School . . Is Back In, Baby!

Wednesday was the best day ever! Charlie stayed home from work, took the day off, and hung out with us all the day long!  : ) We even held hands while shopping at Home Depot! : ) A dream come true! Aw. . .

We had a dumpster delivered in the morning. Got rid of a bunch of junk that has been laying around. . .

About 10:30 the four of us, Charlie, myself, Jefferson, and Lincoln, went over to the elementary school to meet Jeffy's new Kindergarten teacher. It was a beautiful moment.  : ) Jeffy was being interviewed, if you will, showing Mrs. Arnold what he knows about letters and numbers, while I was cutting out flash cards, (cause you gotta have some busy work for the obnoxious parents). Charlie was playing with the baby, who miraculously picked up alphabet blocks . . for his Dad. Wow.  : )

On the way home, my fun-lovin' Hubby decided to drive the wrong way, around behind the middle school.

"Wow, you're just breakin' all kinds of rules!" I commented after a bit.

He sighed with satisfaction.

"That's just the kind of guy I am. . . And somehow", he grinned, "it all works out."

It's true, you know. It does!  : ) For instance,  yesterday we dropped by a friend's house, and not only did she let our 2 little boys ride her 'horsey', she also gave us quite a bit of meat. Yummy elk, and venison, and who knows, probably buffalo! We're not picky!  ; ) Good stuff! And a couple of days ago, our neighbor 2 houses down, who is moving, gave us a new toilet for our downstairs bathroom. I know this may not seem very romantic, but it saved us a hundred or so dollars. . . Then yesterday afternoon, Tommy got a letter in the mail saying that someone over at the school wants to pay for him to go shopping at Old Navy, for new school clothes. Now this might be annoying to some people, and yes Tommy has enough to wear, but maybe we could suck up our pride, and let the boy have some fun. : ) It makes you wonder, though, just what is he putting on in the morning, to make people think he needs 'assistance'? His favorite old ratty T-shirt. . ? Holey jeans. . ? Sigh. Oh, well. But then, in addition, Charlie was surprised by a bonus at work yesterday. Apparently they appreciated all his hard work on some recent project. Wahoo! I say!

That's right, Baby! : )

P.S. It was so funny! After we had come home from Jeffy's Kindergarten appointment, I was whining about him going off to school, and leaving me all alone here at home. He rolled his eyes, and answered in his best irritated 5 yr old voice: "I've told you a thousand times! You're gonna be here with Lincoln!" As he slammed the car door. Hysterical!

I Guarantee. . . You Will Have a Flat Tire!

I dropped Laena off at work today after school. As we were driving around the front of the building, she saw some guy she knew. . . sort of. It was either a new billboard advertising the Fun Center, or a live person half covered by something he was carrying.

"I can almost guarantee that those legs. . . are Brody's legs. . ." she mumbled to herself as we turned the corner.

I was quite amused by this and snickered most of the way home. Yep, did a lot of snickering, when I wasn't singing that new Kid Rock song out loud. . . : )

Occasionally, ya need a little bit of hard rock!

Last night, on the way home from Laena's work, we were speeding down Redwood Road, when my right rear tire blew. Yippee! So we pulled down a side road, parked, walked down to Riley's shake shop, and called my personal mechanic Charlie Mac. Riley's is a quaint, 50's style sandwich shop with the most fantastic soup ever! Laena sat on the sidewalk and ate potato and cheese soup while we watched the Daddy Man change the tire. So much fun!  : )

We have a way of being blessed to break down within a very reasonable distance of our home. Such a relief not to be in freaking Nebraska!  : )

August Memories

Last week was fun. Pretty much every day, Laena wanted to go on a date, and Aleia wanted to have a sleep over. Yeesh. Charlie started school on Thursday, Physics Class, so the school year is almost in full swing! Next week Jeffy starts Kindergarten. I don't know weather to cheer or sob. . .

Last Monday night most of us went out to Shawn and Michelle's house, (Charlie's sister), so Charlie could help them with their computer. He does that from time to time, troubleshooting etc. . They actually had him set up their current system. What a cool guy is my husband!  : )

Tuesday Laena had a date with Bryce, from work. . and then Friday it was a movie with some guy, a friend of hers named Didi 'the Mexican'. (go figure) She seemed to have a good time. He's a chess nerd, if you can believe it. : ) Pretty nice, reasonable young men, the 2 of them. We'll see what happens. . . Last week Laena had me take her over to Jordan Landing shopping center, and taxi her around so that she could get a bunch of job applications. She put in her 2 weeks notice at the Fun Center on Saturday. She's been thinking about Jamba Juice. . or maybe Joe's Crab Shack, as possible places of employment. : ) I think either one of them would be fun! I love Jordan Landing! It's my favorite little shopping slice of Heaven!  : ) Also, Laena's thinking about trying out for Jordan Youth Symphony. . Ope! Scratch that. . Jordan Symphony Orchestra, with the high school, here in a couple of weeks. Should be fun! She really loves that cello!

