2017, so far.

We're almost a month and a half into 2017, and i haven't blogged since the new year. I keep wanting to, but then i'm all unsure of what to post. I could just post "this is what my family did today," and honestly, that's maybe fine and probably what i'll end up doing. But that feels somewhat dishonest to what i feel like is actually going on, because so much of my brain is full of politics and the things happening in our country right now. 

I read an article by Andrew Sullivan yesterday, and this paragraph perfectly sums up how i'm feeling: 

One of the great achievements of free society in a stable democracy is that many people, for much of the time, need not think about politics at all. The president of a free country may dominate the news cycle many days — but he is not omnipresent — and because we live under the rule of law, we can afford to turn the news off at times. A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene. In that sense, it seems to me, we already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes.

I hardly ever used to think about politics. Every four years i'd pay attention to who was running for president, and in the interim, i'd pay attention to the general news of the day, which was not generally political. But now i feel like everything is related to Trump's presidency, and every day there's new scandals and new executive orders filled with horribleness, and it's just exhausting and depressing. I want to go back to being able to look at Facebook or Twitter or the news or anything and having it be just...life. 

So that's where i'm coming from.

That said, this is what we've been doing for the past month:

• Houston started out the year by putting his retainer on the table while he ate something, forgetting about it, and starting to play a game with us. Midway through the game, Emma came trotting into the room, happily chewing on...Houston's completely destroyed retainer. $150 later, Houston had a new retainer, which i'm happy to say he's being much more conscientious about keeping in the box when it's not in his mouth.

• Katrina, Zane, and i went to Winter Camp with our church's youth groups. It was a weekend of noise and silliness and snow and crafts and not enough sleep. Katrina and Zane both loved it. Zane even loved it despite the fact that his cabin didn't have a bathroom. His group had to run across the camp to the gym to use the bathroom - or the shower, but that didn't seem like an issue, since Zane literally didn't change his clothes the entire weekend. 
  

• Houston had his first exams in January, and they nearly killed us both. I could have just been all, "They're your exams! You do all the work!" but i'm pretty sure that he would have failed them all if i'd done that. The boy just really never had to study much at all before this year, and so he's really bad at it. I spent days and days with him, going through his school books to find the important information he should know, because he doesn't take notes in class. Me: "But...you have a notebook for every subject! Why don't you take notes?!" Him: "I don't know. The teacher doesn't tell us to." 

• Katrina had the giant 7th grade career project, which wrapped up in mid-January. The kids spend months on this project - choosing a career, interviewing someone in that career, doing research, making brochures, writing reports, and ultimately making a tri-fold presentation with a memorized speech. Katrina chose zookeeper as her career and did an amazing job. 
  

• My grandpa, who is now 97 (i believe), had an accident in his home, where he'd been living alone, and moved into an assisted care facility. It's a really nice one ("This place is much nicer than the one Great Grandpa was in!" said both Katrina and Zane), and he seems to be doing very well. 
  

• Once every month or so, we have a "relationship building" week for Fifty6, where each group does their own thing rather than meeting as a whole group at the church. This month, we had all of our girls come to our house, where we did a "Cocoa and Canvas" thing. Juanito took the job of "artist" and told everyone what to paint and how to paint it, and at the end everyone had their own painting to take home. They all did awesome and seemed to have a really good time. 
  

• Katrina and Juanito had their Daddy-daughter dance. Katrina's been excited about it for weeks and weeks. She wanted to get a new dress for it, so we scoured Goodwills for a cute (and appropriate) dress. She chose her hairstyle at least a week prior to the dance. She was adorably happy about it. And they both report having had a really good time. 
  

• On the same day as the Daddy-daughter dance, Houston had his high school dance. He was not 100% sure about the dance even before i brought him, and about an hour and a half into it, he texted me, "Could you maybe come and get me?" 

Me: "Already? Are you bored?" 

Him: "I'm not exactly bored. Just...none of my friends are here and i am basically walking around in circles feeling awkward." 

Me: "Okay. Dad'll be home soon, and then he'll come get you, okay?" 

Him: "Yup. They're playing 'You are the only exception' and everyone is being weird." 

Me: "Define weird."

