Bizzy!

As we barrel toward the end of the school year, the events for Sissy begin to accumulate.

We began with the band's Spring concert. Sissy was thrilled with the music selection and told us every night how much we would love the music. They were playing Abide with Me, which is one of my favorite hymns. Sissy was certain I would be impressed with it. She was right. It was a fun concert and I loved hearing the improvement the band has made since winter. 

The only downside was that I had the terrible idea to bring chocolate chips for Baby to snack on. What a dope! Do you know how quickly chocolate chips melt in the sweaty hands of a toddler? I do now. 

Despite my blunder, it was a wonderful evening indeed!

Hooray for Sissy!

Mama's Day

I sure love Mother's Day. It's an opportunity for me to ponder the many blessings that motherhood brings. Incredibly wonderful blessings like

Candy

Hands off, Buster. It's mine. There's no sharing on Mother's Day. 

I kid, I kid.

I'll let you smell my breath when I'm done eating.

It was a truly delightful weekend. It began with Sissy's swim meet on Saturday. I always love watching her in the water. Mykey stayed home with Baby so I was able to sit leisurely by the pool and enjoy the meet. It was divine. 

On Sunday, the gifts poured in. Sissy made me a Lego structure and wrote some heartfelt notes. I was relieved that she signed her full name so I would know it was from her.

We ate chicken pot pie because that's what you do on Mother's day.

We played Scrabble. I didn't win. Apparently there's no mercy even on Mother's Day.

I sat outside in my pajamas enjoying the weather and a cold Diet Pepsi.

It was lovely. I didn't have to do the dishes, I didn't change any diapers - not even Michael's - everyone was kind and told me they loved me, it was everything Mother's Day should be.

And then the next morning, Baby shattered my Lego sign.

Well...it was fun while it lasted.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Fun Everywhere

These are games that Baby likes to play:

Name that Tune

Stick hunting

Hide and Seek

Find the Library's Giant Owl

And when she's tuckered out from playing games (all sorts), Baby prepares a little snack.

Delicious!

It's all fun and games until Booney has to scoop up the Goldfish carnage. I could lose an eye!

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.