Anniversary + Father's Day

Today is both Father's Day and our anniversary, so we kind of, sort of celebrated both things.

Juanito woke up at about 2:00, and soon thereafter the two of us went out for a late lunch without children to celebrate the fact that we have been married 23 years. (Seriously. 23 years. We got married when we were 22, which means that we've been married a year longer than we were alive before we were married. What?!)

And then we came home and got the kids and headed downtown to walk around and swing on the giant tire swing and take silly pictures and just enjoy the lovely day. And i was reminded, as always, that our kids are the best kids.

At one point, we stopped in Rosa Park Circle and somehow got on the subject of dreams, and after a while, Houston was all, "Well. And then there's my shopping cart dream." The rest of us were all like, "Whaaaaat?" And he said, "Oh yeah. That was a recurring dream that i had. There was a white room with a shopping cart in the middle on a pedestal and it was turning around and around, and that was the entire dream. And for some reason, for years, that was my best dream ever." Bwahahahaha!!!

December 12 and 13

Yesterday all of the kids had a snow day, which thrilled them to no end. Katrina and Zane headed out in the morning to go sledding on Big Butt, and stayed out until they were completely frozen. They watched a movie and read books, and we did our Advent activity: "Do Christmas Crafts."

I left it purposefully vague, because i have found, in previous years, that some of my kids *coughZanecough* don't really enjoy some of the crafts that i pick out, but they DO enjoy doing other things that i wouldn't necessarily choose. And so i gave the kids a few ideas but let them do their own thing. Turns out, Katrina, Houston, and i all wanted to do the same thing: a contact paper/tissue paper/black paper stained glass window nativity scene. They took a while to cut everything out, but the end results are really pretty.

Zane initially decided to make a paper wreath, but after essentially having me do all the things for almost the entire project, he abandoned it and instead made a pop-up Christmas card for Juanito. It's super cute, and he had fun. Yay.

Juanito and i abandoned the kids for a few hours in the afternoon for dinner and to do some Christmas shopping. Our Christmas shopping actually mostly takes the form of "this material, and some thread, and laminating sheets, and yarn." We went to Michael's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby, and while we did buy a few small gifts, nearly everything was stuff to use to make other stuff. About half of the kids' presents this year are homemade, and most of the rest of them come from China. We are apparently terrible Americans.

Today i worked on Christmas presents in the morning and then wrapped all of the finished presents. Years ago i started wrapping presents in cloth so that we could just reuse it year after year - it's cheaper, pretty, and better for the environment. It also takes a LOT longer to wrap presents. Last year i bought pretty Christmas paper and wrapped everything in it, and this year the kids asked me to please go back to cloth. So. Yay for the environment! Boo for extra time wrapping!

And then tonight, Beth and i went downtown to walk around and look at Christmas lights. Our town is all pretty and lit up, and it was fun to wander around and see it all. Of course we chose the coldest night of the year so far to do our wandering, so we were fairly frozen, but it was still fun!

While we were downtown, the kids did the Advent activity of the day: make paper chains. Katrina made one long, long chain and one small one that counts down to Christmas and has one link to be removed each day. Zane made a cute short chain with really fat links. I can imagine him doing it for a short time and then getting bored.

And Houston made little chains for Juanito and me, with a note with a few words on each chain. It's SO sweet and cute and i love it. Mine says, "Dear Mommy, Thank you for being my mom. You are by far the best mother i could have ever asked for. You always support me and forgive me quickly. Even if i did something that you specifically told me not to do and i get hurt, you will help me through the pain. Overall, you are an absolutely amazing person. -Houston Moore." Awwwww! He's such a sweet boy. 

Rally!

Pictures are here.  Blogger won't let me actually put a picture at the top today. Weird.

It's the day before the election, and i am so very, very ready for it to just be over. But Hillary Clinton came to Grand Rapids today, and Juanito really wanted to get the kids out of school and take them to the rally.

I believe the conversation yesterday went something like this:
Me: "But i really don't want to take the kids out of school unless it's for something medical."
Him: "It's educational! They'll get to see history!"
Me: "Okay. Why don't you ask their principal and see if he thinks that's an acceptable excuse?"

So Juanito actually emailed the principal this morning and asked him if that would be an acceptable excuse. And he emailed back, "Sure!" So.

We only took the kids out of the last hour and a half of school, so it wasn't like they were missing an entire day, at least. Katrina, especially, was VERY concerned that it not mess with her perfect attendance.

Juanito was in charge of it all, and he was all, "We don't have to get there until 2:00." So that's when we got there. And lo, there was a LINE. Like, a long, long, long, long line. We waited and waited and waited. Katrina, from the time we got there, was all sad, because, as she said, "I'd rather be in school." Not because she hated the rally, but because she would actually rather be in school. (Nerd!) (I mean, nerd in the best possible way!)