Him: "They're all dancing and stuff." 

Me: "DANCING???? At a dance!??? WHAT IS NEXT?!"

Him: "I KNOW, RIGHT?!???"

Juanito got home about then, and i asked him if he'd go get Houston. He left and i texted Houston that Juanito was on his way. And then, about 10 minutes later, Juanito called me to ask, "So...the dance IS at City, right?" No. No it was not. It was at Meijer Gardens. Apparently he had been texted Houston, "I'm here!" and Houston had been texting back, "Where?" and the conversation went approximately like this: 

"In the parking lot!" 

"Which one?"

"I'll drive around and look for you!"

"Inside or outside?"

"I AM IN A CAR."

And that's about it. There are a few more pictures here.

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.

Dahlias!

Beth and i went to a Dahlia show at Meijer Gardens today. Every single Dahlia was so, so pretty. You can see more pictures here.

I've been confused in the past, when i thought i knew what Dahlias were and then my mom or someone would point to a completely different flower and call it a Dahlia. And at this show, there were SO many different kinds of Dahlias, many of which looked nothing like the typical Dahlia, and i am now totally confused about what makes a Dahlia a Dahlia. I asked one of the people working, and they told me, "Genetics!" which is probably true, but seems like the biggest cop-out answer ever, because i could answer that about almost anything. "Why do elephants have trunks and big ears? Genetics!" "Why do trees have green leaves? Genetics!"

Tonight we had our first meeting of the year for Fifty6. I'm not particularly looking forward to losing all of my Sunday nights (it's been really lovely having Sunday nights free all summer!), but i really love our Fifty6 pastor and our family leaders. Kyle, our pastor is incredibly bad at time management and organization, but he more than makes up for it by being just genuine and kind and funny and deep. And our family leaders - two couples who are the leaders for the leaders of the kids - are all just really great, and i'm so glad that they're all back.

I'm especially glad they're all back because both of the pastors for the other two students groups - 7th & 8th grade and high school - have left this summer, so both Houston and Katrina will have interim pastors until our church hires new permanent pastors. 

The Cursed Child

Last night was the midnight release of the new Harry Potter book, "The Cursed Child." Beth and i have gone to the midnight release of at least 3 of the Harry Potter books before, so of course we wanted to go to this one too! And this time, we could take Houston and Katrina, who have also finished the series! (We didn't want to take Zane and expose him to spoilers, but his best friend was sleeping over, so he wasn't upset at all!)

Beth made us awesome little bags of swag - cauldron cakes and floo powder and Butter Beer and chocolate-covered wands and a little bottle of Felix Felicis! They were SO cute!

The release was at Barnes and Noble, and they had games and fun stuff to do, and it was really fun.

I didn't actually read the book last night, as i did with the other books, because i was just too, too tired, but i did totally read it this morning and finished it in about 4-5 hours. And ... i'm pretty sure i liked it. I'll have to think about it a bit more, but i think i did. 

Summer days

I spent most of the past two days finding, choosing, and organizing pictures, and then trying to get them into a slideshow that works as a DVD for my aunt's funeral. And it is finished!

While i was glued to the computer, the kids amused themselves by being kids. They played with the dress-up clothes, concocting some elaborate game wherein they had to randomly pull out things to put on. They were entirely amused with themselves. Houston created a board game named Pumchecs, which has elaborate rules and is surprisingly enjoyable. They rode bikes and played with chalk and combined the two things with Zane's fancy chalk-drawing bike attachment.

Summer! 

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. 

Books, books, books

A couple of years ago, i had a GIANT list of books that i'd been meaning to read, that i wanted to read. I kept not reading it, though, because i'd finish a book and think, "What should i read next?" and then not remember what any of those books was, so i'd search Goodreads for books that looked interesting, add them to my list, and choose one of those to read. So my list kept getting longer and longer, and i was never, ever going to read them all.

And so i decided that i would stop the madness, and i made it my New Year's resolution to read (or admit that i never would read) all of those books before i added any new ones to my list. And i started reading, and first i read all of the books that i recognized the names of. And then i started re-looking up the books and trying to remember what they were, and reading the ones that immediately made me interested again. And the year ended, and i made it my New Year's resolution AGAIN to continue doing the same thing.

