to pay for and collect the item said seller agreed you could buy, then driving 2 hours out of your way to pick it up only to discover the seller is retarded and has since decided to "save" the item for another buyer who isn't there and called after you. And when you tell them what you think of this new development they threaten to call the police. Someone should work on the title of chapter twelve... I'm not sure how to shrink that all down. Lol
Suzanne S: Nat, these are hilarious!
Robin B: You pull up to the sellers home, the garage is open and looks like a picture strait out of the show Horders, The seller come out and they tell you, yeah, it's right over here in the back of the garage. You immediately ask for a rope lifeline and a GPs tracker before going in.
Carrie C: Chapter 14: After finding a great car for the price you wanted to pay you call and leave a message to a seller you had a appointment with to see their car to tell them you already found a car and won't be coming. The seller calls back a leaves a message calling you a yuppie and you're the ruination of this country. Sorry dude we didn't buy your car. We don't handle disappointment very well do we?
Me: A Yuppie?? What an AWFUL insult!!!
Me: Chapter Fifteen: Before You Open the Door to the Person Who Answered Your Ad, and Told You They'd Be Coming Over, Put Some Dang Clothes On and Act Like You're Awake
Jenn B: Chapter Fifteen: When To Give Up Because No One Is Buying Your Fill Dirt
Jenn B: Okay Sixteeen....
Jenn B: Chapter Seventeen: How To Legally Sell Your PeePee Mattresses.
Me: Chapter Seventeen: Tell Your Churlish Father Figure to Head to the Bedroom If He Can't Be Pleasant To the Nice Couple Who Came to the Door
Carrie C: I know! I always assumed yuppies could afford new cars not 10 year old cars for no more than $3,000 that hopefully does not have too many miles on them . You're buying this car all because your teenage son just wrecked your mini van. Maybe he's confused about what a yuppie is?
Me: Chapter Eighteen: Don't Freak and Call People Yuppies if They Reject Your Car
Jenn B: Chapter Nineteen: How To Remove "Kerry Edwards" Bumperstickers and Other Decals Before Selling Your Car
Jenn B: Chapter Twenty: How To Read The Dating Section Without Saying At Least Once, "Dude, No Wonder Youre Single".
Me: Oh yeah. The dating section is a whole 'nother book.

Nice weather we're having

Later: I just caught the sound of my children singing Buh-weet's version of "Bette Davis Eyes". It does my heart good to see the indoctrination working.

We finished out the night by watching and enjoying the crazy disturbing goodness of Suddenly, Last Summer. Whoa!

Believe It or Not

All right. So Mom and Bob spent the night at Aunt Betty's, and after I dropped the kids off at school, I drove up there and picked up Mom, and we were off (like a... never mind).  We were finally going to go shopping for my birthday, hooray! Now if I could just think of something I wanted, life would be grand.

I was tired of my mall (who isn't), so we headed to Washington Square Mall in Beaverton... but while driving around trying to find it, we happened upon a cute little mom-and-pop home and garden store, and before long we were inside, inspecting their wares. We ogled the baby chicks, ducklings, and turkey-lings (what are baby turkeys called?) and reminisced about our little family farm in Brookings, including our baby turkey named Hugh Beaumont (seriously) after the actor who plays Ward Cleaver in "Leave It To Beaver." We watched the reruns every day after school, and Ernie named the turkey after him. We brooded the baby chicks and the turkey in our bathroom.

"Remember the day we came home from church and there were three dead baby chicks nose-down in the toilet?" she asked.
"NO!! How horrible!!"
"Well... I guess we didn't tell you guys about that."

Yikes.

This store's prices were INSANE (but not good insane) so I dialed up my trusty GPS lady to find the nearest Coastal Farm and Ranch, since it's just what the country needs, except when you can't find it and you drive all over Creation and past the Nike campus, and your mother keeps saying "I don't think this store exists" and you tease her back with, "It's just over those hills!".

Stupid GPS lady.  What a big stinky liar she is. 

