Chaos

We are leaving for spring break on Friday, and since I am working tonight, Wed., and have dance and Achievement days on Thursday, I figured I had better start packing yesterday. We are hoping for some warm weather, and I thought it might be nice to pack shorts.

I started with Payden and was innocently decieved into thinking I could finish everyone quickly because of how easy packing Payden was. She had tons of shorts and t shirts, and I had her done in 10 minutes.

Well, Michaela is growing like a weed and had only two pairs of shorts (that were really kind of tight) to her name. Payden has a bunch, because that is where all of Michaela's went.

So off to Ross ( I love Ross) to purchase her some shorts.

Then I move on to the little ones, and can't find the things that I put away from last summer that I thought would still fit this summer. Jason came home, and he got all the bins down from the garage. I did find lots of things, but not those that I had saved from last year.

My house was full of piles of clothes; ones I didn't want anymore, ones that Corrine can wear now, ones that Ava can wear now, and ones that were in between that I wanted to make sure we could find NEXT year.

Didn't I start out packing?

I still can't find the things I set aside last year, and am getting tired and frustrated with all the endless piles of clothes.

Which also now have to be washed, because even though they went into storage clean, somehow they just don't smell clean when you take them out.

After I get tired and decide to finish tomorrow, I remember where those clothes are. You know, the ones I set aside, the ones I KNOW I told Jason to put somewhere up front in the garage, the ones Jason has been looking for the last 45 minutes?

Yeah. They are in a bin in Corrine's room, right in plain sight. The problem was, that bin has been sitting there since summer last year, and has become such a fixture in her room that I ceased to see it anymore, so it wasn't really in plain sight.

But it was.

Sorry hun.

What started out as what I thought was going to be a relatively simple process has taken me a day and a half to accomplish and made a mess out of my house, and also caused a lot of frustration.

Anyway, I am glad I started packing on Monday, because if I had left it until Thursday I would have lost my mind.


Or three of my kids would have either gone naked or worn their winter stuff. I would let them choose.

So now, all the kids are packed, the in between clothes are in a bin we probably won't find next year, and I can continue packing.

Geesh.

And also , my post below is really fun. Ignore the part where I said I would write 6 things but there are really only 5. It is still fun.

Liar Liar

So I saw this on another blog, and thought it looked fun. I worry, however, that my inability to lie may ruin this post. I will try to be a more adept liar for all of your entertainment! I will tell you six astonishing, shocking, unusual things, and you have to pick which one is the true one. If you know me well enough to know which one it really is, then don't give it away!



Here goes:



1. I once met Will Smith at a grocery store in Boston while visiting my aunt.



2. I secretly had my favorite pet stuffed when it died; I keep it in my cedar chest.



3. I have auditioned for Michael McLean's commitee and they didn't think I had potential.



4. I was onced stalked by a mountain lion and rescued just in time by a friend's dad.



5. My wedding was postponed one hour because Jason was sick in the bathroom.



Good luck! I can't wait to hear your guesses!

Crafty Girls

On Sunday, we decided to make some head bands and clippies. These are the ones I made, the girls ran off with theirs before I could get a picture.

I made this one and it is SO CUTE, but Ava won't wear it. She just won't.

We had fun sitting there for a couple of hours, being creative and talking. It was so fun, I want to do it again. I would like to make a more sophisticated head band for me, and I saw some other ideas I want to try.

I need to get some more head bands and supplies, then we will have another crafty girls session!

The Best 4 Words

Mommy, I yuv oo!

Last night, at Family Home Evening, were having a lesson on the power of music. As part of the lesson, we had a picture of Christ sitting on the table. Corrine ended up sitting in front of it, and as it was laying on the table, she laid over it and kissed Jesus right on the mouth. No one else had previously done this, and nobody asked her to. She had no example, at least no worldly one, to follow. It was so cute, and really brought the spirit to our FHE. We all were pondering how she knew to kiss Jesus, how she knew how special he is.

I often think that because we have such a wide range of age in our girls, that the little ones don't get much from FHE.

I guess I was wrong. All you really need is a picture of Jesus for a 20 month old. And her little sweet spirit to remind you about the basic, pure love of Christ we should all have.

A tribute to teachers

I volunteer in Payden's classroom every Tuesday morning for an hour. I love to do this because she will see how important education is to me, and I get to observe her in the classroom and also get a feel for the class itself. I have done this with both Michaela and Payden since they were in kindergarden.

