Life on the Edge

Food Revolution

2012-01-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

I knew it was coming.

I thought we might have made it a little longer than a month, but no.

Saturday afternoon, in the middle of Walmart. Anybody who is in a Walmart on a Saturday afternoon probably deserves what I got.

What I got was the first official, full fledged Fast Food Meltdown.

You might have already heard that our family New Year's resolution was to swear off fast food for the whole year. Some of us were really on board with this idea. Some of us were not.   We had gotten to the point that stopping at the drive thru on the way home was becoming a way of life. It was easy and, well, fast, and gave us one less thing to worry about on crazy busy nights. But every night was turning into crazy busy. We were all getting way too much soda and fries. And the garbage from all that take-out was ridiculous. As in, I can't see the carpet on the floor of my car anymore because of all the garbage ridiculous.

So one night, on a wild whim, I threw it out as a suggestion to the kids, and surprisingly, they liked the idea. We had a few discussions about what constitutes fast food, and what the rules would be, and my children are RUTHLESS. We can't go anywhere with a drive thru window, AND no $5 pizza pizza. An occasional Subway is okay, but only if it comes from a place without a drive thru window.

Which brings us to today, nearly a month into our new lifestyle.

It was an innocent trip to buy a birthday present.

We made the mistake of coming into the Walmart entrance where the McDonald's is located. Within a few feet of entering, we were ambushed by the smell of french fries and the sight of a five foot tall display of the current Happy Meal offerings, which happens to currently include some stupid Barbie toy.

It was that damn Barbie that did Olivia in. First she asked very nicely to go to McDonalds. The she begged to go to McDonalds. Then she was suddenly starving for chicken nuggets, and I was the worst mother in the world for denying her. She whined, pleaded, and bargained throughout our entire shopping experience.   She whined so much her throat started hurting which made her whine more. Thank heavens she is going on seven, and was able to contain her disappointment to the whining and crying. A year or two ago, we would have been kicking and screaming in the middle of the produce department. This may have been the first day that she fully realized what she had agreed to, and how long a year really is when you are six and a half.

Then the rationalizing started: Audrey had a birthday party to get to and she had to eat something before going. Nobody had had lunch yet, and McDonalds was RIGHT THERE and we were running out of time. Payday was yesterday, and it was only me and three kids, we could eat cheap. We made it a whole month, after all, and maybe we should adjust our resolution to just eating out once a month. So many thought running through my head....and in the end, we did what any sensible, self-respecting American family would do.

We held firm. We finished our shopping and went home and snarfed down some Ramen before getting Audrey to her party.   On time.   We won the battle this time. The resolution stands.

Kids These Days

2012-01-25T00:10:00.004-07:00

One of my male children, who shall remain nameless, opened up the pantry closet this morning, and then the fridge, and after inspecting the milk, eggs, bread, frozen pancakes, eggs and 5 different cereal varieties, asked me if there was anything to eat for breakfast. I told him there was only what he saw in front of him, to which he replied, "I don't see anything." Well excuse me, dear offspring. I am so SORRY that our menu items do not meet your expectations.

Another of my male children, who may or may not be the same unnamed child as in the previous paragraph, asked me this afternoon, as I was making a huge mess cleaning out the fridge, why I had not gotten around to baking cookies yet. I told him that HE was welcome to bake some cookies, and pointed out that the recipe was easy, and was on the back of the package of chocolate chip cookies. He told me he couldn't bake cookies, because his ankle was hurting. Oh yeah kid? Your ankle hurts? You want to talk about pain with me? No, I didn't think so.

Later, yet another anonymous child of mine complained loudly about what a mess it ALWAYS is around our house. Wow. Time to fire that maid, I guess. Tell you what, YOU can fire the maid. And then maybe you and me can continue that conversation about pain, son. Like how I could still inflict some on you, even if you are taller than me. Not that I ever would WANT to hurt you. I hate child abuse. I'm just saying that if I ever needed to, oh, enforce my point lets say, well, I could take you. You might want to keep that in mind, dear boy.

And then there is Olivia, who is still young enough to be named, and is still shorter than me. She explained to me in detail tonight what a spit shake is. You know, where you both spit on your hands and then shake. Like a pinky promise only worse. I told her I thought spit shakes were really gross. She told me she thought they were gross too. "Don't worry though, Mom," she says. "I think only people from Idaho do them. "

Only people from Idaho do spit shakes?

"Yep", she says, " Because they think it's sexy."

Wow. She must know the same people from Idaho that I know. They would definitely see sexy in a spit shake.

Sing Sweet Nightingale

2012-01-19T21:33:00.002-07:00

Our brave and talented Audrey has landed herself a role in the school musical!

The play is Cinderella, and she got the part of Anastasia!

Silly girl was a little bit disappointed, because she wanted to be the step-mother. She read for that part at call backs, and kinda sorta thought she would get it. She also read for Drizella and the fairy godmother. So she was a little surprised when she got Anastasia. I don't think she appreciates the magnitude of her accomplishment in landing a "big" part.

So, for the next few months, our lives are going to basically revolve around/be complicated by her rehearsal schedule. That is perfectly okay with me though, because she has been wanting to be in a play or take theater classes for EVER, and I'm so happy that she finally gets to do it.

It's also the perfect excuse for me to stop working so many extra hours. I've been working a lot since September, and I detest it. I just want to be home with my kids, especially in the afternoons when they get home from school. Not that we ever get to stay home. There are always a million places they need to be, but that is all the more reason I need to be home with them.

We do what we gotta do though, right?

And our brave and talented Alisa has yet to mention on her blog that she got all A's on her exams last semester! Or whatever the French equivalent of an A is. Just thought I'd throw that out there, since she seems to be too modest to broadcast her braininess.

So that's the good news minute from here. In the midst of seemingly never ending hours of angst and muck, every now and then we get a glimpse of sunshine.

Will He Is

2012-01-13T20:11:00.003-07:00

Will is 14.

Will is 14.

Will is FOURTEEN.

Gah.

I hope that if I keep repeating it to myself I will eventually come to accept it.

Will is not supposed to be 14. He is my baby boy. My youngest son. One of the little kids in the family. He was the last kid to wear all the little boy clothes I saved through the years. When he grew out of them, they were given away to loving homes with littler boys. Now that all the boys in this family are approximately the same size, the whole hand-me-down thing has gone out the window. Now days I just buy 30x32 sized jeans whenever I see them on sale, and hope that somebody will wear them.

But back to the topic of the day: Will and his turning 14. Its a good thing he is turning out to be such an awesome kid. Otherwise, I would not be okay with this whole growing up thing. But he is awesome. And here are some reasons why:

-he makes funny, imaginative cards for people's birthdays and other occasions. A highlight of birthdays is looking forward to getting one of Will's cards. For example, for Duncan's birthday this year, Will drew a whole little sequence of video game characters happily dancing around in celebration of Duncan's birthday, except the bad guy was just standing there. The caption says " Goran was not amused."

-He won his class spelling bee this year and got to be in the school spelling bee. He got out on the word PROTAGONIST. He knew how to spell it. The pressure just got to him. So we took him out for pecan pie to celebrate anyway..

-He knows when I'm in a bad mood and does nice things to cheer me up.

-He knows what the word googolplex means. I didn't even know it was a real word.

-He is a groovy dancer

-After he showers in the morning, he runs upstairs singing or whistling and busting at the seams with energy.

-He's a hugger.

-His favorite t-shirt has a picture of a big bear on it and says "I support the right to arm bears".

-His eyes are very blue.

He is taller than me. Only barely, and honestly, I don't think this is so awesome. But he does.

One More for the Dunc-Man

2012-01-11T20:41:00.001-07:00

Some of this stuff we have not had to deal with for a while, but reading this brought back some memories, fond and otherwise...

Holland Schmolland

by Laura Kreuger Crawford

If you have a special needs child, which I do, and if you troll the Internet for information, which I have done, you will come across a certain inspirational analogy. It goes like this:

Imagine that you are planning a trip to Italy. You read all the latest travel books, you consult with friends about what to pack, and you develop an elaborate itinerary for your glorious trip. The day arrives.

You board the plane and settle in with your in-flight magazine, dreaming of trattorias, gondola rides, and gelato. However when the plane lands you discover, much to your surprise, you are not in Italy -- you are in Holland. You are greatly dismayed at this abrupt and unexpected change in plans.

You rant and rave to the travel agency, but it does no good. You are stuck. After awhile, you tire of fighting and begin to look at what Holland has to offer. You notice the beautiful tulips, the kindly people in the wooden shoes, the french fries with mayonnaise, and you think, "This isn't exactly what I had planned, but it's not so bad. It's just different."

Having a child with special needs is supposed to be like this -- not any worse than having a typical child -- just different.

When I read this my son was almost 3, completely non-verbal and was hitting me over 100 times a day. While I appreciated the intention of the story, I couldn't help but think, "Are they kidding? We're not in some peaceful country dotted with windmills. We are in a country under siege -- dodging bombs, boarding overloaded helicopters, bribing officials -- all the while thinking, "What happened to our beautiful life?"

That was five years ago.

My son is now 8 and though we have come to accept that he will always have autism, we no longer feel like citizens of a battle-torn nation. With the help of countless dedicated therapists and teachers, biological interventions, and an enormously supportive family, my son has become a fun-loving, affectionate boy with many endearing qualities and skills. In the process we've created . . . well . . . our own country, with its own unique traditions and customs.

It's not a war zone, but it's still not Holland. Let's call it Schmolland. In Schmolland, it's perfectly customary to lick walls, rub cold pieces of metal across your mouth and line up all your toys end-to-end. You can show affection by giving a "pointy chin." A "pointy chin" is when you act like you are going to hug someone and just when you are really close, you jam your chin into the other person's shoulder. For the person giving the "pointy chin" this feels really good, for the receiver, not so much -- but you get used to it.

For citizens of Schmolland, it is quite normal to repeat lines from videos to express emotion. If you are sad, you can look downcast and say, "Oh, Pongo." When mad or anxious, you might shout, "Snow can't stop me!" or "Duchess, kittens, come on!" Sometimes, "And now our feature presentation" says it all.

In Schmolland, there's not a lot to do, so our citizens find amusement wherever they can. Bouncing on the couch for hours, methodically pulling feathers out of down pillows, and laughing hysterically in bed at 4:00 a.m. are all traditional Schmutch pastimes.

The hard part of living in our country is dealing with people from other countries. We try to assimilate ourselves and mimic their customs, but we aren't always successful. It's perfectly understandable that an 8 year-old from Schmolland would steal a train from a toddler at the Thomas the Tank Engine Train Table at Barnes and Noble. But this is clearly not understandable or acceptable in other countries, and so we must drag our 8 year-old out of the store kicking and screaming, all the customers looking on with stark, pitying stares. But we ignore these looks and focus on the exit sign because we are a proud people.

Where we live it is not surprising when an 8 year-old boy reaches for the fleshy part of a woman's upper torso and says, "Do we touch boodoo?" We simply say, "No, we do not touch boodoo," and go on about our business. It's a bit more startling in other countries, however, and can cause all sorts of cross-cultural misunderstandings.

And, though most foreigners can get a drop of water on their pants and still carry on, this is intolerable to certain citizens in Schmolland, who insist that the pants must come off no matter where they are and regardless of whether another pair of pants is present.

Other families who have special needs children are familiar and comforting to us, yet are still separate entities. Together we make up a federation of countries, kind of like Scandinavia. Like a person from Denmark talking to a person from Norway (or in our case, someone from Schmenmark talking to someone from Schmorway.), we share enough similarities in our language and customs to understand each other, but conversations inevitably highlight the diversity of our traditions. "My child eats paper. Yesterday he ate a whole video box." "My daughter only eats four foods, all of them white." "We finally had to lock up the VCR because my child was obsessed with the rewind button." "My son wants to blow on everyone."

There is one thing we all agree on. We are a growing population. Ten years ago, 1 in 10,000 children had autism. Today the rate is approximately 1 in 250. Something is dreadfully wrong. Though the causes of the increase are still being hotly debated, a number of parents and professionals believe genetic predisposition has collided with too many environmental insults -- toxins, chemicals, antibiotics, vaccines -- to create immunological chaos in the nervous system of developing children. One medical journalist speculated these children are the proverbial "canary in the coal mine", here to alert us to the growing dangers in our environment.

While this is certainly not a view shared by all in the autism community, it feels true to me.

I hope that researchers discover the magic bullet we all so desperately crave. And I will never stop investigating new treatments and therapies that might help my son. But more and more my priorities are shifting from what "could be" to "what is." I look around this country my family has created, with all its unique customs, and it feels like home. For us, any time spent "nation building" is time well spent.

-- The End --

Duncan at 17

2012-01-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know it's all hackneyed and trite and such to say this, but holy crap, WHERE did 17 years go, and HOW did my little cape-wearing, Toy Story- loving little tow head turn into this lanky boy with hairy legs and stubble on his chin?

I've been thinking a lot about Duncan lately because we have been devising a plan. At 17, you need to have a plan. When Harry Potter was 17, he was out hunting down and killing the most evil wizard the world has ever seen. And he didn't just stumble blindly into that mess. He had a PLAN. A vague, ever evolving plan maybe, but a plan still the same Now as far as I know, Duncan doesn't have to go out and kill any wizards, but he still needs a plan. I have had some scary nightmares of a not-so lanky-anymore-but-rather-overweight 30 year old, spending his days in my basement playing video games, surviving on Lucky Charms and root beer. Because let's be honest, without some serious intervention, that is a very real and very likely outcome, and one that I absolutely do not want to see happen. That is NOT a plan.

Honestly, I don't have a plan. I don't even have a clue.

But other people do, and they put on a disability fair And no, you smart-a**, a disability fair does not involve pinning a blue ribbon on the kid with the worst dyslexia. It was wonderful, and packed with information booths and people who have dedicated their lives to making sure that Duncan and his cohorts do not wind up living out my worst nightmares. I got some good advice, and found a mom's group to join, and talked to a lot of people who are in the same boat as us. And even though I still don't have a plan, at least I have a place to start.

The best part of all this is that in spite of my inept cluelessness about what comes next for him, Duncan has his own plans. He wants to serve a mission. He wants to learn more about designing video games. He wants to go to college. He looks forward to having a job and his own apartment someday.

Who knows what the next 17 or so years holds for my sweet boy? Will he be able to function in the so called real world? Will he be able to move out and live on his own? Will he be successful at something? I know I've said it before, but never very well- Duncan has gifts and strengths that most of us don't. He is honest. He is without guile. He is generous and kind. He doesn't judge. It is easy to overlook the magnitude of his spirit because he is so quiet and unassuming. I don't know what his successes will look like on the outside, but I do know that he has already succeeded in ways that some of us never will.

How to Commandeer A Birthday

2012-01-09T22:15:00.002-07:00

In honor of Duncan's 17th birthday (how is that even possible!), the kids decided it was time to teach Olivia the meaning of the phrase "cut the cheese".

Hilarity ensued.

Later, in her homework, one of the phrases she had to read was "Did you cut the cake with the knife?" Of course we couldn't resist substituting "cake" for "cheese, and you can only imagine the giggle mileage we got out of that one. She is tucked in her bed now, and I think I can hear her in there still chuckling to herself.

I really love that kid.

Oh, but that is not the only honor Duncan gets on his birthday. I do have a whole post written just for him, but it is still in need of a little tweaking, and I am not in a tweaking sort of mood right now.

He got to stay home from school today, even though he is 29 drawings behind in art. He actually did 29 frantic drawings on Sunday morning, when he found out I wasn't going to let him stay home if he was that far behind, and while I appreciated his effort, I didn't think it was really what his art teacher was expecting. So we had a little chat about applying what you learn and trying your best, and he agreed to redo at least some of the 29. He sketched a very nice likeness of Buck and another of a jar of peanut butter. After the drawing session, we went to Golden Corral for lunch where we ate pot roast and chicken and mashed potatoes and talked about movies and video games and learning to drive. It was a pleasant and surprising improvement over his usual Golden Corral routine of a bowl of red jello and silence. I am not a fan of spending $10.00 on a bowl of jello, no matter what color it is.

After lunch we went to Old Navy, where I was surprised to learn he has opinions about clothes. It is not often he and I get into a clothing store together. I usually just buy what I like and bring it home to him and he puts it on without complaint. But today he picked out a new shirt, and wanted blue, not black. He wanted it plain, with no writing on the front. He didn't like the jacket with the tight cuffs. He cares! He thinks! He speaks! And I'm thinking so far, the number 17 looks pretty good on Duncan.

More on that tomorrow.

2012-01-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Whew. That was a rough morning, getting everybody out the door bright and early for the first time in 2 weeks. Due to today being a late start day for Duncan, we all got to "sleep in" til seven. Only since none of have seen seven a.m. for many many days, it did not feel at all like sleeping in. So we really slept in til more like 7:30, which still felt way too early to be dealing in reality. And then there was a half hour of groggy pandemonium and scrambled eggs and toast and amazingly after that, Dan and the boys got out the door by eight, which was almost on time, and the girls WERE on time and everybody was showered and had clean clothes and nobody forgot their lunch. But it's a good thing it's Tuesday because it's going to be a long week, and we can't even fall back on the comfort and convenience of fast food this week because SOMEBODY had the brilliant idea that our 2012 resolution should be to not eat any fast food for a whole year. And we are nothing if not committed. Only we already had to break our resolution yesterday because I promised the girls on New Years Eve that we could have Subway one last time before our resolution went into effect. Then we forgot about it until about 11 pm that night, and all the Subways were locked up tight and not serving sandwiches. So we went yesterday and pretending like it was New Years Eve. But other than that NOW we are committed to a fast food free year.