After a little over 2 hours in line, a random guy walking by told someone he knew, "There's a much, much shorter line over there that nobody knows about." I grabbed him and asked him to clarify. He was all, "Yeah, this line's only actually supposed to be for GVSU students. The other line is for everyone else." To clarify: NOBODY knew about this line. Almost every single person in the line was NOT a student, so it wasn't like we were just being dumb.

Juanito stayed in line where we were just to hold the spot in case it wasn't true, and the kids and i went in search of this mythical line. And it existed! Ultimately, we were SO lucky we switched, because we were among the very last people to make it into the building, and if we'd been in the other line, we would been incredibly sad to have waited in line for two and a half hours for nothing. I felt really sad for all of the people around us who DID wait for hours for nothing!

Anyhow. We were way, way in the back, and could only barely see Hillary, but we can now say that we saw her with our own eyes. If she wins tomorrow, i'll be able to now say that i've seen four presidents. Reagan, the first Bush, Obama, and Clinton. So i'm so far an even split on Republicans and Democrats, it seems....

Leader's retreat and lots of stuff about Halloween.

Last night and most of today, we had a leader's retreat for all of the student leaders at our church. Last night was mostly filled with eating pizza, getting to know the other leaders, and watching the guys try to kill each other by climbing inside of giant inflatable balls and slamming into each other. Today was mostly filled with ... well, less teaching than i would have expected.

Meanwhile, Houston had his first dance. It was a costume dance, and Houston went as an invisible man. He reportedly won the "scariest costume" prize. He looked like this:

And meanwhile, Katrina and Zane spent the night at my parents' house and then got to go to their church's Halloween party, which included trunk-or-treating and games, so my kids were thrilled. Candy and carnival games! Yay! 

And then Katrina had another Halloween party at her friend's house this afternoon. She had fun and came home all happy, and all was good until she came down an hour and a half after going to bed to tell me that she couldn't sleep. Because they'd been telling scary stories at the party, and now she just kept thinking about them and .... Sigh. 

And tonight Juanito is going to a concert with Beth and a couple of other friends. So it's been a bit of a chaotic day/weekend.

The past week and a half.

I was all set to start blogging daily after ArtPrize ended, but then our neighbors' pipes all had to be replaced. And it seems like that shouldn't have affected my blog, but it DID, because as the workers were digging up the entire street (or at least sections of it), one of them - the guy working the backhoe - carelessly took down our phone and internet wires. It would have been annoying no matter what, but the guy who told me was all, "Yeah, so we're just going to cut those wires and they'll come and replace them eventually." I was all, "????" and he said, "Well, we have to cut them, because they're in our way." I was more annoyed by the completely cavalier attitude than anything. Except that then our internet was out for 3 days, and that was also pretty annoying

Anyhow. 

Last week was Beth's birthday. She took the day off work and we spent it taking pictures, picking apples, visiting the Cheese Lady, and walking around Meijer Gardens. Juanito made her a cake that was very fancy and also very slippery - it was falling apart, but it was still cute.

The annual pumpkin walk was this past weekend. We went on Friday, right as it started, which turned out to be a very good plan. We were some of the first people there, and it wasn't quite dark yet, but we had the path mostly to ourselves and it was great. My sister called later and said that they'd gone and left because the line to get onto the path was over an hour long. Crazy!!!

Saturday was the Zombie Dash downtown. Juanito, the kids, Beth, and a few other friends from Zumba all dressed up like zombies and scared the runners. Juanito was completely overboard disgusting and bloody again, as is his habit. Houston gets a little bit bloody, and Zane and Katrina are two of the cleanest zombies there. I think that either i don't understand what zombies are supposed to look like or Juanito doesn't, because what *i* picture is completely different from what he does. I don't think of zombies as being particularly bloody at all, whereas he covers himself from head to foot in fake blood and guts. Regardless, they all had fun. (I had fun staying home and NOT being covered in fake blood.)

Katrina and Beth decided to be "rainbow unicorns" for Halloween, so they've been working on their costumes together. They tie-dyed hoodies and then made horns, ears, manes, and tails and safety pinned them all together. (They were going to sew them together, but Katrina was all, "I want to be able to wear this hoodie after Halloween!" so they went the safety pin route, which was totally effective and much, much easier.)

Today Houston had his first official orthodontist appointment. They took molds of his teeth to determine what kind of appliance to put on his teeth first. He's really excited about getting braces, except for the "not being allowed to eat bagels" part of it.

And tonight were parent-teacher conferences for Katrina and Zane. Katrina came with us to her conferences, because she really likes to hear the teachers say nice things about her. She always has glowing reports, and i think that she really likes to hear the teachers tell us how much they like her and how well she's doing. We visited her homeroom teacher (for the general report) and her math teacher (because that's the class she struggles in the most, though her teacher said that she's actually doing very well, because that class is taking 2 years' worth of math and covering it in one year), and then we also visited her art and band teachers, because Katrina really wanted us to.

