To be 13

Ahhhh....

To be thirteen at long last. 

It's a special thing, that feeling of "thirteen-ness".

I'm not sure I can put it into words.

It looks a lot like this:

It seems to be that feeling of utter and absolute confidence in who you are and your place in the world....only without actually knowing who you are or your actual place in the world.

That is something to celebrate with a large bowl of cantaloupe.

Unfortunately, the meal choice was not his, due to a last minute decision to travel down to Arkansas to see Great Grandma Lucille. I guarantee there would not be rice on the table if Ethan had something to say about it.

Which brings us back to the cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe covers a multitude of sins.....rice sins.

Only when you are thirteen and living in the age of Amazon, do you get a large box like this.

And know with great certainty that there lies inside...

..your fondest thirteen year old dream...

A SWORD!!

You will go forth as a knight of the teenage realm!

You will lead your siblings in your birthday song!

And all will be right with the world.

**His REAL gift was that he got a free pass from trying the infernal rice.


Happy BIRTHDAY!!!

Desperation

1. This morning it was my turn to provide childcare for my 8:30 crossfit class. Up to this point, I show up on Thursday morning at about 8:15, we run around and Anna swings on the rings and I perhaps finish putting Everly's hair into pigtails. By 8:40 it is apparent that nobody with kids is showing up to this class, so I gather up my girls and the box of blocks and the basket containing out collection of My Little Ponies and we are on with the rest of our day.

But today....oh today, there was this:

It was like attack of the toddlers. There were seven of them and they wanted their mommas. I used every trick in the book to keep them from crying because you know that if one starts...then it's like dominoes. Little chubby dominoes with teeny tiny baby teeth and what would I do with seven crying, dripping dominoes?

We survived. I read books and braided the hair of a Rapunzel barbie that a little boy named Hudson referred to as "Princess Hair". Oh....and Hudson sneezed and produced a snot rocket unlike any I have ever come across in my days on this earth. Yowza. I made sure to have 4 tissues when dealing with it....so as to ensure no trace of snot rocket moisture got through.

Also, I am not ashamed to admit that I sent a silent prayer to the heavens that my cell phone battery would hold out because the Frozen soundrack was the only think keeping those little chickies from freaking out.

2. When I returned to the abode after class, I embarked on what would turn out to be a day long rock-bottom hunt for something to eat in my house.

I sunk to new lows.

Suffice it to say that at one point I helped myself to a bag of croutons.

I needed a snack.

3. We attended Ethan's band concert tonight and while he did an excellent job...it lasted FOR EV ER.
Band concerts must not exceed 45 minutes.

MUST. NOT.

Mark had to take the little girls home when the jazz band forgot to stop improvising.

4. Everly stood today on her own.....then she took 4 steps!!! She did it! There is hope for her future! I will not need to let her hold my fingers as she makes her way from her dorm to her college classes! She is gonna walk, people!

5. Mathew needs to make a variety of items made from duct tape to sell at his 5th grade marketplace a week from tomorrow. I tell him approximately every 12 hours that I will help him in 12 hours. "I'll help you in the morning, Mat" "I'll help you tonight, Maffer"....strangely I fail to realize that tomorrow morning is going to be just as crazy as this morning was, and don't get me started on tomorrow night. I'm gonna need to get creative if I hope to salvage his faith in me. I knew I was losing the battle when his only response to getting rescheduled was "uh huh."

Redemption lies in awesome duct tape and near-professional braiding skills. This Mother's day, I am gonna live up to the mighty stature of my office.

Now...to go search Pinterest for duct tape tutorials.

Drown my troubles in midnight trail mix

1. Everly is starting to stand on her own more and more. She still doesn't really do it on purpose, but she doesn't freak out so much when she realizes she is doing it. There is still hope that she will walk one day!

2. I spent the day in the yard...planting lilacs and hostas, hydrangeas and vincas. I also dug a deep hole and planted a pink dogwood tree. I've wanted one for a long time. Except I think it might be a dead. So that stinks. Better keep track of that receipt.

