Day 181--Bosom Friends

Tonight I went to the first meeting of the Anne of Green Gables club.  We sat around eating plum puffs, homemade bread, and  homemade raspberry cordial while engaging in scintillating sometimes scandalous conversations.  Well worth the late bedtime!  

Reluctant Blogger

 Most of you have probably noticed by now that I've grown rather fond of this whole blogging endeavor.   

 Tonight though,  I got home very late from a girls' night out and decided that I would take the night off rather than squeeze off a quick post.  

Then I happened to check my blog before going to bed and realized that I really did have to stay up and write a new post.  

And it's not because I was busting at the seams to tell you that we knocked another DC site off our list today that we'd never seen before.  Although the National Postal Museum was really cool and worth the trip, that is definitely not what compelled me to stay up any later.  

Nor was it our Anne of Green Gables club that kept me up so late with its scintillating conversations, homemade raspberry cordial, lots of laughing, and plum puffs.   Nope, that could have waited too.

And as I write this with drooping eyes it certainly wasn't that I got a second wind or a sudden burst of energy or even a great idea.  

So what is keeping me up tonight?

It's my over-developed sense of duty to you my adoring sympathetic fans.  Tonight I noticed that I've published at least 20 posts every single month this year and that if I didn't post tonight that I would've topped off at a measly 19 posts for June.  

And I just couldn't do that to you.   I'd rather write a post about absolutely nothing than let you down like that.   

PS  I thought of something reall important that i enedeed too tell u zfjioenvoi

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Sweet Revenge with Crazed Wildlife

Picture this:

• 7 kids all happily playing at one house.

• Strange noise emanates from one of the bedrooms.

Eeee, Eeee, Eeee, Eeee!

• Hmmm, what could it be?

"Shhh, it's a cute little bird on our window sill. We don't want to scare it. "


"But I really want to open the shades and get a better look."
Squawk, Squawk, Hiss, Squawk!


"Oh look. It's so cute and it didn't fly away after opening the shades and gathering 7 people around it. Maybe it's making its nest here."
Hiss, Squawk, Eeee, Squawk, Hiss! Nope, no nest anywhere in sight.


"Don't you want to see my cute little baby doll, little birdy? Let me tap it against the window over and over again so you can get a better look."
Does he fly away now?

Nope that little bugger stayed right he where he was, looked Ellie in the eye, puffed up his feathers, and squawked as loudly as he could challenging her to a duel.

What are we supposed to do? Closing the storm window would be the obvious solution, but I'm frankly a little frightened of that small bird. I'm not that unsure that if I opened the window to shut the storm window, that he wouldn't charge me and peck my eyes out.

Although there are no eggs, no nest anywhere in sight, that bird is getting pretty protective of the window sill that just happens to be right over the head of our bed. It's been 12 hours and he's still there squawking and hissing loudly anytime anyone walks into our bedroom. Obviously we can't go on like this.

After racking my brain, I've finally come up with a completely satisfying, albeit only mildly plausible solution:

First thing tomorrow morning, I'm getting out the ladder to move him over to a new home. A home far away from us. One where he can aggravate and challenge someone far more deserving of cantankerous pestering all hours of the day.

[insert evil laugh here] Muhahaha!

Watch out rude Octo-Mom lady, you're getting a new alarm clock that ain't got no snooze button!

Day 180--So Little, But So Angry

That little bird on the window sill may look small and cute, but in this case looks can be very deceiving! That was one angry little bird who stayed on our window sill and hissed and chirped to whomever dared enter our bedroom all day (and he's still there). Five little noses pressed against the glass...he let us know all about how much he didn't like it, but still didn't budge. Ellie showing the bird her doll while banging it up against the glass made it even angrier, but still it stayed. I was thinking I should close the storm window where it was perched, but I was scared to death that thing would charge if I dared open the window.

Candy or Vegetables for Father's Day?

We have an annual tradition in our family that each Father's Day the kids make the sweetest Father's Day card EVER for Glen. I don't remember how it all got started, but it's something they look forward to all year.

They love the wild and crazy candy buying spree I send them on where they get to pick whatever candy they want, they like coming up with the creative phrasing (especially when they think it'll make him laugh {which is always}), but their very favorite part of all is when Daddy finishes reading the card and shares his sweet stash with everyone!