And in about November of this past year, i got down to about 30 books left on the list and looked at them and thought, "I just...don't feel like i even remotely want to read most of these." So i scratched off all but about 10. And then i thought, "I probably want to read these? Eventually?" But i also just really missed reading books that i really wanted to read. And so i just decided to throw the rest out for the time being. 

All through December, i barely even looked at a book. It was kind of sad. But after Christmas, i started reading again. I've turned to my "list of books that i really want to read that weren't on that list from two years ago," and i've started reading those books, and it is glorious to be reading books that i'm really excited about reading again. I look at my books and think, "I could read THIS! Or THIS! OR THIS!"

The obvious lesson here is this: I need to actually read the books on my list when i first get them, rather than adding and adding and adding.  Now we'll see how good i am at learning from past mistakes....

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

Happy New Year + bragging a little about Katrina

It's January 1, 2016, and i feel like i should be doing a whole "This is what happened in 2015" or "This is what i want from 2016" type of post, but the idea of doing a "This is what we did all year" post is exhausting and overwhelming, and i'll probably just end up not doing it at all, and the idea of doing a "These are all my hopes and dreams for the next year" is also just exhausting and overwhelming, and so i'm just going to skip the entire New Year's thing.

I COULD do a whole, "This is what we did all of December," since - geez - i didn't post, like, at all, all month. And i might do that, tomorrow. Or the next day. Or ... eventually? Maybe not.

This is what i AM going to do today: I am going to start blogging again. I skipped a couple of times, and then a few more times, and then i just completely got out of the habit and got overwhelmed.(Apparently i get overwhelmed easily? And completely overuse that word?) I think that i have to remember that i'm blogging because, years from now, i'll want to remember what we did. What life was like. It seems like i'll always remember, but my memories from the kids' early years are already hazy and faded, and i'm so absolutely thankful that i have my blog posts from back then.

So this is just me, getting back into the habit. And as a bonus, i'll post something i've been wanting and meaning to post for a could of weeks. Katrina got the "Be Nice" award, which is something to be really proud of. They only give it to one kid per grade per month, so only nine kids from the sixth grade will get it this year. The teacher writes about the student and reads it at assembly, and this is what she wrote about Katrina:

To be yourself in a world

that is constantly trying

to make you something else

is the greatest accomplishment

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Katrina, it is a true honor to be your teacher. You are a student who always give more than is asked, always remains optimistic even when those around you are not, and always shares your true self with everyone. You embody what it means to notice, invite, challenge, and empower your peers.

You notice when others around you need help, peers and teachers alike. You offer your time, your thoughts, and your encouragement freely and willingly.

You are open and inviting to others. You never complain, and your cheerful attitude is contagious.

You empower others when you share your ideas, concerns, and your heart. You empower them to be themselves.

Katrina, the thing that impresses us the most about you is your fearlessness. You are comfortable with who you are, you are secure in what you think, and you are not afraid to stand up for what is right. What's so impressive about that, you ask? You do it without requiring the accolades that others fight over. You don't ask for anything in return. You just do it because that's who you are. And that's why we always want you to remember:

You are 

BRAVER

than you believe

STRONGER

than you seem

SMARTER

than you think

& LOVED

more than you know

- Winnie the Pooh

Peace on Earth, Good will to men

We made a giant snowman out of plastic cups today. The head looks kind of deformed, because we wanted it to be smaller than the body, but the cups don't really fit properly then. So he's slightly misshapen, but still cute. His name is Oatmeal.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     

Most of the year, when i'm driving, i listen almost exclusively to NPR. I like to know what's going on in the world. But during the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, i listen to nothing but Christmas music. The world is exhausting, and honestly, i just want to feel some peace and joy.

As i was driving home this morning, "I Heard The Bells" was playing, and it got to the third verse, and i was like, "THIS. This is how i feel right now." The lyrics are:

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

I know that the next verse, about God being not dead or sleeping, and wrong failing and right prevailing, is all true, but it just doesn't feel like that right now. 