Poor old Mitch had to start classes early yesterday. I didn't even know he was gone til I had cooked a big old breakfast for everybody to celebrate our last morning of vacation, and there was left over bacon. If Mitch is around there is no left over bacon, so I started wondering where in the heck he would be at that time in the morning. Then I remember he had to go to school. But he is off today, so there is the payback.

Oh, and there will be a dearth of pictures around here for a while. The first few moments of 2012 were very eventful for us. We managed to bang up a toe, break our camera and crack a tooth, all in the first hour of the New Year. And it was all because of our back fence neighbors who set off the most amazing fireworks display right at midnight, and right over our house. It would have been fun to have some pictures of the fireworks going off directly over our roof, but Dan fell off the porch trying to hurry with the camera before the fireworks were gone. His big toe will be out of commission for a while, and the camera is on permanent disability. And it's January, the month we have no money and two birthdays. So a new camera will have to wait. What would we ever do if we didn't have cell phone cameras?

Before We Broke the Camera...

2012-01-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

Before we broke the camera, we had a party.


Buck and Maggie were invited, and as you can see, Buck even dressed up. We didn't invite Belle and Hokey. You can't have those two in the same room together without some kind of drama.

Then Olivia dressed up for the occasion.

More ABBA wii. It really is entertaining.

And then we made tiny cupcakes.


Then Olivia got liquored up and things really got out of hand. Right after this, the fireworks started and the camera got broke.

And that's what really happened on New Years.

Picture a New Year

2011-12-31T10:54:00.001-07:00

This post was supposed to be called something cute and catchy about picturing Christmas, and it was going to be full of the six pictures we took on Christmas this year. But I can't find the dad-blamed cord that goes to my camera, so I can't download any pictures. Sometimes I hate my life.

Thought about doing some kind of year in review list, but that seems redundant, since there is an archive just to the right of here. Plus I don't really remember much about this year. 2011 was a jaguar. It's an out of focus blur of things that went by too fast to really examine too closely. And it's good that it went fast because if it slowed down for very long it might have eaten us. And the things that I do remember from 2011 I don't want to think about right now.

Skydiving. That's a good memory from 2011. I could review skydiving.

Yeah, that was a good day.

Or we could make some resolutions for 2012. I personally am buying into the Mayan theory, and planning to live accordingly this next year, like I was dying. I already got the skydiving thing covered. Might ride a bull named Fu Manchu this year. Or do some Rocky Mountain climbing. We have already decided as a family to eat less asparagus in 2012. And to spend more time in our pajamas.

I'm going to paint in 2012 too. Not portraits, just walls.. Audrey's room, the family room and kitchen are all in my line of sight for the next few months. And of course we have a basement to finish.

It still looks pretty much the same as it did in October. Obviously our Christmas dream was not realized this year. This little project seems to have been pushed into the background of our consciousness. It's too much for me to take on alone. A bedroom I can handle. A huge family room, not so much. And the fence. I didn't get a fence this year, and all joking aside, If I don't get a fence this year, I really will lose my mind. Even if the world does end in December, I want a fence before then.

So, between less asparagus, all that painting and fence building and more jammie time, we are going to be pretty darn busy in 2012. Come to think of it, I have painted in my pajamas before, and it actually makes the thought of painting a lot more appealing. Not sure about the fence building in pajamas though. That might be dangerous.

Moving on to predictions for 2012--Olivia has predicted that snowmen will come to life, throw their hats in the air, and take over the world. We are going to need some snow in order for that to happen. Audrey is predicting that people will find out that Subway sandwiches are actually bad for you. The boys aren't around for me to ask their predictions right now, so we will have to catch them later. As for me, I'm predicting a year of change in this family. Something big is going to be different by this time next year, but just like the astrologer in the daily paper, I'm a little short on details right now.

Watch out for drunks tonight.

Post Holiday

2011-12-28T13:50:00.003-07:00

We are slowly beginning the post-Christmas recovery period around here. It's a painful process, easing back into real life. So we aren't doing anything too extreme. Like maybe today, we will get dressed before 4 pm. Maybe even venture out to get milk later on. You just have to take these things one step at a time. I have to go into work for a few hours tomorrow though, so it's time start stepping.

Audrey and Livvi are spending the next couple days at Kim and Terri's house down south. Terri has horses. Audrey has been itching to get down there to those horses for months. She hasn't seen Terri's horses since she was four and we visited them for Thanksgiving when they lived in Denver. Terri also has a princess room, which was enough to get Livvi's attention, and she wasn't going to miss out on any of that business. It makes it very quiet around here to have my girlies gone. So I spent the morning engrossed in the cavernous waste that is our bank account. Then I cleaned up the family room. We did a pretty good job of avoiding small plastic pieces this year, but still. The amount of garbage generated by Christmas is astounding.

Here is what Christmas looked like this year.

Its always a party when Grandma and Grandpa come over!

Playing ABBA dance while we wait for Christmas dinner

The unbearable lightness of Christmas ham

We didn't take many pictures this year, but we did have a nice Christmas. We had Steve with us this year, which helped a little bit to fill the void left by not having Alisa. Christmas morning was sad, when all the stockings had been filled, then taken off their hooks by their respective owners, and Alisa's was still dangling there, empty and all alone. It was weird too, because by the time we got around to skyping with her on Christmas morning, in the middle of our festivities, it was late Christmas night where she was, and everything was over. Apparently the Germans celebrate on Christmas Eve, and on a much smaller scale than we Americans. But she had a good time, and was with friends. And we had a good time too. My parents came out for Christmas dinner and spent a good chunk of the day with us, then Em and Norrie came over later and played games until late into the evening. The next day we took off for Amy's and Christmas/birthday with the Metcalfs. It was a good Christmas all around and now we can breathe again. At least for a few days, then we will head into BIRTHDAY MODE!!!!

All I Want for Christmas

2011-12-23T23:41:00.001-07:00

Before we get on to all the holiday happenings around here, we have to make note of the REALLY big news, which is that this little kiddo finally lost some teeth!

Two teeth, to be exact, and those only came out with a serious amount of prodding from the dentist. Olivia was NOT going to have her teeth pulled. She was afraid it would hurt. She was afraid it would bleed. I didn't blame her. I didn't want her to have her teeth pulled out either. I know, I KNOW, she is 6 and 1/2 years old. Her baby teeth are not going to last forever. But she is my littlest She is supposed to be a BABY for crying out loud, not this big girl with big teeth, and I was not emotionally prepared for this to happen so suddenly, not to mention twice over, in the dentist office. I had just spent 3 and 1/2 hours in the exact same chair the day before, having oral surgery and bone grafts and all kinds of nerve shattering procedures done. That room was not bringing back pleasant memories, and now that darn dentist was telling me he was going to rip my child's teeth from her head before they or she or me was ready. But those darn big girl teeth were pushing up behind the baby teeth, in completely the wrong place, and her baby teeth were not even a little bit loose. Scott the dentist wanted to pull out all four of her bottom teeth, but I balked, so he agreed to only do two.

In the end, she was very brave, and told Scott the dentist that he could pull out her teeth any day. Of course, I didn't have my camera to get a shot of her leaned back in the dentist chair, in sunglasses, because the lights were too bright, holding four little princess dolls in one hand and the suction thing in the other as the dentist was pulling her teeth out with something that looked exactly like a pair of pliers Dan has in his toolbox. Her favorite part was the suction thing, that she got to be in charge of. Her least favorite part was the strawberry medicine that most definitely did not taste like strawberry. She was quite miffed, and vocal about her displeasure at being mislead over the flavor. Anyway, the two teeth popped out pretty easily, and the next two nights will be a revolving door at our house, with the tooth fairy making a visit tonight, and the Big Guy due for a visit tomorrow night. I just hope that flaky tooth fairy remembers to show up

Santa is coming for sure. We saw him on Monday night, finally. Olivia asked him for a Jessie doll and a cat. He asked her if she wanted a real cat and thankfully, she said no, just a stuffed one. Whew. Dodged a bullet there.

None of the other kids could be convinced to sit on Santa's lap. So after the visit to Santa we walked around and looked at the lights and displays at the Ogden Municipal building until we were literally freezing our butts off. That took about 20 minutes.

And tonight was the annual Gingerbread Shacks with Cousins Event, brought to us mostly by the efforts of Amy and Co. She and her kids came up, and brought most of the supplies with them. We had a great time creating and decorating, and amazingly, these creations have turned into more castles than shacks.

Jacek and Will teamed up on this one, complete with Santa going down the chimney and a bunker in the back.

These are mine and Olivia's. At some point in the evening, I had grand plans for some sort of stable or something, but my motivation eventually trickled into a theory to just keep loading candy on it until it looked Christmas-ey. Olivia went for a theme of snowmen and simplicity.

Here is Audrey and Sydney's Santa castle.

Views from the inside, where Santa's throne sits on a carpet of gummy bears. Awesome!

Amy and Stockton teamed up on this snow covered pueblo. We were supposed to pick a winner, but they were all way above and beyond our wildest expectations. We have such amazing and talented people in this family.

Duncan is amazing and talented too, but he is not really into sticky things touching his fingers. So his contribution to the evening was to work on the computer game he is making, and helping us eat candy. But he was feeling very merry about getting his game finished.

And now, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We aren't ready. But it's coming either way, so bring it on!! I'm gonna start wrapping!!

Glistening Once Again

2011-12-18T23:07:00.001-07:00

In my mind, the original title of this post was Bah. Humbug.

These pictures represent the full extent of our Christmas decorating around here.

The Christmas spirit seems to be a little on the thin side this year, and I'm not sure why.

Maybe its the lack of time and money. But lacking in those two things is nothing new around here, and it's never made a difference in our levels of Kringley-ness before.

Maybe it's that Alisa will not be home for Christmas this year. She is Christmasing in BERLIN this year. As in GERMANY. In fact, she is already there. She texted me that she heard ABBA on the radio twice in one day, and she has decided to stay forever. Maybe I'm just jealous about that. I've always thought the Germans had the market cornered on the Christmas thing, ever since I learned the German lyrics to Silent Night. I know, I know Silent Night is technically Austrian, but it's written in German. And I learned it in German class in 10th grade.

Or maybe we are all just bummed about another year with no snow. Outdoor Christmas decorations just look stupid without snow. How can you have a giant blowup snowman sitting on your front lawn surrounded by dead grass? What is merry about that?

Whatever it is, we now have less than a week to pull it all together and make it another flashy Christmas with a BANG. Olivia deserves it. She for one is not at all short on Christmas spirit. She's on top of making sure the advent calendar gets done every day, she helps me wrap presents, and she alone is the reason we are going to see Santa tomorrow night.

We are also going to bake some cookies, hang some lights, and finish shopping, hopefully all tomorrow. And maybe we'll catch a little merriness along the way.

A Concert and Some Doubt

2011-12-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was Will's Christmas concert.

He has moved up to the big time now, in Advanced Orchestra...

He looks advanced, doesn't he?

He also played in an ensemble during the art show at school. Next time he plays in an ensemble, he better stand up, so his mother can get a better picture of him.

Afterwards, we were treated to pie at Dennys, complements of Grandma and Grandpa, who came up to go to the concert with us. Will and Grandma were really looking forward to some hot chocolate. Unfortunately, we managed to wind up at the one place in town with a broken hot chocolate maker. They were also out of hot chocolate mix, so there was no way anybody was getting any hot chocolate out of them. Poor old Will had to settle for pecan pie, which, since he tried it on Thanksgiving, is his new favorite pie. That kid was in heaven with his slice of pecan pie. He will never get pecan pie at home though, since I hate it. I hate it so much I have taken a solemn vow that pecan pie will never, ever disgrace my kitchen. I don't know where he got his taste in pie, but it was definitely not from me. Darn those Missouri genes anyway.

In another sign of the impending holiday, Olivia asked me last night if I really believed in Santa Claus. I told her of course I did. She said that some kids at school said Santa wasn't real. But she was sure he WAS real, because how could parents get all those presents ready in one night anyway?

She is still a believer. But I fear our days are numbered.

Close to Home

2011-11-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a weird week around here. Just surviving November, and muddling through life I guess....

I am SICK of door-to-door salesmen ringing my doorbell in the middle of the afternoon and trying to sell me everything from meat to pest control. Today it was curbside recycling they were selling, and when the guy first tried to make it sound mandatory, and then accused me of not caring about the environment, I decided that was the last straw.

UP went my fancy no soliciting sign. We will see if it helps at all.

Monday night was potato night at the Metcalfs. We got a big 50 pound bag of potatoes, which we then cooked, peeled, sliced, diced and froze. It'll be a winter wonderland of hashbrowns, funeral potatoes and mashed with gravy at our house this year. And all for only $15.00 bucks and a couple hours of hard labor.

This girl was working hard on her homework tonight. Just want to always remember this cute first grader with her wispy pony tail and her work sheet, sitting by me on the stool tonight sounding out all those s-words.

Here are the gingerbread houses. Our first and so far only stab at interior Christmas decorating. Olivia is ready to get out the big guns, and put up the tree, but I gotta ease into this thing this year. One step at a time.

We have moved into the vinyl lettering phase of decorating. I am still debating if I like it or not. It's cute, but kind of corny.

And that's about all that's new around here. Now I have to go find some motivation to go back to work a 10 hour shift tomorrow, and the next day. I haven't worked in a long time and it has been very nice. I almost forgot I had a job.

Thankful Round Two

2011-11-27T14:29:00.001-07:00

Friday was a lovely lazy day of laying around not doing much of anything. In a nod to the approaching season, I did grace the front of my garage with two wreaths that were on sale at Home Depot for $5. That may be the extent of our decorative offerings this year, but I think it looks rather festive.

Friday night we wound up heading up to Logan to go the the viewing of the daughter of some old friends of ours from up there. She died completely unexpectedly, and it has hit them hard, to say the least. It was awful, and once again, makes us take stock of our blessings. Then on the way home, we stopped in Brigham to pop in our super plumber cop friend who was in a bad accident about a month ago and is having some pretty heavy struggles of his own. Such a good guy. I hope things work out for him. These friends are the types that have stepped in for us when we needed them, and solved problems for us. I wish I could do the same for them now, but unfortunately, some things you just can't make all better.

Saturday was Thanksgiving leftovers at Grandma Sally's. Thanksgiving always tastes better the second time around!

We tried, and failed, to save a piece of pumpkin pie for Alisa.

After dinner, we started in on Christmas movies and gingerbread house building. We were supposed to wait and do the gingerbread thing with the cousins,but Olivia would have exploded if some sort of Christmas activity did not get accomplished this weekend. So these are our practice gingerbread shacks,and we will splurge another $9.00 on another of these amazing little Walmart kits for our gingerbread day with cousins.

They turned out really cute. I will snap another shot when we get them set up at home. This has been such a great, relaxing weekend. I only wish we could do it all over this week.

Thankful Overload

2011-11-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

Alisa, you asked for lots of pictures. And that is all I have to say. These are in totally random order, I don't know why. But it will give you a good idea of the chaos and cacophony that marked Thanksgiving 2011. It was awesome.

Linda's David, entertaining himself after dinner with the nursery rhyme doll.

Stockton, Audrey and Sydney, mountaineers extrordinaire

Ryan made it up this time too.

The old homestead, in all it's November glory.

Olivia made this little turkey especially for her favorite Aunt Amy. Amy is everybody's favorite though.

Cousins!!

More Cousins!!

Sweet Lydia

Diggin in

Turkey Man

The Thankful Tree. We were all very thankful that somebody had the foresight to forego the traditional corn on the plate idea, and just have everybody write their thankfuls on paper leaves and hang them on the tree. Much quicker, and we actually got hot food this year!

Yay food. yay sisters in law!

Steve was our stand in for Alisa this year. He performed admirably in his role. He got some practice in last year too, so he knew what he was up against.

On the way out the door for some shootin'

Pie!

The new dog Muffy. She is very sweet and shy.

Guarding that whipped cream.

Olivia got Tangled from Grandma Linda....so Happy!!!

More Will and Muffy

Lily

Games- Funglish and Pictureka

More Pie.

Stockton

Goofball brace-face cousins

And more pie. Lydia kept trying to steal Lily's pie.

Dad's new toy

And the DuncMan!

It was actually a very nice Thanksgiving. No tempers flared, it wrapped up pretty quickly, and everybody was nice to each other this year. Putting 33 or so Metcalf-Kellys-McAvoys in one house can be a dangerous proposition, but everything was quite lovely and enjoyable, except for the fact that we missed our Alisa terribly and her cousin trio of Kelsey and Sarai. Knowing that Alisa was on her way to Rome helped a lot. And hearing that she has landed a JOB teaching English to French students next semester helped too. Life was good today, and we have lots to be thankful for.

Tonight, we have traded Audrey and Olivia for Jacek, so tomorrow should be a pretty low key day at our house. Dan is working, but I'm off, and I may do nothing but vegetate in my bed all day. Either that or paint the basement. Decisions, decisions. I'm just thankful to have a day off!