As fun as it is for everyone, I've been a little worried about how unhealthy our tradition is, so I've been thinking of some ideas to make it a little less caloric. Below you will find our actual note from this year followed by a possible healthier version we could try next year. Let me know what you think.

Without further ado, here is the masterpiece from this year (humorous insults and all):


Dear BABY RUTH,
Thank you for taking us to HERSHEY Chocolate World. I hope next PAYDAY you will give us each 100 GRAND so we can fly to the MILKY WAY. That would be MOUNDS of fun. Sorry we don't ever think you'll get over your BUTTERFINGERS until the next ECLIPSE. (That gave mom the SNICKERS). If you run a lot you will take a FAST BREAK. While you CRUNCH on this candy, we will be ROLO polos sitting around doing ZERO, zilch, nothing!

Love,
Your 5 KISSABLE kids

PS You sure got a SKOR on candy.

********************************************************************************

Here's the healthier version.



Dear Glen GOURD,

Don't TURNIP your nose, but we decided that we need to SQUASH our candy bar note tradition so you can BEET those love handles once and for all. We're glad you don't have any CORNS on your feet, because that would really make us ARTICHOKE. We think that you are PEACH-y and that you and mom make quite a PEAR.
If you CARROT at all you will LETTUCE go PEA before we LEEK all over.

Love,

Your 5 little COCONUTS



I think it's kind of fun and catchy, but I'm worried that it may end up a little heavy with 5 coconuts taped on. What do you think? You can totally feel free to use this stellar idea yourself if you want...I don't mind at all. What kinds of Father's Day traditions do you have in your family?

Day 179--Old and New Friends

One of our favorite missionaries ever has come for a visit. At first we thought Adam Read just missed us so much that he wanted to come visit, but now we see he had much grander intentions than just reading books to Ellie. ;) That would be his "friend" Megan, whom Ellie was almost as attached to as Adam (Read) was.

Day 178--Over the Hill?

We finally did an official birthday celebration for Glen today. We had the missionaries over and ate his favorite dinner (lasagna and breadsticks), then enjoyed this perfectly moist, delicious Milky Way Cake (recipe coming to the Recipe Shoebox soon) that Cami and AnnaLisa had made. Then he received his annual Father's Day/birthday tradition: His annual candy bar message. This year made by Emma!

Day 177--A Mom's Dream Come True

I've discovered a new dream toy for the kids....Electronic Snap Circuit Kit. It's educational, has won all kinds of awards, and the kids played with it happily for over three hours today! NICE!

Sisters on a Burning Hot Sidewalk

I remember the day when I heard my baby Cami giggling from another room. Confused as to what there was to giggle about all by herself, I was surprised and delighted to find two-year-old Spencer in there performing some antic that she found hilarious. With Cami's giggles as his reward, Spencer continued on as Cami's personal entertainer for several more months. Before long Cami was following Spencer around the house being his assistant fire fighter, pirate colleague, and fellow car racer (that's what happens when you have a boy first).

Watching the new seeds of friendship develop between my children is one of my favorite stages in their lives.

Of course along with those strong, passionate friendships of sharing a house and the same set of parents comes with its downside too. There is always a toy that everyone wants. Or a piece of cake that is microscopically smaller than their siblings' piece. Or someone who ruined that project they've been working on for days. There's always something.

Every once in a while though, I see a glimpse of a more mature friendship that I hope they will all one day share together. Like yesterday when Cami jumped in the car and had forgotten her shoes at home.
What we were doing was all outdoors, so it didn't really matter that she didn't have them, but she was still really upset about it.

We were too far away from home to turn around and despite our best efforts we could not locate even a spare pair of socks in the car, yet alone shoes. I was feeling a little frustrated and helpless, after all Cami is a bit too heavy to carry these days.

What happened next brought a tear to my eye and a jolt of motherly pride to my heart....

Although the pavement was extremely hot and Emma had to dance and run until she could get to a shady or grassy place to walk, she never once complained or asked for her shoes back.