This year, even without NPR or any other news source, there's no escaping the constant barrage of terrorism and racism and Donald Trump and hate. It seems like the world is going crazy. I long for peace on earth, and it just feels like hate is winning right now. 

Friday and Saturday

Yesterday, Zane was given the Student of the Month award for the moral focus "Respect." I tried to be sneaky when i went to the assembly again, and of course Zane spotted me within seconds of walking into the room. So he wasn't particularly surprised, but he was really happy and proud of himself, as he should be. He's such a sweet and friendly kid, and i'm super proud of him. Go Zane!

I also, yesterday, worked on figuring out what we're going to do for Advent activities. It's getting more complicated, both because the kids are getting older and aren't maybe as interested in doing some of the things they used to find amazing (like visiting the reindeer), and because there's less time in the evenings. They all have more homework, and Katrina's got Heart and Sole twice a week, and Juanito's got Zumba three times a week, and Zane's got Boy Scouts once a week, and Houston, Katrina, and i have got church group on Sunday night. And so our only real nights to do stuff are Friday and Saturday. The rest of the time, it has to be stuff that can be done in a very short time. But that's still fun. 

I thought about skipping the Advent stuff this year, but all three kids mentioned how that's one of their favorite things to do at Christmastime. So. It's on.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   

Today i got out my sewing machine and was totally productive. I "made" two blankets - by which i mean that i took pieces of soft material and hemmed the edges. (Katrina's shall henceforth be known as "The blanket that broke my sewing machine." I was sewing hers, which sounds a lot easier than it actually was, because that material, it turns out, is horrible to sew and kept slipping all over the place and needed to be pulled through with considerable strength. So i was concentrating hard and leaning forward, and suddenly the needle broke and the foot flew off and pieces hit me and it was like a miniature explosion. Juanito, two rooms away, heard, "Sew, sew, sew, BANG!, scream!" I don't entirely know what happened, but Juanito was, happily, able to figure out how to put it all back together, and after some adjustments, it was back to normal. Phew.)

ANYHOW. I made two blankets and two towels and fixed three headbands (one of which i have to re-fix), a sweatshirt, and a jacket. I feel like i got something accomplished, which is good. But more importantly, i feel like i got the "Stuff i have to sew before i can work on Christmas presents" out of the way. 

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween! My sister Jill has had a Halloween party most years - one where the kids and ladies are invited, and everyone needs to wear a costume. My mom dressed up as her mom, wearing all clothes that she got from my grandma, and she was super cute. We had Batman and a waitress and a fencer. My sister-in-law Alisha was a fish, and Harrison (who is one) was a scuba diver, with the cutest little costume. And that's just the adults. (And one kid, i guess.) My kids all had fun. Houston is very nearly too old to go, but he honestly looks so forward to it.

Jill's party ended at 12:30, and then Houston and Katrina had another Halloween party to go to at 1:00. I dropped them off at that party and went to Beth's house, where Juanito was hanging out with Beth and Keren. He took Zane home, and i went out for lunch with Beth and Keren (fun!) and then picked the kids up again at 4:00.

We came home for an hour and a half. Katrina immediately headed upstairs and took a nap for the entire time. Houston went to his room to "be quiet." Zane excitedly talked and talked and talked and told me all kids of random stories until Juanito took him to the store with him. And then we were off to go trick-or-treating.

Today was a terrible day, weather-wise. It was raining and cold and just miserable. I would have walked around for a couple of hours if i were going to get a giant bag of candy at the end of it, but without that motivation, it just didn't look like fun. We told the kids that we'd wait at Grandma's (warm, dry) house while they walked up and down that street, and then we'd drive them to the next street and follow them in the (warm, dry) car until they decided that they were finished. Except then the kids' cousins ended up walking around with them, and my sister and my brother-in-law both were walking around with them, and so Juanito and i stayed at my parents' house for the entire time while the rest of them got soaked.

We did make ourselves useful, though. I copied a million pictures from my mom's ipad to her computer, while Juanito fiddled with my dad's laptop to try to make it behave again. And then i made both of my parents take the (not-really) Meyer-Briggs test to see what personality type they are, because i think it's fascinating. So it was fascinating (to me, anyhow) that i am one letter away from each of my parents, who are two letters away from each other. My dad's an ISTJ and my mom's an ISFP, and i am an ISFJ. Meanwhile, my mom is right in-between me and Juanito, who is an ESFP. 