Braces and Beavers

2011-11-22T20:03:00.003-07:00

Between my root canal and Audrey's braces, we spent more than 5 hours in the big chair today. Only I had the happy gas, so I didn't care how long I was in there. In fact, as long as that gas kept coming, I could probably still be sitting there. It's a good thing I am not a dentist because if I was, I'd be in trouble for abusing my supply of nitrous oxide, I just know it. Oh, and other than getting the crown glued on in 2 weeks, I don't get to go back until March. I thought I was in for a whole slew of work, but I guess I'm done for a while.

We have a "before" picture of Audrey, that we took this morning,

and a picture during:

but here she is refusing any "after" pictures.

She says she doesn't want to remember this day. Oh, well, a girl is entitled to a little drama on the day she gets her braces on, right? Just like her mother is entitled to a little drama after a root canal. She got a whole bag of dental bling too- a nifty sign to hang on her bathroom mirror about how to brush, a new toothbrush, and dental flosses and rinses of all kinds. She was very brave and went straight back to school after her appointment without even any ibuprofen. Now we are watching the episode of The Brady Bunch where Marcia gets her braces on. They have spaghetti for dinner on that episode, and guess what WE are having for dinner?! Coincidence? I think not.

On the way home from school today, Olivia was telling her friend Ella all about Justin Bieber, or Justin Beaver, as Olivia calls him. Ella is the oldest kid in her family, so she is a little more sheltered than Olivia, and she was clueless about old Justin. She kept asking if he was a beaver. Olivia is not as sophisticated as she sounds, and she was not all that sure whether Justin is or is not actually a beaver. The only way Olivia knows anything about Justin Bieber is because of her other, very wordly and knowledgeable friend, Kira, who (as Olivia explained to all of us), used to love Justin Beaver, until he cheated on Selena Gomez, and now Kira doesn't like him at all. Oh, and he cut his hair and now he looks like Ken, as in Barbie and Ken. I guess looking like Ken is a bad thing these days. Come to think of it, Ken always did have goofy hair. The plastic stuff was bad enough, and then they tried to give him real hair, and that was even worse. Anyhow, I was shocked to hear my first grader having this conversation at all, and was not about to ask if she even knew what it meant to cheat on somebody.

One child in braces, one talking trash on celebrities with her friends.....Will is wearing MENS sizes now.....waaaah.....where did my BABIES go????

Oh dear....Will has had the nerve to put his LEG on top of Olivia, and she is throwing a fit and sobbing on my shoulder. Time to go mete out some discipline to all these large children.

To Do:

2011-11-20T22:52:00.003-07:00

On the agenda for this Thanksgiving week:

-eat more french fries. They are the solution to most of life's problems. They have to be hot though. With a lot of salt.

-head on over to the dentist for a root canal on Tuesday morning. Yay. My new dentist is named Scott. I have too many Scott's in my life already, but the new Scott and I have a standing date every Tuesday morning for the next few weeks. Oh yes, the root canal is only the beginning of a long and intricate relationship.

-get Audrey to the orthodontist (whose name is Brett and not Scott, thank heavens), on Tuesday afternoon so she can get her braces on. Two hours after my root canal and two days before Thanksgiving seemed like a really fabulous time to get braces.

-explain Pilgrims to Olivia. She has them confused with Pocahontus and John Smith.

-contemplate Black Friday and pour over all the ads. Will there be something enticing enough to drag myself out of bed for at 3 am this Friday morning? Probably not, especially because we are jumping on to the Less is More bandwagon this year. I was converted last year to this idea of getting your kids four things for Christmas: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. I found it too late last year, after I was already completely burnt out / spent out / wigged out over Christmas shopping, but I vowed that this year would be different. So we started early, talking up this plan to the kids. They aren't thrilled with it, but we are gonna stick to it. It is going to simplify the next month of my life like nobody would believe! And I'm going to stock up on some anti-anxiety meds for myself onChristmas Eve, when I start having panic attacks that my kids are going to be scarred for life over not having enough presents to open on Christmas morning.

Oh yeah, and save room for pie!

Will I Am

2011-11-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

Will is a smart kid.

When he was a toddler, we nicknamed him The Philosopher because he was always coming up with wise observations about the world.

He was the one that coined our family motto, at the age of 5: "Help us remember to be thankful for what we asked for."

But I am afraid he may have entered that stage of life where the teenage brain is growing and changing so fast that it literally shuts down, and all reasoning is relegated to a tiny little section in the front of the brain that is not very good at being rational or thinking ahead. I'm not making this up. It's real. Google it.

He told me that his church leader was picking him up at 8:00 on Sunday morning to collect fast offerings. I asked him if he was sure it was at eight. 8:00 on a Sunday morning seemed really early to be knocking on people's doors asking for money. He thought about it for a minute, then said, "oh, maybe it was nine." So I asked him what time he usually goes, since he has been collecting fast offerings every month for the past year and a half.

"Uhhh, I think we usually finish at 10:30, so we probably start at nine. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's nine."

So 9:00 comes and goes, and no leader shows up. I question my intelligent, forward thinking son again. "Are you sure he said he would pick you up? He doesn't usually pick you up does he?"

"Uhh, I don't know. But he said he would pick me up."

At 9:15, I decide the leader must have forgotten, which is odd, because he is usually really reliable about this stuff. So I yell at Will to grab his coat and get in the car so I can run him over to the church in hopes of catching the other guys before they leave. As we are pulling out of the driveway, I make some comment about how it's weird that Buzz forgot him. Then a sudden rush of inspiration comes to Will. "OH, he said to call him if I needed a ride!"

"Oh," I say. "Well, that's a little bit different than saying he would pick you up now, isn't it? And now you are 20 minutes late and you are probably going to miss them. And where is your coat? It's freezing out here!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot my coat! Oh well, I'll be okay." It was probably 30 degrees.

So as we were pulling into the church parking lot, the leader was pulling out with a passel of boys in his truck, so I pulled over and Will jumped in with them. Then I followed the truck back to our neighborhood and watched as Will jumped out, about three doors down from our house. THAT was a productive 15 minutes of my Sunday morning.

Oh, and he came home an hour later shaking and shivering and teeth chattering. "It's cold out there! I should have taken my coat!"

I had to whack myself in the forehead. If I hadn't I probably would have whacked him.

Decidedly Brilliant

2011-11-15T20:04:00.006-07:00

Money.

That is what my big decision came down to. Unfortunately, I just can't afford the gas to drive to Logan 3 times a week when I have a better option. So I am sticking with the new job for now. And I'm going to be thankful that I was at least able to change my schedule around to something that works better for my family, which is what it's really all about anyway. Now I just have to work up the guts to break the news, once again, to my boss. That is going to be a painful discussion.

But enough about that boring old drama.

I just got back from Parent Teacher Conferences at the elementary school, and not surprisingly, both Audrey and Olivia are total geniuses. Audrey is getting top grades in everything- (she even brought home a perfect report card last week, which I forgot to mention!) AND her teacher told me that last week she had Audrey tutor a girl in math who had missed a lot of school, because she knew that Audrey had the concepts down so well. And with Audrey's help, the girl mastered it as well. Mrs. Keller said that she wished every kid in her class could be like Audrey. Gush gush gush, I love my Audrey girl!

Olivia is rocking first grade too, albeit in her own unique fashion. Her teacher had the kids do a little self assesment, and these were Olivia's answers: I do my homework......once in a while. I do my best work....not usually. Reading is....a little tricky. I can do math.....slowly but surely. Writing is....hard. I listen and follow directions...not usually. Yep, she' s honest with herself. Some of those answers might make a mother's heart say a little ouch, but the best part is that all over the paper, Olivia has drawn beautiful drawings of princesses and hearts and balloons, almost like a little message that she knows that her real strengths are in the arts. Even though she said writing was hard, she has a journal filled with her writings and drawings. She is very creative. She is comprehending what she is reading. She loves to share what she has written with the class, and she never hesitates to raise her hand, whether she knows the answer or not. She is coming right along with her reading and she "gets" math, even though she still writes most of her numbers backwards. She is doing soooo much better than I dared to dream she might be after the fiasco that was kindergarten. I am a very proud mommy tonight.

Third Time's the Charm?

2011-11-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

True confession: I have two jobs. The pay is nice, but the hours really bite.

I never intended to have two jobs, but at the beginning of September, I accepted another job at another pharmacy, and sort of never quit my job in Logan.   They are both part time, so I have been juggling schedules for 10 weeks now.

But I'm tired.

And I really need to eliminate one of them from my life.

The problem is that I simply am incapable of making up my mind about which job to give up.

I have been unable to come to any kind of conclusion about this whole thing ever since it all happened. When I got the offer on the second job, I told them I had to think about it, and would call them back. Then I never called back, because I didn't know what to say. The poor human resources lady called me back at least 6 times to ask if I had made up my mind yet, and I have a sneaking suspicion she stayed late one night to surprise me by calling me after 5, just to see if she could catch me off guard. Her ploy worked. I finally just gave in, accepted the second job, put in my two week notice in Logan, and figured that was it. Then I started bawling about the thoughts of leaving my old job. My boss bawled too. It was awful. Then when HR posted my job on the hiring website, they botched it up, got the hours wrong, and had to repost it. So, because I work for one of those very efficient large corporations, everybody who had applied for it had to re-apply.

Can you say delay?

Then my boss in Logan went to Haiti and was way too wrapped in all the details of his trip to hire anybody.

Let's say it again, slowly this time: DEELAAAY.

So I told him I would stay until he got back and could get somebody hired. And he TOTALLY took advantage of me, and just didn't do anything about hiring anybody.. And I TOTALLY took advantage of the situation as well, and just put off making up my mind about it.

In the meantime, I was not loving the new job very much at all. I was prepared for an adjustment, but it was quite a culture shock. You know that line in Bolt, where the animal control lady complains about working with toddlers? That's what working in Logan is like. Working with a bunch of toddlers. It's crazy and fun and we act like children. We also knock the pants off any other pharmacy I know, in terms of service, attention, and efficiency. My new job was.....not like that. It's all quite serious and business-like, and a bit too regimented for my taste.

Then, after a lot of discussions and managerial meetings and slow turning wheels and such, my Logan boss threw out an offer to me to sweeten my deal up there if I would stay, and after lots of hemming and hawing, and feeling like a quitter and a wimp, I decided to take him up on it. So I went to my new boss and told him that I was leaving there, and going back to my old job.   Ahh, decision made again. It felt so good.

Two days later, my new boss called me, and pretty much offered me the same thing my old boss offered me if I would stay at the new job. Confused yet? I am.

So that leaves me with having to, for the THIRD time, make up my mind this weekend about which job I am going to stick with. And I still don't know. And I am so tired of thinking about it.

Here's the thing. I LOVE my job in Logan.   If I didn't live 60 miles away, I would never, no never, in a jillion years, consider leaving.   But I do live 60 miles away, and it seems silly to drive so far when I can work for the same company doing the same thing only much closer to home. Which is why I took the new job.

But the new job, even though it's a lot closer to home, feels farther away, because I'm so busy there, I don't have 5 minutes during the day to even think about if my kids got home from school okay, let alone check up on them. I don't have the same flexibility in my schedule. The work is much more repetitive at the new place. It's much more like an assembly line, with a lot less interaction. The people there are nice, but they don't hang out after work together or anything.

Starting any new job is hard, and I know if I decide to keep the new job, I'll adjust. I don't think I will ever love it there, like I do in Logan, and I think I might burn out a lot quicker, but I know I can make it work for a while. But is it worth it? I'm not used to dreading work days.

Then again, if I stay in Logan, I face another winter of driving through the canyon to get to work.   TimewiseAnd pay for the gas.

If I could take these two jobs and put them on one of those old balancing scales to see which one weighed out the best, it would be exactly even. They both have an equal number of pros and cons. I can talk myself into moving forward with the same amount of zeal I can use to convince myself that I am crazy to consider letting go of the only perfect job I have ever had.

HPPee brtftha

2011-11-03T20:50:00.002-06:00

Meet the cutest birthday present you'll ever see:

And in case you missed the message:

Inside this artful wrapping was Olivia's new copy of The Wizard of Oz. She decided to give it to her dad for his birthday. Which was nice of her, since it was the only present he got. We did go out to dinner and took the kids to see Puss in Boots. A family movie is a tradition on Dad's birthday, since he is the ultimate movie guy, and there is usually a good kid flick that comes out around his birthday.

I don't have any pictures of the birthday boy, but I do have pictures of the pumpkins we re-lit on the first of November. I am sad to report that I did not get any visits from my grandmas that night. But Maggie's eyes were glowing eerily.

So now it's November 3rd, and all of our Halloween crap is still up. It might be Saturday before it comes down. It might be Tuesday before it comes down, if it snows on Saturday, like it's supposed to. Olivia has not missed a beat- she went directly from littering the house with pictures of pumpkins on Monday to littering the house with pictures of turkeys on Tuesday. Tonight is Thursday and she has already moved on to Santa Claus. She has her Christmas list all made out, and is now asking how many days til her birthday. Life moves fast when you are six!

Happy All Saints Day!

2011-11-01T18:01:00.002-06:00

From my perspective, Halloween was a bit of a bust this year. I didn't get home from work til nearly 8, so most of the evening's fun was already history. Thanks mostly to Dan, the two jack-o-lanterns we managed to carve this year were lit and on the porch, there was candy for the myriad trick or treaters that were still roaming the streets, and all the spooks who live at this house came home with scads and scads of candy. So it was a successful Halloween, it just happened without me, which made me sad.
I didn't get to do Audrey's make up, or braid Olivia's hair, or take my signature million pictures.

These are the only two pictures I snapped last night, after she was home from trick or treating.

So tonight, we are having a do-over, sans trick or treaters of course. Miss Livvi is dressed in her Dorothy costume once again, we are watching the Wizard of Oz, and making chili. Audrey is busy carving the final pumpkin that got ignored in the hubub of yesterday. She is going to make it a deathly hallows symbol, and when it gets dark tonight, we are going to light them all again and take some pictures. Who says you can only celebrate Halloween for one night anyway? I can see this becoming an All Saints Day tradition around here. Since Dan's birthday is tomorrow, we might as well have three solid days of revelry, don't you think?

The spirits of the dead are supposed to be closer to earth on this day than any other day of the year. I wish that were true, because there are a few of them I would like to talk to. A few days ago, the sweetest little lady came into the pharmacy. The way she talked and the things she said, and the way her hands looked reminded me so much of my grandma. The resemblance was so strong that after she left I had to go hide in the bathroom and cry for a few minutes. I'd love to have a visit with my grandma today. Come to think of it, I'd like to have both of my grandmas come visit tonight. I miss having grandmas. I bet they could set me straight on a few things too.

Contests and Bathtime and Costumes, Oh My!

2011-10-28T20:59:00.000-06:00

Audrey won the Red Ribbon Week poster contest at school! A $10 gift card, some chocolate, and the admiration of her peers...what more could any sixth grader ask for? I need to get a better picture of the poster-it has some great artwork at the bottom that doesn't really show in this shot. She's amazing, that one.

This was the view from my bed last night. Olivia was enjoying a bath in the big tub, and Belle decided to get in on the fun. Belle is one weird cat. She loves to be in the bathroom whenever somebody is in the bath tub. She has a love-hate relationship with water. She finds is fascinated and phobic at the same time.

After the bath it was story time. Last year's fears about Olivia and her reading abilities are quickly diminishing. She is learning to read at an amazing rate. She is sounding out words like a pro, and LOVES to read and write now. I'm blaming her teacher.

Cute girl is so proud that she read the whole book!

And now Halloween is upon us, and the costumes are coming together nicely. This year, we have a deranged Easter bunny, a used Barbie, and Dorothy. I can't believe I am down to only three trick or treaters. I have mixed feelings about that- on the one hand, I'm sad. On the other hand, I'm old, And tired.

Scary!

Audrey at first was going to be a Barbie, but then she got the brilliant idea to be a used Barbie, with messed up hair, torn dress, one earring, no shoes, and magic marker smeared on her face. The way Barbies look after they come out of the box. We tried false eyelashes, but she couldn't stand them so we just caked on the mascara. I was truly missing Alisa tonight when I was fixing Audrey up. She would have been much better at the hair and makeup thing than I am. I didn't even have any lipstick for her! I did not inherit my daughter's talent for fashion, that's for sure.

Tonight was the ward trunk or treat, and Dorothy threw a fit about wearing her red shoes, as in she was absolutely refusing to. Being the one who drove all over town looking for the darn things, I was not about to let her get away with not wearing them. It turns out she was worried about ruining them. She was in tears over the thought of something happening to them before she got to go trick or treating in them. But then I found a perfect basket for her Toto, and she forgot about being worried about the shoes. And then, I forgot to get a picture of Toto in the basket. Darn it! Good thing we still have Monday.

If I Squint, Maybe I Can See the Eiffel Tower

2011-10-26T21:02:00.000-06:00

In the future, will SOMEBODY please remind me to NOT visit the eye doctor in the morning of a day that has an afternoon packed full of appointments? At 11:30 yesterday morning I got my eyes dilated, and the doctor assured me that it would only last a couple of hours, and as long as I had some sunglasses, I should be fine.

He lied.