Eventually after our short walk through Arlington stretched into a 3+ mile hike in 90° weather (thanks to my lousy sense of direction), Cami ended up giving piggy back rides to Emma during long stretches of shade-less pavement. As touching as I found the whole experience and as much as I hoped that that kind of unselfish kindness was to be the wave of the future in our family, today it was back to business as usual.

Even still I'm holding out hope...

Today unselfishly sharing their shoes and in a couple of years happily sharing the car.

Day 176--Sweet Sisters...

After Cami burst into tears when she realized that she'd forgotten her shoes on our outing to Arlington today, Emma was quick to lend hers though her feet were being scalded on the hot sidewalks.

2011

...will go down into our family annals as having the WORST BIRTHDAYS EVER and  I hereby decree that birthdays in our family are now solely about the food--crepes for breakfast, dinner of choice, and cake and ice cream.  And that's it!  No presents.  No parties.  No outside birthday activities.  Nothing.    Nope.  Birthdays in our house are gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone.  gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. gone. 

Random Stream of Consciousness

La, Da, Da, Da, Da....

Today is such a boring day. It's sunny and hot. My eye is irritated. I dropped Spencer off at Youth Conference a couple of hours ago. I wonder if Glen would mind if I started wearing a muumuu every day. Why did muumuus ever go out of style anyway? Did I make the bed yet? I really hate that traffic light by our house. I would like to meet whoever works out the timing for that dang light, so I can tell him/her a thing or two. Should I eat one of those PB & J muffins Emma made yesterday? The kids are sleeping in. Hmmm, should I eat breakfast now or should I wait until they wake up? Ew, I'm glad I don't live in South Carolina. Their governor is weird. I like this new $6 mouse I got for the computer. It's way better than the $30 one we had before that. I'm glad I married Glen and not that weird "Jack" guy I pelted with a golf club. My elbow is itchy. I must have gotten a bug bite there. I hope I don't have malaria or swine flu now. I wonder if my laundry is done yet. I'm glad I married someone willing to iron their own clothes, otherwise we'd have a really high dry cleaning bill. Should I turn on some music? Nah, that would wake up the kids. Wow it's just boring, boring, boring today. I guess my Amish humor the other day was kind of a bust. Maybe next time I'll try to use Pete's take on the subject for some good scandal. Oh boy, the kids are up now and they didn't waste any time testing out their vocal cords for the day. Nope, no laryngitis in our house. Oh look it's June 25th. It's exactly two months past my birthday. Yipee, I'm 29 and 2 months now. Oh and look, it's Christmas' half birthday. Hehe...only 180 or so more shopping days. Should I start making my list? Oh dang, I have to make more orange juice. I hate getting that frozen glob out of the can. I'm glad my kids got Glen's brown eyes instead of my strange greenish/hazelish color. I have to go to the craft store today to buy a piece of posterboard. I hope Spencer doesn't fall asleep at his meetings today. I'm glad I checked Spencer's bag before he left. He wouldn't have liked what his bag looked like after the lid-less toothpaste he had packed had sat there for a couple of days. Hehe, maybe I should have just left it like that so he could have been the minty fresh guy at YC. The kids left the BBQ sauce out all night. I better put it back before Cami sees it and throws it away out of fear of salmonella poisoning. Man, Glen sure is hot! I hope he gets home before 10:00 tonight. Hmmm, what color should I paint the guest room? I wonder if everyone has two random cheerios, a couple of cd's, and a quarter all hanging out on their computer desk. I'm thirsty. I'm glad I don't live in the dry wasteland of Utah. I wonder when our contractor will give us our bid. I wonder if Glen would mind if I started calling him Glenny poo on the blog. Where is the volume button on that bird? Wow it is REALLY obnoxious. I hope the kids didn't eat the rest of those Amish baked Whoopie Pies. Maybe I should have one of those for breakfast. Ya, da, da, dee...boring, boring, boring.

Wait a second, who is this hot guy with goofy facial expressions that keeps popping up into my random stream of consciousness? It seems like he's trying to tell me something really important.

What's that you say? He's trying to tell me that I'm not any funnier at 7:30 am as I am at midnight?

Um, okay. Sorry for that.

Happy Birthday Hunny! I love you!

Day 175--For You Mommy

"This is for you Mommy."