So, back over the river we went... sigh... to my mall.  I still didn't know what I wanted for my birthday, but no matter, we were having a good old time anyway.  Once at Macy's, we meandered aimlessly toward the bedding department, when it hit me that we needed a new bed set ("needed" being a relative term) and Mom was alllll over it - a lot more all over it than she would have been about setting me up with baby chicks.  I can't blame her.

I ended up with this:

ahhhhhhh

At first I was going to get something completely different from our old set, but then I remembered the batik bird picture and we went with the same color scheme.  Which worked out great, because I kept two throw pillows from the old set and now it looks all FANCY.

Then we picked up kids, went to the store, picked up the last kid, stuffed him in the clown car with the first two kids and the groceries, and headed back to my house.  Then it was back to Aunt Betty's. 

Mom had mentioned to Betty that I like to cross stitch, and Betty had promised me all the cross stitch supplies I wanted, since Uncle Thos was also an avid cross stitcher - he was seriously an amazing man, cross stitching is just the tip of the iceberg.  We went through her closet and boxed all his cross stitch things up and they were now mine.  It was hard.  It's been a year since Thos died, and I never had the chance to meet him, but Betty had a hard time here and there and I wished with all my heart that Thos were still around so she wouldn't have to be so sad.

I drove home with my new stuff, grateful and glad to have it but feeling terrible for poor Betty.  And Bob, who lost his only brother.  And Mom.  CRAP I hate death.

Later I happied up with this:

 

Happiest TV show theme song EVERRRR.

Oh Good.

New-to-us couches!!  Hooray!!  Mom and Bob brought over the ultra-comfy leather couch and loveseat set that Mom bought in Walla Walla years ago... we are so grateful.  THANKS Mom and Bob!!  They brought other goodies as well, including a batch of Mom's Blarney Stones (they were covered with Easter egg-ish colored sugars and coconut flakes and chopped peanuts)... to die for.  Oh.  How I love Mom and Bob.

We visited with them and Hattie the Dog for a while, then it was off to Aunt Betty's for them to spend the night.  See you tomorrow!

UPDATE: This morning we found out that our little Girl Scouts sold all their cookies and get to go to camp. Yay! Glad they had enough people come out. Kayelyn certainly did her part.

MEAN.

My round Pampered Chef baking stone met an untimely death today when it was used to make cheesy biscuits (the perpetrator shall go unnamed), and, while still hot, was placed in a sinkful of not hot water. Snap, crackle, pop! The poor child who caused this sad accident was later heard to say, "I forgot how to physics." Well, dear, Mother has made silly mistakes too. I'm not interested in replacing it, because I don't know that I want to own anything more high-maintenance than I am. Rest in peace, Pampered Chef baking stone. Sorry about the hot watery death.

Can you believe the way someone duped those poor Girl Scouts? My bloggy friend Kayelyn didn't have any Girl Scouts knock on her door to sell cookies this year, so she sent us some money and we're going cookie shopping tomorrow. So awesome of her. We might have to buy a couple boxes for our not-needing-cookies-at-all-but-are-suckers selves.

Trying to get rid of this thing.

I placed a "free" ad on Craigslist and mentioned we were giving it away on Facebook. ACK! The horribleness!!

Just.  Ugh.

Also: I went to orchestra rehearsal and came home with "Popular" (from the musical Wicked) stuck in my head. And I only know the one part, and it keeps replaying over and over again... Grrr.  It's so hard to be me.

FINALLY

But first: Bella, for the last two days, has awakened with GUNK leaking from her ears. First one ear yesterday, and the other ear today. So we made an appointment and went to the doctor (which is always fun, she absolutely loves being around doctors) (not), and guess what the dip doctor said? "HER EARS ARE PERFECT."

Our lovely HMO, while I really do love and appreciate it, has a way of making us feel like a family of hypochondriacs sometimes. Her ears! Were leaking!! At what point do you not freak out and call the doctor about that?