I lost all ability to focus on things up close for about 5 hours. It was like the worst case of far-sightedness ever in the history of mankind. If I could have gone home and closed my eyes, it would have been okay, but the afternoon was taken up with shopping for ruby red slippers (guess what Olivia is being for Halloween?), podiatrist visiting (Audrey- third ingrown toenail in less than a year-same toe every time), my work, texting me with crisis after crisis (being indispensible is SUCH a pain), dance lessons (Olivia is taking jazz- very adorable), dinner (nachos), concerts (Will, for an orchestra report, and not performing), and more Halloween shopping with the kids. All of this while being virtually blind to anything less than about 4 inches in height!

I'm so glad I only have to do that once a year.

By today, my eyes were better, but we had to go to the orthodontist to consult on Audrey's teeth, which was almost as annoying as having dilated eyes. We have been to two different orthodontists, both of whom said pretty much the same thing, which is that she needs braces, and which is not what I want to hear. Braces are expensive, and I have a long list of things to spend my money on that are way more fun than braces. Her teeth LOOK fine. It's her bite that is off, so we won't even get the pay off of watching her teeth straighten up. She isn't going to look any different after treatment. Only my bank account will be able to tell that she ever had braces.

Will had an orchestra concert tonight that he performed in that I missed because of work. I hate when that happens. And tomorrow is Thursday, which is really like my Monday, and the weekend is already filling up with commitments and getting crazy. I'm feeling the need for a vacation. If I didn't have to pay for braces, I'd be hearing Paris call my name.

Parties and Pumpkins and Such

2011-10-23T22:22:00.001-06:00

In spite of our crazy overworked schedules, we have managed to cram in a little fun this month too.

Last week, we hosted a party for our Primary class. Dan and I teach the 8-9 year old in church. There are 13 of them, and every one of them are awesomely amazing. I can't even tell you how much I love these kids. Being a primary teacher is absolutely the best job in church. Every week is a new adventure.

We had a great time at the party too. It is impossible to put that many kids in a room together and NOT have a great party.

We had food, played a couple of Halloween games, and watched a movie. Audrey came up with the games and ran that part of the party. She is amazing as a party host.

In one of the games, the kids had to take turns wrapping each other up with toilet paper to look like mummies. They loved this game, and they loved it even more when it deteriorated into a toilet paper fight. That was the only really out-of-control crazy chaotic time. But it only lasted a few minutes, and then they were great sports about cleaning up the mess.

Then, one day this week, Audrey got busy and put a few of the dozens and dozens of mini pumpkins we grew this year to good use- there is one for each of us...

And on Friday after work, we headed up to Logan. Dan and I both worked the football game on Saturday, so ESPN put us up in a hotel on Friday night. The kids had fun swimming and playing with friends.

And now we are back around to Sunday night, again, which sort of feels like my Thursday night, since I work Thursday through Monday and then have Tuesday off. But since the rest of the family's week still starts on Monday, it's kind of confusing and keeps throwing me off my groove. As if I ever had a groove. One day, something big is gonna change. I promise.

Full Time

2011-10-19T19:10:00.000-06:00

My dad worked 6-7 days a week for many many years, in a very labor-intensive job.

My husband has spent many years working 6 days a week off and on throughout the year, 5 days a week in an emotionally stressful job, and 1 day a week in a more labor-intensive job.

I have been working 6-7 days a week for the past 5 or so weeks in a really soft cushy job. And I really can't recommend it. I guess I'm just a wimp compared to the men in my life.

Although, in my defense, come to think of it, the men in my life were/are not trying to also stay on top of a household with four busy, messy kids who like to eat. I have yet to meet a man who is compelled to scrub toilets, vacuum stairs and shop for underwear after a long day on the job. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyhoo, the point here is that I have been spending too much time behind the counters of pharmacies lately.

I have had way too many people talk to me about their bathroom habits.

My favorite one was the tattoo covered gentleman who was so disappointed that we did not carry the triple strength stool softener that he bought at another pharmacy. Stools softeners do not come in triple strength, but as the pharmacist was politely trying to explain this to him, he went off on a long and graphic explanation of exactly what happens to him in the bathroom after he takes the supposed triple strength stool softener, and how much more effective it really is. I have no idea what it was he took, but I am now an unfortunate second-hand witness to the fact that it indeed worked.

My second favorite was the man who came running in and asked for a laxative. When asked what kind he wanted, he said whatever works the fastest, so the pharmacist sold him an enema. He paid for it and ran out. 10 minutes later, he was back in the pharmacy with a big smile on his face. Extending his hand, he said to the pharmacist, "Whatever you just sold me, it worked like a charm. I just wanted to come back and shake your hand!" Eww.. Thank heaven for hand sanitizer.

Then there are all the dorks who "lose" their oxycontin, and it always happens to be the day they are going out of town. Funny how nobody ever loses their blood pressure pills. And there are always a few jewels who are mad at their doctor or their insurance company or President Obama, but take it out by throwing temper tantrums in front of the pharmacy staff, just because we are living and breathing and standing in front of them.

But enough about all that.....the important news around here is that it is UEA weekend! I have to work, of course, so the kiddos are on their own for the next two days. It is killing me that I can't hang out with them, but there is nothing to do but buckle down and make the best of it I guess.

And HERE....(drumroll please)...... is Olivia's first ever self made ponytail!

She was extremely proud of the fact that she did her own hair this morning. She has been telling me lately that she is getting older, turning seven next year and all, and can do a lot of things on her own. She even stayed by herself today for the first time ever. It was for about 3 minutes, mind you, but it's a start, and it did wonders for her self esteem..

About the hair....it took every ounce of self restraint I could muster to not start over on that ponytail. I wanted to brush it out nicely and send her off to school looking my version of presentable, but I refrained. She was SO PROUD of herself, and she actually did a fantastic job, and really, who cares what anybody else thinks of her mother?

Oh Wednesday!

2011-10-12T17:18:00.000-06:00

We should be cooking dinner right now, or finishing the cookies we started earlier today, or working on homework. Instead, we are watching cartoons and eating cookie dough. And that is about as far as we have gotten since school got out today. I got a brilliant idea to take a nap this afternoon, but Olivia was having none of that. She was in my room every 7 minutes or so, with a new problem that only I could solve.

The best part of the day so far was singing the national anthem and saying the pledge of allegiance with her first grade class today. First graders are just awesome. They are so sweet they just about break my heart. I wish I could put my first grader on ice and save her the way she is for a few extra years at least.

I also got to talk to Alisa today, via skype. I don't update much about her, seeing as how she has her own blog, but I think she is settling in nicely. It's hard to believe she has been gone 5 weeks already. Her requests for the next package I send? Ramen noodles, Kraft mac and cheese, and a Tide To Go Pen. And a non-moldy pillow. I sent her pillow to her, but apparently washing it before sending it was not the best idea. I really thought I let it dry thoroughly before I packed it. I set it out in the sun and everything! But by the time it got to her, it was moldy. Oh well. The seven pound box of Oreos I sent her ought to make up for the pillow fiasco.

Okay enough nonsense. Dinner awaits. And I better put that cookie dough away before somebody gets salmonella.

Working Like a Dog

2011-10-06T21:44:00.000-06:00

The sheet rock guy was downstairs sanding. I was upstairs working in the kitchen.

Somewhere in the course of the day, Maggie Dog decided that sheet rock guy needed some help.

When she was done helping, she came bounding up the stairs, very excited about whatever it was she was doing down there. I know she was excited because she is 13 and she doesn't really bound anywhere any more. So the sound of her bounding upstairs caught my attention.

She was covered in sheet rock dust. She is a hard working dog.

These are the only pictures we took this week?

2011-10-04T19:48:00.000-06:00

Not a whole lot of excitement going on around here lately, as evidenced by the pictures I downloaded off my camera this week:

This is Olivia, who is mad that friends can't stay all night.

This is what our basement looked like a few days ago.

We paid lots of money for that little bit of metal pipe that runs half way down the wall and out the foundation. So I figured I better snap a picture while it was still visible.

And here are our walls! Lookin good, no?

Window sills! Real window sills.

Tomorrow the ceiling gets textured and everything gets all cleaned up.

Our future fireplace, future shelves, and future outlets.

Our drywall guy says he will be done tomorrow. After that it is all pretty much up to us. Paint, flooring, trim, outlets.....it doesn't sound too complicated, and the actual work is not hard. The complicated part is finding the TIME to complete the work. I'm being optimistic and still shooting for Christmas. But that would hinge on my work schedule getting straightened out, which still has not happened and which is causing me a fair amount of dismay, but there is nothing do to about it other than stick it out for a bit longer.

Will and Audrey are back home safe and sound. We have a little black cloud of post-vacation blues still floating around in the air around here, but I think the kids are entitled to a little moping....Poor kids got home late Sunday night and were back in school less than 12 hours later. Ouch.

And that is our life in pictures from the past week. Sad. Maybe next week will be more picturesque.

Two More

2011-09-29T01:23:00.000-06:00

I know you aren't supposed to wish your life away, but....

Two more days.

In two more days we can say we survived this weird week. We have not survived it yet, nor are there any guarantees that we will.

In two more days, we will have two days of hopefully doing not much of anything. Not even church.

In two more days, there will only be two more days until two more of my kids are home. Boy have we missed them.

In two more days, our new family room walls will be ready to paint. We won't be painting in two days. But they will be ready and waiting for us.

In two more days, September will be over and we can officially begin searching once again for the perfect Halloween costumes.

In two more days, we will be that much closer to knowing what comes next.

We Can't All be in Oregon

2011-09-26T21:08:00.000-06:00

There is so much going on around here this week......not the least of which is that William and Audrey have been stolen away and are currently enjoying a 10 day vacation in Newport, Oregon, courtesy of some good friends of ours. These friends have kids the same ages as Will and Audrey, and thought it would be more fun for their kids, and less stressful on them, to take our kids with them. Funny how that works with kids sometimes. This is the view from the balcony of the condo where they are staying....

Rough life, ain't it? Actually, I'm really glad they got the chance to go, as we did not do anything this summer that even remotely resembled a vacation. At least my kids got to do something fun. I am kicking myself though, for not sending a better camera with them. Will has his cell phone camera, and has been texting some pictures of what they have been doing, but that is all they've got. Oh well. They are probably too busy having fun to be taking many pictures anyway.

Having them gone changes things up around here. I depend on those two a lot to watch Olivia on the days I work. So OF COURSE, it would be the week that they are gone that my work schedule goes CRAZY and I am working every single day this week. This crazy schedule is completely my own fault, and there is no end in sight yet....again totally my doing. And I don't want to tell that story til I know how it ends. But we have been scrambling around mightily to find somebody to watch Olivia before and after school all week. I have had to issue some big IOU's to the neighbor I carpool with, who is pinch hitting for me all week. Thank heaven for helpful neighbors. I have a list about a mile long of people around here I owe gigantic favors to. Not to mention my saintly parents, who have done their share of pitching in too.

So it's been pretty quiet around here this week. We are down to just two kids, three if you count Mitch, who we hardly ever see anyway. If he isn't at work or school, he is on a date or a church activity or locked in his room studying. Duncan is always quiet, although he has been pretty excited lately about this video game he is designing. He subscribed to something on line that lets him write or program or whatever his own games. He can spend hours sitting in front of the computer messing with it. And Olivia has been very busy and quiet too. She has free run in Audrey's room this week, and is very much enjoying getting into all the stuff that normally Audrey won't let her touch. You know, when the cat's away, and all that.

Tomorrow, we should have walls--actual walls--in our family room. We would have had them today but the sheet rock hanger's truck broke down. We did get the gas run to the fireplace though, and we (as in Dan and me, but mostly me) insulated this weekend. It's getting close. I can almost smell the new paint and carpet. Keeping our hopes up for a finished room by Christmas....probably not FURNISHED, but at least finished!

How to Be a Deadbeat

2011-09-23T01:24:00.001-06:00

Here is a funny story. On September 21, 2010, our basement was flooded. There were at least 2 inches of water on our storage room floor, the carpeting was soaked, things got ruined, it was awful. We had more water coming in than we knew what to do with.   Now fast forward to September 21, 2011. I got home around 3 in afternoon to find a bright orange notice stuck on our door, informing us that our water had been turned OFF. No phone call. No warning. Just off.   Isn't that funny? Too much water one year, none at all the next. But really, how could the city do that to us? There are children living here! Of course I was outraged.! Until the lady at the utility department tersely informed me that our bill had not been paid since July 11. Seriously?   Two months? What kind of people don't pay their bills for two months?

Deadbeats. that's who.   After standing in line at the end of the day with all the other folks whose water got turned off, I can tell you it is deadbeats who don't pay their bills. And now I am one. In my defense, I did pay SOME of the bills. I paid the TV bill and the internet bill, but only because when you don't pay them, a big ugly sign flashes up on whichever screen you happen to be staring at, letting you know that you better pay up or else. (Deadbeat. That's me.)

And it doesn't end there. Before I could figure out how I was going to pay the water bill, I just happened to notice a letter from our insurance company, telling me that if I didn't pay my insurance premium in the next 9 hours, they were going to cancel my auto insurance. Hmmm. I began to sense a pattern here.

I had to jump in the car and drive clear across town to dip into a savings account we have in Bountiful, then race back to the Syracuse utility department before 5 pm so that we would not be without water all night long.   Dan had to leave his job and sprint a check over to our insurance agent to prevent us from becoming uninsured motorists as of 12:01 am on September 22. Being a deadbeat is exhausting. I can see why they look the way they do.

The water was back on before I got home. I think we are still insured. I have vowed to not be a deadbeat anymore. It's hard work.

Attention

2011-09-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

Today Olivia sat in a chair with a coloring book and a box of crayons and colored for two straight hours. I know it was two hours because we were at stake conference, and it marked the first time in my career as a mom that I have sat through ANY church meeting, let alone a two hour one, where I was not disturbed even once by one of my kids.

And guess what?

It was boring.

Turns out I would rather be disturbed. I am USED to being disturbed. I function better with a healthy dose of distraction going on. What in the world are you supposed to do in church meetings if you aren't digging in the bag for crayons or telling somebody to shut up? I was forced to sit still today, and pretend to be paying attention for the entire time! And I didn't like it. I never really appreciated, until today, the amount of boring meeting time I have been spared over the past 22 years, thanks to my kids.

It's not just at church either. I can't sit still and listen to anything anymore for more than 4 minutes before I want to jump out of my seat. Whenever I go to a movie, I have to get an aisle seat. I tell people it's because of my weak bladder, but really I just need an easy exit for when the urge to bolt hits me. I have a hard time paying attention in a one-on-one conversation. Give me three on one, that's what I'm used to.

And now that my kids have completely decimated my attention span, they are going to all grow up, develop long attention spans and move to France and leave me with nobody to be distracted by. I thought that old saying was just a joke- about insanity being inherited from your kids. But now that it's too late for me, I know it's true.

Creative Endeavors

2011-09-15T22:41:00.000-06:00

Even though most of September has been consumed with seeing Alisa off to France, normal life has continued around here as well, often at breakneck speeds. It seems as if we are always rushing off to one affair or another. And when we finally get home, and it's time to put up our feet and relax, we look out in the yard and see.....

Peaches.

Hundreds and hundreds of peaches, waiting to be picked, then washed, then eaten, canned, baked, or frozen. We have had peach pie, and peach cobbler this week, and peaches with almost every meal. I made a dorky attempt at canning some peaches late last night, but I don't believe I am cut out to be much of a canner. I think I got more peach flesh on the floor and on my shirt than actually in the bottles. I had peach pits and peach skins everywhere. Fortunately, my mom and dad came to the rescue today, and agreed to take on most of the 50-plus pounds of peaches we picked in just the last day.

This was our tree just a few days before we started picking. It doesn't look much better, yet, but I am sure it feels better, after shedding all of this, and more...

This is our overgrown pumpkin patch. Audrey stuck ONE SEED in the ground, and we've got about 30 baby pumpkins coming.

And in other Audrey news, her newest hobby is balloon animals. Late into last night, and first thing this morning, you could heard the squeaka-squeaka as she twisted her balloons into amazing shapes....

...flowers, bunnies, giraffes, starfish, and of course, dogs. That girl has the heart of an artist.

I most definitely do NOT have the heart of an artist. But I did manage to shove the furniture around, and I like it better, even if Dan does not.

We now have an actual living room, with our "good" (i use the term loosely) couches in here, where everybody who comes in the front door can see them and be impressed with our good taste.

And the "casual" (which sounds so much better than "old") furniture is now in the family room. It seems roomier in there now, and I don't care if the kids put their feet on the couch. That ugly pink chair? It was my Grandma Paulson's chair. It stays. One day we will paint and put something on the windows. Maybe.

In other creative news... I believe I mentioned a peach pie that I made this week....well, I attempted to make a homemade pie crust, which I used to be kind of good at. I'm not good at it anymore. After an epic fail at getting the pie crust from the counter to the pie pan, I gave the dough to Audrey and Olivia to play with While I went to the store in search of the perfect pie crust, they made these:

Olivia's masterpiece...

(It's a dog, I think)

And here is Audrey's...

Oh, and here is my pie. Crust courtesy of the refrigerated pie crust section at our local Smiths.

It wasn't bad. I may never use a rolling pin again.

No How

2011-09-14T05:27:00.000-06:00

Stuck in my craw at the moment:

WHY CAN'T I SLEEP? It is 4:30 in the morning and I am no closer to sleep than I was at 11:00 last night. Or yesterday morning at this time, for that matter.