I love my sweet Ellie, I love summer, and I love my blue hydrangeas.

Day 174--Lazy Summer Days

Just chilling on the trampoline with their friends--popsicles in hand.  What could better epitomize a lazy summer day?  Too bad with 10 kids at my house at one time my day was anything but lazy.  :)  

Amish Target, Whoopie Pies, and Outdated Phrases

For those of you faithful friends who have been reading my blog very long at all, you know that methinks that living near DC is peachy keen. Museums, memorials, and historical sites are aplenty and drive a mere couple hours away in any direction and you can find a whole new batch of places to visit.

When we lived in Baltimore (when Spencer was knee high to a grasshopper), sometimes my friends and I would take our children up for little "playdates" in Amish country. Just betwixt you and me, our kids didn't really ever play, but us Moms used to have fun talking, eating fresh baked goodies from an Amish bakery, and then buying postcards (jeepers, weren't we wild?). On our way home we would stop by a little post office to drop off our postcards. For some reason that little teeny tiny post office in Intercourse, Pennsylvania has an extraordinarily high number of letters pass through it each year.

When Glen returned from his long trip overseas on Thursday, he came home with ants in his pants wanting to take full advantage of his day off on Friday. I have to admit that I was also gaily looking forward to escaping the house after two weeks of being a slave to it. So after we met with the contractors on Friday, we thence spontaneously decided to take a quick trip up to Hershey, Pennsylvania in hopes to find fun, relaxation, and lots of chocolate!

Before we left we did a little bit of research, found a hotel, got directions to Hershey Park and to the chocolate factory, and picked out a few Amish sites to visit. When we woke up Saturday morning to buckets and buckets of rain, our best laid plans had to change and we decided to forgo Hershey Park and go to Amish country first in hopes that it would clear up later.

The kids didn't even remember ever having been there before and they were fascinated by the wide open farmland and all the horses and buggies along the way.

Our first stop was a cute little bakery/quilt shop in the middle of nowhere. We had fun ogling over the thousand dollar quilts and finally bought some whoopie pies there (a treat the Amish are famous for).

I thought they looked an awful lot like my homemade Oreo cookies, which are made with a chocolate cake mix, but I figured that since we were buying them from an Amish bakery that surely they must be more authentic than that.

My homemade Oreos looking suspiciously like the Amish baked whoopie pies above.

But after we left the shop to take a couple of kids to the potty, we noticed this in the window....

Golly gee whiz! It was case after case of Betty Crocker cake mixes completely covering 2 of the windows. That just chapped my hide seeing evidence of the fact Amish bakers like to save time too.

After that disappointing experience with the Amish bakery, we were nigh off to the "Amish Farm and House" where our hopes were high for a little Amish authenticity.

The website for this place (perhaps the fact that it had a website should have been our first warning) shows these two pictures...

and brags, "Explore the area's only authentic Amish site. It's where today touches history."

Heavens to Betsy. When they said, "Today touches history", we didn't realize they meant that literally.

For crying out loud, now I'm wondering if I should buy a horse and buggy and put a sign up in front of my house that says,

"I make whoopie pies and use old-fashioned phrases, therefore I am Amish. Slip me a couple of twenties and I'll don a bonnet and sell you my JC Penney quilts."

Kudos to the person who can write the most creative comment using their own old-fashioned phrases...

How Cool is My Dad?

You may think that I forgot to post about my awesome Dad yesterday, but in reality I was just going for dramatic effect. Everyone does Father's Day posts on Father's Day, but it takes a real {really obnoxious} woman who is at peace with her own shortcomings to post one a whole day later!

So how cool is my Dad?

*He's so cool that he received notoriety at age 12-years-old when he became one of the youngest Eagle Scouts in the whole country.

*My Dad joined the church when he was 17 and was serving a mission in Quebec, Canada within 2 years. He was the coolest French speaking missionary with a southern drawl those Quebecois have ever met.

*My Dad speaks 5 language fluently (English, Russian, French, German, Pig Latin)

* My Dad is an awesome commenter on my blog! I love waking up to see what nice thing he had to say about my ramblings.

*My Dad has had a cell phone surgically implanted to his ear, so as never to miss an important call.
*My Dad has a way with kids and they all adore him!