Sunday

The kids ministry at church started up again a few weeks ago, so Katrina and Houston have been going to the Sunday night meetings, and Zane's been going to what we used to call Sunday School. But the church was still totally needing leaders, and so this week, Beth and i started as co-leaders for a group of fifth graders.

It was kind of a weird week to start, because it was a "we're not going to meet at the church like usual! Instead every group will just go off and do their own fun thing!" night. Luckily, all of the fifth graders were doing their fun thing together, rather than in small groups, and so Beth and i were able to just show up and hope to find the girls that will be in our group. The activity was at a farm owned by the parents of the family leaders, so we got to see lots of cows, take a hay ride, and enjoy the beauty.

The sixth graders had a pool party - so they went swimming. Outside. In October. In Michigan. I mean, the pool was heated up to something like 90 degrees, but it's still a good thing that it was not horribly, horribly cold today. When i picked Katrina up, i practically had to drag her out of the pool, and a couple of the leaders told me that she'd been the first one in, and had spent nearly the entire time in the pool. She was happy, but completely exhausted.

Houston was supposed to have a really, really fun activity that he was completely excited about. They were going to play tag in a corn maze. And then carve pumpkins. We showed up at the farm at the appointed time...and there was nobody there. Nobody. Because it's closed on Sundays. I called Juanito and had him double-check the email...and it was yesterday. 

Houston was really, incredibly good-natured and kind about the entire thing, and assured me that it was COMPLETELY fine. No worries at all, Mom. But i feel terrible, because he was really excited about going, and Houston just hasn't been really excited about going to church events ever. Not because he doesn't like church, but because ever since fifth grade, he just doesn't feel like he really fits in. The first two years were terrible - he just hated it, and we basically let him drop out for most of sixth grade. Last year he had totally new leaders and a new group and Katrina and a couple of other friends in the building, and it was much, much better. But he's not been really, truly excited to go to many things. So i feel really, really sad about dropping the ball on this one. 

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.)

Insurance

Our insurance provider suddenly decided that they were no longer going to be providing insurance to actual people. They're focusing on businesses (or something like that) instead. And so we needed to switch our insurance over, which is just a hassle. Both Juanito and i hate anything that deals with things like...money and numbers and the business side of anything. (Seriously. We're the worst, worst couple as far as that goes. Neither of us has any business sense whatsoever.) So we just kind of...ignored it for as long as we could.

Except that the deadline was the end of July, and here we are at the end of July, so! Naturally, my first step was to turn to Google, because ... that's just where i get all my answers for everything, mostly. And Google utterly failed me, with a million insurance companies and their need for all of my information before they'd tell me anything at all. I'm pretty sure that all that's going to do is put me on every single telemarketing and junk mail list ever, so...no.

Step two: Call our current provider and ask if she has any guidance. Here's the thing about our current agent: I kind of hate her. She always sounds exasperated with me when i call, and she's not actually helpful with things like "getting us the best deal" or "being nice." So i talked to her, and she was all, "WELL. Your last day of insurance was actually yesterday, so you've lapsed, and now you're uninsurable. But i'll LOOK at one place, just to see how much they'll charge you. SIGH."

Step three: Mild panic attack. Text Juanito helpful things like, "I'm pretty sure i'm going to die before she calls back." Clean the toilet (in case i have to throw up, because ... panic!!! I do not do well with stress. At all.)

Step four: Get too nervous to wait anymore, and call our old, old insurance provider who we loved, who also changed who they were doing insurance with and so dropped us. Ask them for any ideas, please, please, please. Get super-nice, incredibly helpful agent who is all nonchalant about the fact that our coverage ended last night and who immediately offers to give us insurance. FOR $750 LESS PER YEAR THAN WE WERE PAYING.

So. Yay!

While i was waiting for her to run all of the numbers and send someone out to take pictures of our house and all that, i used up some of my nervous energy by making the kids help me get rid of some of the thirty bazillion weeds in the backyard. I'd post before and after pictures, but we can't grow grass, so the after pictures would look hardly any better. But in real life? Much better.

