Centerville Elementary Water Fair

As a local plumbing professional, Scott was invited to participate in Centerville Elementary's Water Fair as a community service. Both my sisters work there and I believe one of them recommended him.

 It was Kate's birthday so I was in her classroom making green pancakes for the St. Pattrick's Day party during his first of three sessions. I managed to sneak over during the end of his second session and stay to listen for the whole third session. Listening to Scott give his presentation was such a pleasure for me.

 After he talked to the kids about water heaters, water softeners, what plumbers do, and showed them cool pictures on the projector of plumbing gone wrong, he gave the kids candy and a business card.

 He also brought a box full of cool plumbing tools and parts and asked the kids if they knew what each thing was and what it did. The kids seemed surprisingly interested, asked thoughtful questions, and interjected intelligent comments about their plumbing at home.

 All except this row of girls that talked the whole time during the third session. When they asked for extra treats at the end, Scott laughed his laugh and teased them because they hadn't paid attention. He offered extra candy for kids who could tell him something they learned from his presentation.

You can imagine kids were jumping at the chance to tell him what they learned. It got a little out of control there towards the end. All you need is a little sugar to be a hero to a fifth grader! 

Disney on Ice - Kate Turned 7

 We started celebrating Kate's birthday a week early! We invited three of her same-age cousins to attend Disney on Ice with us. Unfortunately, Presley didn't make it back from her family vacation in time to come with us. We asked Kate who she would like to invite with the extra ticket. Her eldest cousin, Samantha, was her first choice.

 Before the event, we ate pizza, cake, and ice cream with the cousins. Kate chose chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

 Sam was surprisingly excited about going and she was such a good sport to pose in all the pictures and enjoy the costumes and everything with us. She kept saying that she was a 7-year-old again.

 Hailey, Kate, and Ashlee

 Hailey, Sam, Kate, and Ashlee

 Now for a silly pose!

 Sam: "You guys, put your fingers up his nose!"
Who could resist a nose that big anyway?

Sam: "Good. Now pretend like you are licking your finger!"

 

 Cute girls!

 Birthday girl!

 Waiting for the show to start!

Did I mention Scott came! Our Prince Charming! He chauffeured all of us girlies and bought us all drinks at intermission! LOVE HIM! He was excessively bored during the Cinderella vignette but Rapuzel's part blew us all away. They were flying around like acrobats. So cool.

After the Friday kick off party to Disney on Ice, we made it a birthday week for Kate doing fun things to honor her birthday almost every day.

By Sunday, my family had dinner together and we celebrated Kate's birthday with them. We had her favorite cake (Citrus Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake). She received lots of money to spend at Disneyland this spring!

We really ramped things up by the following Thursday when Sam, Scott, and I surprised Kate with Dairy Queen at her school. She was so cute. She almost looked like she was going to cry. She was more than shocked to see us. She gobbled up her DQ kid's chicken strips, fries, and red Dilly bar with a row of girls staring at her in envy.

On Kate's actual birthday, her class had a St Pattrick's Day party. I volunteered to help make and serve green pancakes in the classroom. We had a blast.

We appreciated all the family and friends who stopped by or called. All the attention made the day even more special for her. 

That evening, we took Kate to Red Robin for dinner and she begged us not to tell the waiter that it was her birthday. We obeyed. I thought it was cute that she was embarrassed about being sung to in the restaurant. After dinner we took Kate to Boondocks and she rode on the go karts and played arcade games with us.

Then this Sunday, just barely, we met with the Bangerter family for dessert and celebrated the March birthdays so Kate had even more bestowed upon her.

I guess I don't need to say how much we love Kate - or how much fun we have with her - or how awesome it is to have her in our lives...

 This is Kate the Friday morning of her birthday, before school. We had a couple presents for her. An outfit. Some headbands. Nothing huge after Disney on Ice - we were calling that her present!

Happy Birthday, Kate! I can't believe you are 7!

Resolution to the Prank

After being pranked, I was so angry! I called my dad, (because that is who I call when I want to be listened to or when I want advice).  I blew off a lot of steam to him and expressed how frustrated I was by all the pranks. I told him that I was so angry I didn't want to talk to my mom for 3 days.

But by the next day, I felt surprisingly better. Doing some deep-cleaning in the bathroom helped considerably. Then I saw Sam's Pinterest account open on my computer and pinned a few things on her "Stuff for Later" board about diarrhea, constipation, and STD's. I also changed her profile description to say something cute about her and her new husband and how she thinks he's a hunk. I felt it was harmless enough because the pins could easily be deleted. Plus, she is constantly taking her mom's phone and submitting bogus Facebook posts about her mom having elephantiasis, loving turtles, or something equally strange and her mom's friends leave comments on them and that's how my sister finds out that her daughter even did it. So, turnabout-is-fair-play (isn't that how the saying goes?).

So when I felt markedly better in such a short time, I realized I should call my mom and let her know that I am SO over the prank-and that all is well-and we can be friends-and Ha, ha, that was a funny joke. I get it now.

Well, that conversation didn't go very well. Turned out that I had really hurt my mom by being so upset over her prank. She felt awful about it. She told me that she had gone so far as to replace my scriptures with brand new ones with my name engraved in them and everything.

I felt bad that I was such a stiff and couldn't laugh at all their pranks. I felt truly handicapped. Like I suck the fun out of everything. That I couldn't just see the fun in it.

I realized that my mom and I needed a restart.

I took some flowers to her office with a funny card and some Jolly Ranchers for her to share with her coworkers.

