Craziness

Highlights from my crazy life.  Just one week of it.

Rob (14) told Seth (11) at the dinner table that his face looks like a wedge of cheese.  Although unkind to the extreme, it was dang funny.  Rob has also come up with the endearing nickname of "Sanchez" for Caleb (6), who absolutely loves it because he adores his big brother Rob.  And for good reason.  Despite his creative monikers, Rob is a fantastic big brother.

Caleb (6) set up a Dollar Store in our family room.  He sold blank pieces of paper, markers, stuffed animals, shoes (all his own, curiously), and books.  He made himself a nametag and walked around the house hounding people to come to his store before it closed for the night.  Out of pure annoyance, everyone came & bought several items. Once they got to the store, however, they couldn't help but smile.  He had even written "Dollar Store" with markers on several bags into which he would put our purchases.  Luckily, he did not require real money --  any paper currency would do.  I purchased 3 pieces of paper and a stuffed kangaroo for a total of $119.00.

Emma (9) made 5-minute fudge with her grandma & shared (almost) all of it with us.  She remains positive about soccer, even though her team has lost every game so far by a large margin.  Emma is forever wanting and needing to create things which drives me up, down and around walls but keeps me hopping & the neurons in my brain firing.  Which means I'll stave off Alzheimer's longer, right???

Seth is doing very well at soccer although his team is definitely not.  Luckily, this does not deter him.  He has become an expert at pushing Emma's buttons.  He's currently reading the Harry Potter series quickly & voraciously and is begging to read the Hunger Games series (which most of the kids in his 5th grade class already have).  My "no" foot is firmly planted -- not until he's a little older.

Kirsten (16)  and I have been spending most of our spare time this last month (& week in particular, since it was crunch time) trying to figure out 2 dresses for her -- one for basketball banquet & one for prom.  That's another post, which I'll write after prom is over (this Friday).  Needless to say, it's been an adventure on more than one front.

The bank from which we purchased our home (foreclosure) pulled the wool over our eyes. They knew that all 3 AC units in our home needed to be replaced, but instead of doing so, they topped them all off with Freon, knowing they'd pass inspection.  They passed inspection & made it through last summer, but the cat's out of the bag & we were stuck with a HUGELY expensive repair.  The crew came Saturday & were tromping in & out of our house, up & down attic stairs for most of the day.  We had conference playing for all 4 hours (with soccer games & other commitments we all couldn't be there for all of both sessions, but whoever was home was watching).  I can only imagine what this AC crew of men thought of our peculiar TV watching behavior.  Awesome!!

While watching conference on Sunday, Emma had the Bananagram tiles out & was making a crossword of sorts out of words she heard from over the pulpit.  She had words like HAPPINESS and LIAHONA and FAMILIES and BOOK OF MORMON.  Seth rolled (his most common way of getting from point A to point B) over to Emma, took a look at her words & said, "You really need to get JESUS in there somewhere."

Jeff has been asked to be a traveling magician for Prom this Friday.  Kirsten is mortified, of course.  Her acknowledgement of Jeff as her dad will depend entirely on the coolness of his performance.  No pressure whatsoever.  Stay tuned . . .

I went with a few other ladies (my Mom included) to the Stew Pot in downtown Dallas, which feeds 3 meals a day (about 700 people per meal) to the homeless.  I had the privilege of pouring water to this sea of uniquely interesting people.  Details are for another post, but I will share what a few of their t-shirts said:

You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.  -- Will Rogers

Glad to be AWESOME!

And finally, the one that describes the way I feel most of the time:  

It's the bottom of the ninth, the score is tied, the bases are loaded, and you're up to bat.

The truth is, there are times when I'd love nothing more than to simply watch the game.  But when you're the mom, you simply don't get much time in the dugout.