Clint worked about every other day at Pizza Hut. Saturday he wanted to buy a poker table over at our neighbor's fantasmagorical yard sale. Yeah. I said no. : ) Clint's starting the Tech Center thing this semester, riding the bus over to Sandy in the mornings, to learn more about all that technical stuff that I simply do not understand. . He's supposed to be learning about 3D Computer Animation, whatever that means. But if it has anything to do with drawing on the computer, which he does -every chance he gets- and which he is pretty darn good at, he should really enjoy himself. He also wanted to sign up for welding, and engineering. He loves to shape things, mostly swords and super hero costumes, out of metal, or some similar material. . . Lately, Clint's been spending a lot of time with Richard Leetham, the kid across the street. . . And also Morgan Burr, when he's in town. . The Burrs are in the process of moving down to the Fillmore area. Clinton spent the night over there Saturday, with Morgan and Kalin, in their pop-up camper. : ) Good thing we have chuch at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. . .

Eric got his Personal Management merit badge all wrapped up, all by himself, last Wednesday! He's self motivated apparently! I'm excited about that. But then again, Eric always is a pretty good kid, especially when it comes to homework and that sort of thing. He really likes structure. He's thinking about joining up with the cross country team over at the high school this fall. . . It'll keep him in shape for track in the Spring!  : ) Eric has diligently saved up his money, from his weekend job at the theater, and took great pride in buying some school things for himself on our various shopping trips! So cute! What a good kid! Ericky's our buff little ray 'o sunshine!  : ) He's excited to take Wildlife Biology this year! And Mythology, and Zoology. . . Should be fun!

Tommy has started the 8th grade, walks right over every morning, well, at least the last 2 anyway, and seems to love it! The middle school is just a couple of blocks from our house. It's fun to watch him head off toward the mountains and the sunrise in the morning. . Normally that boy won't get out of bed until at least 10:30 am. Believe it or not, 10:30 is an early morning for him. : ) But school is back in session NOW, Baby!  HA ha ha ha ha! Permit me an eville chuckle. . . ; ) Tommy is excited about art class, and keyboarding. I wish he's stuck with cello, though. . Maybe next year. . . Yesterday morning, when we woke him up for school, I started out with the ever popular "Good morning, Sunshine!" He responded quickly with a very cute "Good Night, Moon!" before he rolled over and went back to snoring. : ) Ain't he cute!

Yesterday Laena's Senior Pictures showed up, via the blasted Box Man, a full 2 and half weeks early! We were excited, but a little taken aback, and a little unprepared, since she had ordered almost the most expensive package, and was planning on paying for a lot of the pictures with her check from the Fun Center, which she won't actually have for a week or so. . . Eek! Oh, but I was SO excited to play around with them, to print them out, and tweak 'em on Picasa! Ah yes! Picasa! My home away from Heaven! Love it, love it, love it!  : ) Mama Mia, but that was fun, staying up way too late, trying different things with all those cute photos of my baby girl! Yeah Baby! And naturally yesterday, on the first day of school, I had to humiliate all of our children by taking lots of '1st Day of School' photos of them. . . It's the job of a Mama! I mean, if I didn't do it, who would? (Innocently, head tilted, pointer finger resting on my chin. . ) Hee hee hee. (Sly grin)

Aleia had her first day of third grade yesterday. She was pretty nervous, but of course I waited with her, in the line outside of 'the 3rd grade doors', until they were called in to the school. Sigh. We got to meet her teacher, Miss Royball, who seems to be fantastic with kids, before we left. Lea had fun at school, but she's a little annoyed that most of her friends from last year are in the other 3rd grade class. . . However, she dutifully did her homework last night, reading for 20 minutes, and hounding me about yet another mountain of paper work. . . I've gotten pretty good at this; I usually throw half of it away. . This morning, Aleia asked me if I'd filled out the papers, 'cause she had to bring them to school! Also, we were supposed to sign something verifying that she had done her reading. I was puzzled by this, as I had specifically asked her about this the night before, and she had specifically told me that 'No, she didn't need us to sign anything about the reading.' I reminded her of this, and she said, with complete confidence "Oh. Well, I meant yes." Huh? As if that makes it all better! How would that go over in the adult world, I wonder. . ? (Amused chuckle, accompanied with a fond shake of the head.) Ah, to be young again. . . When, if you didn't like the game, you could just change the rules. . .  ; )

