Summer Bucket List 2023

 The silly string battle is over. It was epic, for sure. I'm so seasoned by now. I've been an elementary school mom for SEVENTEEN years. That's more than enough time to figure out that you gotta get the double pack from Amazon in late April. 

Or your kid is hosed. 

Going into battle unarmed...or worse.

With a dollar store can that runs out in 4 seconds. 

She'll get clobbered.

The battle is over.  And the bucket list looms large. 

We ride at dawn.

Megan and the stars

Not many moms get this. I get works of art presented to me while I'm drying my hair!

 This is my favorite one she's ever done. 

All in a day

 A tour of the KU campus!

A haircut for Everly

And a band concert for Laney and Meg!

Not pictured: the kids I had to lecture through the doorbell camera while Megan was in a freshman Q&A session. You know you've got it going on when your mom voice convinces a couple teenagers to stand down from 35 miles away. 

Quarantine routine

We are in the limbo phase.

We aren't being asked to DO anything. We're being asked to NOT do a lot of things. That has led to a lot of time to hang around and bicker over who's time is up on the wii.

SO!

We now have a schedule.

Its a limbo schedule, so we'll be changing it as soon as we get assignments and requirements from teachers.

And it's hard. I admit that I want to to sit and do whatever I want while they do whatever they want. But that's pretendland stuff. So we're sucking it up. And its working and I go to bed feeling like I did this mom gig FOR REAL.

It's a nice feeling.

Mom and The Fuzz

He's getting furry....but I love him just the same!

One on one

Daddy Daughter Sock Hop

It's not that I didn't "know" that the Sock Hop was tonight...

It's just that I didn't devote any actual thought to what that would mean. Namely, that I have THREE daughters in elementary school right now. And EVERY SINGLE ONE was going to need a poodle skirt before 6 pm.

We have poodle skirts. They are (believe me on this) RAT NASTY. The have unidentified stains on them and more pills than skirt.

Also, if I make one new skirt, who gets stuck with the old ones?

Luckily....mom is in town!

And she know all about stuff like this.

So we dashed about and picked up felt and elastic, google poodle patterns and rummaged for ribbon and then we set to work.

And (believe me on this) WE DID IT.

Three new, super cute poodle skirts just in time for the dance. Each girl found a clean white t-shirt (that's some kind of miracle...found AND clean), we cut up my favorite infinity scarf for hair ties and they were ready for their big night.

And off they go for a night of fun and me and Mom collapse in a heap of felt scraps and hot glue!

Momma Bird

She's doing such a great job...I bet she wishes she had Netflix.

The best one so far.

Well, hello, Mother's Day. I'm so glad you came around when you did. This last week was a bit of a parenting nightmare. Let's just say that right when one child packed up his things and moved out of that space in my heart where I am biting my nails and screaming in sheer terror cuz I just seriously don't know how in the world we are going to make it through....another one was cued right up and ready to move in. 

And then Mark went out of town. 

I was more than ready for some thick cut bacon and a tulip bouquet. 

I tell you. Mark had me pegged this year. I got to sleep in, eat well, skip choir and go on a breezy bike ride with the kids.

I caught Megan holding up dandelions for Everly to wish on and Ethan taking photos of the cuteness.

Ethan and Megan pretending to row their canoes with their feet.  "Aaaand....stroke! stroke! stroke!"

Like I mentioned, I hung about and skipped choir. It was heavenly and it gave me a little extra time to do the girls hair before leaving.

My calling was completely taken care of by the energetic Bro. Carey, so I just led the kids in their Mother's Day songs in sacrament meeting and then attended gospel doctrine and Relief Society.

There was food.

Mark handled the dinner and house pick up while I got to have a nice chat with my mom and before you know it we were sitting down to yummy Tuscan chicken with ceasar salad, garlic bread and fresh berries.

I took a nice photo of everyone: oh, wait, we're missing Laney and Anna refused to turn around. She was deep into a pout session.

There's Laney!

And around the corner for a quick one of Anna (none too pleased)....the whole family accounted for!

