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.  :)

Barbies and Relief Society

Miss Rosalind sought her friend Leah for a playdate after school today, but it didn't work out and she was sad when we arrived home.  I offered to play with her.

First we emptied and put away everything from one of the moving boxes in her room - her idea - and with some wrapping paper, scissors and tape, we turned the newly empty box into a Barbie furniture box.  Then we coiffed and dressed her Barbies and her Ken doll till they were all dressed and spiffed up for the Barbie Prom.

One thing that surprised me about playing with Roz is that she prefers my "normal" voice to all the silly accents and affectations I like using. She takes these Barbies pretty seriously. I always loved my mom's goofy voices when she played with us.

The ward Relief Society dinner and program were held this evening and were wonderful. Cupcakes, yay! And the ward sisters and a few brethren performed a reader's theater of the first Relief Society meeting in the Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. Very fun, and very well done, and inspiring. I love the theatah.

Hubby was off with our ONE CAR at Bella's soccer practice, so I bummed a ride home from Terri B. I didn't know this but she's quite the theatah buff herself - she condensed the script for tonight's program. It was perfect. We were both wishing we had a local venue for musical theater, but alas....I guess I'll just have to sneak my acting into playing Barbies with Roz...if she'll let me.

Dancy Dancerson

Happy kiddo.

We were so excited to find out last week that Rosalind was given a spot in the free dance program sponsored by the arts school.  Her fitness teacher at school is "best friends" with the lady who runs the dance program, and she told Roz that she asked her friend to watch out for Roz.  Here she is all barefoot and ready to get her groove on.

 

After the dance practice, the kids were all taken to P-town for a dance recital field trip.  Rozzie had a great time.

 

For Mutual tonight, the young women had a stake sports night complete with volleyball, limbo and hula dancing (sounds like some peeps would rather be in the Islands), and Harrison and Carter had Scouts. We gave Brittany Z a ride.

 

In other news, WE HAVE A WASHER!!  Hubby and Brennan brought Hanna's washer in from the shed, and Hubby attached it to the hoses, turned it on, it worked great, and we were good to go.  We spent a blissful evening washing our stacks of dirty laundry and eating Domino's pizza. 

 

YES I said "blissful" and "dirty laundry" in the same sentence.

 

Along with the usual, I put together to-do and shopping lists for housey projects on Cozi.com, and shredded a pile of old paperwork that was cluttering up the work room (where we have the computer and piano and a stankload of boxes at the moment).  Sweet.

What???

I gardened a bit today, just mild stuff like pruning the roses and shrubs, pulling some weeds and hacking away at the blackberry jungle in the backyard.  Rosalind was a great helper.  Carter saw us and joined us, and invited Roz to play the soccer tire game with him.  I would have done more outside, but the padlock on our shed (where the big garden tools are) was impossible to unlock.

I teased Hubby about keeping me out of the shed, and he happened to remember that Hanna had left either a washer or dryer behind and had offered it to us... since we had our own set, she put hers in the shed.   We couldn't remember if it was a washer or dryer, though.  After work, he unlocked the shed and lo and behold... it's a washer.  HOORAY.  He promised to bring it in and set it up tomorrow night after work.

So grateful.

Bella gave a presentation about YW camp at a stake Young Women leadership meeting tonight.  We had Arby's afterward and marveled at her awesomeness.  Kidding.  Kind of.  ;)

Mental Health Day

I did nothing but the usual drop-offs and pick-ups today. Yay.

My new book came in the mail and I spent some good time with it.

 

Took some pics of cute babies and promises of spring. 

In his crossing guard uniform :)

Carter drew this.  The kids are HUGE into the My Little Pony cartoons.

 

Daffodils

 

Tulips

Hubby took Carter to soccer, then came home and picked up Harrison and went to H's soccer practice.

Bella and I tried washing some clothes in the washer....but it's not only merely dead, it's really most sincerely dead. We spent the rest of the evening quite frustrated. 

The clothes did get clean, eventually....and that's all I have to say about that.

*cue Elvis singing "In the Ghetto"*

"Oh Baby I'm So Tarrrrrrrd"

That would be "tired".

Got up, went through the clothes in the now-broken washer and found the church clothes, wrung them out (we think it was a belt that died - that would explain the smell, and the fact that the washer won't spin), dried them.  Since the clothes were wetter than usual, Hubby guessed he and the boys and Roz would be a little late to church.  You know what, I think we're excused this week.

Hubby took Bella and me to choir, along with our ironing board, which Young Women 2nd counselor Calli H. needed for an object lesson.  Choir was OK, again.  Pam helped me with parts again.

The family did arrive a little late.  It was a great meeting.  Afterward, I took Roz to class - she was tearful, telling me she was "so tired".  I loved on her and got her happy enough to walk into her classroom with tears on her little cheeks.  Awww.  Took Brennan home.

After church, Hubby took Harrison to do fast offerings.  I stayed at church - we had a presidency meeting and planned our combined YW activity for the 13th.  I was pretty tired and giddy by then. 