WHERE ARE THOSE PAPERS I NEED? There are papers all over this house except for the ones I need.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH ALL THESE PEACHES? We have peaches everywhere at the moment. The kitchen counter, the tree, the ground, the freezer. They are ripening faster than I can decide what to do with them.

WHAT SHOULD I PACK FOR SCHOOL LUNCHES? Don't say peaches. That's not funny.

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE? Seriously, what? Beyond the obvious, I'm really not sure where things are going most of the time.

WHO CAN FIX MY CAR? Nobody can seem to fix my car. It's been to the shop 3 times in the past couple months, the original problem has never been fixed, and it's running worse than ever.

WHEN CAN I GO TO FRANCE? January? March? Never? Just need an answer please.

That's pretty much everything bugging me right now. Well, not really everything. But that's all I'm telling you.

Flown

2011-09-10T09:53:00.000-06:00

FOUR days? It's only been four days, since my girl got on an airplane and flew half way around the world? Why does it feel like four months?

Does she look tired here? It was five in the morning. We stayed up til one, then were up again at three. I don't think she was to sleep again for at least 48 hours. Does she look scared? I would have been. Saying goodbye at the airport was sad, but not awful. I hugged her tight for a long time and tried really hard to commit the feel of her to my memory, enough to last a few months at least. It wasn't enough.

We miss her. She hasn't lived with us for two years, so it's not a day-to-day, getting up and missing her at the breakfast table kind of missing her, but all day long at random times, I suddenly feel compelled to check the world time feature on my phone, just to see what time it is in France. I try to imagine what she might be doing. She feels very far away. I wonder if she is sleeping okay. I just wish I could call her. I CAN call her and I HAVE called her, but it's not like we can just hang out on the phone for an hour like we used to. We can't send random texts throughout the day all day long . Maybe I should create a paypal button on my blog, and start collecting donations for my long distance calling fund. It's a charitable cause. Calling your daughter is an unavoidable necessity at times, is it not?

She tells me to keep the blog updated so she knows what is going on around here. At the moment, that would be not much. Kids are watching cartoons. Dan is working in Logan, of all places. We are arguing about who should mow the lawn. I am trying to introduce Duncan to the wonders of facebook. He is not impressed. Olivia is whining, somebody is making toast, and Maggie is crunching away on her dog food. I wish we could zap Alisa here just long enough to make some waffles and finish watching the movie we started Monday night.

The Six of Them and the Eight of Us

2011-09-08T02:42:00.001-06:00

It's been over a year since we took family pictures. And with Alisa leaving, it will be at least another year before we are all together again. The one thing I really wanted to do before she left was to get somebody to snap a few shots of our whole crew together. And of course it didn't happen. Of course I procrastinated, and forgot about it. Until 10 pm on the night of her farewell party, as we were walking out the door, when it suddenly occurred to me that this was it: this was the last time we would all be together for a long time. It was dark by then, and we were all tired, so these pictures most likely will not win any photography awards, but it's the best we've got.

Okay. So maybe we scream white trash in these shots. We look like we just got back from camping or something. But I still think there's hope. A little editing, a little photo bucket magic, and some of these shots could so be a Christmas card! Or maybe an Awkward Family Photo entry.

And I love Olivia's face in some of these. I think the whole story of the night can be told in her expressions. It is also giving me pains that the better shots are blurry. Stupid camera.

F Minus 22 Hours and Counting....

2011-09-05T10:09:00.004-06:00

22 years ago today, Mitch arrived into our lives and turned me into a mom. Has it really been that long? Ugh. Makes me feel old. Who am I kidding? I AM old. And now, in just 22 hours, my second born is leaving for France. She has been planning and working for this for a long time now. Her departure always seemed "out there", in the future, and now, all of a sudden, it is upon us. Time for a new lesson in long distance parenting. A new adventure for all of us.
We have been cramming a lot of family time into the last few days, as if we can store it up. Like somehow we will miss her less if we spend more time with her now. I don't think it works like, that, but we have had some good times since September started.....

Introducing Hair Wars....

The Objective: To be the sister with the longest hair in 9 months time. Can they go that long without a trim???? Alisa is starting with a small advantage. Audrey opted for the layering strategy. Time will tell who the victor will be....

It's just a friendly little competition between sisters. Ignore that evil glint in Alisa's eye. She was fishtailing. Thats all. Not plotting anything at all with the scissors.

Hiking up to Dog Lake, sans dog. I don't know if Maggie could have made it, but she sure would have had a great time if she did. Dogs everywhere.

Where did all these tall kids come from anyway?

And then it was Birthday Party time! Mitch was such a good sport about sharing his party with Alisa. Especially since he made last minute plans to spend his actual birthday in Bear Lake with friends, and we wound up crashing Alisa's going away party with birthday cake and presents. It was a good time.

I believe this is the last year the number of candles on his cake will correspond with his actual age. 22 candles takes too long to light. Not to mention we had more candles than cake!

Grandma and Grandpa have hosted Alisa all summer. They were kind enough to host her "TTFN" party as well.

Where's Will?

Does this even look like her?

And today's her last day IN COUNTRY as they say. It seems like your last day in a country should be spent doing something momentous. The reality of it is she is probably going to spend most of the day packing and cleaning. And waiting. Just waiting for her new life to start tomorrow. Probably tonight we will all be waiting for sleep. I don't think we will be getting much. We have to be at the airport at 5 o'clock in the AM tomorrow- her flight is at 7. And yes, the plan is for ALL of us to go to the airport and send her off en masse with a good old fashioned Metcalf family circus act. Oh, she is going to miss us.... (insert evil chuckle here)

JoJo Says Don't Forget Your Umbrella

2011-09-02T15:08:00.005-06:00

September 2 and it's already cat lady crazy around here. I mean, more so than usual. If we make it to the end of September and nobody has run off to the looney bin, it will be a biblically proportioned miracle, and I am going to call the Vatican.

First off, I am having panic attacks about Mr. Farmer Next Door, who informed us last week that he is going to start irrigating again. We all remember, do we not, what happened last time he decided to turn his water on. Our on-again, off-again contractor buddy, who has been sort of kind of finishing our basement, promised us he would get our sump pump in by the end of next week. Of course, he also promised us we could be sheet rocking by Pioneer Day. When you translate the phrase "end of next week" into Contractorese, the time frame on that could be anything from tomorrow to next Flag Day. But if you employ a little optimism, the sump pump and gas line could possibly be done next week, insulation and sheet rock the next week, then finishing, paint and carpet would be a point on the distant horizon, provided you close one eye and squint a little bit with the other one. Our goal of having a family room for Christmas may actually come to pass. After our wiring hullabaloo though, I am not holding my breath. Our one day wiring project turned into a 3 week long, 9 person square dance, complete with a hoe down and bluegrass jam. Seriously. There was a bluegrass jam in my basement during the wiring hullabaloo. Banjos and all. It was in Duncan's room, though, since the amplifiers needed power, which, ironically, was not yet working in the family room. I'm not complaining though. You can flip a switch on the wall and the lights come on down there, and that is all that matters. That's more than I can say about some people.

Flying object number two is that Alisa LEAVES THE COUNTRY IN 4 DAYS. I am not yet processing this fact. Somewhere in the back of my head, a squeaky little voice named JoJo is telling me that in 5 days, my daughter will be wandering around Paris all alone, a tiny wad of Euros in her pocket and pulling her lone suitcase along behind her, trying to find a kind looking person who speaks English, to ask directions to the train station. And it will be raining. And she won't have an umbrella. For now, I just keep ignoring JoJo, but JoJo is growing every day, and by Tuesday, she will be nearly too big to contain inside my brain. Which is why I took Wednesday and Thursday off work. JoJo and I will be sitting side by side on my couch by then, sharing a diet Pepsi and a Dove bar. My cell phone will be in my hand, just in case. Just in case of what, I don't know., but I'll be ready for it. And after I get the news that Alisa has arrived safely at her dorm in Caen, I am going to kill JoJo with my bare hands.

On top of basements and floods and continent changes, there are other changes coming too, also continent-sized for us. . But sadly, I'm not ready to openly admit to them yet. I am still thinking about all of it. I'm slow that way. Now, I really hate when you are reading a blog and the writer hints at some massive happening in their lives, but won't dish about any of the details. But if you know me, you probably already know what is in the works. And if you don't know yet, then maybe you shouldn't . Or maybe you should. I don't know. Maybe you should call me. Or text. You know who you are.

Campin'

2011-08-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

Dan and the girls just walked in smelling like campfire. From the look (and smell) of things, they had a great time....

I hope this isn't their only camping experience this year. I haven't yet given up hope that we can still squeeze in our family camping trip sometime in September.

t.g.i.f. t.g.i.f t.g.i.f t.g.i.f

2011-08-27T00:35:00.000-06:00

It's Friday night......which means we survived the first week of school-boo yah! Dan and the girlies are gone on a father-daughter camp out, so me and the boys are just hanging around the old homestead being boring. We did take advantage of being Olivia-less and caught a showing of Harry Potter tonight. Duncan has been really wanting to see it again. While we were at the theater, he spotted a movie poster for the Hunger Games and got all kinds of excited. I didn't know he had read any of those books, but apparently he read the first one at school, and one of his teachers is a big fan. He was pretty fired up about that poster. He might turn out to be as movie-obsessed as his old man.

Pretty soon I am going to have to start thinking about the fact that in 10 days, Alisa is leaving the country for 9 months. It's coming- I can see it coming, I just don't know what to do about it. I can't really imagine not seeing her for that long. I CAN imagine driving myself crazy worrying about her. How is she supposed to survive a continent and an ocean away from her mommy? How am I supposed to survive? Really, how am I supposed to get any sleep at all when she is that far away? What is she thinking anyway? She doesn't know a soul over there! She doesn't speak French! These are the questions and thoughts that zoom into my brain when I let it wander into that territory. So it's better to just veer it in the opposite direction for now. I'll have plenty of time to sit up nights worrying in only a few short weeks. Why start now? My one consolation is that MY mother is going to be up at night worrying right along with me.

Today Olivia asked me why we don't make cars out of the same stuff that trampolines are made of because that way, the cars would just bounce off each other and not crash. Okay, so her physics are a little flawed. But you've got to admire her reasoning and problem solving skills on that one!

Mitch is, I think, settling into the routine of college life. He is at least recovering from that initial shock of the sheer weight of class load that crashes onto your shoulders and makes you stagger those first few days. He doesn't have as much reading as he first thought he did, but adjusting to studying again, after a few years off, is going to take some time. I hope he hangs in there. I think he will.

Will got his school pictures taken today. He was a little bummed that I only ordered the deluxe picture package, rather than the super supreme primo package. He felt he was better than deluxe. I told him to be happy he was more than basic. He is such a funny kid. He is funnier than he even knows.

Audrey turned in her papers for ballroom today. Ballroom is kind of a big deal. A certain number of sixth graders get to go to school early two mornings a week to take ballroom dance lessons. Wow, you might be asking yourself, ballroom dancing and early mornings? Where is the appeal in that? That's what I am asking, but around here, it's the Thing to do, so by golly, we are hoping she gets to do it.

I think that's an update on all of them. Did I leave anybody out? Well there's me. And Dan. But we are boring. We work. We take kids places. We eat. We sleep. That's pretty much it. And that's okay for now.

Disclosures

2011-08-23T22:02:00.001-06:00

My hand is tired. From printing and signing my name and the date 18 times. That's right, 18 different disclosure forms to sign today. 2 kids in secondary schools = 8 teachers a piece + two more kids with one teacher each in elementary, each one of which feels it necessary, or perhaps is required to, send home a 2 page list, single spaced, of instructions and requirements for their class. I as the parent am supposed to read all this stuff then sign my name that I am aware of whatever it is they want me to be aware of. I think I used to read all of this stuff, back in the days of Mitch and Alisa's public ed careers. It took a couple years, but eventually I figured out that it all says basically the same stuff, and I will never remember any of it anyway. So now I just sign. And sign. And sign. I think tonight I gave permission for both the boys to talk about embarrassing stuff in health ed, I promised to slap them upside the head if they use the Internet at school to look at porn, and I swore on my right kidney that I understand that if they slack off the first 8 weeks of the semester, they may not be able to pull an A at the last minute. I also promised not to complain to the teacher about anything, BUT I now feel comfortable contacting all of the teachers with any questions or concerns I may have. I was reassured so nicely about that last one, and so many times.

Mostly I do love teachers. We have had some great ones. Audrey is already in love with her new teacher. She has gum days AND a treasure box. And rumor has it that Olivia's teacher is the most coveted first grade teacher in the school. A few of my neighbors have already expressed their envy over the fact that Olivia lucked out and got her. I have learned not to always believe the hype though, so we shall see. I have a feeling that Olivia's teacher and I may get to know each other really well this year.....

Day One

2011-08-22T16:24:00.000-06:00

The first day of school, and the 3:30 doldrums have already set in. Its the worst time of day. Everybody, mostly me, is grumpy. Everybody, again, mostly me, is needy, hungry and tired. In 16 years of being a mother of school age kids, I have not found a solution. I do know that the 3:30 doldrums are not cured by after school snacks, after school chores, more organization, or a cleaner house. This year, we may institute an hour of mindless television from 3:30-4:30, just to get us through.

So. The first day. A few snafu's. Duncan forgot his schedule, and Olivia forgot her backpack. He printed a new one off at school and we went back home for the backpack. Olivia's teacher is pregnant. I'm not happy about that. The last thing that girl needs is any kind of disruption to her life. After school, I got yelled at by the principal for not using the crosswalk. So I turned around, and gave her my most withering stare. Nothing like getting our relationship off to a good start this year. Duncan got on the wrong bus after school. He said he got to the last stop and he was the last kid left on the bus and didn't know where he was. But he told the bus driver where he lived and the bus driver brought him home. Thank you kind bus driver!
Olivia got school lunch for the first time today. She had a cheese stick. I paid $1.60 for a cheese stick.

A few good things too: Will says he is going to love his French class. And he has lunch with his friends. Olivia made a new friend named Elizabeth. Nobody had homework. And Audrey's teacher is funny. We had smore's for an after school snack. We roasted the marshmallows over the gas range.

Only 179 days to go.

First day pictures:

Audrey was thrilled to be getting her picture taken in front of the whole school


Here she is in her new desk!

maybe we will remember to take last day of school pictures in this same spot, to see how much everybody grows this year.

Mitch started classes at Weber today too. He left the house at seven, to catch the train and then the bus. I told him he had to get his picture taken too, but he never came out. I will track him down later. Unlike the rest of the crew, he has a TON of homework to get to.

Denial and 26 Pictures

2011-08-18T22:33:00.000-06:00

Next week is back to school. Yuck. I don't want to talk about that. We can't change it, can't slow it down, but nobody can make us think about it. There is no school shopping going on around here, and FOR SURE no adjusting bedtimes or routines. That stuff is for sissies.

We are living like rock stars this week. Cake for breakfast. Roller coasters for lunch. Beach parties for dinner.
We've got baseball games and outdoor plays to hit. We are BUSY in the fast lane.

And until Sunday night, about 8 o'clock, we are just going to go right on pretending that summer is never going to end.

Last week, we spent an afternoon in the mountains with Grandma and Grandpa, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and throwing stuff in the water.

Yesterday was Lagoon with cousins. No pictures. Well, there ARE pictures, but they are on my phone and it is a pain to send them here. It was CROWDED. Duncan rode 5 new rides. I had to drug him and bribe him, but we got him on the Ferris wheel, the tilt-a-whirl (oh my stomach!) the Dragon, the Sky Ride, and the Odyssea. He even went down the lazy river at the pool a couple of times. This is a major accomplishment for him.

Today was Willard Bay. Best day of summer so far, I would say. Water, sand, sun, smores. What else could anybody ask for?

Must have at least one tantrum per outing

Good sports!

Wiped out

In other summer news, Alisa got her visa! Mitch got a promotion at work! And paid his tuition and got his books! But talking about that would be just a little too close to the topic of school for me to feel comfortable discussing much more.

Winning! A Text Transcript

2011-08-13T00:40:00.000-06:00

between Will and his mother, regarding a sleepover, all spelling and grammar is preserved in the original...

Aug 12

4:54 pm- Can two of mike nate morg (if not all three) come up for a one-night sleepover plz. this is the last week of summer plz.

5:20 pm- Not tonight but maybe one day next week. I need Dad to be home.

5:20 pm- K

7:03 pm- Can we plz have a sleepover! i dont think it will work out any other night besides this one we would be quiet and it would be one night and maybe audrey could have alicia come too maybe if it is all right and maybe i could clean up the kitchen by myself for free wheEVVVVVVEEEEERRR U want me to

7:05 pm- Maybe pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

7:23 pm- Plz

7:42 pm- <:l pleez

8:08 pm- REPLY!

8:14 pm- reply please

8:21 pm- sorry not tonight.

8:23 pm- Pleaaaaaase ill give u a pizza bagel i swear it will only work tonight only two are coming this is the last sleepover of the summer!

8:27 pm- PLEASE!

