4 to the 9

You know what you should do 2 days after you move into your new house?

Invite people over for a birthday dinner for your husband. Not stressful at all.

We had my cousin and Mykey's good friend come over. He and his buddy share a birthday! Mykey always wants chocolate cream pie for his birthday dessert but this year he was waffling between that and cheesecake. The poor guy just couldn't decide.

I asked his buddy what he wanted for his birthday dessert. Without hesitation he said, "Cheesecake."

Mykey wins! Chocolate cream pie AND cheesecake. Best 49th birthday ever.

Since we aren't completely moved in yet, I cooked everything at the condo and then hauled it over to the new house. It was a bit of a chore but way better than trying to cook in upheaval. We ended up having a lovely time.

On Mykey's actual birthday, he spent part of the day doing this:

And then he was tired and wanted Wendy's for lunch. He thought it was a birthday miracle when this car was in front of him in the drive thru.

But then the guy turned out to be a jackal and held up the line so long our food was cold.

And then walking into the house, the bag of food ripped.

Happy birthday to no one!

But he did get a few nice gifts from me and Sissy. He had to wait until the day after his birthday for Sissy's poster because of shipping delays. But it was worth the wait. 

And we wandered around our favorite wholesale store. You never know what treasures you're going to find. The birthday boy found some project boards for cheap! The birthday magic was restored.

It was a fun day indeed. We sure love our Mykey. Happy birthday!

Moving Day!

We did it! We moved into the new house! Michael still has a lot of little projects to complete, but the place is now livable so we're gonna live in it.

Here's what you need to know about that day:

Baby found a marvelous stick. 

My hand collected the largest splinter of my life.

The guys we hired to move us were terrible. I cannot over exaggerate how terrible. We hired 3 guys and all day long they fought with each other and complained about how many heavy things we had. You know - like a couch and a washing machine. Apparently they usually move clouds and not actual furniture. They were supposed to be finished by 2:00. At 5:00 they weren't even close so Michael fired them and told them to leave. Then they had the nerve to ask for extra money. Guess how that went over.

And there we were, all by ourselves with furniture still left to move. 

Sissy and Baby set up camp at the condo watching Phineas and Ferb while Michael and I loaded and hauled furniture. By 8 that evening, Baby was losing it. 

At 9 she was really losing it. And Sissy was too.

Michael was frantically trying to set up the crib. I was frantically trying to calm my children down.

By 10:00 we finally had Baby down to sleep and the truck fully unloaded. It started to sprinkle rain as we were hauling the last of our belongings from the truck. As we rolled the door down in completion, the sky unleashed and rain poured from the clouds. I'm glad the rain waited for us. 

After a late-night run to Wendy's for some grub, we dropped off the moving truck and crawled into our bed in exhaustion.

We still have a lot of little things to move but all of the big stuff is done. I'll just take loads in my car until it's finished. Moving is THE WORST.  But we're incredibly excited to finally be in the house!

Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love the freshness of Spring. I love dying eggs and having a hunt in the backyard. I love the pastel colors and the reflection on our Savior's resurrection.

And I love the Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Like, a lot.

Sam's Club sells a Sam's-Club-size bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. They shouldn't do this. I physically cannot walk by a Sam's-Club-size bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs and not purchase one. Or three. And I physically cannot look at my three bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs and not eat them all.

Ain't possible.

Man, I love Easter.

This year we are packing up the condo and feverishly getting the new house habitable so we are busy, busy, busy. But we had just had to make time to stop for Easter. Naturally.

Since we have nearly an acre of yard now, Sissy requested a challenging Easter egg hunt. Mykey delivered. He randomly threw eggs into the tall grass of nearly an acre of yard, and it was difficult to spot those little buggers. Sissy grew angry and sat on the ground in frustration. When she said, "challenging," she meant that she wanted to find eggs high up in the trees and hidden in fun places and what not - she didn't want to go traipsing around a giant lawn searching for eggs in the grasslands.

I don't blame her really. It was frustrating indeed. And it was as hot as the surface of the sun outside. You really botched that one, Mother Nature.

Ah, well, you can't win them all. At least my ham dinner was divine. 

And we had a riot dying eggs. 

Especially Sissy. 

Happy Easter! 

Vacant

You know that house we bought back in February? Well, we still don't live in it. I'm somewhat of a financial guru, so trust me when I say that you should definitely buy a house but don't move in right away. Take your time paying the mortgage while you're sleeping at a different property. 

It feels great.