She wanted us to go to her art teacher because that's her favorite subject, and she's doing awesome in it, and i think she wanted to have her teacher sing her praises. The art teacher knows Juanito from Wedgwood, though, so she kind of spent the entire time talking about other stuff. I finally said, "I think Katrina wants you to tell us how well she's doing...." and she was all, "Oh. Yes, she's great." And then we went to her band teacher because she's been working so, so hard in band, and the band director was very nice and was happy when we told her how glad we are to have her, especially after the last band director, but didn't actually say anything about Katrina until i asked specifically, and then she was all, "Yes. She's doing fine. She turns in her practice sheets and everything...." (She's getting an A+. I kind of think that deserves more praise than "fine," but whatever.) So i think Katrina was somewhat disappointed that she didn't get more kudos from either of them.

And then there's Zane, who is getting acceptable grades, but who is just going to be the death of me. He's gotten better at in-class behavior! Yay! He still doesn't turn in his homework or answer essay questions on tests with more than two words. Boo! But his teacher really likes him! Yay!

There are more pictures right here, if you want to see them.

Our dollar store fireworks draw all the neighbor kids to the yard

Houston unintentionally amused me a few times today. First, he fell coming up the basement steps and totally skinned both legs (not the amusing part, poor guy). Katrina and i gave him lots of sympathy, and after a few minutes he went into the other room, where he promptly slammed his toe into a table. Several minutes later, Houston was all, "I'm pretty sure i might have actually broken my toe!"
Me: "Which one? Let me see it."
Him: "This one. No, wait. That one. One of those two."
Me: "Okay then. I'm pretty sure you'll be all right." (One of my general rules of thumb: If you can't remember which toe you "broke," it's probably not broken.)

Whenever we do pizza-movie night, Juanito prepares Houston two normal pizza crusts. Houston then rolls the sides up so that he has really thick crusts, and then fills the inside with tons of sauce. Tonight he rolled the sides up extra far, so that his pizzas looked extra tiny. I commented on them, and Houston said, "Yeah. I'm not that hungry tonight."
Me: "Um...you know that it's the same amount...."
Him, looking somewhat sheepish: "Yeah...."

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Juanito bought some (very tame) fireworks at the dollar store the other day, and we did some of them tonight. There were poppers - the kind that you throw on the ground and they go POP! (Houston and i thought we'd be cool, so i threw one in his direction, and he used his arm to swat it to another spot...except that it totally popped on his arm. I was totally apologetic, but he was all, "Look! It burned a tiny bit! Do it again!!!") Juanito took his entire bag of poppers and emptied them all into a wrapper to make one giant popper, because...Juanito. There were those weird black snake things. And there were the kind that spin around and scream and light up, some of which pop and spark a few seconds after the spinning and screaming stops. The first time that happened, Beth and i both totally screamed.

In our neighborhood, there seem to always be loud fireworks everywhere. Tonight Katrina was all, "I can't wait until fireworks season is finished! It's SO LOUD when i'm trying to sleep!" Ours were really quiet, but they were apparently loud enough to draw neighbor kids to us. I'm fine with that, except that they're not quite as cautious as i am, and they make me really nervous. I'm all "Back up! Back up farther! Farther!!!" as they inch back a teensy bit at a time...and then run at the fireworks the second they stop. Meanwhile, i'm all, "Unsafe! Unsafe!!!!" (One of the kids was all, "My sister is 10, and she never ever brushes her teeth, so her teeth are all breaking off in pieces." So i guess their parents aren't exactly concerned with teaching them good choices?)

Things that have been happening

Over a month, eh? Time for a "Here's what we've been doing" post, i guess.

• Travis and Brooke, our friends who used to live around here and then they moved away to plant a church in New Zealand (sniff), came home for a visit! And we got to see them! We actually got to see Brooke and their kids a few times - once for an entire afternoon! - which was completely fantastic. Their kids are pretty significantly younger than our kids, but Katrina painted the girls' nails, and Zane played dress-up with them, and it was really fun to just hang out and have a chance to talk for hours.
  
  And then, when Travis finally got to town (he came a couple of weeks after Brooke), the two of them came over in the evening, along with Beth and Keren, and we all sat around and talked and laughed and talked for several hours. It wasn't quite the late night that we used to have (back when Tuesday nights were a thing, and everyone would stay until 3 or 4:00 in the morning), and we could have spent hours more, but it was just so great to see them again!
  
• I had a birthday. We celebrated it on Saturday, because Sunday (the actual day) was completely booked solid. So on Saturday afternoon, Beth and i went out for lunch (fun!). Lunch with a friend is always a happy start! After lunch, we came back home, and Beth and Juanito decorated the delicious cake that Beth had made.
  
  It was supposed to be a warm and sunny day, but instead, it was cold and rainy. Our plan to have a picnic and then walk around Meijer Gardens (a membership was my birthday present!), and we DID have a really fast picnic, shivering all the while. We almost exclusively walked around inside Meijer Gardens, though, partly because it was freezing cold and totally raining by then, but also because it was the last day that the butterflies were there! We walked around in the warmth, remembering how Katrina used to be terrified of the butterflies.
  