The doctor (who was not a dip, but was the slightest bit condescending, lecturing us about the importance of Hepatitis A vaccines) said it was probably just some drainage from Bella's most recent cold. GEEEEZ. I promised myself I would not take any of these children to the doctor again unless a limb fell off or they were bleeding out their eyeballs. (not) (but sort of)

It's about dang time

I don't know, and don't want to know, which year it was that I started this stocking.  I know it was a January because I thought, I'll stitch one of these per month for each of the seven of us, make them all into stockings in August, and we'll all have new stockings this year.  Cross stitched, by me.  How heroic will I be.

Glad to have it over with, but not looking forward to making the other six, so much.  I'm not a fan of stitching the same thing twice.  And it took so long, I may have grandchildren before I get them all done, and yada yada... Just don't let me do stuff like this anymore.

In other news: A few people went skating tonight.

That's All I Ask of You

This morning I woke up and looked in the mirror and thought, Holy Bedhead Batman! I forgot about this aspect of short hair. Time to go hat shopping.

Tonight while we were trying to go to sleep: The kids are watching Phantom of the Opera, and I guess I should be happy about it but I mostly feel like telling the TV to can it. 

Good grief, just END IT already.

Don't Know Where This Came From

Things have become pollen-y and blooming-y enough around here that I finally broke down and popped a fake Claritin today. Ah, the first allergy pill of the year... Such a milestone.

I love it :)

Always After Me Lucky Charms

Hair Update: I can still make a ponytail! YESSSSS

Bella's team played their championship game today, and Hubby normally passes off Sunday coaching responsibilities to his two co-coaches, but one wasn't able to be there today, so Hubby dressed in his church clothes and left for the soccer field. We (minus Brennan) took off for church.

As usual, about an hour before church started, we remembered Roz had been assigned to give a talk in Primary, and couldn't find the assignment slip with the topic "Jesus Christ is our Savior" until we were running out the door, so I spent Sacrament meeting plaigarizing paraphrasing True to the Faith's section about the Atonement.

The Rhy...s spoke about their temple mission in Hong Kong, from which they had returned just a week or two before, and the meeting was awesome. The Hong Kong temple is my favorite.

Hubby met up with me later in the Primary room - he was glowing so I knew the girls WON the championship! Hooray! Roz did an excellent job with her talk - Hubby and I were very proud.

The new 'do garnered a few comments - Bishop shook my hand and asked if I was a new sister in the ward.  However, I did not wear green to church today (I don't think any of us own anything green). I was pinched three times. RUDE. (But not by the bishop)

After church, Breven came back over to hang with the boys. The home teachers later joined us for a half hour or so. We had dinner, roasted chicken and potatoes. Breven ate with us and told us a little bit about his family. Such a sweet funny kid.

Bella had a camp meeting at the H building, so Hubby stayed with her instead of coming home and going back to get her.

Longview, New 'Do

A busy, busy soccer day that was over early enough to get some other things done. Yay!

Hubby was on the run all day, picking up, dropping off, coaching, what have you. He had me and Bella meet him at the H sports complex, and passed off Carter to me. Carter had already played a game with his regular team that morning, but for some reason I'm unaware of has also picked up another team (because we don't play enough soccer in this house - wink, wink).

The game was in Longview, which I was happy about because I'd been getting a little bored with sticking around town all the time. So Carter and I left, and since we can't lock the Clown Car's doors (because the tip of the key is still in the ignition), I pulled out the soccer chair and sat on the grass next to the car for the game.

He played well, but the poor team lost badly - something like 9-1. Carter tried to get Goal #2 but a kid kicked him in the ankle, so he spent the rest of the day with a slight limp. It rained just a bit. I had an umbrella but no blanket, darn it.

Afterward we went to Shari's restaurant in Kelso and had a lovely lunch. I had a turkey half-sandwich and caprese salad and marionberry pie with ice cream. Carter had macaroni and cheese. All of it was wonderful as always. Carter was a perfect gentleman during our date... though he did make me pay for lunch.