At about 4:00, i realized that Katrina hadn't been seen in a little while. I checked her bedroom, the backyard, the front yard - nothing. I asked the neighbor kids if they'd seen her, and they were all, "She's up there in her bedroom," pointing to my bedroom. And there she was, curled up asleep. She took a good 2-hour nap. Because even 11-year-olds need naps sometimes.

Sleepy

Katrina slept over at my mom's house last night, along with several of her cousins, and she come home really happy but SO SLEEPY this afternoon. By the time i told the kids to go to bed, she practically ran up the stairs to go to sleep.

Which, really, is fair, considering that the boys and i spent a lot of time being quiet and accidentally falling asleep for 10-15 minutes at a time. I kept trying to read, and then suddenly i'd realize that i fell asleep again. I guess that's fair, given the amount of sleep i was behind on.

We're going to a water park-thing this weekend with my whole family, which means that i need an actual bathing suit. I technically had one, except that it's really old and incredibly unflattering, and it makes me sad to wear it. So i went bathing suit shopping today. Blech. I am not a fan of the bathing suit shopping. There are too many that, because i am tall and somewhat busty, are incredibly indecent-looking. Nearly all, in fact, get immediately discarded because i would be constantly accidentally flashing everyone. However! I did manage to find one that looks decent and covers all of the things it should cover. Yay! And the top and bottom are separates, and Beth has a top that also looks acceptable on me that she's letting me borrow, so i won't even have to put on a wet suit if we come out and then go back in.

And that was my day.

Home again!

We're back from vacation!

We picked up Emma and the hermit crabs from my parents' house on the way home, and got home late last night. Being home is kind of lovely. As much as i really, really enjoyed our entire vacation, there's just something wonderful about sleeping in my own bed and using my own dishes and sitting on my own couch.

Emma wholeheartedly agrees. She's been incredibly calm and happy all day, just sleeping on whatever is near me and accepting hugs and snuggles whenever they're offered.

It's raining right now, and i have the windows open, and it smells lovely.

I was planning to start writing about the trip tonight, but my computer is being incredibly slow, and i'm too tired to wait for it. So tomorrow! Yay! 

Getting ready

In preparation for our trip west, Katrina, Beth, and i all got hair wraps. I did Katrina's, and Juanito did mine and Beth's. They're all really cute and happy. Yay!

Truly, our day was filled with a lot of preparation for the trip. Juanito worked on making a fancy net-thing out of rope to hold the luggage to the roof. I got everyone's laundry clean and folded so we can pack it up.

I put audio books on the kids' mp3 players, and Katrina and Zane both disappeared to their rooms for the rest of the afternoon (3-4 hours) to listen to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Katrina was all, "Well, but i've already read Harry Potter, so that doesn't count, right?" And Zane's got something like 25 different Magic Tree House books and 2 Percy Jacksons, so i think he'll have enough to listen to on the road.

Twenty-one!

I just realized that if our marriage was a baby, this would be the birthday where it would be legal to drink. I'm pretty sure that that makes us officially old!

So today was our 21st anniversary. Twenty-one years since the afternoon that we said our "I do"s, and i'm so very glad that we did!

We went to Noodles to celebrate with the kids, since it's kind of the sort of thing that the whole family should celebrate. I mean, if it weren't for our getting married, none of the kids would be here, a fact that the kids talked about in depth. "So if you'd given birth to me one day later, i'd be a completely different person!?" (Me: "Well, no. Once you were conceived, it didn't matter when you were born. But if you'd been conceived one day later, you'd be a whole different person!")

Whoops

So i've been working like crazy to plan our upcoming trip to Colorado and South Dakota, and in a flurry of searching and planning and finding all the details ever about the Black Hills, i might have accidentally forgotten to blog for the past two days.

On the bright side! I've got a list of where we want to go and some information about those things and maps of where everything is. And also, i've got a approximately thirty billion things for the kids (and adults!) to do in the car, since we're going to be driving for hours and hours and hours. Also, we went to the library and got a bunch of audio books to listen to on the drive. We're getting closer to being ready!