  And then we came home, and Juanito made delicious steak and chicken on the grill. We ate dinner and cake, opened presents, and then Beth, Juanito, and i played a round of the game that Juanito made for me for my birthday. Yay!
  
• A few days later, when it was actually warm and sunny, we all went back to Meijer Gardens and got to walk around the new Japanese Gardens. It's beautiful and serene, and i'm sure we'll be back many, many times!
  
• We've lived in our house now for 17 years, and it's been that long since we painted the front room. Back then, we made the very questionable and terrible decision to paint the room a hideous pink color. It stayed that color, mostly because we were too lazy to repaint it...until now! We painted it golden yellow, which i'm really, really happy with. It's so bright and cheerful!
  
• Juanito is building giant desk/bookshelves/cabinets, which will replace my desk and the DVD rack and the table-thingy, and will hopefully look prettier in the process! He's finished the desk tops and the DVD shelves so far, and it looks amazing. I'm totally looking forward to seeing the finished product!
  
• The school had band concerts for 5th, 7th, and 8th grades, skipping 6th grade altogether. The reason given was "the sixth grade isn't ready." I asked Katrina if that was true, and she said, "Yes. We are totally not ready. We don't have any songs that we sound good on at all." Sad.
  
  Less than a week before the concert, Houston came home and announced that his saxophone wasn't working because someone had broken it when it was at school. Juanito looked at it for a while, trying to figure out what was wrong with it and if he could fix it, and eventually Houston explained that there was this one button? That made it go between higher and lower notes? And that was totally what he was having trouble with? I wrapped a hair tie around it to hold the button closed unless it was actually pressed, and ... totally fixed! Woohoo!
  
  The concert was actually quite pathetic. The seventh grade had less than half of their members there, probably because we were given exactly five days' notice that there was even going to BE a concert. I felt so sorry for the poor little seventh graders who were supposed to have a whole section and instead ended up playing a solo.
  
  The eighth grade sounded significantly better, but they were still missing half of their band. (I've complained about this after every single concert, but the choice of music is always absolutely horrible. It's consistently tuneless and slow and boring.) Afterwards, my mom commented, "Well, on the bright side, the saxophones sounded great!"
  
• Katrina has lost four teeth in the past two weeks. Four. I think they're all on the top too, so her little smile has giant gaps and is all adorable.

And i think that those are the highlights. At least, those are the things that i've taken pictures of, so i remember that they happened. 

Spirit Week and Juanito's birthday

So last week was Spirit Week. I posted on Monday, and then kind of dropped the ball. So the rest of the week went as follows:

Tuesday was "Dress like an animal" day. I was all, "Seriously?! How are you supposed to dress like an ANIMAL?" Because we don't have animal costumes lying around, and we were certainly not going to go out and buy any or spend the time and energy to make one. I thought to myself, "Psh. Nobody is going to do this one!" We borrowed a couple of noses from Beth, and Houston wore his Minecraft pig scarf, and we called it good. And then we pulled up to the school, and one of the teachers was wearing an amazing full-on T-Rex costume, and was directing traffic in it.

After school, i asked them if people had dressed up, and they were all, "YEAH! Like, way more than yesterday!" (Although, they did allow that the day before had been Monday, and most people probably just forgot.) Apparently a lot of people have animal pajamas and animal costumes just sitting around for this kind of occasion.

Wednesday was pajama day. I didn't even take a picture, because a good portion of my pictures of my kids already have them in pajamas, because when they're at home, they generally spend every minute possible wearing their pajamas.

Thursday was supposed to be homeroom wars, but there was a snow day, so they ended up doing it today instead. Houston's class did "Scrabble." He had to wear a black shirt, and then apparently they each had a letter to wear. Zane's class did neon. According to him, a lot of the kids in his class wear neon all the time. We...don't have any neon in our house. We do have a bright green shirt with a bug on it, that's maybe a little bit close to being neon? So he wore that.

Katrina's class did the 80's. (Which...geez. That was 30 years ago!? I am old!) Katrina wore a dress that once belonged to one of my younger sisters, complete with the giant lacy collar and shoulder pads. We put her hair in a side ponytail, and i let her wear my "Be Fri" necklace (of which Karen D. has the "St Ends" half). I would have put blue eye shadow on her, but my supply of makeup is somehow missing the blue eye shadow.

Friday was sports day. I let Houston wear my 1985 Bears Superbowl sweatshirt that is awesome and is also kind of falling apart a little bit. I asked him if anyone said anything about it, and he told me, "Yes. They said, 'That's really big on you.'" And yes. It IS typically 1980's baggy. But it was totally stylish back then! Katrina dressed like a runner. She wore her long-sleeved 5K shirt under her Color Run t-shirt, with her Color Run headband, yoga pants, and all of her medals. She clanked every time she moved. She was adorable.