And for the finale.....delicious, heavy, moist carrot cake.

I mean....come ON.

That's a winner. right there.

Anna passed around pens and little papers for everyone to write a little something to me. It definitely made me feel butifle.

Everly tried to sing me a song, but the hiccups hijacked her efforts and left us with her infectious giggles. 

My goodness, I really do love being a mom.

Old Settler's 2017

And viola! Back from my wonderful trip to Europe and home just in time to go to Old Settler's.

The girlies with their notebooks. I love love love that wherever we go, all they need is some paper and something to write with and they are occupied. 

Megan!!! Look her at her rocking that snare! Little did I know that carrying that drum on her shoulders was crazy hard and her legs got bruises where it hit the bottom lip over and over. Ouch!

Ethan is looking very disciplined (and tan) in his Falcon Regiment uniform. Mathew is a freshman this year, so he doesn't join the marching band until he's a sophomore. Little breakie!

I continued my perfect record of weeping at all marching band performances. I tell you...it's unstoppable!

Everly Oral Surgery

We worked hard to get to today.

Everly's MCADD comes with some pretty cruddy side effects. One of them is that she has to eat frequently through the night, so her teeth are much more prone to cavities. 

This last check up she had ELEVEN

And three of them really needed root canals and silver caps. We started to do the work little by little at the dentist office, but she was crying in pain and I can honestly say that I will NEVER sit through that again. 

Never. 

It took me six hours for my ears to stop ringing, I was so upset. 

So we decided that we needed to get the work done all at once and put her under. 

Then we found out that the anesthesiologist would be using Propofol to sedate her. She can't have that because it is lipid based. So when we tried to discuss the approved alternatives, she decided that she wouldn't do it. That left us to try to have Dr. Prater do the surgery in a hospital setting.

He was NOT HAPPY.

The surgery got delayed several times because of missing paperwork or miscommunication on the hospital's side. We did everything we could to meet the requirements...even running into a walk-in clinic for a same day physical.

By the time she was approved, we were a wreck and Dr. Prater vowed he'd never work in a hospital again. He made sure to repeat that to me several times. 

But, that's just tough. This girl needs her teeth fixed and we needed to get in there, no matter how irritated we all are.

Watching them wheel her away was awful. I wanted to go with her so bad. It was unimaginable to me that she would be in a room with strangers and about to be sedated.

The surgery lasted for 3 hours.

3 eternal hours.

And then the finally brought her to me and I got to hold her in my arms and feel her even breathing.

And now she has silver teeth and she likes that just fine!

As for Dr. Prater, he has since reminded me half a dozen times how big a hassle that was and how he'll never ever do that for a patient again. I nod and smile and think to myself, "Well, sir. Perhaps she will not be your patient for much longer. And she'll take her 5 siblings with her!"

The full Everly treatment

I would sit here ALL DAY let this girl brush pretend colors on my face. It's so relaxing! And I love how she keeps track of all the different colors in her mind so she can make me into a tiger or a panda or a pee-tot (peacock). 

It's a gift

I am strangely proud of my ability to guess the precise number of paper bags it will take to pack up my cart of groceries. 

I almost never buy too many. 

I think I deserve a raise.

The written word

Well, that was a nice surprise!

Purpose of the playdate

I have spent more time at the park this year that the rest of my life combined. 

I think it has something to do with not having a baby that is trying to eat the dirt.

And probably that fact that my friends are just as starved for adult conversation as I am. 

Sometimes the only reason we leave is because our kids are saying, "I'm bored. Can we go home now?"

And I whine,  "Just five more minutes?"

Makeovers

I saw this cute idea for making pretend make-up for little girls. You paint the empty wells of old compacts with different colors of nail polish and let them dry.

A pack of make-up brushes and you're in business!

I love it when they do my make up. 

It's so relaxing.

Except for the occasional brush up the nose.

Not pleased

I honestly can't remember what I did to make her mad, but tonight Anna stomped off in a huff and returned about 15 minutes later with this portrait of me. 

I think she was going for a devil-chicken.