Calli brought me and the ironing board home, and we discovered we are both friends with Jenn A., one of the many stake members who have lived in this house.  (Jenn is my clarinet buddy in orchestra and Georgann A's daughter.)  Once home, I cleaned up the kitchen with Hubby (he is made of gold), made dinner, ate, and had pineapple dump cake for dessert - we were out of peaches.  It was OK - peaches are definitely better in dump cake.

After dinner, Hubby and Carter went outside in the backyard and set up a soccer obstacle course with our old garden tires.  What, you don't have old garden tires?  What's your deal?  We'll be growing potato towers with the tires this year.  Can't wait.

Bella had her weekly YW Camp planning meeting.  Joni G. (also made of gold) picked her up and dropped her back at home later. 

Found an old Jack Weyland book I like and managed to read and stay awake till 9 pm.  Yay.

Don't BREEEEEAAAAAAK

Today I spent a good part of the day catching up this blog from such sources as texts, Facebook statuses (stati?), and pictures from my phone, while Hubby ran kids around to soccer games.  Bella and Carter had morning games.  Bella is doing better with her dizzies - didn't have one episode this time - and Carter's team tied 1-1, which he said was good "because last week we lost 0-4." Well I should say so.

Pam invited us over for hot dog roasting and s'mores for tonight.  YAY! 

While Hubby was off at a game, he called to tell me that part of Clown Car's key had broken off in the ignition.  The car still starts and runs fine, we just can't lock the doors now.  I was not thrilled to hear this.

I took Hubby and Carter to Carter's end-of-season team party, and then Harrison to his indoor soccer game.  I remembered to bring my iPod this time and CRANKED it to avoid any angry soccer parent wrath.  Ahhh... it's like taking a mini vacation.  Harrison's poor team, who had played an outdoor game earlier in the day, struggled hard and ultimately lost 1-7, but my H was out there tearing it up as defense.  He kept quite a few shots away from his goalie, who had a really bad game.  I've decided Harrison's new nickname should be "Dances With Soccer Ball", he looks so funny and graceful at the same time.  Today he ran his butt off and worked hard. 

One funny moment today:  Carter was bored....we were suggesting ideas to keep him busy.
Me: Go dig in the garden. Go play with the wheelbarrow that's in the shrubs.
Bella: That's my killin' wheelbarrow.

We got ready for our night out.  Mike T came by and picked up the girls, due to our "one car and it's the tiny one" situation.  We dropped by the store for supplies and went up to the T's for dinner.  The rain mostly held off and we had a great time roasting and eating stuff.  Love those T's!  :) 

Then home, to start some laundry for tomorrow.  A while later, Bella came into our room to tell us that something inside the washer had made a loud noise and that an unpleasant smell was now permeating the kitchen.  Oh, wonderful. 

And did I mention the dishwasher broke last week and we have no idea how to take it apart and fix it?  We've been washing dishes by hand this whole time.  WAAAAA!!!  OK, but still.  It's not fun. 

Went to bed utterly bugged... didn't do anything with the clothes in the washer.  They had to drain anyway.

The Big Ole Date

Whew.  Here's what we did. 

1) Dropped off the kids at school

2) Took Clown Car to the emissions test station and picked up its tabs for this year (so romantic, I know)

3) Went to Pine State Biscuits in P-town.  Hubby had been wanting to go ever since it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, so off we went.  I had a ham, cheese and egg biscuit sandwich - HUGE - and Hubby, the biscuits and gravy with eggs on top, with a side of hash browns for us to share.  And hot chocolate.  Good stuff.  We waddled away quite satisfied. 

 

4) Then passed a teensy cute cupcake shop (like you can't find 80 of those in this area) and figured, it's our wedding day... sort of... we need to eat cake. He had a red velvet and I had a "salty captain" (chocolate, with caramel frosting, caramel drizzle and salt... OH MAN).

 

5) Drove home and took Charlotte (white minivan) to the emissions test station.  How we ended up with both cars having tabs due on the same month is another story for another day.  Charlotte failed her emissions test and we sadly drove her home.  Looks like we're calling our good buddy Mechanic Jim soon.

 

6) He napped and I played around on the computer.  TOTALLY took the day off.

 

7) He picked up Carter and Rosalind, and I went with him later to pick up Harrison.  I took Brennan and Bella to the store for very necessary Girls Camp meeting supplies and various other delights.  Bought some Jelly Bellies.  I don't always eat Jelly Bellies, but when I do, they're usually buttered popcorn flavor.  Never cinnamon.  Cinnamon causes me to do rude things out the car window.

 

8) Went to PF Changs for dinner.  Thanks Mom and Bob!

9) Came home and lay belly up until it was time for our movie. 

 

10) We went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 at our local $3 theater.  Tried desperately not to make fun of it a la Mystery Science Theater 3000, but failed miserably.... until the end.  You know which part if you've seen it.  WOW.  Awesome!  Why couldn't the first four movies be that nifty? 

 

And that was our big 21st anniversary date.  A very lovely happy time.



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.