*I have him to thank for my sweet tooth. One time he even ate some play-doh hearts the kids had made with cookie cutters, because he thought they were candy and we're pretty convinced that at any given time his blood consists of approximately 30 gallons of Code Red Mountain Dew.


*He's a technology lover. He had a mobile phone back when they were still as big as briefcases and an email address back before I even knew what email was.


*My Dad is the king of head and shoulder massages!


*My Dad came to every single one of my sporting events when I was younger, even in far away towns.

*When I was young I would walk into a room and find my Dad on his knees in prayer or reading the scriptures aloud to himself in French or Russian. I knew how much the Gospel meant to him and I have always admired him for his heartfelt commitment to raising his eight kids with an unwavering faith in God.

In summary: MY DAD ROCKS!

Happy Father's Day Dad! (See how peaceful I am with my forgetful procrastination?)

*************************************************************************************************************************

PS I've had people express concern over our safety after the horrible Metro train crash that occurred earlier today. While Glen does ride the Metro to and from work every day and my sister had taken Emma downtown for some sightseeing this afternoon, the crash happened on the red line, while we live near the end of the orange line. We are very saddened by this very tragic event, but we are all fine.

PS2--Be sure to go check out my 365 post from today and leave a comment (or two). Emma wrote it entirely by herself and went to bed giddy with excitement over how many comments she might get on it. I have no idea where she got that from! :)

Day 173--Washington DC with Aunt AnnaLisa (by Emma)

Today I went to Washington DC with Annalisa . First we went to the American History Museum. After that,we went to the World War Two Memorial. Then we went to the Vietnam war Memorial(not the real one). At the end we went to the World War one Memorial. We had a fun time. And the best part about it was...
we walked a couple of miles in the hot sun.(we got our exercise for the day)!

Spontaneous Project

I've always considered myself a planner. I love lists. I love planning things. I love making plans and lists at the same time. Glen finds it humorous, I find it exhilarating.

With all this planning I do, you'd think I get a lot done, but the action part of the plan is much more elusive to me. Somehow overcoming  obstacles to get a project done, seems so elusive to me. The more hours Glen is working, the more paralyzed I become by those obstacles. I just don't want to do it myself and Glen just doesn't want to spend all his very limited free time to help me, so they just don't happen very often.

Take our basement project. We've hated the red carpets, the brick wall, the wood paneling, and the lack of storage space since the day we moved in. We could have fixed them right when we moved in, but we were way too poor then.

Fast forward 8 years and we have had a clogged pipe in our laundry room that flooded the ugly red carpet, unsightly water stains on our brick wall from several years ago, and way too much stuff everywhere. Now we have the money and the motivation to really do something about it, yet somehow the process seems so overwhelmingly daunting that all we ever do is talk about what we might do someday.

A couple of weeks ago a long lost friend ( a former missionary that served here) emails us with the news that he's coming to town and needs a place to stay. We're happy to see him, so we agree, but immediately panic as soon as we say, "yes". In my mind, my family knows all my foibles (being disorganized and paralyzed by big projects) and they still love me anyway, but having a friend hang out in our basement for 10 days in its current state seems positively mortifying.

Meanwhile Glen goes out of town for a two-week-long business trip to Asia, scheduled to return just before Father's Day and his birthday.

This is where I completely lost my marbles and with my sister AnnaLisa decide to heck with waiting for Glen to help us, that we could surprise Glen by doing the basement ourselves AND it would be ready for Elder Read's visit too.

After a few days of spending hour after hour sorting through everything, liberally tossing and donating whatever I could, I quickly realized that there was absolutely no chance of finishing the basement in that short of time, so we modified our plan. Instead of painting and recarpeting ourselves, we would just have the basement emptied out before Glen's return, so he and I could decide together what we wanted to do next.

Of course, I had neglected in all my lists and plans to take into account that we were working through the last two weeks of school. That meant that EVERY single day I either had a party, concert, or award ceremony to distract me from my work. I also decidedly did not plan (monetarily or time-wise or emotion-wise) the effect of Spencer breaking our big front window in the middle of our endeavors.

