15 hams, 100# of potatoes.....

It is finally over! After buying 15 hams, 100# of potatoes, 7 Costco cakes, 360 rolls, and 12-16 lbs. of salad, everyone has been fed and sent home. It really is quite the undertaking to feed so many people. We planned for 300, but had about 225 come. Still, that's a lot of people to keep happy. I had lots of good help to cook the food and keep the kitchen running and we were able to use the xtra food at a funeral and a baptism the next day. I would say almost harder than the food portion was the entertainment. Trying to get people with ideas to pick and stick to one song and not take over the whole program was challenging. People seemed to like the whole night and had plenty to eat, so I think it was a success.

The long lapse

Yes, it has been many months since I posted anything on this blog. I kept imagining that I would download pictures to go along with all my stories, and maybe one day I will. But, it hasn't been any of the past 120 or so days. Maybe during Christmas break?
Anyway, I decided to just start from now and share some of the daily things that happen to make me smile. So, I hope the other two posts from today make you laugh and I am going to try to take the time to share more in the future.

Kindergarten

Parker has been spending a lot of time coloring lately. I mean, hours a day. He brought me a few pictures he had finished and I praised him on the neatness. He is making that transition from just getting color somewhere on the picture to actually coloring different sections and now to staying in the lines. He smiled at me and said, "that's quality coloring."

Clarification

We were wrapping Christmas presents a few days ago and I addressed one to Tripp, my nephew. My kids asked who that was and I so I explained. I told them about Tripp's family, mentioning that he has a big brother named Peregrine. It was hard to pronounce, so I added, like a peregrine falcon. Parker corrected me... "No mom, it's the Millenium Falcon!"

My pink toe is all cracked up!

Yea,um, 10 points to anyone who can decipher that comment.

Happy Birthday, Brooklyn!!

Yes, the little firecracker of our family is three years old today. I sometimes wondered during the past three years if we would ever see this day. She was by far the hardest baby (with her acid reflux starting at 1 month and medication schedule for the next year and projectile vomiting and screaming for hours). It was definitely hard at times, but she is also so wonderful. She has a mind of her own, a great sense of humor and is so very independent. She is not afraid to try anything and wants to be turning 10 right now. I am glad those early years are past and that we have become friends now. She is potty trained, rides a bike can feed herself and dress herself. What more can a mother ask for? She also provides the spice in my life. I love her and am truly happy she is here with me.

Visiting Teaching is not for the faint of heart

For those who might read this blog and not know, the church I belong to has a program called Visiting Teaching. Women are paired in twos and given the names of several other women in our congregation to visit each month. The intent is to befriend, support and uplift each other, stepping in to help when needed or just sharing an inspiring message of Christ. So, I made appointments to visit two of these women yesterday morning and I even (thankfully) found a sitter for my three kids that were at home.
The first lady was not someone I knew yet, but I figured I could find her house okay on my own. When I found the address given to me on the paper from church, it was a group of condos inside a gated community. I had no code, she didn't say anything about a code, so I parked my car a ways away and walked back to the complex. Mind you, I had to pass some vacant fields of very tall grass, decorated with someone's cast off, broken couches and desks, etc. Nice look. Felt real comfortable. No wonder the gate is locked. I check the walk through door. It had a keypad and it was locked. I scouted around and discovered that the keypad open the big gate and drive through said I could push some buttons for a directory that would give me a code to get inside. Nice. So, I walk back and retrieve my car. By this time, my companion or partner has arrived with her two kids and pulls in behind me.
I get to the directory and start scrolling for the right name, it is of course a "T" name, so I have to go clear to the end. Before I can get there, a little old lady drives us from inside the complex, opens that gate and looks at me. I back up and wave her out. We then drive inside thinking we have had some good luck, at least we are inside now.
We unload my companions kids, find the right apartment and then take off everyone's shoes per the instructions on the sign taped to the front door. We knock and a lady answers the door. Not the lady that we are looking for. (I do know what this lady looks like since our babies were neighbors in the nicu last november, though we didn't talk much then.) So, hmmmm, not the lady we want. Nice woman though, tells us she is renting from our lady and moved in about six months ago, but she thinks we are nice porch guests because we have already taken off our shoes. We chuckle politely and put them back on. Back to the cars, buckle the kids in, pull up to the gate and realize we don't know how to get out. Yeah, we wanted in so bad and now we want out so bad. I have no idea what the other woman did to open the gate from the inside. We sit there in front of the gate just laughing at the absurdity of the situation, then decide we better do something. I find that the walk-through door is not locked from the inside, but if I go out and try to open the gate with the keypad, well, our lady doesn't live there, so there is no code for her. Lucky I though that before exiting and locking myself on the opposite side from my car that is still running. I go back to the door of the nice lady and now, she is not answering. Hmmmmm. What to do..
Finally, we are saved by some guy in a truck that types in a code to enter from the outside. We quickly drive through before the gate shuts again and count ourselves lucky. My father-in-law later informed me that I probably had not pulled close enough to the gate to trigger the sensor in the ground to open the gate. Nice. It was my first time, what can I say???
So, no the morning did not end here nor get much better. We drop in on another lady we are to visit and she graciously allows us in for a short visit before our next scheduled appointment. But, we like talking to Bethany so much, that we are late for the next appointment. We pull up and there are no cars. Usually there are two cars since this lady and her husband are both home (he was wounded in Iraq). I go to knock anyway, thinking car repair or whatever, only to find a note telling us that she had to pick up her daughter from Kindergarten because her husband had to take the cat to the vet to have its leg amputated. Yes, that's right amputated. What the heck!!!
I sent my companion home and drove over to the school, knowing I would find Gina there and that we had 10 minutes before the kids were out. I had to know what happened to the cat. Turns out it jumped off something inside their garage and broke it's leg. It would require surgery or amputation. Surgery was something they could not afford, so it was option two. How do you tell a 6 year old that their cat will now have only 3 legs?
Whatever happened to the easy visits? You know, make an appointment, arrive on time, visit, share a message, go home... Those were the days. I guess I needed a little excitement in my life. Of course, I did have the thought several times to ask my husband how to get to the first lady's house (the one inside the gated complex who didn't really live there after all) because he is partnered with her husband for home teaching, which is the same idea but men partnered and given names of several families to visit and watch over. I didn't listen to that little voice and hence...
Maybe next time.