Starting around yesterday I was getting really sick of my growing-out hair, especially the gray and split ends, so I called up Marisa B in McWard.  She did this:

 

And this:

Well, I added the clippy on my bangs.

The bangs ended up really short, but otherwise I LOVE IT.

School Days

This week has been a big Mommy-at-school week - first the field trip on Wednesday with Carter, and today I met Rosalind for her school lunch time.

Afterward we went to the book fair, and then back to class, where she gave an awesome report about koalas. I enjoyed being with her.

These were waiting for us at home.

"Every Day We Fight the Fight"

Man, did we ever fight it today.

I helped chaperone Carter's class field trip to a local nature center today.  Absolutely exhausting and I wore the wrong shoes.  But he had fun, so there.  I had fun seeing him interact with the other kids and made a couple of fifth grade friends.

Betcha never smelled a real school bus before.
 

Trying to collect specimens

It's about dam time.  (Sorry)

Note to self: NO.  MORE.  FIELD TRIPS. in these shoes.

After school, we brought Tyson home to play with Carter. Roz had dance class followed by Activity Day. In the meantime I loaded up all our fire supplies and portable fire pit for a Young Women's activity. Good freakin grief, the things we end up doing when we open our yaps in presidency meeting... From now on I am giving NO suggestions, I don't care how uncomfortable the silence gets.

Now home in bed, and Hubby asks why I keep sighing. Just de-stressing, dear. Pass the chocolate chips. :)

In Which We Drop Names

So on the way to school today, the kids were messing with the radio and landed on this song:



The kids tried to turn it to something else but I said "TURN IT BACK" and made them listen to it. A few seconds later Carter observed that he thought it was the song "Ghostbusters". I told him he had a good ear. RAY PARKER JR., if you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about.

Then I mentioned that Daddy had met the singer, twice. This was enthralling news to the kids. Hubby met Huey Lewis while working security at a couple of golf tournaments. His working security at concerts and sporting events has given us multiple opportunities to pipe up during the ever popular "Have you ever met anyone famous?" conversation.



The evening was very musical.  Bella played with her orchestra at a local middle school gig, while Rosalind and I traveled across town to hear our cousin Mackenzii play in her school band.  I dropped her off at home afterward.  It was fun to see her and Mandi and Sienna and Ryan.  And the puppies and the bird.



 

 

Second cousins :)

Hubby went to a soccer meeting.  Gee, I hope they hire him back on.  (wink, wink)

Peekaboo.

(Maybe that should have been her name.)

Walking up the stairs to wake Rosalind for school, I caught sight of this girl.
 

I didn't move any closer, I just stood on the stairs and talked to her and Roz through the railing. Olive stayed out from under the bed the entire time. Once Roz was out of bed, Olive followed her around like a puppy and nuzzled her and wound herself around Roz, asking for more pats. Once or twice she stopped and looked at me and kept her distance, but she didn't run away.  Progress!

So CUTE and heartwarming to see this poor kitty love and trust someone (especially my sweet youngest) and feel safe again.

After I dropped Carter and Rosalind at school, Harrison mentioned that Carter seems to have forgotten all about the arts school thing (so far Carter's brought it up one other time). Harrison said, "They're stupid. It's their loss." I was proud of him for being so loyal to his brother. Love those little "nice sibling" moments.

Here we are waiting for Harrison after school. Carter and Roz got in a little tree climbing.

Roz with Sock Monkey; Carter's legs

Jump!

There she goes

On our way home, Harrison said that he found some forgotten work for his math class and turned it in, which was sure to bring up his grade. His other grades are coming up too, and he's excited about a history class project he's working on, involving the Bill of Rights. Sounds like he had a happy day.


Happy Dance!

Bella's day was quite awful, however... Someone in her calligraphy class stole her iPod. She said she turned her back for five minutes, and then looked and it was gone. She's quite upset and angry at the "juvenile delinquents" she goes to school with. Poor thing.  She came home and wrote a very pointed letter to her school principal about the shoddy security provided for that part of the school... she once saw a girl shooting up, in that same place.  Ah, public school... educating our children in more ways than one.