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Tuesday was Juanito's birthday. I made him a couple of cakes - one German chocolate and one Devil's food, and then he very, very carefully put them together in diagonal layers, with fancy pudding-filling in between layers, so that it was all very beautiful. And then he very carefully frosted it with homemade chocolate frosting. And then he decorated it in a Cake Wrecks style. And then he started to put it on the table, and i was all, "Don't put it on the table, because Emma might get at it." So he put it up on the back of the counter in the kitchen and went to teach zumba.

I did some cooking and then left the kitchen (carefully shutting the gate behind me) to quick wrap presents. And Katrina and Zane ran through the kitchen on their way to somewhere, forgetting to shut the gate behind them, and a couple of minutes later...we found Emma, happily eating the edge of the cake. The kids tried to convince me that we could fix it: "If we just cover that part with frosting?" But it was unfixable. Sad.

But Beth came over to help make dinner and to celebrate with us. And dinner was very delicious. And presents! (Nearly every present from me was food. Because Juanito is impossible to buy presents for. Impossible.) And the cake was really delicious...as long as we cut off the parts that Emma had gotten near.

High Ropes

Part of Keren's job is facilitating a high ropes course. She invited us to come up to her workplace today, to play on the high ropes for a couple of hours, just us and Beth and her brother and niece. (Beth and Keren and i all stayed on the ground. They don't like heights, and i felt better when i could keep an eye on the kids and make sure they were actually following safety protocols.)

Needless to say, the kids (and Juanito) were absolutely thrilled. All three kids climbed up with no trepidation at all. I'm pretty sure that Houston did every single element at least once, and did them all well. He even did the "flea hop," where you have to jump from one tiny platform to another to another, even though that was the only thing that actually scared him. Later, i asked him which element was his favorite, and he was all, "All of them!"

Katrina just seems fearless when she's up there, smiling and laughing and having a grand old time. At one point, she made her way across some looped ropes, with much effort and difficulty, and just as she finished, i noticed that her line was tangled around the second rope from the beginning, so she had to go all the way back and untangle it. And she did, giggling even as she was dangling midair, tangled in ropes and looking like a marionette.

Zane was incredibly brave. He tends to be our most cautious child, but he attacked the elements that he felt like he could do, and totally enjoyed doing them. Near the end of the time up there, he tried going across a difficult element - one wire, where the only thing to hold on to was a few dangling ropes - and when he was just under halfway across, he got too scared to continue on and ended up going back. After that, he stood quietly on a platform for a while, resting and getting his nerve back, but then he went back to climbing around again, and kept having fun.

And Juanito had fun totally showing off, dancing on the balance beams and walking across ropes without hanging onto anything. There was exactly one element that he tried and failed at. (I was kind of shocked when he huffed away from that one and didn't try it again.)

After everyone was exhausted and hungry, we went to Keren's apartment to eat, have birthday cake for Keren, and hang out for a little while.

Yay for fun adventures!

2015, in lists

Five states we visited:

1. Colorado

2. South Dakota

3. Kentucky

4. Ohio

5. Florida (Well, only me, but i'm still putting it on the list!)

Four special destinations therein:

1. Tony and Meloni's wedding

2. Mount Rushmore

3. The Badlands

4. Harry Potter World (Only me. But STILL.)

Eight of the books i read to the kids:

1. Harry Potter books 6 and 7 with Katrina

2. Harry Potter book 3 with Zane

3. Furiously Happy (with me editing out the swear words)

4. Let's Pretend This Never Happened (again, with me editing out non-child-appropriate parts)

5. The Bridge to Terabithia

6. Hyperbole and a Half (mostly - we have a few chapters to go)

7. The Last Present (from the Willow Falls series)

Six (groups of) far-away people we saw:

1. Tony and Meloni

2. Karen D

3. Juanito's family in Kentucky

4. Rick and Ashley and their kids

5. My South Dakota relatives

6. Sam and Shelbi and their family

Ten fun places we went:

1. Detroit (and, briefly, Canada) with Beth

2. The Pirate exhibit at the museum

3. I'm putting the U2 concert on the list, even though i'm the only one who went. Because it was amazing. 

4. Camping with my parents

5. Kalahari with my entire family

6. Great Wolf Lodge with Karen D.

7. Houston and Katrina went to Winter Camp

8. Juanito took a trip to Detroit with his scooter

9. Balloon Festival

10. Shipshewana

Fourteen random things we did:

1. Houston got a concussion

2. Katrina got her hair cut short

3. Juanito was an artist in ArtPrize

4. We all got used to having a dog again

5. Katrina ran in three 5Ks.

6. The kids got to see the king and queen from the Netherlands

7. The kids got multiple hermit crabs, all of whom eventually died

8. We watched a house on our street get completely demolished

9. Katrina finally got a door on her room

10. Houston made himself a tabletop out of bottle caps

11. Visited ArtPrize a ton

12. Juanito and the kids dressed up as zombies and scared people for the Zombie Dash

13. Zane was in Boy Scouts again, and loved it

14. Houston learned to crochet, and Katrina learned how to knit on a loom

Eight things we loved:

1. Juanito loved Zumba...

2. ...and building his speakers and amplifiers

3. Katrina loved running

4. Zane loved listening to books on audiotape, especially Percy Jackson and Harry Potter

5. Houston loved Doctor Who

6. Zane loved riding his bike

7. Houston loved chickens

8. Katrina loved drawing, especially girls with fashionable clothes

Great Wolf Lodge: The rest

The kids woke up at the crack of dawn (or so it felt), ate the delicious little sugary cereal boxes that Karen had brought for them for breakfast, and were dressed in bathing suits and ready to go down to the water park at 9:00. (Morning people. Bleh.)

