The Morning After

These past few weeks have been jam-packed. I am SO ready for school to be out! I feel like my sanity is hanging by threads. Tuesday we closed on our lot--HOORAY! That was exciting and sickening at the same time, but at least now we know where we are going to be.

But I digress. Last night was almost the straw that broke the camel's back--or the mama camel's back anyway. Earlier in the day I had to give our principal the news that I wasn't coming back to work next year. It went well, but I still felt guilty about it. But the real "straw" of the day was that Brooke had to build a mousetrap car for science. I don't know why, because they aren't even studying physics, but whatever. Her science teacher is weird.

So of course she didn't start it early because she suffers from "SIPS," just like me. (See here for an explanation of the devastating effects of SIPS.) Right now something is whispering in the back of my brain about the apple not falling far from the tree. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Of course, she probably WOULD have started the car the night before, except she had dance until 8:30 and then had to make her poster about the 1920s for history; which she WOULD have started earlier, except all day Saturday she was required by her studio to be at the Utah Dance Festival, and then she was trying to finish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before Monday (the last day to take book tests) to reach her page quota for English; which she WOULD have read earlier, but she was too "busy." (We should be the poster family for Elder Oaks' talk "Good, Better, Best"--the family caught in the "good things" trap.)

So right after school yesterday she started getting out all the supplies. I came home from working all day, and then had to leave immediately to meet with the architect in Bountiful. I got home about 5:30 with a splitting headache. Danika wanted me to take her to the Egyptian Theater in Ogden to watch her friend's dance recital (she had come to Danika's, so Danika wanted to reciprocate). Brooke needed Gatorade bottle lids for her wheels, so I told her I would buy them when I took Danika to Ogden.

We got to the recital at 7:00 They had already done 34 dance routines, and it wasn't close to being over. After the 54th routine--yes, you read that correctly--it was finally over! By the time we got home it was 9:00. We opened the bottles, and Brooke began finishing her car. To give her credit, she had done what she could while we were gone. I tried to help her the best I could. I am not an engineer, and I never had to do this particular project with Danika, so I had no clue. I'm sure a lot of (smart) parents went to Hobby Lobby and bought a kit. But not me! No sirree! We like to build things from scratch in this family! (A precedent I sometimes wish I had never set.)

Thankfully, Brooke had consulted YouTube on how to assemble the car, but we came to find out that the guy had left out one key component: how to attach the string to make it go. After many attempts, we finally figured out what we were doing wrong. (Meanwhile, Mr. Dad was snoozing peacefully upstairs while I was fuming about why I am always the one who helps with all the Halloween costumes, science fair projects, volcano constructions, edible cell and earth models . . . you-name-it, it's all me.)

By 12:30 a.m. we were so delirious we were laughing hysterically about the stupidest stuff, and I almost peed my pants! I'm so glad God gave us laughter because it is amazing how it relieves stress and frustration. After that we decided "to heck with it." If her teacher didn't give her a good grade for her effort, then he's a jerk. The silver lining in all of it was that I had some great bonding time with Brooke, which I don't get all that often.

Here she is this morning with the silly contraption. It's deceptive isn't it? How could something made out of cardboard, bottle caps, and a mousetrap take 6 hours to make??? Go figure.

Only the Good Spy Young

Megan really, really wanted to have a birthday party this year. I really, really didn't want to have to plan one (because I am a lazy mom). But, I made a concession and just recycled the idea we used for Brooke's 10th birthday. It was a Spy party, and for the invitations I cut down a file folder so it was smaller. I stamped "TOP SECRET" on the outside, and on the inside I stapled this:

Everyone arrived in disguise. They were so funny! (Brea Johnston even had a fake mole.)


They did a fingerprinting activity, a memory game, and a "spot the missing object" game. Then I announced that we couldn't have cake, because an enemy agent had stolen it while I was at the store. I explained that I had called all of them to help solve the crime and recover the cake. I handed them an envelope with the first clue. They were so excited, and went running all over the house and neighborhood solving the clues.

Karli Farnes and Ally Megill

Once they discovered where the cake was hidden (the Hogge's house), they came back and we had cake and ice cream and Megan opened her presents. I hate making cakes, but Danika loves it, and helped by frosting it. It turned out really cute!

The whole gang

For treat bags we got some spy things from Oriental Trading--including fake mustaches!

Lindsee Fuhriman and Maddy Oyler

Karli and Emmalie Watson

Kennady Stettler and Ally

It turned out better than expected, and I think everyone had fun!

Happy 10th Birthday Megan!

My little Meg-a-roo turned 10 today. I can't believe how fast she's growing up! She's so full of energy--she's always outside playing with her friends or doing something active. There's never a dull moment when she's around. We sure love her tons!!!

Family Pics

We finally managed to get our family pictures taken (it was supposed to happen in Feb. for my birthday). If you want to see a preview, you can go here. Jessica is so great to work with, and she has such an eye for composition & light. I can't wait to see the rest of the shots!

The Curse of Progress

The past couple of months every appliance I have seems to be on the blitz. When we first moved in to this rental home, the dishwasher didn't work. The little spring that opens the door on the soap dispenser is sprung, so it won't open during the proper time during the cycle. The dishes come out dirtier than when I put them in. So we hand wash our dishes because I don't care about getting it fixed.

The secondhand fridge Mike bought to tide us over until we move again started making what I can only call "tap dancing" sounds several months ago. It has something to do with the compressor. When it shuts off the fridge start to rock back and forth and makes this rhythmic popping sound. We are just going to let it go until it blows up or dies. It is embarrassing, but it's fun to dance to!

Then a month ago the dryer stopped heating up. Of course to fix it costs almost as much as buying a new one, and Mike refuses to buy any large new appliance that we would have to move to our new place (where ever that is). So he figured out how to fix it himself (bless him!), and now I can have dry clothes again.

If that weren't enough, the Honda Civic we bought as a second car (and for Danika, who is driving now) started making this annoying metal-on-metal sound a few weeks ago. It comes and goes, so we ignored it. But yesterday it was so bad that Mike told me to take it in to find out what is making that sound. Turns out our brake pads are gone, and we need new front brakes. That is something we can't ignore, so we will be shelling out for that repair.

Honestly, sometimes "progress" is a pain! Cleaning guru Dan Aslett says that each item we accumulate, “stifles us and robs us of freedom because it requires so much of our time to tend. . . . We have to pay for it, keep track of it, protect it, clean it, store it, insure it, and worry about it." While I wouldn't want to do without a refrigerator, dryer, or brakes for my car, I wonder what I could do without that would make my life simpler.