Today, I was talking with Payden's teacher, Mrs. Thompson. She is a wonderful woman and teacher, and we were blessed to have her 3 times; Micheala for 1st and 4th grade and Payden for 4th grade. She was telling me about how she wishes some of the politics in the district were different, because they make it harder for her to teach. She says that in order to teach the way she wants, she ends up taking 2 to 3 hours of work home nightly. I told her that this is what makes her a good teacher. I was touched that she cares so much about her students that she would go to that extra work for them. She could easily not do it; and the kids would probably suffer for it. But she cares enough to do it right.

I also observed today how her care of her students goes far beyond the call of duty. A student of hers was complaining about his stomach hurting, and she quickly deduced that it was due to his insubstantial breakfast. He didn't bring a snack, so Mrs. Thompson got in her cubbard and gave him one of her 100 calorie bars. She didn't have to do this, and I am sure she does it often.

I know that teachers use their own money to buy things for their classrooms and for their kids.
I know that they sacrifice their own time for activities and projects just to give their kids a good experience.
I know that there are probably countless other things that I don't even know of that they do to improve the lives of the kids in their classrooms.
I know that they do it in the face of poor pay, and frustrating economical and political situations.

And I know that the lazy teacher that doesn't do these things is the exception, not the rule.

I have friends and family members that are teachers, I have had excellent teachers for my kids, I have had superb teachers myself.

I want to thank all of you teachers out there for going the extra mile, for caring about those kiddos you have in your classrooms for so many hours, for loving them when they are away from home.

You are truly appreciated.

A funny little story....

On Friday night, we had lots of fun at our annual "Not So Newlywed Party". We have been getting together with long time friends for about 7 years to do this party, and it is always a blast. We have lots of good food, and everyone brings a basket of fun stuff. The winner of the game gets to pick the first basket. It seems to me that every year we spend more time talking and less time playing the game, but it is so fun!

Anyway, these nights always run into the wee hours, and so it was not unusual for us to be leaving at 1am.

What greeted us on a very cold early morning hour was, however, unusual.

Unusual, frustrating, irritating, you get the idea.

We had a very flat tire. It was like 12 degrees, we were in a quiet neighborhood, and it was 1am.

Yeah.

Jason and I proceeded to try to change the tire. After some looking, it was determined that we had a jack, but no arm for the jack. We had a tire iron, but it proved to be very flimsy. We had a spare, but coudn't get it on.

I walked back to our friends house (luckily we hadn't got very far before I noticed the van felt funny) and asked for some help and a more hefty tire iron and an arm for our jack.

Our friend, bless his heart, couldn't find his tire changing items right away either, which made me grateful for two things.

One: We are not the only ones who are unprepared.

Two: Next time they have a flat, they will know where all there stuff is due to our unpreparedness.

Anyway, after about 20 minutes of looking, he found his things and we walked back up to the van.

Brian, our dear friend, and I were met with an interesting sight. Two police cars surrounding our van and Jason handing over his liscense and registration.

It seemed that a thoughtful neighbor saw Jason standing outside the van, with all the doors open, holding a (wimpy) tire iron and me running away from him down the street.

I was running because it was cold, but it looked to the neighbor like a domestic dispute.

I can see that.

We were probably also making a lot of noise, which didn't help things. So we get there, and the police are very nice, and try to help us. They did give me a very close look to determine probably a couple of things: was I drunk, and did I need help. No, and no, thank you.

Well, after trying with our tire iron, Brian's tire iron, and the police's tire iron, that last lug nut just wasn't coming off. Someone really put that one on good.

So, our van just sat there until today, when Commercial Tire could come help us. We are getting 4 brand new shiny tires to make sure this doesn't happen again any time soon.

The best part of the story? As Brian and I walk up the the scene, I notice that Jason has on the red shiny plastic heart necklace that was part of our evening, and it is clearly showing because his coat isn't done up. I start laughing and point this out to him, and the police officer said "Yeah, I enjoyed that when I walked up to him". I can't imagine what that police officer must have thought. He handed me Jason's ID and I put it in my back pocket.

We got home at 2am, and had to get up at 7 because the girls had dance pictures at 9. Joy.

Oh, and also, I forgot Jason's ID card was in my back pocket. Our washer doesn't like ID's. It eats them up pretty good.

I am still thankful that we found out our tires were shot this way, and not in an accident on the interstate. Find the silver lining, people.