8:27pm- sorry not tonight

8:30 pm- ill be ur bes friend ill clean the living room and the kitchen and everybody would help and.....And PLEASE

8:30 pm- Sorry myth tonight

8:32 pm- MOTHER! pweez pweez pweez <:( ill give u a hug a pizza bagel and ill clean the and ill do anything for it pretty much

8:33 pm-Sorry not tonight end of discussion

8:33pm- No theres a sequel please with all my feeling and soul please

8:34 pm- Plan it for another night

8:34 pm- We had this planned for a week!

8:35 pm- That funny its the first i heard of it

8:36 pm- Not u! Us

8:37 pm- sorry myth tonight

8:40 pm- Please. heart n soul please. last sleepover of the summer. we r trying to live like were dying and ur making us die like were dying just two of them

8:43 pm plz

plz

8:44 pm- sorry not tonight now stop bugging me i am not changing my mind

8:44 pm- yes u r

8:55 pm- Mom seriously please last sleepover for the summer the title should be enuf to convince u

9:00 pm- we will do any favor you want. :)

9:05 pm- I want you to quit bugging me.

9:05 pm- we wont ask for any snax or anything uts okay with all the other parentz

9:05 pm- okay next week then ill stop

9:07 pm- yes. next week. Even Sunday maybe. MAYBE.

score one for the mom team.....

Working from Home

2011-08-10T21:37:00.000-06:00

We are home today, making another valiant attempt at cleaning up this house. It's a losing battle, especially in the summertime, with kids home all day, cooking pizzas and eating popsicles and having playdates. Nonetheless, it is a battle we I must continue to wage, especially on days like today, when the cleaning and organizing bug has bitten me. So onward and upward we go, until tomorrow, when everything we get done today will be a tattered mess at our feet once again.

The laundry room. I am starting there. It's 2:14. A leetle late to begin a giant clean up project, but lets just see....

3:28. The laundry room is clean, except for the floor which people keep piling clothes on. It looks 94% bigger, thanks to all the clutter and garbage being vamoosed. Only got interrupted a few times, once to cut a pizza and pour some milk, once to put a pork roast in the crock pot, once to find out that my neighbor FINALLY had her baby yesterday, and once to tell Olivia that if her friend wants to get her face painted, Olivia needs to let her, and stop whining. Olivia fancies herself the director of all activities, social and otherwise, for everyone that enters through the front door of our house. It can make for some very long playdates. Now, on to take care of all the debris I loaded out of the laundry room and into the kitchen....

5:20. Kitchen in progress. Finally got around to cleaning that burned on goo out of the drawer below the oven. It's only been there since we moved in. Took a break to bake cupcakes with the four girls that are here. Olivia and her friend are now having a great time dumping out leftover sprinkles onto a plate and then grinding in cupcake crumbs and eating it. Oh well. Whatever keeps them busy....Audrey and her friend ate 3 cupcakes each and retired back to her bedroom, door closed.

6:26. I am about to tackle the pantry. Been cleaning out cupboards for the past hour. Also dealt with the traditional meltdown from Olivia when it was time for friends to leave. Duncan and Will are doing a good job of procrastinating mowing the lawn. Dinner also has to happen at some point this evening.

8:01. Dinner over. Boys at scouts. Mitch is now procrastinating the lawn. I need to change my playlist. We are sick of ABBA.

9:26. Pooped. We'll give it another go tomorrow.

Vistas and Visas

2011-08-07T22:23:00.003-06:00

Last night around midnight I finally laid eyes once again on my oldest child. That's Mitch. Remember him? He lives here, but sightings are sometimes rare, which is as it should be. He had been camping all weekend in Zion National Park. After a very long ride home with some very loud girls, he looked very ready to be home, but said he had a great time, and even hiked Angel's Landing, which is one of those things that as a mother, I don't mind hearing about until after the fact. I would have had puppies worrying about him if I had known that's what he was doing yesterday. But since I was ignorant, I was off hanging with my work buddies and having a wonderfully oblivious time. He had a great time too and did not fall off the mountain so all is well that ends well. I'm glad he was able to do that climb, it is beautiful , but I'll be honest, Angel's Landing scares the crap out of me. Especially thinking about my kid up there...

Then, in another example of motherly angst, Alisa flew off to San Francisco today for her long-awaited visa appointment. Once she gets the visa squared away, (hopefully tomorrow) she will be ready for departure to France. She has been working on getting everything ready for quite a few months now. It's crazy how much documentation she needs. It's crazy how complicated and ambiguous the whole application process was. It's not like there is a list of specific documents you need. There is a list of POSSIBLE things that MIGHT come up that you might possibly be required to show, if you can even figure out what they are talking about in the first place. Here is an example of what she has been up against in trying to get everything ready. This is taken directly off the French Embassy's website, talking about if you are required to show up with fingerprints:

"I am aware of and consent to the following: the collection of the data required by this application form and the taking of my photograph and, if applicable, the taking of fingerprints, are mandatory for the examination of the visa application; and any personal data concerning me which appear of the visa application form, as well as my fingerprints and my photograph will be supplied to the relevant French authorities and processed by those authorities...."

Sheesh, it sounds like it was written by a foreigner or something!

Anyhow, we are crossing our fingers, toes, eyes, and everything else we can possibly cross in the hopes that she has everything she needs, and all will go smoothly tomorrow.

Oh, and here is weird karma for you: Alisa has had this San Francisco trip in her plans for a long time. The only way to get a visa to France is to go to San Francisco. So what does she get as tip from one of her customers at work this week? A BART pass. BART is the train in SF. She said she didn't even mention to this guy that she was going there, but they left a $5 bill and a BART pass as her tip. A few days before she was going there! Weird weird weird. She must be living right or something.

Super Troupers!

2011-08-03T00:45:00.000-06:00

Tonight the

Super Trouper lights are gonna find me

Shining like the sun

Smiling, having fun,

Feeling like a number one

Tonight the super trouper beams are gonna blind me

But I won't feel blue

Like I always do,

Cause somewhere in the crowd there's youuuuu

Yeah, we had all kinds of cheesy fun at our ABBA concert. The band was amazing- they really did sound just like the original. It was a GREAT night with all the girls. In fact, this may have to become a Metcalf girls summer tradition.

Better Days

2011-07-28T11:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was a better day. New friends came to play, I weeded the flowerbeds and made plans to dig out some more bushes. Getting a little dirt under my fingernails always seems to improve my mood.

I didn't do all of this yesterday. I've been working on the front porch area for a while now. It's a work in progress, but it's coming along. I think it's a big improvement over those nasty bushes that were there.

I also failed to mention that we fit in two parades for Pioneer Day this year. The kids rode in the Pioneer Day parade in Cedar Fort, which the town was kind enough to host on Saturday, which meant that Dan could come. He had to work Monday, and it would have been a bummer if he had missed out on all the festivities. That parade lasted about 5 minutes. Then we had the annual barbeque and trough swim at the old homestead. Good days.

Grandpa Dan's pride and joy.

And really, have you ever seen a finer bunch?

Kids also got to be on the radio with Grandpa Dan. He has a little studio set up in his basement and does a bluegrass radio show every Saturday afternoon that is broadcast in Heber.

On Sunday night our friends from Duchesne came to stay overnight and we ventured out to the BIG parade in downtown SLC. This parade did not last 5 minutes. This was a PARADE. With motorcycles and floats. Politicians and prophets. Clowns. And much to Olivia's delight, Ariel on a big ship. Olivia also perfected her parade wave, in anticipation of the day that SHE is the Days of '47 Queen.

And tomorrow all us girls are going to an ABBA tribute concert- hence the fine new playlist on here! Can't wait for that show-- It is one of my proudest accomplishments as a parent that ALL THREE OF MY DAUGHTERS know all the words to every song on the ABBA Gold album. We try to focus on the really important things in life around here!

Still Home

2011-07-26T22:50:00.000-06:00

I took the kids with me to Logan today. I worked, they played with old friends, and then we played some more before it was time to come home. Leaving there wasn't easy tonight. It was all I could do to gather up my things and and pull my children out of the creek at Merlin Olsen Park, where we were this evening, and make the drive home to Syracuse tonight. I wanted to stay so bad. I wanted to go back to my tiny little house on 500 East with it's tiny little house payment, and sit on the front porch and have back the life we used to have.

Most days I have some measure of optimism that we are capable of adapting to life on the edge out here. Most days are okay, and I know that we will eventually come to feel like this is home. One day this house will turn into ours, all of our clutter will find a place, and we will make memories here that will give it that familiar feeling of home.

Right now, it doesn't feel like any of that is going to happen, and it doesn't feel like we are any closer to that than we were 16 months ago. In the grand scheme of things, I know this is an insignificant problem, but it's my problem and since this is my blog, I get to whine about it for a bit.

I miss everything about our old life right now. I miss our east-facing house. I miss my backyard and the back gate that led out to the park. I miss living within walking distance of every possible necessity of life, from the hospital to the movie theater to the ice rink to the university. I miss swimming at the Sports Academy.. I miss Smith's Marketplace and Lees. I miss Angie's.

I miss our friendly little school, where every teacher and the principal, and most of the other students, knew my three kids by name. I miss the parks, the big trees, and the old houses with the awful cracked sidewalks. I miss the free bus, and being able to be anywhere in 10 minutes or less. I miss the stadium lights you could see from our front yard.

I miss my friends. I miss my 5 minute drive to work. I even miss my dentist.

Logan was home for 12 years. It still feels like home. Life seemed simpler then, when the kids were littler, and all of our problems seemed littler too. Tonight I just want to go home.

Carpe-ing our Diem

2011-07-22T23:04:00.000-06:00

This house is a disaster. We've been so busy working and playing and constructing things that we haven't even thought about cleaning house for at least a week. We haven't been home enough to mind it too much, other than the lack of clean clothes, but between the laundry, the bathrooms, the kitchen and the dog hair, I have a good three days worth of hard labor piled up waiting for me. So, when we got up this morning, and finally had a free day with no plans, we buckled down and did what we had to do: we went to the pool.

Really, what else could we do? We do have a summer bucket list to conquer, and July is sneaking out on us. We are going to be out of summer before we know it. We can't pick the best pool in Davis county if we haven't visited them all now, can we? Come to think of it though, the last couple of pools we have visited weren't even in Davis county. we are going to have to edit that bucket list item to the best pool in the Tri-County area, tri being Davis, Weber and Salt Lake.

My house may have the last laugh though. I'm pretty sure I broke my toe today, in an epic splash battle with Will. It is killing me right now, and is twice the size that it should be. Gimping around trying to get caught up on chores with a busted toe would be really funny now, wouldn't it? I can almost hear those dust bunnies laughing at me. But guess what? We're not staying home tomorrow either. We are going to a parade. And if the weather is good on Sunday, we will find something else to do. And when I DO finally stay home, I'm going to be in the basement, putting in insulation. Take that, you stupid messy house. I'll see YOU in October.

Friday the 15th and 50's

2011-07-15T11:45:00.000-06:00

Another work day for me, another birthday party for Audrey. This one had a 50's theme, which she dressed up for, but since I was at work, I missed snapping a picture of her. Maybe I can talk her into dressing up again tomorrow for a photo shoot. We could not locate a poodle skirt, so she went more with the pedal pushers and bobby sox look.

And that's about the extent of the excitement around here. Tomorrow I plan to spend hanging with the kiddos. They have been left to their own devices entirely too much over the past two days. And I'm not even half way through my work schedule for the week. Yuck.

Framed on the Fourteenth!

2011-07-14T21:44:00.000-06:00

And it starts!

Our basement finishing project has officially commenced, which means there will be lots of terribly uninteresting pictures on here documenting our slow but hopefully steady progress.

We opted to open up the door way into the family room and make it a big entrance. Unbeknownst to us, Cory (our neighbor and contractor, and perhaps my new best friend) opted to put an archway in too. I'm not sure about it yet.....I like the way it looks, but we had also toyed around with putting some kind of door on here. It would have to be a big folding door, as a sliding door isn't going to work, so it might be kinda klugey anyway....

This is our future fireplace.

And just look at all that lovely lumber. It's amazing. This would have taken us days and days to get done. They had it done in less than a day.

And still perseverating on that archway....

Next up, all that really boring and expensive stuff - wiring, plumbing, gas lines....all the things that just don't pay off well in pictures.

Lucky 13

2011-07-13T21:06:00.000-06:00

For a while this morning I thought I lost my phone at Lagoon. But lucky me, I only lost it in Emilie's car.

I made my kids clean out the window wells, and they thought that was cruel and unusual punishment. But lucky them, they found a frog down there and I let them keep it.

At first we thought the frog was dead, but Will put him down in some water, and lucky frog, he revived. He is very fat and potato colored, so the kids named in Tater. We are going to take him to the pond by our house in another day or two.

For a while this afternoon, my kids thought they were going to have to stay home all day doing nasty chores like cleaning out the window wells. But lucky them, I had to go get my phone back from Em's, and she invited us all out to swim in her pool. Lucky, lucky kids had a great time.

Since we were headed out there at dinner time, we stopped and got some pizzas, so lucky us, no dinner to cook and clean up after.

Now I have a rather long and daunting string of work days ahead of me, but lucky me, at least I have a job.

12th Day

2011-07-12T23:58:00.000-06:00

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad. ~Arnold H. Glasgow
And takes you to Lagoon on her company Lagoon Day.

July 12 was Sneak-Off-To-Lagoon-with-Your-Best Friend Day. Sorry if you missed it- it was not well publicized since my kids were not invited. But it was awesome. Emilie is the perfect friend to go to Lagoon with, because we agree on most all of the rides. Neither of us will go near the Wild Mouse, and neither of us like Jet Star much. We rode Wicked, and it was wicked, but we only rode it once because we are old now, I guess. I would swear the Rocket is higher this year. I don't remember being even with the tops of the mountains. We got drenched on Rattlesnake Rapids and tried out the new roller coaster too. Then they had to stop down the sky ride for us while we stashed our water bottles somewhere. It would have been nice to know we couldn't take water bottles before we were standing there ready to jump on the seat. I never had a ride shut down for me before. That was kind of cool, and of course it would happen with Emilie. Things like that tend to happen to us when we are together. Thanks for inviting me old friend!

July 11 and its getting a little Harry around here...

2011-07-11T22:38:00.002-06:00

The benefit of having a film critic in the family means that SOME of us got to see an early screening of Harry Potter tonight. The last movie. It's the end of 12 years of anticipation. Waiting for the next book, waiting for the next movie.....now we are going to have to find something else to look forward to.

I can't talk about the movie yet. I am sworn to secrecy by my kids, who don't want it ruined for them. I am also still processing. This was a huge emotional deal for me, okay? I need some time to adjust here, and get my feelings in check. All I can say at this point is, oh Snape......

I'm taking the rest of us to see it on Saturday. Maybe a second viewing will help me resolve some of the emotional conflict in my heart....

Tired Tenth

2011-07-10T10:26:00.001-06:00

We vowed to do nothing today, and very nearly accomplished it. Our home teacher came over and we straightened up a bit for him, then Alisa came out later so we whipped up some taco salads for dinner. Other than that, we were in full-on vegetation mode for the day. How is it that doing nothing makes the day go by so fast?

99th on the 9th

2011-07-09T22:19:00.003-06:00

It's not every day to you get to attend a 99th birthday party. She was much more interested in the food than in getting her picture taken, but Dan's Grandma Ruby turned 99 on July 11, and the family celebrated with a big reunion in Lehi for her on Saturday They have done this every year for the past five years, every year thinking this might be her last. But so far she is hanging tough. Here's looking forward to her 100th birthday party next year.

Oh and p.s......the sleepover WAS disastrous...only because of Olivia, who kept us up all night screaming with bad dreams. I think we got her a little too wound up what with all the cousins and parks and action. I think we will hold off for a bit on those sleepovers....

Crazy Eighth

2011-07-08T23:48:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the First Annual (and possibly Last Annual) Metcalf Cousin Fest!! Joining in the festivities tonight, we have four Metcalfs- Duncan, Will, Audrey and Olivia- three Yates- Jacek, Sydney and Stockton, and two little Jacksons- Savannah and Miranda, for a grand total of nine brave souls taking part in this experiment. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision to have EVERYBODY stay over on the same night. Something that we just jumped into without thinking about too much. But first we had to drive to Brigham City to trade Alicia back for Will, then we hurried back home to get the cousin party started.

I guess it could have been a disastrous idea to have 5 extra kids spend the night, but so far everybody has gotten along just fine. We had a spaghetti dinner, played outside, and then went over to the electric park when it got dark.

Now we are all home, teeth brushed, prayers said, and tucked into various and sundry beds/ bunks/bags around the house. The night is still relatively young. It could still be disastrous. But for the time being, all is quiet.

Tomorrow we head down to Lehi to return everyone to their proper homes. After that, I have to admit I am looking forward to having no one but my own kids in my own house for a while. Between scout camps and Logan comings and goings, it has been a while since we've all been here together.

A Rambling Itinerary of July 7

2011-07-07T22:52:00.000-06:00

Caught the sunrise at the bird refuge by our house this morning with my mom and pop. Heard a LOT of birds. Spotted only a few. Watched herons nesting through a telescope at Farmington Bay. The online pictures of Farmington Bay are more impressive than the in-person experience. Still, a good morning.

Had a girl's afternoon at the mall with Audrey, Alicia, and Olivia, shopping for stuffed animals, video games, bath stuff, and friendship necklaces. And of course we stopped for chocolate at Mrs. Cavanaugh's.