3. Everly is not sleeping well. She is waking up about every 30 minutes and screaming. It is making me feel pretty worn thin. Not sure what to do about that.

4. Ethan is turning 13 in a few days. Not sure what to think about that either.

5. Gonna have me a handful of almonds, miniature marshmallows and chocolate chips and call it a night.

8 hours

1. I got 8 consecutive hours of sleep last night. The very fact that this made my list today is an indication of how long it has been since that has happened.

2. This morning during family scripture study, we each picked a word from the verses we read that we would focus on for the day in an effort to "do a little better". I picked the word droop from the Song of Nephi. My intention was to avoid allowing the stresses of the day to get to me and cause my attitude and my happiness to "droop". I wish I could say that I was successful. Instead, I actually burst into to tears before I was able to get my kids to school. Sometimes being a parent is rough.

3. I went out to the city composting facility and loaded up the back of my tarp-covered minivan with pure gardening manna from heaven. It took me a while to shovel it all in and then shovel it all back out when I got home, but by the time I was done, I was feeling considerably less droopy. I am convinced that dirt has restorative spiritual powers.

4. Everly stood on her own today and didn't seem surprised by it.

5. I thinned out the beets and the carrots today. I know it must be done, but it still makes me sad to pull out those beautiful little plants. I know if I think about it for long enough, I'd be able to come up with a spiritual metaphor for that process. I'll get back to you on that.

Keeping the flame alive

For a minute there... I thought I was going to have a year of peace in my heart when it came time for the infamous Sunnyside Talent Show.

It was not to be.

You got this, Megan!

5 things

I perodicaly feel so overwhelmed by the enormity of the task of keeping up this bloggie. I am currently supposed to be finishing my CHRISTMAS posts and my birthday posts from LAST YEAR.  How can I face it??? I am barely keeping clean clothes on these kids, people. It can't be done!  Well, maybe it can be done...if I trade blogging time for catching up on episodes of The Good Wife.

It can't be done!

But I truly don't want to give up on this blog. So I think I will try a new low-key approach.....

I call it "5 things".

I will right 5 things that happened or crossed my mind that day. It should provide a little structure to my posts and help take the pressure off me when I stress about recording the minutia of our daily lives.

1. Mark and I ran the Tough Mudder on Saturday. It was so fun.

 SO FUN. We got to spend the entire day hanging out with each other, jumping in mud, running, falling off of things and laughing. I am so glad he talked me into it. I have a few sore muscles and a fat ankle, but I'd do it again. And now I have my own orange headband. I won't lie. I am crazy proud of myself and it is so fun to have something else to talk about than what I cooked for dinner. Kinda forgot what that feels like.

2. Family Home Evening crashed and burned in a major way. Laney dissolved into tears because she wasn't on the team she wanted (we played a game of wiffle ball). Anna dissolved into tears because she didn't hit the ball the first time...she's 3!!  Megan kept saying "Strike 1, Strike 2, strike 3....and I'm out" in a sarcastic voice and then huffing off because she insisted she was incapable of hitting the ball. Ethan was picking on the others and Mathew....well, Mathew was good...guilty by association, I suppose. It turned the whole night into torture. I kept looking at the weeds in the flower beds longingly, wishing I were pulling them out instead. I am positive it would have been more fun. Definitely more spiritually rewarding. Kids...when you grow up, remember that FHE can and will be hard a lot of the time. It just is. Keep on keepin on. Every once in a while you get a real winner and overall you are glad you did it.

3. Ethan sat me down and asked me if he could buy a sword to display on his wall. He seemed all nervous and when I said "yeah, sure", he breathed a big sigh of relief. Turns out he has been trying to get up the nerve to ask me that for 2 weeks. HUH. Weird.

4. I did 45 lbs on my overhead squat today. That's 45 lbs more than I could do when I started.

5. Mark bought me a Chrome book today....just because I mentioned that I'd like to have a way to keep up with my blog. He is the sweetest.

Kinda made me feel bad for getting miffed that he didn't notice that I mowed the lawn today.  err...

Bunny toes

"LOOK MOM! I got bunnies!"