You might be wondering why we haven't moved in yet. Besides the obvious financial benefits, it's things like this:

And this:

And this:

And don't forget this:

And  this:

Poor Mykey has been working his fingers down to nubbins. I'm grateful to him but also quietly annoyed. (And sometimes not so quietly.)

I told him that we are moving in before his birthday NO MATTER WHAT. 

Meanwhile, our stupid condo hasn't sold. It makes me weary to keep it clean enough for showings with Baby around making messes. It also makes me weary to be in charge of the bookkeeping when all of our money keeps jetting out the window.

Hmmmm...I'm beginning to think I ain't much of a guru afterall.

Lion King

When I heard that Sissy's Spring theater production was going to be The Lion King, I was excited. Surely Baby would be captivated by the lively songs and colorful costumes, and we could watch the show without incident.

Baby don't play that.

She was occupied until the box of Junior Mints was depleted, and then it was pig-wrestling time. She was mostly behaved but I was still sweating trying to make sure she wasn't interrupting the other patrons. It didn't help that we took her to the park before the show and she was dissatisfied when we made her leave. But it all worked out in the end. 

I loved The Lion King! I'm not even a super fan of the cartoon but I was captivated by the lively songs and colorful costumes. It was a fun show and Sissy did great. She was young Nala and I beamed with pride as I watched her perform.

After a long week of rehearsals and four shows, she was one tired little lion cub. We didn't attend the final performance so she hitched a ride home with friends and I made sure to have the requisite celebration Bottle Caps ready upon her arrival. And she scored a milkshake on the ride home so it was an especially fruitful evening.

Well done, Sissy!

I Pity the Fool

Weeks before the dawn of April Fool's Day, Sissy started trash talking about how she was going to get me this year. In any other circumstance, I wouldn't be bothered by the tauntings of a 12-year-old. However, I do get a gentle roll inside my tummy when the calendar indicates it is time for Sissy to begin her goading. That girl is an experienced prankster.

Perhaps my biggest worry is keeping up with the mischief. It's hard to out-prank her. But I do love the sparring. As she continues to grow up and distance herself from me more, I cherish the times when we connect. April Fool's Day is one of those times.

So what happened this year? Let's start with Sissy's pranks:

Our milk went bad.

There was a powdered sugar trap on the trash can so it spilled out when you opened the top.

I found a most disgusting creature guarding my soda can.

The light covers were replaced with monstrosities that made me itchy.

There was an enormous spider waiting for me when I opened her lunch box.

She also put plastic wrap across the doorway and on the toilet, and put tape over the sensor on my computer mouse so it wouldn't work. 

But the biggest jump-scare was the shrunken head that came barreling towards my face when I opened the medicine cabinet. She got me good with that one.

I retaliated by adding annoying sounds to the end of her morning Alexa alarm. She started the day with my tautings about April Fool's Day, and then random car horns and fart sounds. I giggled as I was setting it up because I'm immature.

I put fingers in her potato chips and cut her sandwich into random and weird shapes..

I colored her toilet water, put pasta under the toilet seat so it would snap when she sat down, and left a portrait of Gollum for her to enjoy.

But my most elegant prank was a creepy blow-up doll. The day before April Fool's Day, I gave myself a headache blowing it up and then carefully chose out the perfect outfit for him. I sent a photo to Mykey and was thrilled with my work.

He was weird in all the right ways and I was incredibly excited to frighten the pee-pee out of my daughter. 

And then she borrowed my phone and found the picture. I was devastated that my surprise was ruined! I told her that I wasn't going to do anything with him since she knew it was coming. I stripped him naked and put him in the closet. But then, right before bedtime, I snuck the naked creeper into her bed. 

Success!

I also put him in the shower the next morning which really scared Sissy.

Sissy put shorts on him and left him in Baby's highchair.

We had a fun few days with that creep.

We closed out our day of pranks with a gentle walk to see the bluebells at the park.

And Mykey presented Eva with a new Nintendo Switch.

What a good day. Happy April Fool's!

Leprechauns

 Remember that one time that I didn't realize it was Spring Break?

Well, add St. Patrick's Day to that list.

This brain of mine no worky.

Once it clicked in my head that March 17th is Leprechaun day, Sissy and I rushed ourselves to the Hobby Lobby to hunt for green accessories so we wouldn't get pinched. Then we went to the Sam's Club to buy green things for dinner. We chose steak. That counts.

We ate our green food and wore our green trinkets and enjoyed our time pondering Leprechauns and all that they do for us.

Happy St. Patty's!