We swam and did the lazy river and the water slides and the hot tubs and repeated the whole process for hours. Zane's preferred method of doing the lazy river is: Get everyone to make a chain with their tubes. Drag the chain around the "lazy" river at top speed. A million times.

By 3:00, Houston and i were finished, and Katrina and Juanito joined us half an hour later. Houston immediately put on his pajamas, which he then declared he was staying in for the rest of the day. And...i think he did. Katrina got her face painted and then curled up in the room for the rest of the day. Zane was finally dragged away at about 5:00. We got pizza and it was delicious. And then the kids all curled up upstairs and watched TV (Zane was all, "How do you work a TV?") for a couple of hours while we adults sat around and talked and talked and read and ... i don't remember, exactly. Tried not to fall asleep?

And then, at 9:00, we went down to the "dance party." It was the worst dance party ever. (Or so i thought, until the next day when i saw the exact same dance party being repeated in the middle of the afternoon with exactly two kids participating.) There were lots of people, mostly under age 9. The music was really quiet, so you could just barely hear it well enough to dance to it. And they were all songs like "The Chicken Dance" and "YMCA" and "The Hokey Pokey" and other stuff that could not possibly be offensive to anyone, ever. I mean, it's a good policy, to not play inappropriate music with kids there. Obviously, it is. But DUDE. Lame. So Karen, Juanito, and i all danced like it was awesome. Zane sat on the steps the entire time. Houston started out standing near us and pretending to dance, until the "Whip Nae Nae" song came on, and then he was out of there faster than a speeding bullet. Katrina, who was just exhausted, sat on the floor to watch. So it was just us adults dancing, while kids all around us looked at us like, "So...do you think they think they're cool?" I'm not sure why we didn't just give up and leave. It would have been the sensible thing to do.

By the time we were in the room for good, it was 9:30ish. We let the kids watch one or two more episodes of "Full House" or whatever while we sat around and talked and read. And then Karen was watching some cooking channel contest, so i started watching on the second-to-last episode, and then we had to watch the finale to find out who won.... So it was late by the time we got to sleep.

Sunday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed, packed everything up, and went for all-you-can-eat pancakes at Steak and Shake, which was located just down from our balcony. (All three kids commented on it the first day. "HEY! There's a Steak and Shake right there! We should go!") Once everyone was sufficiently filled with delicious, delicious gluten, we headed back to GWL, changed into our suits, and did all of the water stuff again.

For a while, all six of us played in the pool - Monkey in the Middle, Follow the Leader, contests to see who could swim the farthest under water with a child on his/her back.... It was really fun, even though we had quite an audience when the kids (and Juanito) were leading during Follow the Leader and were doing ridiculous things. When we were talking about our favorite things later, all three kids said that that was maybe their favorite part of the entire trip.

We told the kids that we'd stay until they were finished. Karen had to leave by about 2:30, and i was finished by then too, so we both got dressed, took some pictures, and said goodbye. And by 3:00, our kids (minus Zane) were totally ready to leave as well.

Today was spent mostly in pajamas, resting and enjoying having a day off from school. I'm so glad that the teachers had trainings today, because my kids totally needed the day to completely crash and rest.

So, in summary: It was a great weekend. I loved seeing Karen and getting to have lots of time to sit and talk to her. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more often! The kids had tons of fun. Juanito enjoyed having time to just read and read, since he couldn't work on any projects.

All around awesome. Yay!

Warmth and sunshine are good things

Today was an amazingly beautiful, warm day, especially considering that it's November. Juanito, Zane, and i took a walk to enjoy the sunshine and warmth. We walked down toward the construction that's been going on since FOREVER, and it seems like it might actually be getting close to being finished. Yay!!!

There were some construction guys who were putting the finishing touches on the road - the painted "Only" and arrow and bike lane pictures on the road. We, of course, stopped and watched them for several minutes. It was quite fascinating. Did you know, for example, that they spray paint it and then toss little glass beads into the paint? They do! And then they blow it all off with a leaf blower. Because otherwise the cars that come along will slip on the loose beads and mess up the paint.

As we were walking along, Zane noticed a leaf that had blown into the path of the line being painted on the road. The road now has one leaf-shaped hole in the paint, and Zane is the proud owner of one white-painted, glass-beaded leaf.

