The Weekly List

Here we go. 

In no particular order....

1) We're harvesting broccoli!  It's a rich dark green and absolutely delicious. 

 2) The weather got warm (and then got cold again, but I'll get to that in a minute), so several dinners have been enjoyed outside and the grill is in heavy commission.

 3) The kids have been living in the backyard after school on every day that it is sunny. They come in sweaty and caked in mud.

 4) and with ticks on their abdomen.  Awesome. This little sucker was a menace and he's probably the biggest tick I've ever seen. Gross gross gross.  I learned from some research that you're supposed to save the tick after removal, just in case Lyme or other symptoms show up.  Having the tick can actually help diagnose the disease for more effective treatment if necessary.  After watching a friend battle (and beat!) Lyme for 3 years, I took no chances.  The little bugger is living (er dying) in an empty baby food jar. Hopefully, Reese will be just fine.

5) After a year of growing it out, I finally got a hair cut the day after my birthday.  It definitely needed to be cut to take care of my damaged ends and grown out bangs mess. I'm not married to the style, and definitely not in love with having layers, but it was an experiment and it will grow back, and my hair was so trashed I needed to do something. I totally loved the stylist I went to but holy cow, $45 for a cut + $5 for a tip = I left thinking, "did I seriously just pay $50 for a haircut?!  Yes. Yes I did." I made an appointment for color for next week but I'm canceling it.  A full weave starts at $100. This girl will live with the grey for awhile.  I don't know how all my "blonde" friends afford to maintain their hair color.

 6) My baby falls asleep anywhere and my preschooler is twice as cute when he sleeps with a book on his chest.

7) One of us said something about a "banana split" and got blank stares from the kids.  They had no idea what a banana split is.  We felt like failures. We canceled all plans, drove to walmart and got the basics, and had an impromptu banana split party with mandatory excessive toppings an hour later.  Priorities, people.

 The cute banana split dishes belonged to my parents. They received them as a wedding present (circa 1969?) and I coaxed my mom to give them to me a few years ago.  We use the milkshake glasses more often, but I'm glad the banana split boats got some good use last week.

8) My dogwood trees and irises are blooming. Gorgeous! 

 9) I guess no one in my house eats eggs unless I am around to cook for them. I came home to 5 dozen eggs in the fridge. The kids are anxious to make some cash so stop on by and get a dozen if you need fresh eggs from Big Willy harm.

10) I caved and joined instagram. It's where it's at. ("it" meaning family.) So far, insta has more food, more cute babies, less whining, less cat memes, and less politics.  Winning!  Come follow me (banananutmeg1) if you aren't one of those people who posts a lot of the last three things I just mentioned ;)

11) After a few days in the high 80's, we woke up to this lovely scene on May 3.  Snow in May. The good news is that my garden survived!!!  Some plants and most of the flowers don't look so hot (I doubt I will get any peaches or cherries this year), but they're alive, so it could have been much worse.  The broccoli, peas, asparagus, cabbage, and spinach all look pretty fantastic after the snow, actually!

12) Quincy is a tooth pulling champ. She woke up with a baaarely wiggly tooth, and had pulled it out herself by lunchtime at school.  Unfortunately, then she and her friend decided to play with the tooth (gross.) and it ended up getting lost somewhere between the gym and her classroom after P.E. She wrote this note and was pleased to still get money from the tooth fairy.

 The really funny (read: gross) part is that she actually FOUND the tooth in her classroom (gross again.) the next day. "It was in my friend's cubby, Mom!" (so basically, either her friend had handled Quincy's tooth, or Quincy brought home the tooth of another child.  Either way. barf.)  She tried to get money a 2nd time but we cautioned her against double dipping and she thought better of it.  She refers to her gap-ey smile as "my hole" and the less teeth she has the stronger her lisp gets.  She asked our friend, Pam to wiggle a few of them today at church ...which Pam was happy to do (gross!)  (You might remember that she's the only one who's successfully pulled any of Reese's teeth) but they aren't loose enough yet. I give them until the end of the week.

13) Let's hear it for my niece, Taylor Lawrence, who made the 2013 BYU cheer squad! I can't believe she is graduating high school, already.  I'm so proud of her and her hard work.  The girl is driven and dedicated.  More importantly, I'm proud of what a nice girl she is.  She is kind and compassionate  and modest and just beautiful inside and out. She shares her testimony and her talents and lives the gospel. Rise and Shout, Tay! We are STOKED to watch you cheer next year! 