Jeffy's still going back and forth about the Kindergarten thing. One day he's all excited, and the next he says he doesn't want to go, especially if they're not gonna let him play on the big playground with Evan. Evan and Jeffy get along great, but although Evan is pretty short for his age, he is in fact 9 years old. . . Jeffy's 3 and a half years younger. Sigh again. It gets complicated when your friends turn out to be girls. . . or big kids. Poor little guy. I guess it's all part of growing up. . . Today Jefferson has stated again that he misses Lea. The very same thing that he said when she was halfway through Preschool. . . his first words, actually. "I miss Aya." He couldn't say his "L's" quite yet. . . Aleia and Jeffy have been best buds since he was born. Except now that she's getting a little bit older, she's starting to want 'girl time', and naturally Jeffy has to be excluded from that, part of the time. I feel for the little guy, but he's pretty resilient, and ends up being okay. A year or 2 ago, however, it was awful. Every time she'd go over to a friend's house, he'd cry for about 45 minutes, or until she got back. Not a pleasant experience, not a whole bunch of fun. But NOW, Jeffy's going to meet his Kindergarten teacher! Tomorrow at . . . guess when? Ten-thirty! :) Yay! Life marches on. . . It'll be okay.

Binky got his picture taken last night! Charlie and I, (And it was actually Charlie's idea! Can you believe it?!) took him over to Target and watched, mildly dumbfounded, as he held still and cooperated with the photographer. I was struck completely dumb, Charlie chuckled every once in a while. What a fun time we had! And such cute pix! : ) I am in so much trouble! I will never be able to buy just one. . . Ha ha ha! Whoever came up with such a ridiculous concept . . clearly never had any children! Ha ha ha ha ha! ; ) Mama, I can't wait till we get to pick them up! Yeee hee hee hee hee! My sweet little Binky is almost 2 years old! I just can't believe it! How the time does fly. . . Sigh. He's learning new words every day, and seems to have figured out how to mimic our sounds and syllables. Wow. Lincoln Tanner Mason. . . is here. : )

Sunday we had fun with the little kids in Primary, (when we weren't battling our hysterical 22-month-old baby), teaching them songs for our program, which is coming up in just about a month. Next week I get to do Singing Time AND Sharing Time. We're considering an Olympic theme. . . where grownups 'judge' the children on their singing abilities. : ) With plenty of leeway and second chances, of course. : ) I just. . . can't wait!

Little Spider Friend?!

Just now Charlie was taking care of a spider that had been seen in the little kids' room. They wouldn't go to bed as long as it was there.

Charlie carefully picked it up off of the light fixture and carried it outside, like it was a sweet little kitten or something! Gross.

As he tossed it gently into the garden, I heard him sigh and murmur. . .

"Live, my little spider friend, live!"

Aahhhgggg! Gag, shudder!

That man definitely has issues. Earlier today we dropped by the pet store, where he was looking for a new snake. Sigh. I thought we'd finally gotten rid of them all, and now he's going on about a Columbian Boa for his birthday! Ick.

I don't mind them half as much as spiders however. If a snake got out of it's cage, we'd stuff a towel under the door and go to sleep. If an evil spider got out of it's cage, (which would never happen because I would never allow one to be in my house in the first place. . ), I'd be at a hotel so fast it would make your head spin.

No . . thank . . you! It gives me the willies just thinking about them. Ick, ickety, ick, ick!

I don't have any little spider friends, and I'm tellin' ya right now, I never will!

Funny Stuff

A couple of days ago, my husband and I were lounging in our living room, chatting about our teenage daughter's latest escapades. . Her date with Diego on Monday, her date with Bryce on Tuesday. . . (Good Night! Could this really be happening?!) If you can believe it, Diego actually called me up and asked permission to take our little girl out to breakfast. (Huh? Okay. . ) He plans to cook her 'authentic Bolivian cuisine' at some later date. : ) Cute. Bryce came over and hung out on the porch with the family for a while Tues night. . He had wanted to go skating with Laena, down the Jordan River Parkway, but had gotten off work too late. The boy actually sat there, with the baby on his lap, and then asked our opinion about where he should take our daughter, now that it was late! : ) Can you stand it?! I don't know what magic Laena is working, but I often ask myself . . What does she do to those boys?! Maybe they're all just 'working' us.