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My mom had knee-replacement surgery today. According to my dad, it went really well. She had quite a lot of motion before, so that should help with the recovery, which...seems reasonable? I went to visit her in the hospital a couple of hours after she got out of surgery, and she was still quite (adorably) groggy, slurring words and falling asleep mid-sentence, sleeping for 30 seconds and then waking up and then falling asleep again. She'll maybe be in the hospital for an additional night, because they did the surgery late enough in the day that she was pretty much out of it for the rest of today, but she seems to be doing really well.

Here's hoping that the recovery is swift and as painless as possible!

Juanito's ArtPrize entry

Juanito's been working nearly non-stop on his drawing for ArtPrize. He's got about a week until it absolutely has to be finished, but he's hoping to get it done in the next couple of days. So far he's put in somewhere around 100 hours.

It looks amazing. 

Movie night and school shopping and other randomness

We had movie night tonight with Linda and Andrew and their kids and Stephanie and Beth and us and our kids. It's always just fun to get together with all of those people, and it's just been a long time since we've seen Linda and Andrew's family (not counting church). Stephanie chose "Grand Budapest Hotel" for the movie, and it was quite delightful. I kind of feel like i would need to watch it again to fully understand it, but i think i really liked it.

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Zane went to a birthday party for one of his best friends this afternoon. I asked if he had fun and what they did, and he said, "We had a piñata, except it wasn't actually a piñata, because it was a Minecraft Creeper, and it wasn't hanging up and we didn't hit it with a bat." 

Me: "So...what did you do with it then?"

Zane: "We just had to punch it with our hands until it broke."

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I feel like we've just been gone a lot this summer, so our whole back-to-school shopping has been thrown off. Usually, by this time, we're completely ready to go, but this year we're still getting a few last things.

Yesterday, we went to two Goodwill stores and a Salvation Army, looking for clothes for Houston mostly. (We managed to find him clothes AND two pairs of shoes, and we found an adorable pair of shoes for Katrina as well. Yay!)

Today, Katrina and i went shopping and got clothes for her. Adorable clothes. (I wish that they made adult clothes as cute as kid's clothes. Sparkly pictures on shirts! Embroidered pictures on jeans! I want embroidered flowers and birds on my jeans too!) Shopping for clothes with Katrina has changed in the past few years, because she just has much more a sense of her own style now. Whereas before, she just liked random stuff, and i could convince her to like almost anything, she now likes specific styles (chunky turtleneck sweaters, for example). I've been trying to teach her to (kindly) tell me when she doesn't like something i hold up, rather than trying it on, buying it, and then never wearing it. If you're not going to wear it, just TELL ME!!! It's fine!!! No feelings hurt!

Zane doesn't actually need any new clothes, because he's just inherited a TON of clothes from Houston and some good jeans from his cousin. I asked him if he felt like he wanted to go shopping for a new outfit, and he was all, "Nope! I'm good!" Yay!

So. Some new socks and underwear, and i think we're finished!

(I do realize that we can buy things at other times of the year, but i just...don't, usually. Beginning of the school year, we stock up, and then we only buy things if they've actually outgrown what they have.)

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Juanito's now put something like 40 hours into his drawing for ArtPrize, and it looks amazing. He's all, "Really, anyone can do it, if they use a small enough grid and enough patience," but he's wrong. He's just really, really talented.

Pallets and Harrison and Spy

This afternoon, Juanito was all, "Hey! Want to go do something with me?!" I was all, "Yes! Probably?" So we drove to a parking lot to haul three giant oak pallets onto the the top of the van. The first one weighed about 200 pounds, and we were struggling to lift it onto our van when a couple of men stopped and volunteered to help. (Sometimes being a woman is helpful. Nobody would stop to help a couple of men.) We secured the pallets with bungee cords and drove them home and then hauled them back off the car so that Juanito could rip them apart. Hopefully they'll turn into awesome furniture.

This afternoon we got to go celebrate my little nephew Harrison, who just turned one. He's completely adorable, and it was a fun party.

And then tonight i went to a movie with Beth. "Spy." I'd seen it before with Juanito, but it was just as hilarious the second time, although i did have several moments of, "Oh yeah. I forgot about THAT." And then i'd get all nervous, because i'd told Beth that i really liked it, and i was afraid that she'd be all, "Geez, Karen!" But then it would be hilarious again, and i just still really liked it. (So did she.) (I think.)

ArtPrize and Snapchat

ArtPrize is suddenly in the air. It's not yet the end of the summer, so it wasn't even on my radar yet, really - it's a fall thing, and i usually start thinking about it after school starts. Except Juanito is entering a piece this year, and he just finally started drawing it today. And Stephanie, who volunteers for ArtPrize, invited me to go with her to a volunteer kickoff party, so i went to that with her, and suddenly it feels like it's right around the corner! Yikes!

(I will not become completely consumed this year. I will not become completely consumed this year. I will not...)

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I've had a couple of other adults who have told me, "Yeah, i heard about Snapchat and thought it sounded completely stupid, but i actually like it!" And i finally thought, "Meh. Might as well see what all the fuss is...."