Preschool Graduation

Parker has finally finished preschool. He has loved it all and was super excited to "graduate". His preschool was at one of the high schools and so they went all out for graduation. I can hardly believe that Parker will be going to Kindergarten in the fall though he is definitely ready. The lady in the pictures is Mrs. Prothe, the teacher in charge of preschool. The last photo is of Parker sitting still. They have trouble keeping the hats on the kids, so they told them to sit as still as they could. He sat like that through the whole program. Doesn't he look so sweet? Don't let it fool you, he is a normal boy that wanders around the house hitting everything he passes. Congratulations Parker!!

Listen Carefully

Parker asked his dad yesterday to listen to the bumblebee song. Logan asked which song or who sings it and discovered he meant the song by the Black Eyed Peas... you know "Imma be, Imma be ... Imma Imma Imma be"! It took a little convincing that they were not saying "I'm a bumblebee."

Even the three year old can speak spanish

A few days ago, Logan came home and announced that he wanted to go to the last dinner of the Spanish club at the school where he works. I told him I had just put dinner in to cook and he said that was fine because he thought he would take just Maya. For those who don't know, Maya is in the dual language program at her school and is doing really well learning Spanish. Brooklyn (who is three next week) said she wanted to go with dad. I told her she needed to stay with me and she wrapped herself around dad's leg. She was going with dad!
So, Logan told her she had to be able to speak Spanish to go with him and then headed for the door. She chased him out of the house, through the garage and to the car. She tried to get in one door, but Maya blocked her way. (She is calling out the entire time, "I can speak Spanish! I can speak Spanish!") So, still yelling with conviction, she heads around to the other side of the car, opens the door and starts climbing in. Sadly, I had to physically remove and restrain her while they left. Truthfully, she can say Hola! Adios! Sientete! and Levantete! She can speak Spanish. Careful what you say dad!

Fish do not belong in the kitchen sink!

So, Parker got a goldfish as a party favor from a recent birthday party. It was a fishing party and they actually fished the goldfish out of a kiddie pool and then got to take their fish home in a little bowl with some rocks in the bottom. The mother who put on this party prepped the kids that the fish probably wouldn't live more than a few days, etc. Well, our fish, Josh Goldie Burnett, lived for several weeks and was thriving. Then, mom came in and tried to clean the fish bowl. Mind you, I have done this several times already. (Yes, to this specific bowl and fish.) There was a little too much water in the measuring cup that I was using to refill the bowl, so I thought I would use my hand as a lid and let a little out. Yes, the fish was still in the measuring cup... You can see this happening, right! Out slips the fish and slithers right down the drain, or so we thought. I pulled the black rubber piece out of the bottom of the sink and spotted Josh, and some other rather unpleasant matter. (Time to clean that area of the house.)
So, I don't want to stick my hand down there because its gross. I call Parker. He is the fish's owner after all, and he has smaller hands. He hikes up his sleeve and rescues his fish from down inside the drain. We slip him back into his bowl and he looked good. We thought we had the most resilient goldfish ever born. Then, he started to lean to the side and nose down. Alas, Josh did not make it. Is there such a thing as PTSD for fish?
Lesson learned. I will always remove the fish before trying to pour out more water. I will also always make sure the water is the right temperature before returning fish to the fish tank. (those last six fish that we had taught me that) Yes, I killed six fish about this time last year. Mom is not allowed to clean the fish tank. Shouldn't that be dad's job? Good thing you can't hear fish scream.
So, this morning, we welcomed Josh Goldie Burnett II to our home. He seems happy. I hope he lives.