Tommy sat there on the couch next to his dad, flipping through a magazine, casually listening to our conversation about his sister. But when we brought up Diego's breakfast/turning into lunch 'date' with Laena, Tommy suddenly chimed in, simultaneously astonished and appalled.

"Who would want to spend the day . . with Laena?!" he asked in true 7th grade little brother style, his face screwed up in disgust. He pretended to gag, and then went back to his comic book.

The timing was perfect. Tommy just . . takes the cake! : ) We didn't stop laughing for several minutes.

 

A few weeks back, while running errands, Charlie and I were discussing the pros and cons, the benefits and drawbacks, of living a healthy lifestyle. . Eating right, exercising regularly.  . . (GAG) All that crazy lame grown up stuff we have to deal with now that we're getting old. . . He was feeling slightly overweight and out of shape. Whatever. I reminded him about how he'd run those marathons a few years back, and about the triathlon he participated in a while ago. . .

"And now we're heading for 'fat and forty'." he sighed jokingly, maneuvering the car around a tricky corner. .

"Hey, you are still in great shape!" I encouraged. "Your. . legs are still pretty muscular. ." I glanced at him, and we both grinned. 

"Yeah, muscular in a FAT sort of way. . . " he retorted, chuckling.

It was more than I could take. Maybe we are getting old. . . : ) Ya know how sometimes tears just run down your face because you're laughing so hard. . . Some days we just crack each other up!

Maybe getting old isn't so bad. . .  : )

A Very Merry Un-Birthday!

For lunch today, Charlie spontaneously baked a cake, and pronounced it 'Mama's Un-Birthday Cake'! So, for whatever reason, today. . . is my Un-Birthday!  : ) Yay!

Aleia and Jeffy were so excited, they decided to set the table, also spontaneously! You never know what's gonna motivate those kids!

Aleia, in the midst of all this, felt the need to enthusiastically congratulate her Mama. She bounced in to see me.

"Mama, I hope you have a very Un-Happy-Birthday!" she gushed, beaming.

I couldn't help but smile. Little children are always so cute!  : ) Cute, and entertaining!

They take after their dad. ; )

Grocery Store Moments

Earlier we were out grocery shopping with some of the kids, when I looked back at the pop isle and noticed Jeffy up on tiptoe, trying to pull a large bottle of soda down from a shelf that was clearly out of his reach.

"Jeffy! Stop that!" I yelled. "You could pull that right onto your head!"

He ignored me, and continued to reach for the pop.

"Jeffy. . That's too heavy! Do you want it to fall and bonk you right on the head?!" I was annoyed by this blatant lack of cooperation.

Exasperated, Jefferson hopped down, turned and faced me, hands on his little hips.

"We're 'posed to get a 2-liter!" He spat furiously in his baby voice, eyes flashing. "Dad said!!"

Chortle, snicker. .  Well, if Dad said. . .

Later, Charlie and I were in the frozen isle, scanning the shelves, looking for a good deal on fruit juice.

I sighed. Was there anything under a buck seventy-five a can?! This was ridiculous. Then I spotted something. . My left eyebrow shot up.

"Hey Charlie. . "I said, my tone casual. "The Margarita mix is only 88 cents. . ."

"Then we'd have to buy rum. . ." He grinned, not missing a beat. Typical. (Warm smile.) That's my hottsie totsie man! Always entertaining. . .  : )

Even more entertaining was the non-stop fist fight going on in the baby/toddler seat of our shopping cart. We had front row tickets. Jefferson and Lincoln went at it pretty much the entire time we were there. It was like a smaller version of ultimate fighting, with Olympic style intensity, right there in front of us. . .  : )

But with their matching blue shirts, they should've been on the same team. . . . Especially with the 'brrrrum cart', steering wheels and all, to distract them. . .

Mama-Girls Need Naps Too!

Well, what to do. . . ? Do we get in shape for reunions etc next year, or should we have another baby? Hmmmmmm. . . .

Sigh. I don't know. I tell ya what, I'm freaking exhausted. What ever were we thinking, having SEVEN KIDS?!?! I am emotionally drained, right down to the last drop of whatever is left in me. I am in desperate need of a nanny, a long bath, and some sort of massage. . . Yawn. Know anybody?

Wow, so much has happened the past couple of weeks, I just don't know where to start! Stretch. Yawn. Well, here goes. . .