And Beth and i spent a good part of the day today sending ridiculous and hilarious pictures back and forth. It is quite enjoyable. Not as informative as text, but way less stressful for those among us (me) who can't text quickly. Plus you get to laugh at your friends. (In a loving way.)

Camping and not camping

Zane missed the Cub Scout camping trip when we were in South Dakota, and he was really disappointed. So tonight, Juanito and Zane are camping. They're out somewhere in the woods in a not-campground, just parked in a State Park, hiked in, digging a hole for a bathroom.

Zane is wearing all camouflage, so that the bears and wolves can't find him.

Meanwhile, Katrina, Houston, Beth, and i are staying home and watched the sixth Harry Potter movie. We can't watch any of the Harry Potter movies past 2 while Zane is home, so we have to try to fit them in when he's otherwise occupied. The kids have approximately the same response to the movies that i do: Love the actors, like some of the movie, completely disappointed by all the stuff left out, irritated about the stuff changed. I've made it a rule that no out-loud complaining is allowed, because otherwise it's just constant wails of, "That never happened!!!!"

Just another summer day

Zane and i were at the dog park today, when a huge hawk swooped down to try to catch something right by us. Both of us gasped in awe and watched it land on the fence just on the side of the fence separating the big dogs from the small dogs. And then it just sat there, watching us.

Zane: "It's an owl!"
Me: "No, it's a hawk."
Zane: "I'm pretty sure it's an owl."
Me: "Um...definitely a hawk. Look at his head."
Zane: *skeptical look.

We stood there watching it for a moment, and when it became clear that he was just going to sit there looking at us, i walked over to the fence to get a better look. And Zane exclaimed, "I need to go tell the others!!!" and ran off to do that. And that right there is a perfect picture of the difference between the two of us. He eventually moved into the small dog area where there was one lady by herself, sat down next to her, and proceeded to talk to her for the next 15 minutes. Which is really what he does every time we go. He knows lots of the dogs by name and has long conversations with their owners. Such a social kid!

And then this afternoon, Zane made friends with all of the neighbors that could possibly live nearby. A couple of them gathered, and then he brought the guinea pigs out to show them, and more gathered, and eventually there were about 10 kids in our backyard, most of whom i've never seen before. Yay!?

Meanwhile, Houston and Katrina spent the better part of the day working on crafty stuff. They watched videos about how to make different kinds of bracelets with their Rainbow Looms, and then made a whole slew of different kinds. Katrina also made a couple of Minecraft squares out of perler beads for Zane for his birthday. So much craftiness! I love it!

When Juanito got home, we set to work getting the carpet into Katrina's room. We are definitely not professional carpet layers, but it's there and i think it's mostly pretty good. And as long as everything needed to come out anyhow, we completely rearranged Katrina's room. She's now sleeping on a mattress on the floor because her bed frame wouldn't fit where she wanted the bed, but she's completely happy.

AND THEN Juanito discovered that our pipes are completely rebelling, so while he was at zumba, i went to rent a roto rooter so that he could try to snake out the drains, and he did try for about 3 hours, but the stupid roto rooter that i rented is all disfunctional, so it's completely not working. Poor Juanito. So he'll have to do that again tomorrow, i guess. Sad.

Sunday

Katrina "couldn't fall asleep" last night, so she came downstairs and promptly fell asleep on the couch, and then Juanito sat down to "read his book" and promptly fell asleep on the couch as well. I made it up to bed, but then i totally slept through church this morning. We were all tired!

This afternoon, Juanito got Katrina's door up on her door frame. It turned out to be a much bigger and more complicated job than i think he'd expected, first because the door, as he sawed it small enough, started falling apart a little bit, and second because the door frame (being in an old house) is all crooked, so he had to saw the top of the door crooked to fit it. He eventually conquered the door, though, and Katrina is completely happy to be able to shut it and keep people (brothers) out and dogs in.

Ever since Juanito saw the movie Mad Max, he's been desperately wanting me to go see it with him. So tonight we went. I can totally understand why he likes it. Lots of crazy cars with giant tires and enormous trucks with giant tires and explosions. 

Father's Day!

It's Father's Day! The day to celebrate both my dad (who is a fantastic father!) and Juanito (who is the best dad i could possibly want for my kids!).

We didn't actually do a very good job of celebrating today, actually. Juanito wanted grilled chicken for lunch, which meant that he did most of the work for that. And then i was working on stuff for the trip, and he was doing something with his soldering iron, and suddenly it was time to go to my parents' house.

We picked up a giant pizza and brought it to their house to share, and then hung around for a few hours to talk and catch up a little bit. My sister Jill came, and my brother Jim and his family came, and we had fun watching little Harrison play in the middle of all of us.

Houston is totally starting to get older. While we were at my parents' house today, he spent the first couple of hours hanging out, listening to the adults talk, and only went to play with Katrina and Zane for the last hour or so.