After spending a week and half sorting, driving to the dump, donating to Unique, attending all the school functions, and still trying to maintain some semblance of routine for the kids I was EXHAUSTED!!!

So Glen was scheduled to come home this past Thursday evening, which meant that Wednesday night I had the distinct honor of pulling an all-nighter in an effort to finish off with a bang. While all-nighters have never been something I enjoyed very well even in my more chipper days in college, I was even less keen on pulling it after two straight weeks of getting less than 5 hours of sleep a night.  

After a drowsy drive to the airport to pick up my hot husband, I discovered that despite the 13 hour time difference that he was coming from in Tokyo, I was far more "jet-lagged" than he was. 

But we did it.  (Here's the same corner now.)

We still have a ways to go until the project is complete, but we met with a contractor on Friday morning (for drywalling and framing) and now we're waiting to hear a bid from him.  Hopefully soon all that red will be a distant memory.  

 Progress!  I love it!  

Day 172--Best Treat Ever....

After we used the watermelon we needed for watermelon smoothies (recipe to come), Ellie and Adam wasted no time in cleaning out the rest of the sweet juicy treat.  They were totally scraped clean by the time they were done.   

On another note, Glen's Father's Day got off to a much rockier start than we'd hoped.  Instead of breakfast in bed,   the kids all woke up grumpy after our long day and late night last night.  Adam had a complete meltdown when we couldn't find his Sunday pants.  I finally called a friend to see if we could borrow her son's pants, but even yet it still took a whole lot of screaming, dragging him in his underwear to the car, and then cajoling/forcing him to put them on and then walking 20 minutes late into church.  This week I'm going to Unique (the thrift store) to find him an extra pair, so that we can hopefully prevent a repeat performance.  In the meantime, we'll work on getting our act together for his birthday on Thursday.    

Day 171--Sweet Spontaneity

Friday afternoon we spontaneously decided to take off on a little overnight trip to Hershey, PA.  We had grand intentions on spending Saturday at Hershey Park, but with the weather alternating between drizzling, pouring, and dark clouds in the distance we opted for more indoor pursuits...Amish country, Hershey factory (I only ate 14 lbs. of chocolate), and then when the evening ended up beautiful we went go-carting and mini-golfing.  All in all a fun day!  The only bad part of it all was that after we got back home at about 11:20pm I still had to copy the programs and go grocery shopping.  

Day 170--Project Update and Progress

After more than a week of staying up until the wee hours of the morning, our basement is finally empty (other than a few stray book shelves that still need to be brought to Unique). Today we met with a window guy to replace our window and a contractor to help us make the basement the way we want it. I'm totally exhausted, but hoping it will all be worth it in the end.

Day 169--Daddy's home!

Today was an extra exciting day. I functioned only 3-1/2 hours of sleep, it was the kids' last day of school, and daddy came home!!!

Octo-Mom Update and a New Phase of Life

So I know you're all waiting on the edge of your seats to find out how today went...

Well, I went off to Cami's graduation feeling a little differently about things than I had last night ( I think in large part due to all your thoughtful comments).

After evaluating exactly what it is that I hoped to accomplish by talking to her, I realized that my motives were less than pure.

As much as I did want closure and to help her to understand how "un-octo-mom-like" I really am, I also realized that I also really wanted her to know what a jerk she'd been and then to feel horribly guilty about it all. But, then again, she may have secretly enjoyed the fact that she got under my skin. Either way, guilty or smug, it didn't matter to me.

Chances are that in two weeks she probably will not even remember what it was that she said to me, while a confrontation initiated on my part would ensure that the whole situation would be emblazoned in her mind forever. I would be the oversensitive octo-mom you always have to walk on eggshells around.

And that is certainly not the result I'm after. I've got more important things to do....

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like wondering when it was that I turned into a blubbering fool whenever my kids step through another rite of passage? Sniff. Sniff. Now I've got a high schooler, middle schooler, two elementary schoolers, and a preschooler.

It's getting harder to ignore the fact that my baby girl is quickly growing into such a talented, beautiful young woman.

And who would have thought that it would be so hard to find a stylish modest dress for an almost twelve-year-old? (Thanks Angela, for saving the day!)


Waaaaaa! Will someone hurry up and freeze time for me quick?!