Last week we spent 3 days up at Mark's and Sarah's cabin, which was oh so fantastic, oh so much fun, up there in Christmas Meadows, that I cannot even begin to describe it! : ) Pause. Well, okay, that's not true. . . It would just take too long and too much energy. Let's just say that it was all about nostalgia and subtle Christmas decoration -translation NIRVANA, in my world. They even had a functioning '7 Brides for & Bros' old fashioned coal stove! Choke, sob. . Yike! Thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. The only frustrating thing was having no place to safely stow our 21-month-old baby. . Had to tote him around everywhere, half the time kicking and struggling. . . don't even ask about the high pitched screaming. . .

Meanwhile, my ever-lovin' man Charlie was down in Vegas, getting picked up on by call girls on the strip. Seriously! I was shocked myself. Of course he bears no resemblance to a sailor on leave. . . ; ) Ha ha ha. He was just minding his own business, shopping for the kids, and 3 different girls struck up . . conversations. Seriously? Come on, what ever is this world coming to? Can't a man go on a business trip to try and beef up his computer skills, his language arsenal, if you will, without being pestered?! It's just appalling. Naturally, this trip was scheduled exactly on the same days as our little family reunion in the mountains. . . Sure. : )

Well anyway, we're back. . Back at the ranch. Holdin' down the fort. . . Today I had to deal with way to much attitude from our eldest son. . . I tell ya, some days. . if Grandma was offerin', and she came up with the right price, I'd be fer takin' it! Ship that kid off to Idaho for some good old fashioned farm drudgery. : ) That's right baby! Early morning CHORES! Uh-HUH! That's what I'm talkin' about!  ; )

And Laena. . is out on a date with that cutsie California boy Anthony again. . ! I can't believe it. How does this happen?! One minute she's out front, riding her little pink tricycle up and down the sidewalk, and the next, you're wondering how you ever lost control and let her take your car to go pick up this young hottie from down south. I must've lost my mind. . . Sigh. . .

Twin #2 Eric is cruising along, working weekends at the local movie theatre. . . He's moved up from sweeping up popcorn. . to taking tickets! : ) Honestly, I think he would prefer the sweeping. . . He doesn't like to stand still for very long. . . He dragged Tommy to the library earlier, and now the 3 boys, (ah, my 3 sons), (silly grin) are jogging over to Target, to look at -you guessed it!- toys and video games. Will it never end, you ask? Will they ever get over this ridiculous obsession with gaming, the time-wasting plague of this generation? I doubt it, considering that Charlie's still as into it as the rest of them. . . Thankfully, he just doesn't have time!  : ) Poor man. . .

Interesting bit of trivia: Tommy wants to invent a flying car. . . . Why not? : )

Saturday we went to the Hogle Zoo, Eric, Aleia, and I. Later, Charles took Jeffy to a Bees (Bees?!) (Boy, I'm shakin'. .)Baseball game downtown. Sigh. Next week it's Lagoon. . Good Night! Shoot me now!

On a different note, Lea and Jeffy will be signed up for school tomorrow. . . (Hee hee hee hee hee!) Kindergarten and 3rd grade. Where does the time go? I give up. Who can track it. . ? The Binky is almost 22 months old, and it seems like he was just born. . . Now I understand our parents' generation a little better. Deep sigh. I'd never wanted to. . . Time does things to a person. . . And so does the never ending pile of paperwork that has to be filled out before registration. . . Ugh!

Switching gears, 3 weeks ago Laena spoke in church, and Clint blessed the Sacrament for the first time. I suppose that counts for something. . . Quite a lot, actually! It appears that there is hope after all!  : ) Also, our eldest child has decided to study genetics, which I find fascinating! DNA research, etc. Where did that come from, you ask? No idea. She's always been good at science. . . ? Hmm. Whatever! We'll take what we can get! Many of you will be surprised to learn that at one time, Charlie had aspirations to attend . . Harvard! (Snicker, snicker, chuckle, snort.) Just kidding Honey! : ) With the proper motivation and training, he'd have done just fine! I defy any of you to handle an eighteen wheeler while flying down Parley's Canyon. . . or to back one up into an alley with 6 inches to spare on either side! Pshaw. Good LUCK!  : ) My man's smart AND slick! 

Sigh. Stretch. . . Well, I think it's about time for a nap. . I'm gonna try to curl up on the couch and snuggle my little blonde Binky Baby. Thank Heaven for baby curls! : ) Thank Heaven for PBS! With any luck, maybe he'll go to sleeeeep. . . Give Mama a break. . . ZZzzzzzzz. . . . .