Brennan was surprised to find out that the old building he went to for his GED classes no longer carries GED classes.  Now he must go to the actual college.  That's what he'll be doing tomorrow.

Hubby went to his yearly soccer coach interview, a silly new thing the silly new soccer administration people started doing because they're silly (and new).  According to them he, and all the coaches, must be interviewed in order to keep doing the same thing he's been doing for the last twelve years.  I loved it when he said they asked him what his strengths and weaknesses were, like they haven't known him forever, and like it's an actual job.  Fortunately Hubby's very good about being honey instead of vinegar, despite his naughty bad influence of a wife.



Catness Fetches.

She loves to play with the girls' elastic hair bands more than almost anything else. This morning she brought one to Hubby, and he threw it out the bedroom door into the hallway, and she chased it and brought it back several times. Cute kitty.

In Olive news: Rosalind had a bad dream and came downstairs to watch cartoons and fall asleep on the couch. Olive followed her and climbed up next to her on the couch. Hubby also thought he heard her playing around down here. We are DYING to get to be in the same room with her and watch her play someday. (Are we just weird cat people?)



As I was walking into the bathroom this morning, I heard Bella's familiar half-frustrated, half-amused wail coming from upstairs... she had just discovered that sometime during the night, she had taken off her shorts and thrown them across the room. This has happened more than once, it always freaks her out and it's always hilarious.

Along with the usual sleep-talking and sleepwalking, and occasional disrobing, here are some other weird things Bella has done while asleep:

1) Walked and talked - came down into our room and asked us for stuff, completely asleep
2) Painted her fingernails, very badly
3) Drank bubble solution, thinking it was water. That time she woke up and screeched at herself.

Choir and church went well today.  No choir next week (yay) and Kerri is considering switching choir time to 4:15 on Sunday afternoons.  Fine by me. 

Brandee the Laurel adviser and Cari the YW president were out of town today and asked me to teach the Laurel class.  I'm loving the new youth curriculum.  The lesson outline (repentance) suggested a question and answer period with the bishop, so I called and asked him Friday night and he was good to go. 

The girls each wrote down a question about repentance for him and Bishop answered each one and did a great job.  Some of the questions were pretty thought-provoking.  Then we talked about repentance the rest of the time, using our resources and work stories from Hubby (he also joined us), and it was a great discussion.  I miss teaching the young women, it's so much fun and I love hearing what they think about and the kinds of things they're experiencing.  I'm glad I still get to work with them.

Bella went to another camp meeting. 

Harrison made brownies for us.  He cracked an egg into the bowl and apparently it went well because he then said, "That's a beautiful crack."  That one got a chuckle from the group.

Hubby got to pet Olive for a half-second.  He was so happy.

Miss Camparella*

So this was funny, Bella hopped into bed next to us this morning and said that last night at their meeting, she told her camp presidency about the year I went to camp as a unit leader (2011, Ann P was my partner).  The second or third day of camp, I cracked a joke about all the camp songs being about boys and kissing.  "Don't you know any songs about quilting or something?"

So she told the girls this story last night and said it was funny to watch their faces as they realized it was TRUE!!  "We're being brainwashed!"  Sounds like the songs may get changed up a little this year... ahem.

Hubby took Carter and Rosalind to Carter's soccer game in the 28° weather.  Suckerrrrrrrrs.  Brennan and Harrison found themselves alone with the XBox and were never seen or heard from again, except to resurface for food.  Love these busy soccer weekends!

Later Bella left for the stake girls' first aid clinic (via bus, how very ghetto, but she'll stay humble that way), and from there, traveled to the proposed camp site with her presidency and the stake YW leaders.  We're so excited for her and proud of her.  It's a kick in the head to see our girl take on this enormous responsibility and do so well with it.