Took in an evening movie at THE Kaysville Theatre. That is the official name and website- THE Kaysville Theatre. It makes me chuckle. Tonight's movie was Rio, which the kids had seen but I had not. It was about birds, so it was like our day had a theme.

And if you have not been to THE Kaysville Theater, it is one of those not-to-be-missed Davis County experiences. It's like how the Nazis would run a movie theater. Before the movie starts, a big old list of instructions appears as a power point presentation on the screen, informing you of all the do's and dont's of attending a movie there. Like don't even think about trying to buy tickets in advance. You can only buy tickets about 20 minutes before the show, and NO SAVING SEATS. Have your money out and ready to pay. Know how many people you are buying tickets for BEFORE you get to the ticket counter. Know which movie you want to see BEFORE you get to the ticket counter. Don't complain if you get there late and the movie is sold out or you get a crappy seat. Get your seats before you buy your treats! They go into all the reasons why you are not allowed to bring in your own food (it smells bad and is messy-think hot dogs!), and you even get a history of the theater, and a run down on their basic philosophy of business and picking which movies to show. Then, after all that, this public service announcement from the 70's comes on, which shows two guys sitting in a movie theater, only all you see of them is from the crotch down. One guy is very clean and neatly stacks his garbage by his feet, then picks it all up at the end of the movie and leaves the theater. The other guy is a big slob and drops his popcorn, spills his drink, and throws his garbage all over the floor. He also twitches and fidgets all through the movie. When he gets up to leave, he leaves his garbage there, but steps in gum before he can get out of the theater, at which point it is tradition for everybody in the theater to yell "EWWW" really loud at the screen. Then a very stern voice comes on, warning you that "ITS YOUR CHOICE. PLEASE DISPOSE OF ALL WASTE IN TRASH RECEPTACLES!" And then, only after you have been properly indoctrinated, the movie starts.

So after the movie, it was just starting to get dark and was turning out to be a lovely evening, and we decided we would head over to the electric park for a bit. But first we stopped by home very quickly for some bug spray and a bathroom break. No kidding, in the five minutes we were in the house, the wind picked up and an awful storm blew in. By the time we were climbing in the car, it was raining buckets. We drove over to the park and sat forlornly in the parking lot for a few minutes, hoping against hope that it would clear up enough to play. We even tossed around the idea of running around in the rain, but it was windy and cold, so that idea was not that appealing. In the end, we wound up back at home eating ice cream.

The Sixth

2011-07-06T22:16:00.001-06:00

So. What happened today, Mr. Sixth of July, that makes you worth remembering?

Hm.

I worked an extra shift in Salt Lake today. But the only thing worth remembering about that is to NOT take any more extra work shifts in July. July is not a good month for working extra hours, because something better to do will always come up. You could point out that I am only paying my dues, and that between skydiving, car repairs, holiday jaunts to Logan, and Howard Jones tickets, (July 9!!! eeek!) our budget is a leeetle stretched right now. You could point out that my bank account will thank me for my token efforts today. But sometimes, working just really crimps my style.

Today is our 16 month anniversary of moving to Syracuse, and in honor of that random date, I learned how to program our sprinkler system. I was really hoping that somebody else (DAN) might take on that task, but alas, it never happened. All last summer, the sprinklers came on seven days a week for 10 minutes at each station. Can you say overwatering? Kind of defeats the purpose of an automatic sprinkler system, dontcha think? Now, fingers crossed, if I did my job correctly, they are going to come on every three days and water different amounts of time for each station.
There are still dead spots in our lawn though, where the sprinklers don't hit. I guess my next step will be to figure out that part too. I already know how to pull them up and change the filters. Which is really more than I ever wanted to know about sprinklers. But dang I feel handy!

That's about it for the Sixth. It's time now for my nightly date with my front porch, the moon, and the mosquitoes.

Fifth's Disease

2011-07-05T22:54:00.000-06:00

I guess every day in July can't be a party.

We should have spent today recovering from our long weekend, but instead it was back to work bright and early this morning. The kids went with me to hang out with friends. They don't "play" with their friends anymore. They "hang out". They are too cool to play. Except for Olivia. She still plays, thank heavens.

Work was brutal. A record setting day. I ate lunch at 4:00, which was the soonest I could get any kind of break.

Now the house is a mess. There are swim noodles laying on the kitchen counter, along with a pile of dirty dishes. Olivia spilled water all over the floor and tried to clean it up with paper plates. We ate dinner at 9:00.

And nobody, most of all me, cares. I just want to sit on the porch and do nothing except swat mosquitoes and stare at those amazing Syracuse skies.

Going Fourth

2011-07-04T20:43:00.003-06:00

We crammed in a little bit of all the really vital Fourth of July activities.

First we went swimming.

and hot tubbing.

Then we hit the parade in Hyrum, where Duncan got to sit next to this really exciting lady who slept through the whole parade. I believe she was related to the witchy lady who informed Audrey that she could only get the candy that was thrown directly in front of her, and that she could not invade the space where the lady was standing. She actually made Audrey give back the candy that she felt she was entitled to. The worst part? She didn't have any kids with her. She was just standing there being obnoxious. I hate people like that. It's too bad that Audrey's dad didn't know about this little exchange until the parade was over. Then we could have seen some real fireworks.

I hope she choked on her salt water taffy.

AACK! That's her! That's the witchy lady, in the background of this picture, in the red shirt. Grrr. While I am being petty and unforgiving, I must also mention that this same lady complained long and loud when a group of Hispanic men on horses rode past in the parade. She kept saying that this was an AMERICAN celebration, and it should only be for AMERICANS. Oh, wait, she must be in charge of handing out the AMERICAN cards in Hyrum. How else would she have know whether or not those guys were American?

Okay, enough ranting. Look at that cute girl in her Walmart special patriotic t-shirt.

Look at all those tall kids.

In spite of the mean lady, we still got plenty of candy and free stuff. I'm not sure when parade-going became a competitive sport, but it is all about how much candy you can get now.

Then we met up with some friends for the Hyrum fireworks. They didn't compare to Clearfield's fireworks last year, which we were sad to miss, but it was fun all the same.

Sleepy kids watching fireworks. Olivia is faking being asleep though.

I will not mention how terrible it was that I had to work for two hours. What kind of unpatriotic people get sick on the fourth of July?

We left Hyrum about 11, and got home around midnight, with just enough time to unload the car, fall into bed, then load everybody back up to go BACK to good old Cache Valley for a day at work for mom and a day with friends for kids. What a whirlwind!

III

2011-07-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

Our busy July continues. At 2:30 this afternoon, we had the brilliant idea that it would be great fun to get a hotel room in Logan tonight. By 3:15, (record time for us) we had reservations made, and four kids packed and in the car. At 3:20, we were still sitting in the driveway, trying to get the garage door to shut. I hate our garage door. It can be very temperamental in bright sunlight. It gets half way down, then changes it's mind and goes back up. Then it goes a third of the way down then changes it's mind. I would have given up, but Dan kept at it until he finally sweet-talked the stupid thing into into closing all the way. But by 3:25, we were on the road. By 3:30, I realized I forgot my purse so it was back home again. Still, we made it up here in time for me to take a quick dip in the pool and get into work by 5. Now here we are, hanging in the hotel room watching a Mr. Bean movie and eating pizza and Oreos. Alisa and Bennett dropped by for a bit on their way back from Bear Lake. We forgot a hairbrush and the kids have broken the bathroom drain already. Will tried his best to connive us into letting him have a sleepover tonight with some of his Logan buds, but we have held strong and are determined to have a mini family-only getaway and have a good time doing it darn it!

Tomorrow, we plan on the big decision of the day being whether to swim at the pool or go to the parade. So far, the decision is split. We might have to vote on it.

July Second

2011-07-02T23:01:00.001-06:00

It's gonna be a busy month, full of sprinkler fights...

Summer Concerts,

Dancing in the park in pajamas,

climbing things and playing in the water,

and helping little sisters across raging rivers

until they can do it all by themselves.

We love July. Every minute has to count though, because it doesn't last long enough!

Livin the Dream

2011-06-30T22:21:00.003-06:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST IS ONLY FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES AND CONTAINS A SIGNIFICANT POSSIBILITY OF BORING YOU TO TEARS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

AACK! How can it be the last day of June? I HATE the last day of June. I hate the last day of every month in the summer. It's just another painful reminder of the fleeting nature of it all.

Feeling all nostalgic and everything, I went around the house snapping pictures of the way everything looks tonight. One day, for me anyway, it might be entertaining to look back and remember that awful lamp we had in the living room, and how small the rose bush used to be. It's also a great snapshot of what life around here REALLY looks like, since I didn't bother to spruce anything up before I started snapping away. This way, when my kids have kids, and I am the fussy grandma who thinks their rooms are pigsties, and why do they let those kids get away with stuff like that, they can shove these picture in my face to remind me of reality.

So, gulp down a Provigil (that's a pill to keep you awake) and take a tour of Life as it Really Is Around Here. Or not, whatever.

Welcome to our humble yet patriotic abode....

These little puppies are finally blooming in the front yard, and it makes me so happy. I nearly killed this plant off last year from lack of water.

Hooray! The Laundry Room! One day, I am going to switch the washer and dryer so that they go up against the window wall, which anybody with half a brain can see is how it should have been designed in the first place. Moving it now involves plumbing, electrical and sheetrock, so it 's gonna have to wait a while.

These are our beloved cubbies where we store all the kids crap. See that stack of clothes? Those are all Will's. Which makes me wonder what in the world he packed for a week at scout camp. Did he take ANYTHING?

Olivia is probably on the trampoline because she can no longer get into her room. See pictures below.

Weed whacking. Once he gets going he just can't stop. The trick is getting him started.
The cluttered family room that still does not have curtains. Or window treatments as my designer aunt always calls them. Whatever you call them, I need some.

And Olivia's room. It was clean this morning I promise. And the bed was made. It always looks like this by the end of the day.

Audrey's room. We have been contemplating the green sample on the wall for 3 months now. Can't quite dig up the energy to paint. Soon, though, soon. And her stupid fan thing won't stay up either.

The bathrooms. Why did I take pictures of my bathrooms? Because all three of them got cleaned today. It is a rare and happy thing to have all of your bathrooms clean at one time.

The dog, following me around with a look on her face that says why are you taking pictures of the bathrooms?

My poor poor living room, in desperate need of an extreme room makeover from RC Willey.

Duncan. Service with a smile. Such a good boy.

The dandelion in the geranium planter pretty much sums up life around here.

It's a tomato. It's struggling. Audrey planted her pumpkin seed RIGHT next to it which isn't helping. Also, we have 2 other tomato plants that sprouted from the seeds from last year's tomatoes. They look better than this one. Next year: planter boxes.

I don't think anybody really believes me when I tell them about my peach tree and it's overabundance of peaches. There are at least 12 peaches on this one foot section, and the ENTIRE TREE looks like this. And this is after we have thinned at least 500 peaches off the thing already. I am getting really tired of murdering those poor little babies, but the tree is still so loaded, there is no way it is going to be able to be a good mommy to that many peaches.

I keep forgetting what this bush is called but I love it. I stole this from my yard in Logan after we moved, along with my bleeding heart bush.

And the amazing miracle rose bush. When we moved in, this was a big scary monster. We attacked it with our neighbors pick up truck and chain and pulled out what we thought was the whole bush. But then this little guy popped up and we are going to let him stay. Just like in Jurassic Park, life finds a way.

What to watch in this picture is the Easter basket and Easter eggs hanging from the bannister. Maybe by the 4th of July we can get them put away.

Will's room. He is missing this bed right now, I bet. Why he doesn't have sheets on the bottom bunk I don't know.

Duncan's room. And yeah, that's a queen sized bed in there. Duncan's got the best room in the house. Big closet. Lots of floor space.

Mitch's room and a shot of the dresser we inherited from our neighbor. Mitch was in desperate need of a dresser, and our neighbor had one he was giving away. Serendipity.

Hopefully, one of the last shots of our unfinished family room. No, we have not started on it yet. Yes, it is still in the plans.

The storage room. Would love to finish this room too, but it's not gonna happen this year, or any time soon.

The kitchen was relatively clean today. It's seen better days, but it usually looks worse than this on a summer evening. Who wants to clean up the kitchen when it's the last day of June?

Next year's project may involve getting rid of this catch all counter. Unless we decide to do the deck. Decisions, decisions. That is, if we aren't starving to death, homeless and bankrupt by next year.....

And thats the end. That's what life looked like around here on the last day of June. Oh, I didn't get any pictures of us cleaning out the gutters. That was fun. We'll probably do it again soon.

Car Chats

2011-06-28T21:48:00.001-06:00

We drove to Duchesne and back to get Audrey today.

Six hours in a car in one day is a long time.

It's a lovely drive, but there is not a lot to do between here and Duchesne.

But we got two great kid quotes out of the deal, so it was worth it!

Olivia, about two hours in to our drive, after having asked at least 6 times if we were there yet- "Mom, you said we were almost there."

Mom- "We ARE almost there."

Olivia-"Then WHY am I still in the car?"

And then, on the way home....

Audrey- "Mom, if we are ever on a plane, and it crashes in the mountains and we get stuck there and you die, I don't think I could ever eat you."

Monday Morning

2011-06-27T07:55:00.001-06:00

7:30 on a Monday morning. I have already sent Will off for a week at scout camp (he was not that thrilled about going), ran four miles (intervals-yuck), made my bed (there was nobody in it for once), watered the flowers and started the laundry.

What is WRONG with me? Getting old and jumpy I guess. Now I'm going to get dressed and go in to work for a while. When I get home tonight, it'll be just me and Livvi - everybody else is scattered off in different directions doing their own thing. We might have to take in a movie or something.

This is a picture of Alisa's knees.

She fell down while running at the pool. How many times have I told her not to run at the pool? A lot.

And I am supposed to let her just fly off to France by herself???

And THIS girl:

has been in Roosevelt all week. Apparently, contrary to popular belief, Roosevelt IS the cure for summer boredom, because she doesn't want to come home. She has been staying with friends and having non-stop girl fun. But she is coming home tomorrow. I'm driving to Roosevelt to get her. I miss her. Livvi misses her. We need her back.

This is not a picture of Will leaving for scout camp. This is a picture of Will a few weeks ago, right before a big old hike he went on. But this is pretty much how he looked this morning, only he was wearing the hat, and he had an enormous backpack on his back. He had just about that same degree of excitement as well, maybe a smidgeon less. Here's hoping he has a good time. The good news is, Duncan went to youth conference a couple of weeks ago, so when Will gets home, all of our summer camp-type things are behind us, and the rest of the summer is ours to waste.

Mitch thinks he needs a Toyota Forerunner. He is going to test drive one today. I think he needs to save his money for school. But what do I know, right? I'm old and jumpy.

While I Was Working

2011-06-25T17:40:00.000-06:00

Last week at this time, I was still coming off my sky diving high. This week, I am just trying to recover from a hell week of working full time. I know lots of people with kids work full time. I just don't know how they do it. My week was a bit longer than most, given my 2 hour daily commute, and the fact that I got 45 hours in this week, which my boss does not yet know, and will not be happy about. Anyway, while I was off earning the bacon, all of the following was taking place at home:

-the dirty laundry reproduced itself several times over and attempted a hostile takeover of the house.

   -summer made an appearance, causing the grass to dry out and turn yellow, because we had not yet turned on our sprinklers for the season

    -all of the food got eaten, even the yucky stuff.

   -the mail---oh the mail. It needs it's own room.

-somebody messed up my closet. Oh wait, that might have been me, searching for something to wear every morning which is the worst part of working every day.

Dan and the kids managed pretty well to keep the kitchen under control. The animals are still alive. That's good. I guess. Now I am back to my regular schedule, which means I have to work again on Monday. So we only have the weekend to get things put back together before it starts all over again. Today's goal was going to be getting the laundry under control. But then we decided to work on the sprinklers, which should have been a quick job, but turned into an all day adventure and included two trips to Home Depot. The good news is that the sprinklers are now on, so no more dead lawn. The bad news is that Will leaves for scout camp at 6 AM Monday morning, so that laundry has GOT to get done before then.

   -

Planes Parachutes and Pools

2011-06-20T14:09:00.001-06:00

Crossed a couple more items off the old bucket list this weekend....

First off, early Saturday morning, I JUMPED OUT OF A FREAKIN PLANE!!!

Yes, that is really me! And it was AMAZING!

Skydiving was not an item on this summer's bucket list. It has been an item on my lifetime bucket list since I was about 18. It was one of those thing that I never thought I would really be brave enough to do, but the opportunity presented itself this weekend, and in a moment of insanity, I thought, why the heck not?

There were two days in between when I committed to go and when we actually jumped, and during those two days I really thought I was going to die. I was definitely going to throw up on the way down too, and probably pee my pants, if not worse. What if my tandem jumper guy forgot to fasten all the hooks? What if the wind came up at the wrong time? What if the jumper guy on my back had a heart attack on the way down and passed out? What if I chickened out at the last minute? I was awake the whole night before, dreaming up disastrous scenarios. I'm good at that.

No worries. Scott promised to push me if I couldn't jump.