I know it's not all smoothed over yet and that it might take time for all to be well again. But my relationships with my family matter to me and I want to get along. I guess the next thing I need to do is call Sam and see if we are cool after the whole Pinterest hi-jacking thing. I might need to take her to lunch again.

I Am SO OCD

...or as my nephew calls it, CDO (because a true person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder would want the acronym in alphabetical order).

My mom and niece were at my house unattended while I was visiting teaching and they pranked me!

Part one of the prank I noticed upon getting home. I went to use my restroom and found that they had hidden all the toilet paper and left only four sheets of magazine that they had torn up and draped over the empty toilet paper roll.

Luckily, they had forgotten to remove the kleenex box so I made it through that one easily.

Then I noticed my scriptures that I left in the bathroom earlier that morning. They were open. I found that they had found a scripture on adultery and highlighted it in red pencil as well as the inappropriate word for donkey (ten commandments kind of stuff). They had written with bold letters in red at the top of the page, "Come and be Saved!"

That pricked me a little more than the silly TP prank. My scriptures are holy to me and what they did to them seemed vulgar and irreverent.

Later on in the evening, Kate excitedly thanked me for reorganizing the bathroom drawers. {She is CDO in the making.} I went in the bathroom after she had gone to bed because I couldn't think what she could be referring to...

PANIC ATTACK!

They had put all the contents of my three drawers in different drawers. My neat and tidy set up was a mess. And being the way I am, I couldn't just put the bins back where they were. No. I had to clean them out, and wipe off the film that builds over the course of a week, and reorder everything.

So instead of having a nice, brisk walk on the treadmill to clear my mind before bed since I had missed my Zumba class trying to help Kate with her birthday poster, I am now posting a blog as well as cleaning my bathroom from top to bottom. ARGH!

I am really surprised at how mad this made me. Couldn't they have done something nice while they were here? Clean something? Write me a nice note? I can't tell you how many times my mom deep-cleaned my sister's house. Where's the love!

And I just bought Sam lunch today!

Ooh! I am so mad!

......AND NOW I SEE THAT THEY SHORT-SHEATED MY BED TOO!!!!

Another Kind of Masterpiece

A while ago, I mentioned my dismay that I didn't have any art work that I was creating at the moment and that I felt I needed some inspiration. Today, I reminded myself that while I am not creating art in the traditional sense, I am a mother, and mothering is the highest art. I have been working on the greatest of all masterpieces, Kate. I can in no way take full credit for her but I try at least not to ruin her. Most of the time Kate is the one improving me.

Kate has been begging for painting time and we've been working on homework so much that we haven't had time to do any painting. One day last week I just said PHOOEY to homework and pulled out the paints. Kate looked on the computer and found some St. Patrick's day clipart that she sketched onto paper and then drew onto a canvas. She followed her drawing with an outline of permanent marker to make it have a coloring-book-page feel. Then she painted. I helped her mix colors and talked to her about caring for her brush and holding it right. She worked on her picture for THREE days after school.

 You can barely see the clipart on the computer in the background. She kept referring to it throughout the process.

 She had so much fun doing it. Here is her finished product.

She shared it with my family for the talent show this weekend.

The Seven Year Itch

I never thought this day would come! We moved into our house when I was pregnant with Kate over seven years ago. We've raved about the location, the views, the proximity to family, the quiet street, the friendly neighborhood, etc. We always think of our home as superior to all other homes.

And yet, I suddenly have an intense desire to move.

Is it temporary? Will it pass like a cold or a flu? Do I need another round of antibiotics?

I must be bored. I do not doubt that what I am experiencing is the seven year itch but with our house instead of our marriage. That's all it is. Strange.

But what if it's something more? What if moving is the right thing for us? What if I'm having these feelings to push us to the next adventure in our lives?

Scott started it. If anything it's all his fault that I am even playing with the idea of moving. He is talking about it and running ideas past me and I am falling for it. We are going through all the different scenarios. We talk about what we would give up and what we would gain. What if? What if? What if? Oh, goodness, me. 

So I have a dilema. I am not sure if these are the kinds of thoughts a person can share with others. Is this something you keep to yourself until you plop that 'For Sale' sign on the front lawn? What if I blab my mouth all over about wanting to move and then we don't move? Will people treat us differently, like we are temporary, because they will think we are moving and then our experience here with be diminished? It's a wonder. What do you think? Share dreams and thoughts with others or keep them secret?

A Special Visit

Tonight, Scott, Kate, my mom and I visited with my cousin who has terminal cancer. We went up to his house not knowing if we would even be able to see him. My mom told me that he is in so much pain that he is just staying in bed and not seeing anyone. We decided to visit anyway knowing if nothing else, we would at least be able to visit with my uncle and aunt and see how they are holding up.

I can't tell you what a treat it was that he was having a good enough day that he could come out of his room and visit with us. As he began to struggle towards the end of the visit and his lips started to turn blue from being off his oxygen for that short while, I felt honored that he would suffer himself to be so uncomfortable, long enough for us to enjoy his company. He was so pleasant. So meek. He carried on with us in happy talk until it was time for him to go back to his room and rest.

But before he descended down the stairs to his room, he snatched up one of the big, soft, snickerdoodle cookies I brought to share and savored a piece of it in front of me and my joy was full. I wasn't sure what my cousin could eat because I had heard that the nausea associated with his illness comes and goes and I just don't know enough to know what he eats these days. Seeing him enjoy that cookie just pleased me. It's a small thing. But since I can't take away all the pain and hard that he and his family are going through, just knowing that for that one moment he enjoyed that cookie I made gave me to feel that I had helped in some way.