Randy H, Michelle H, Sara J, George G, Bella, Monique B
Taken by Joni G

I spent some more time unpacking in the Disco (I'm calling it the Disco - it has a good dance floor, the computer and iTunes are out here, and every house needs one) and found a Sacrament meeting program Hubby and I wrote notes to each other on, from March 8, 1992.  We'd been married a whole WEEK.  I'm so glad we kept that... how darling!  And, you know, mushy and gross.  "I love you."  "You're so beautiful."

This afternoon Carter came home from Game #2 with our friends Dawn and Nathan L, looking like this:

Soccer kills.

Yes, that would be my boy with his eye smacked by a soccer ball.  He said it didn't hurt and his vision was fine.  Thank goodness.

Dawn said that Miss "I don't know how you can stand being married to her" Coach said that he should have it looked at by a doctor just to make sure nothing behind his eye was injured.  That was awesome news to hear with my NO CAR (Hubby was coaching Bella's team's game). Luckily Hubby came home shortly afterward and took Mr. C to visit the doctor, where he was pronounced perfectly healthy. Whew. 

Hubby then took Carter and Rosalind swimming, and they and Bella arrived home about the same time. It was a good day.


Caught!  H brushing R's hair.  So sweet

Song of the Day:


*Girls Camp 1985, Kennewick East Stake: The stake camp leaders held a beauty pageant at camp that year.  I still remember the last bit of the song the leaders sang as Kristene C. was crowned Miss Camparella... "She reads her scriptures, prays too... Miss Camparella, we love youuuuuu." 

Also, unrelated: 8th Ward's skits were THE BEST.

Ouch.

A while ago I discovered that rather than let myself get distracted and overwhelmed when I have a huge project, it's better if I take on the job in teensy bites. "Oh really?"  Yes. Everyone knew that but me, I guess.  And when I say teensy, I mean... I'm kind of embarrassed to say what teensy means. 

I had a great morning working in the "work room", which needs a new name, but we can't figure one out. Probably because of the serious mess.   Brennan helped me move the file cabinet next to the computer, then I moved on to sorting stuff in boxes in the Horrible Pile.

The office portion of the work room

Still lots of boxes, but now they all have a reason for being.

Pile, you will soon be conquered.

Meanwhile, Hubby lunched at the carts in P-town.

This afternoon I finished the French knots and Lazy Daisy stitches on that Christmas stocking I've been cross stitching since... which year was that?  I was glad to find my French knots are still functional.  Still trying to decide what I'll do with this stocking that was supposed to take a month (ha).

In kiddo news: Harrison spent the morning at a fun field trip with his robotics club over in P-town.  He came home with lots of swag.  He needs a bulletin board for his bedroom wall so all those nifty pins will be on display.

Sad news came when Carter received a letter from the arts school, telling him he did not make the cut and was #62 on the waiting list.  Poor guy.  His friends Ethan and Tyson weren't accepted either, but his friend Carson was.  He handled it pretty well at first, but a few hours later came to our room and asked me, "Mama, what did I do wrong?"  Just about broke my heart.  I told him he did nothing wrong, just that there were so few spots and so many kids applying that they could only take so many... Apparently there's still a chance he could get in, but I told him we would just forget it for now and perhaps be pleasantly surprised later. 

Daddy plays Barbies better than Mommy.

Also, Hubby took a turn playing Barbies with Rosalind. It was ADORABLE to listen to. He can rein in his silliness much better than I can. They went on a very nice date to the movies and grabbed a bite afterward... I think it was nachos. Hubby also spent some quality time cooing to Olive the cat, who continues to avoid everyone but the girls (she's still under Roz's bed). For the last few weeks Bella and Roz have been getting her to come downstairs sometimes, but only in the early morning. "We've picked up a weirdo..."

Speaking of weirdo kitties, tonight Bella was able to get Olive to come downstairs into the kitchen and *almost* to the basement stairs, while the rest of us were awake and inhabiting the house.  It was definite progress.  Bella and Rosalind ARE The Kitty Whisperers.

As Carter sits at the piano and figures out "Grandfather's Clock" by ear with only a little help from me, I can only wonder what those arts school peeps were smoking.  :)