Fourteen June 10, 2009

     Fourteen. 

 

     You may think it’s the age of my emotional maturity, or the number of times I start a sentence- and a paragraph!- with the word “and” in my posts.  (I DO know better.  However, in my opinion, technical writing and blog writing don’t really belong in the same space, unless you’re writing a technical blog.)  Perhaps you’re counting my parenthetical asides, but you’d be mistaken.

 

     Today is my

Happy Birthday, Kenny! April 6, 2009

All morning, Abbie referred to Kenny as "Daddy". Yesterday, she couldn't stop running to his lap for hugs.

 

     It is my beloved’s birthday today.  He is something that rhymes with “shirty-fine”.

 

     (To read last year’s birthday post, click here.)

 

     This will be the fourteenth birthday of his we’ve celebrated together.  In his family, birthdays were no big deal.  (Rather, HIS birthdays were no big deal.)  There were even a few years where his birthday was completely forgotten, or hurriedly thrown together after dinner, and for the most part, there were no gifts.  I promised him that I’d never forget his birthday, and I’ve tried to make up for 24 years of neglect.  It was easy when we were first married.  His birthday was in the spring, and mine was in the fall.  Six months apart meant lots of time to plan. 

 

     Then we had two kids with birthdays at the end of March, and Easter gets thrown in the mix, so by the time I’ve celebrated three birthdays and a holiday, I’m pretty wiped out.

 

     (Somewhat guiltily, I’ve started referring to it as “Hell Week”.) 

 

     We celebrated Kenny’s birthday with my family last night, which is always a highlight of spring General Conference, and ate ourselves sick on tacos and seven-layer bean dip.  My mom did this really cool jello/pudding poke cake, and he got his birthday “loot”, which included “Heroes”- seasons 1 and 2, another Wii controller, some Swedish Fish and a (very!) generous gift card to Lowe’s.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

 

     To keep in the theme of making each birthday-day a big deal, the kids and I will be taking cupcakes into his work (and I hope embarrassing the heck out of him, because payback is a nasty thing!) and making a(nother) birthday dinner.  Then we’ll end our night by having Family Home Evening and working to implement this weekend’s prophetic counsel.  Probably not the most exciting birthday ever, and certainly not as fun as a big party with friends, but I am hopeful that he’ll enjoy it.

 

     Probably not as much as he enjoyed this, however:

 

This was taken at Souper Salad on Alex's birthday. He was telling the kids those stupid jokes about Ethiopians and Helen Keller, and he pulled some muscles from laughing so hard. He was trying to muffle his laughter with napkins, but with no success. We were EASILY the loudest people in the restaurant. *sigh*

 

    

     I love you, honey!  You  make my life better.  Your support and encouragement keep me going on my hardest days, and your sense of humor never fails to cheer me up.  (Okay, USUALLY never fails…)      You work so hard for our family, and we’re grateful to have you as a husband and father.

 

     Here’s to another “shirty-fine” years, at least. 

 

     Mwah!

I Want… To Take the Christmas Lights Down (With Help) February 3, 2009

 

     My tree came down right after New Year’s, but the lights are still up outside.  So are all the lawn ornaments and decorations.  Perhaps because I don’t claim this to be “my job”?  Probably more so because my husband thinks he’s Clark W. Griswold and our house needs 700 strands of lights and/or lighted wire statues, and while they’re great fun to put up, taking them down is a pain.

 

     Which is why we are the only house on the street   in the neighborhood   in the city   in the state   in the universe to still have our Christmas lights still up.

 

     The plan was to take them down today,

SNAKE!!! August 13, 2008

     (No, not that kind of snake.  I’d be typing from another state, thank you very much.  I can handle reptiles as long as they don’t take me by surprise.  Take note, creatures.  Please.  Take GOOD notes.)

 

     Nope, this post is dedicated to Joey, from Joe’s Triple A, and his wonder snake.

 

     (Nope, not that kind of snake, either.  Where is your head?  This is a F-A-M-I-L-Y blog.)  

 

     A few weeks ago, darling, put-him-in-my-pocket-because-he’s-so-cute Joey

Breaking Dawn August 9, 2008

     I finished the book today…

 

     …the fourth and final book in the Twilight  vampire saga, all 754 pages of it.

 

     I had several reactions while reading the book,

To pee or not to pee… July 31, 2008

 

     This is how we spent last night…  poor Kenny.

MiXeD~uP mAnIa DaY July 11, 2008

     (Don’t you just HATE it when people make their screen names or titles look all weird?  I promise to never do that to you again.)

 

     Thursday was Mixed-up Mania day, so naturally we had to do things in the craziest way possible.  My kids got up, checked their camp mailbags and were greeted by the following message: 

Ten Good Things July 7, 2008

     Today was a good day, as far as days go.  I thought I’d write about ten good things that happened.  I know it’s not very interesting, or even exciting, but they were meaningful to me.

 

1.  I did laundry because I WANTED to, not because I HAD to.  There was no smelly pile of stuff to sneak in, no car seat covers to launder, no blankets to soak…  it was heavenly.  It was also a very welcomed break.

 

2.  Kenny took the kids to PetSmart this morning, and then to the park.  I had 90 minutes of uninterrupted time that I could spend doing as I wished.  I did a little blog reading, stripped our bed, put the sheets in the washer (see #1…  totally my choice!), flipped the mattress, ate some breakfast and played with the dogs for a bit.  I haven’t had time to myself in weeks.  Maybe even months. 

 

I MIGHT live to regret this… May 17, 2008

 

     …but for today, my kids think I am the coolest, funniest, most permissive mom on the planet.

 

     Here’s the back story:

 

     We have been working on manners.  My kids are great with the basics– please, thank you, excuse me, etc.  However, our family mealtimes are much less pleasant,

Random updates and a fun test April 9, 2008

     I am going to cheat today and post this, because I think it’s a lot of fun.  (I always knew I was an original…  and good thing, too!)

  

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

 

  

     Kenny just left for his “official” first day at his new job.  He will be selling GM automobiles for the same company he worked for almost ten years ago.  It was hard for him to leave his former company (as was evidenced here), but it was a necessary move.  We are both very happy with his new place of employment, and, as an added bonus, he is working days now.  *grin*  Yes!!!   I can get stuff done around the house!

  

     Speaking of around the house, I am jumping back on the FlyLady wagon, and in just three days, I am starting to feel hopeful again.  (It’s such a great feeling!)  I have almost caught up with all my laundry, even after an extra three loads due to Anthony’s [projectile] stomach virus.

  

     Thanks for letting me update.  I’ll be back tomorrow with another letter, I’m sure.