14) After a month of neurotically keeping the house spotless for nothing, we got two showings in one day.  Of course, these showings were scheduled for just 8 hours before I arrived home from my weekend in Ca, when Aaron had been home with the kids for three days. I freaked out about not being home to clean it, but Aaron did a really nice job and the house looked good.  

The following day was my birthday and I got a nice bday surprise of another showing!  Apparently, one of the showings had not shown up the day before and rescheduled for the next day and there was a miscommunication. No big deal, the house was clean and I was on the way out the door anyway, but it was still unnerving to hear strangers walking into my home!  I'm just glad it wasn't 30 minutes earlier, or they would have found me in the shower! hahaha! 

15) Speaking of showing the house...the house hunt is making us (me) crazy.  

I'm ready to just find a rental for the next year and call it good. I really need to make plans for preschool next fall.

16) Aaron took a pic with his phone but we can't get it to load.  Last Friday was Purple Pinkie Day at Cooper Elementary. My girls willingly donated their $1 to the cause and joined the fight against Polio.  In solidarity, I wore a purple shirt in California. Hopefully, I'll be able to volunteer at the next one. 

17) So on Friday, for Corbin's Time, I took him to Jump Zone.  Knowing he hadn't pooped in 3 days, I put him in a pull up...because a) he never poops in the toilet and b) there are plenty of places to hide and do bidnezz in Jump Zone.  As predicted, after about an hour, 4 boys came flying out of the giant squid slide with their hands over their noses. "It stinks in there!" and then down comes Corbin with a look of pure satisfaction on his face, and a pull up so loaded that his pants puckered.  He totally blew it up in there and evacuated the entire slide. The final clue (as if I needed one) was when he started running toward me and I said, "Corbin, did you poop?" and he froze, then backed up and changed courses, diving into another inflatable house before I could catch up to him.  I discovered I had only one wipe left in my bag about 2 minutes too late into the changing/clean up process.  There's no place to set an infant down in a public restroom, so I strapped Soren onto the changing table, and stood next to it to change Corbin.   I was just beyond this point of no return when I realized I had gone into battle under supplied and with one hand holding Soren secured to the table and a crying poopy 3 yr old wrapped around my leg (burning those jeans) I used the other arm to reach for the paper towel holder, which only dispensed useless fragments of paper towels at a time.  

So what do you do?  I would be amazing in battle. I hawked a fat loogie, and fashioned an incredible spit wad with my tiny paper towel bits, and wiped my kids but with it. Once he was clean enough that he could move without disrespecting the bathroom floor, I unstrapped Soren, sanitized everyone and everything with soap AND hand sanitizer, re-dressed Corbin, and we were on our way.  Victory!  

 

18) I'm so happy to be home. I spent last weekend with Soren in California visiting my sweet grandmother.  I had hoped to make it out there while she still knew who I was, but I was too late.  She may not have known who specifically I was, but she did know I belonged to her and that I was there to give her comfort and that's what is important. I also loved seeing the rest of my family and the entire weekend was fun, difficult, spiritual, emotional, and 'stuffed to the muff' with good food, tears and laughter. I came home to my children reminded of two things. 

1) Life is short, so love all the way with all you've got.  My sister and her husband have had numerous children and babies in and out of their home over the past 6 months.  Fostering is a difficult calling because you are setting yourself up to fall in love and then have your heart broken every time the children leave. I admire the way my sister and her husband love every child all the way as long as they have them, whether it's or a couple of hours or a couple of months. I asked HolleeAnn if it is hard to let them go and her response was beautiful, "Of course it is. But we're the adults, Meg. We can do that. We can handle that.  The kids? They're just kids and they can't and shouldn't have to be given any thing less than 100% of their care giver's love.  I don't reserve love just to guard myself from feeling hurt and broken when they leave.  I love them all, with all I have, because that is what they all deserve, and love is what I can give."  

2) I am a fine breed. I come from champion line of amazing people.  I've written more about this in my next post, but I just have to say again how much I love my family. My grandmother's pain and age cause her many physical limitations but she never lacks humor, love, or gratitude.  She has lived her entire life with a thankful heart and raised children who love each other, love God, and love to laugh.  My aunt had us in stitches with some of the stories she told over the weekend. I spent hours sitting around my grandma's bed or gathered at the kitchen table with my family just talking and telling story after story.  My nephews are hilarious and are all the best of friends.  My mom and her sisters are hilarious together. My brothers are funny. My sisters are funny. My dad is compassionate and sentimental and tears up easily when he witnesses a tender moment. I loved observing the interactions between everyone and took inventory as I remeasured my own potential beside the divine gifts and attributes I see in my bloodline. My pedigree hosts generations of happiness and people who are resilient because they recognize and compensate every moment of joy with attention.