The Late Late Show

Don't look at the time I wrote this post.  I know it's late.  I was just barely asleep and then I woke up - the kind of wake up where you know you won't be going back to sleep soon - so I got up.  It has been a busy weekend, and my mind is full, buzzing with all the activity.  And my heart is full of this:

and the "you have been accepted into the mechanical engineering department for fall 2012" letter he just got.

So proud of that boy!

Happy Birthday, David!

We picked David up from school to take him out for his birthday lunch.  For some reason (maybe because he is the fourth birthday this year?), he was expecting it.  We took him through the Mexican fast food drive-up, he placed his order, and the girl tallied it up.  "That's funny!" she said through the crackly speaker.  Dave and I looked at each other blankly, but pulled forward anyway.  At the window, she slid open the glass, held out her hand, and repeated the amount owed.  "That's funny" sounds an awful lot like "Three twenty," don't ya know?  We got a kick out of it.

David loves green, so that's what we had for dinner.

Green Koolaid in washed-out soda bottles, green grapes, (white) chocolate melted over pretzels and popcorn with green sprinkles.

Grilled cheese and green onion sandwiches, cream of broccoli soup with more green onions - and wear your best green shirt, of course!

And the cake was green.  I had fun trying to make the layers different shades of green, (hard to see, because my cake-making is admittedly better than my photography).

The family favorites were the pretzel/popcorn/sprinkles mix, and the green drinks.  Trent thought we might need to pour the Koolaid into glasses, but they loved drinking out of the bottles!  The boys experimented with different hand positions, trying to figure out what was the best way to grip the bottle.  Grip the neck, or put the pinky out?  They were fun to watch!

What a fun boy our David is!  I love his reckless grin, his quiet thoughtfulness, and his tender caring for someone who is hurt.  Playing rough and wild is his style, and he makes up fun games for his sister and the twins.  David is bright, and I have enjoyed watching him excel in his gifted class this year.  Happy birthday, David - I'm so glad you're in our family!

The birthday boy, with his second-place science fair project.  Way to go!

Love you, Buddy!

Emergency Homework

David came up to me, not an hour an a half ago, while we were in the middle of gathering everyone for prayers.  He held out a paper and quietly said, "I just found this in my backpack, so... ummm...?"  The paper was a note from his teacher, telling parents (who were supposed to sign and return it) about a four-week course of study about genetics and inherited traits.  Evidently, David was supposed to do a science-fair-type project, complete with display board and oral presentation.  And it is due... TOMORROW.

Feeling small but growing amounts of frustration here.

It's Emergency Homework time.  Emergency Homework means that while Mom will help you, she is not happy about it.  We do the basic amount necessary, with no bells or frills.  It will be neat, but not nice.  And Emergency Homework means that you are in big trouble, Buddy.

We have worked on it ever since - him working frantically, me guiding.  And now I want to go to bed.  We have a poster to put together in the morning.  Argh.

Edited to add:  We did it - here is the completed poster.  I am going back to bed.  Or at least I wish I were.

Car Pool Flop

David and Eddie don't go to our neighborhood school.  Sometimes (often?) I wish they did.  I would love to be able to look at the clock, panic about the time, shoo the boys out the door, and sit down with my bon bons and soap opera.  OK, so I haven't watched a soap opera since high school, and I've only once had bon bons, because Trent heard me saying something about bon bons and soap operas.  

Instead, these two boys go to an elementary school across town.  I really shouldn't complain about it, because it has a specialty program that works so well for David.  I've been very impressed with how much better he's done in his schoolwork since starting this program last fall.  But I am not fond of the drive.  I am glad that we found another family to carpool with, so I only have to drive half as much.  See how much I have to be thankful for?  And how I gripe!

It is my turn to drive this week, both ways.  This afternoon, I TOTALLY spaced it.  I wasn't thinking of getting the kids at all!  I was sitting in the hallway, holding on to the doorknob of the babies' room, preventing them from getting out.  Hmmm... that might not sound good.  But they were supposed to be taking a nap and they kept coming out.  After about 45 minutes of seeing drowsy but mischievous babies wandering down the hall, I decided to take measures.  It was boring, just sitting there, so I pulled out the laptop.  I'll admit, (hanging head sheepishly and drawing circles on the floor with my toes) I was on Pinterest.  And I lost track of time.  Shame on me.

I'm not ashamed of being on Pinterest.  It's a great way to share ideas, and I've used a bunch of them in my home.  I am ashamed of forgetting my kids.  I hate it when I do that.  Good thing the kids are so easygoing... I just hope the other mom is too!

Ants, Part IV

The ants from here, here, and here finally went away.  I do not know why.  They just did.  Maybe they died of boredom.  Maybe it got warm enough outside to go live there.  Maybe they were afraid of what super power I was going to pull out next to use on them.  Maybe our odd antics scared them.

I suppose that in the end I don't care why they left.  They are gone, and I am happy.  And the Angel can go into the bathroom again without fear of being eaten.  That's always a good thing.

Angel's Room

We've (I've) been working on spiffing up our house.  We moved in a while ago, but since then we've had a pregnancy, bedrest, twin babies, Angel's accident, twin toddlers, a couple of floods, teenagers... and they all want dinner.  Every day.  The nerve!

So we haven't finished moving in.  Most of our walls are bare.  We could use some decorating and pretty-ing (although we can't actually pretty with boys, can we?).  I'm working on it, and actually enjoying myself.  There isn't much time in a day that I can do what I want to, but I can sneak in a bit here or there.  It's like playing Tetris with your time, while working around moving minefields.  What an adventure.

Anywho, Angel's bedroom looks pretty sweet.  I showed you her bed back with the other beds here, but here it is again.

Vinyl wall stickers from the dollar store, hanging string of butterflies from Hobby Lobby, treasure chest from the thrift store, little pillows from the children's hospital, amazing ruffled afghan handmade by her amazing crocheting Grandma

 And here is her wall of butterflies.  

Paper butterflies from Clair's mommy's Silhouette - wings folded up along the body line and stuck on with gooey stuff on the body so the wings stick out, closet doors tied shut because MY craft stuff is in there!

She loves all her butterflies and says goodnight to them and wants me to sing songs about them and tell her butterfly stories.  Butterflies make her face light up like this:

And that is why I put them there.

Hello, My Name Is...

Yeah, I know.  Not really a surprise.  But I thought I'd out with it just because.  Some of you who are starting to come and poke around in my rambling writing actually know me.  Like my mom.  And it's better to be honest anyway.  My name isn't really Anita, and my kids really have different names, too.  For reals.

Don't think that you are going to be getting the whole truth, however; I have a little bit of a thing for privacy - especially where my children are concerned.  All you need to know is that I do have a real name, and it's a nice one.  Anita is a nice name, too, but it's my psuedonym.   I always wanted to have one, anyway.

And other than that little deception, all the other stuff I write about here is true.  Oh, you probably won't believe that, either.  The things that go on are pretty wild around here sometimes.  But I m not making this up - my imagination isn't that interesting.  Really.