But I jumped. Once you get up there in the plane, it's kind of too late to back out. The guys that jump with you are really good at just pushing you along and making you think you can do it. It was about a 20 minute ride to get up to 12000 feet, where they jump from. By that point, I was scared, but not as scared as I was the night before. There wasn't time to worry about anything. Before I knew it, we were at the edge of the plane, and then we were out. I just remember looking down and seeing the ground coming up at me rather quickly. Then I realized I was free falling, and it was ME heading for the ground, not the other way around. It was freezing cold, and we were falling at 120 mph, and the wind was hitting my face so hard I couldn't breathe. If I opened my mouth, my cheeks would flap around and my mouth got all dry, but it was impossible to breathe through my nose.

Then after about 90 seconds, the parachute opens and whips you up and the wind and the noise dies and you can breathe again, and all of a sudden it's so peaceful and gorgeous and warm, and you know you're going to live, so you can relax and enjoy the ride and the view.. We did a couple of spins and dives, had an amazing view of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, and all of Ogden.
Landing was a breeze. All I had to do was put my feet up, and it was like sitting down in the dirt. I was expecting a little more impact, but it could not have been smoother. And I didn't lose control of even one bodily function. Other than all that screaming that happened during the free fall.

And here is the hero shot with the two other brave souls who jumped at the same time as me. We couldn't decide if we wanted to be Charlie's Angels or the guys from Armageddon.

And here is the whole crew that jumped with us that day. Probably the most fun I have ever had. Scary and exhilarating and inspiring all at once. I would highly recommend it.

After that, we headed to Cherry Hill to make some headway into our goal of finding the best swimming pool in Davis County. We had free passes from a radio contest we won. Dan also got to compete in a Father's Day game of musical chairs, to win $1000 and a barbeque, but he got muscled out in the fifth round by an enormous Tongan dude.

The kids had a great time swimming there, but we didn't get any pictures. The pools and slides are really fun. There is a huge pirate ship, and some rapids and some fun mermaid stuff that Olivia really liked. There is one good sized regualr old style pool just to swim in. The lazy river is WARM and the tubes are free, both of which are worth a lot of points in my book. It's pricey though, and I'm not sure the extra bells and whistles are worth it. The kids would probably have just as much fun at a city pool for about a third the cost. So our search for the perfect pool continues.

Summer Firsts

2011-06-16T17:53:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was hot, like real summer. As in hot enough to play in the water. Which made it the perfect day to meet up with cousins and go to the Children's Museum and to the FOUNTAIN, which makes that particular item the first to be crossed off the old bucket list! I'm pretty sure that fountain will get another couple of visits from us this summer. Even Olivia, who was traumatized with a face full of water last year, when she picked the wrong moment to closely inspect one of the little holes in the concrete, and was blasted with a face full of water. She had to think about it this year before she got out there, but once Aunt Amy offered to loan her some sunglasses, and after a few reassurances that she was bigger and smarter this year, and had learned her lesson, she was up and running through the spray with all the rest of them

Today is not so hot. It's windy and cloudy again. But that's okay, because there is a lot of stuff going on around here to keep our minds off the weather, like....

-Mitch getting a new job! He got the call today, and was he ever flying high when he walked out of here to go put in his two week notice at Walmart. He starts training tomorrow- it's at a gym so he gets a free membership, and they said they would work around his school schedule. Here's hoping it works out good for him. It's full time, so he is gonna be a busy boy.

-Alisa getting her one way ticket to Paris....she leaves September 6. I think I am in denial about it all. We are all just pretending like we aren't completely stressed out over the whole thing.

-Duncan leaving for youth conference today. They are going to Idaho woo hoo! He'll be home Saturday afternoon, so it's a quick trip.

-Audrey having her first "real" paid babysitting job yesterday. She is going to babysit every Wednesday morning for one of our neighbors. She is loving the idea of making some money. There are LOTS of little kids in our neighborhood, so she has the potential to make some real cash. We'll see how long it takes her to get burned out.

-Will being the one lucky kid in our family to go to the screening of The Green Lantern, even though he had to go in his wet clothes, because his mother is not forward-thinking enough to bring some clothes for him to change into, even though she KNEW they were going straight to the movie from downtown. Oh well, he survived.

-Olivia and her friends enjoying their first popsicles of the season today. Me yelling at them to pick up their stupid sticks and wrappers. Ahh, now it really feels like summer is finally here.

Summer Bucket List '11

2011-06-12T23:03:00.001-06:00

Following in the footsteps of my lovely and talented cousin, who has a summer bucket list to kill for posted on her blog, here, in no particular order, is our own Metcalf version of what WE really need to do before this summer kicks the bucket:

1.Go barefoot whenever possible

2.Buy Slurpees every chance we get

3.Wear lots of bright nail polish on our toes (but only if you are a girl)

4.Go camping

5.Plant something in front of the porch

6.Sleep outside on the trampoline

7.Stargaze

8.Find some really fresh corn on the cob

9.See the last Harry Potter movie

10.Go to Bear Lake

and

11.Get a chocolate raspberry shake for the way home

12.Go to lots of garage sales

13.Find the best outdoor pool in Davis county

14.Sleep over at Grandmas

15.Go to an outdoor concert

16.Play in the fountains at Gateway

17.Go to Lagoon

18.Watch fireworks

19.KEEP THE FLOWERS ALIVE

20.Get some glow-in-the-dark sidewalk chalk

We could go on and on, but that should be plenty to be getting on with, considering it's already the middle of June.....

Oy Oui!

2011-06-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

A few days ago.....

we got an official-looking package from France.

Madamoiselle Alisa came over to open it, and even though we already knew what it was.....

we were all a bit taken aback when she opened it and it was in FRENCH! (not all of it, but some of the really important stuff)....Anyhow, she interpreted it well enough to find out that...

Its Official! Our girl is accepted into the University of Caan to study French for the 2011-12 school year!!

Now the REAL work starts.....visa, financial aid, loans, airline tickets.....she better get to work!

Early Summer

2011-06-06T09:52:00.004-06:00

Well, here we are on the first official day of summer vacation, and I must say I never envisioned this day starting off quite so..... early. The little girl that we had to physically dig out of bed every single morning of the school year came bounding into our bedroom at seven this morning, bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to start the day. She was in the driveway with her 3-D sidewalk chalk by eight.

I dragged myself out of bed around 7:30 to find Duncan, breakfast ingested, fully dressed and sitting at the computer. What the heck??? It's SUMMER people! Sleep in a little bit, for crying out loud!!

The bright side of all of this is that it is a beautiful morning, and once I was conscious, I was glad to be out of bed. I even set the completely whacked and totally unrealistic goal of getting up early every morning this summer. Honestly, probably not gonna happen. But it was nice to be up and at 'em THIS morning.

We have Alicia staying with us for a few nights. In the middle of the night, Alicia decided it would be a good idea to color on Audrey's face while she was sleeping. And Audrey of course returned the favor this morning.
These two have been best buddies since they were babies. They are less than a year apart in age, and on opposite ends of the height spectrum, but in every other way they are exactly alike.

Poor old Maggie.

She is 13 now, deaf and arthritic, but she is hanging in there for now. I was feeling nostalgic and thinking about how much longer we might have her, so I tried to get a decent shot of her, but she is such a sap, it's hard to do. If you call her name, half the time she doesn't hear you. The other half of the time, she gets up and comes over to pant and drool on you and stand on your lap. She just doesn't get the concept of portraits. She's a good dog though. Except for the dog hair. And the dog poop. And the barking. And the whining, panting and drooling during thunderstorms. Other than all that, she's a dream.

Pure Imagination

2011-06-04T13:36:00.000-06:00

I am just not myself today.

Today I am Daisy.

I am the servant to the wicked stepmother and her two evil daughters, and friend to Alexa (aka Olivia), whose father died not long after his marriage to the wicked stepmother. I was left on the porch as a baby, and they took me in and raised me, so I am not officially a family member, but they treat poor Alexa about the same as they treat me. We are both no more than slaves to these awful people.

The plot may sound familiar, but it is about to thicken. Alexa and I are getting ready to run away. There is a masquerade ball tonight, and even though we have finished all of our chores, AND we have lovely dresses to wear, the wicked step mother is not going to let us go. And that is just the last straw. We get barely enough to eat here, and we have to work all the time. Alexa thinks we can get by in the woods, eating berries and peaches, and cutting down some trees to build our own little house.

I'm not sure. Building a house and growing berries and peaches sounds like as much work as being a servant, but Alexa says it will be better because we will have our freedom. And since she is the controlling player here, the plot will twist and turn according to her fancy, not mine.

So we are off, to the front yard, to gather some leaves to make a fire and pick some baby peaches. Wish us luck!

The Last Day

2011-06-02T09:25:00.000-06:00

Life as I know it is about to end.

In fact, it pretty much already has.

And there is nothing I can do about it.

The last day of school is fast approaching. And then, all bets are off. It's a whole new ball game after that. The house crumbles around us, bedtimes fall by the wayside, insanity ensues.

The high school is supposed to be in session until Friday, but Duncan declared his last day to be yesterday. And I agreed with him. Books have all been turned in, yearbooks distributed and there is nothing at all going on. And Duncan doesn't do well without some structure. I dropped him off at school yesterday at 7:30. It was yearbook day-no classes, just hanging out in the halls signing yearbooks. He called me two hours later, and was ready to go. Three people and a teacher had signed his yearbook. What can I say? He is not a social animal. And autism sucks.

So anyway, Duncan is home today. But even with him here, I am still counting this as my last day of sanity for the next 3 months. The other kids have school until tomorrow, but I am working tomorrow, which means today is pretty much it for me. After today, I will not have a moment's peace until late August. So I am debating how to spend my few remaining hours. Watching Rachael Ray? Doing laundry? Tracking down that nasty smell in the kitchen? Oh, the possibilities are endless.

Look out summer, here we come.

More of the Divine Miss O

2011-05-30T22:40:00.000-06:00

Olivia had on the perfect outfit for the day's weather conditions. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of her in it. She started out the day in her pink and green striped springtime skirt and a purple shirt with a frog on it. Later on, when we decided to go downtown, we told her to go put on some tights to keep her legs warm. And of course she picked the red tights with the snowflakes on them, then donned a turquoise jacket over her t-shirt. She looked awesome, and since it snowed in Layton today, the tights seemed very fitting.

Anyhow, since we didn't get an invitation to anybody's barbeque, we headed downtown for a free Joseph Smith movie and lunch at Gateway. We also stopped off at the visitor's center at Temple Square and took the kids up to see the Christus statue. Olivia, sprawled out on the bench in front of the statue, in her glorious outfit, looks up at Christ and says, "I really miss Jesus. I haven't seen him in over six years." Love that kid.

The Price of Their Toys

2011-05-28T12:58:00.000-06:00

What is the dumbest toy we ever bought our kids?

There are so many to choose from....

The $140.00 Life Size Barbie that Alisa HAD to have the Christmas she turned four, that she looked at once and then never touched again. Barbie wound up at Dan's work at USU, standing in the hallway and scaring unsuspecting co-workers as they came around the corner.

The $50.00 Millennium Falcon we bought for Mitch that he didn't even ask for. We just thought it had the ultimate in coolness factor, and would make us the best parents ever. That one kicked around the bottom of the toy box for a decade before we chucked it. The real irony here is that Duncan got a tiny little Millennium Falcon out of a Taco Bell kid's meal, that everybody wanted to play with, and that he took everywhere he went for a couple years.

Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. Sorry, I know they are classics. That's why I bought them. But they just can't compare to Lego's. And nobody could ever get a decent roof on the log cabin anyway.

I was thinking about all this yesterday afternoon, which I spent sorting through the piles of tiny plastic toys in Olivia's room. Olivia and her friends, meanwhile, spent the entire afternoon on the trampoline, with a blanket as their only imaginative prop. Every time I looked out there, they were completely immersed in one pretend drama or another, and having an excellent time.

A 15 year old trampoline and a $15.00 blanket. That's all they needed to not only keep themselves entertained, but also completely out of my hair. In three hours, not one whine, complaint, or fight.

I wish I had my money back.

Georgia On Her Mind

2011-05-26T16:01:00.000-06:00

This is Georgia O'Keeffe, famous artist.

And this is Audrey, at the 5th Grade Night at the Museum, portraying Georgia O'Keeffe, famous artist:

I know! Pretty good resemblance, huh? All created with common household items found around our house. Amazing.

Each 5th grader picked a famous American from history, researched them, wrote a report, then came up with a short speech to present about them. It was supposed to be like a wax museum, where the kids would freeze until somebody comes up to hear them, then they come to life, give their speech, and then freeze again. We heard from everybody from George Washington to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, from Ben Franklin to Thomas Edison, and from Walt Disney to Oprah. It was fun!

Here is Audrey's speech about Georgia O'Keeffe:

Hello. I am Georgia O'Keeffe. I am a famous American artist who was born on November 15, 1887. When I was 10, I was determined to become an artist, and I loved flowers, so I decided to paint pictures of flowers up close. Once, later in my life, I even sold one of my paintings for one million dollars! I married a famous photographer named Alfred Stielitz, who loved my paintings. I was presented the National Medal of Arts by the 40th president, Ronald Reagan. I died on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98....good day.

Only five more days of school left.....

Lost and Found

2011-05-23T07:17:00.000-06:00

Yes, the Livvibug has had her fair share of acclaim on here of late. But yesterday, Audrey was looking for some paint for a school project she was working on and we couldn't find the paint anywhere. I couldn't even think where the paint should be. We've lived here over a year- you would think by now I could keep track of stuff like that, but the location of paint was just not coming into my brain.

So Olivia piped up and said she knew where the paint was: "It's in the drawer where you keep everything else I'm not supposed to use."

She was right. We found the paint. I'm glad that somebody knows where everything is around here. Especially the stuff she's not supposed to use.

Birthday Guests

2011-05-21T14:07:00.000-06:00

Well, we didn't mean to schedule Olivia's birthday party for the day before the world ended. It just worked out that way. But if it really had been the last day of life as we know it, I can't think of a better way to spend it than with a bunch of six year old girls, watching their eyes go big and their mouths drop open as Ariel the mermaid walked into the house and announced she was there for Olivia's birthday party.

It turned out to be the best thing we could have done for her party, if only because Olivia loved it so much. She could not take her eyes off Ariel, and kept hugging her and telling her how beautiful she was and how much she loved her.

Olivia got crowned as the birthday princess. We had spent the last few days talking about being a nice hostess at your own birthday party, and being generous and making sure all your guests have a really great time. So I was a little worried when Ariel announced that the birthday princess always gets to go first at the games, and be the first to choose songs and activities. But Olivia took it all in stride and was a perfect angel. No meltdowns, no tears, it was a fantabulous birthday party. Everybody had fun, played mermaid games and sang songs and listened to Ariel tell her story. Then they got their picture taken and got to make a crown. I got to sit around and take pictures. Happy Happy Happy.

Ariel had to take a few tough questions too. A few of the better ones:

"My mom says mermaids aren't real." (answer: well, here I am. You just never know.)

"Where are your clam shells? 'Cuz I have a doll of you and her clam shells NEVER stay on! (I don't think she really had an answer for this one)

"I saw you in Disneyland. You kissed my brother and embarrassed him." (answer: I remember him. He was so cute!)

"Can you come to my house? I live right around the corner!" ( maybe, but you have to ask your mom)

"Why are you driving a car?" (because they don't like me to take my carriage on the freeway)

"Where do you live?" (I live in Denmark. I came a long way for Olivia's party.)

Audrey and her friend were at the party too, and the funny thing was they were every bit as enchanted with Ariel as the little girls were. They got their pictures taken and made crowns and played all the games. When Ariel said she lived in Denmark, Audrey's friend leaned over to me and whispered, "Did she really come from Denmark?"

Just goes to show you- they might look like big girls, but they are really still just pretending. A princess can still win them over pretty easily.

Tall Tales

2011-05-18T22:39:00.000-06:00

Don't tell Olivia, but she is currently the family shrimp.

I'm not calling her short. None of my kids qualify as short. In fact, I'm pretty certain that my long-held dream of having a jockey in the family is never going to be realized. But in relation to her siblings at the same age, Olivia is not on the same growth curve.

We measured her height yesterday on the our trusty famiy 2x4, where we keep track of everybody's heights at different ages. She is running a good two inches shorter than Duncan was at 6, and Duncan was a couple inches shorter than anybody else in the family at that age.

Not that this means anything.

Growing up, Mitch was always the tall kid. Everybody thought Mitch was going to take after his two grandpas and hit 6'4 or 6'5. But he seems to have topped out at 6'1. I guess in some families, 6'1 would be huge, but for Featherstone-Metcalf genes, it's not that tall at all.

Duncan, who was pretty average as a kid, has now passed up Mitch in height, and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down yet.

And Alisa- she never even made it to the back row in elementary school class pictures! I used to tell her she would never be as tall as me. And now she is 5'10, pretty tall even by our standards.

Will and Audrey are too young to tell yet. They have both always run on the tall side of things, but I'm done guessing. It seems to be a crapshoot. For all I can tell, my shrimpy Olivia will be the one towering over the rest of them someday.

Even with her height challenges, she says that so far, being six is fabulous.

I'm Six, I'm Six, I'm Six Years Old Today

2011-05-17T00:15:00.001-06:00

When I was one,

I had just begun.

When I was two,

I was nearly new.

When I was three,

I was hardly Me.

When I was four,

I was not much more.

When I was five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,

So I think I'll be Six now,

Forever and Ever.

-A.A. Milne