4th of July evening...

Ahhhhhh, nothing like a fun bbq and then fireworks, eh? Turns out that our plans changed a wee bit, but we ended up with enjoying such a fun bbq and then came home and to watch fireworks from our deck, that it didn't matter...and now I can serve root beer to lots of people in the future, so it's a win win. Plus, we actually had a really nice view of probably 2 big, different firework displays (one at the Lake and the other, even bigger one, at the Park) and then our local neighbors really obliged us with their own celebrations. I felt quite surrounded by the Rockets Red Glare.

And the best thing about it? Yep. The girls. They LURVED the rootbeer floats (which I think I will make an official tradition of the fourth of July. What a great idea! And where else can you hear from your four year old, "This is soooooo yummy! Mom, you make the best desserts.") and the amazing fireworks and were soooooooo wound up by the time we took them in for baths that when the fatigue hit...I'd say just right about the time they set foot into the shower, so did the illogical weeping and wailing. We were pretty happy that all good things do come to an end at that point.

Anyway, hope your 4th was fun and celebratory. Don't you kinda feel like you should be at church right about now? Or whatever you normally do on a Sunday? Sooooooo weird.

4th of July afternoon...

Been pretty quiet here at the casa this afternoon, until....

Super J was still taking a well deserved nap and I got the kids fed, happily recreating the hot dogs you can get at Costco for a buck and a half. For some reason, they are DELICIOUS to me and I finally figured out what to buy at Costco to make them for my brood (except for Super J who finds them horrific...he will later enjoy some leftovers for lunch).

Lunch over, it was then time to put Miss O down for her nap, which meant that soon I'd get to take my own nap. I was close, ohhhhhhh so close to Miss O having her eyes shut....and I will continue this tale in a brief moment. However! That being said, here's a tender subject at the Zoo: to let your baby "cry it out" or not....I, Gentle Reader, cannot let my child "cry it out", so I don't...unless it's around Midnight-thirty and EVERYTHING else I have done has not achieved results. Yes. It is deemed The Final Resort. Besides, I enjoy rocking with them too much because it really is the only time it's just her and me, and Miss O is a good sleeper and usually nods off very quick.

Back to the story. When we last left off, Miss O was on the cusp of closing her eyes when all of a sudden, Miss A & E start SHRIEKING and running up the stairs, "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! MOMMY!!!! DADDY!!!!"

Code red emergency: ACTIVATED!!!!!!

OHHHHHOLYCOW! ZOOM comes Mommy from Miss O's bedroom, Miss O in her arms. ZOOM comes Daddy out of some stupor of napdom.

"WHAT'S WRONG????"

"MOMMY!!!! DADDY!!!! Joe is going to be on Blue's Room! They are having Blue's room on and Joe is going to be on it!!!!"

Code red emergency: DOWNGRADED!!!! IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Blood pressure and heart rate...still racing but relief washes over us and I let Super J deal with "what is and what is not an emergency" which requires such shrieking and I go back to put Miss O down. She is now wide awake, so it'll take a bit of time to get her back to sleep and then it'll take ME a bit of time to wind down as well.

Ugh. It's amazing how adrenaline can WAKE YOU RIGHT UP. I might go lay down and see if I can get MY eyes closed, because I am very tired after our morning "ride."

4th of July morning...

Happy Independence Day!

So this morning started off with a sweat-bath. Seriously.

The kids enjoyed the annual neighborhood "4th of July Bike Parade" (and did we get a single picture? No. We did NOT get a SINGLE picture! Our poor kids will have no memory of their childhood because we fall on the end of the spectrum of NO PICTURE TAKING parents. ugh.) where various bikes, strollers, mini-electronic cars (what are those called anyway?), and scooters made their way around the neighborhood.

I got Miss O up and dressed in time to meet Super J, Miss A and Miss E at the end of the Parade. Miss A actually rode her bike and was so happy and proud doing so. It was very sweet. Miss E rode her tricycle and poor Super J ended up pushing her pretty much the ENTIRE length of the course. My back hurt for him. Heck, getting Miss O down to the little pool area (where they started/stopped) was hard enough and I actually had a handle to push her "bike" with!

So, I kept asking afterwards if he was tired. "Nope. Nope, not tired. Feel fine."

And that would now explain why he is upstairs and has been sleeping for the past hour and a half.

ANYHOO, they served popsicles afterwards, and there's nothing like eating some frozen treat under the shade tree and then realizing that you actually have not had breakfast when you start feeling a wee bit sick, but go ahead and finish off an additional half of Miss O's icee popscile thing, just for good measure and because you are sweating like a stuck pig and are desperate for a way to stop that attractive bit of the festivities (but then you wonder if you teeth look purple like all the kids around you and wish you had NOT had the rest of Miss O's purple icee treat). And then you get some heartburn on top of a bit of nausea. What a fun way to start the morning!

Finally, we make our way back home and we are all pink in the face from exertion. What a sad sad commentary on our little family. Granted, it was hot outside, but not TERRIBLE. And we do live at the top of an incline, which you don't really notice unless you are pushing a tricycle or toddler bike (with said children) up the slope. And granted, I only have 4 weeks left, but really now. How embarrassing.

The moral of the story? If I'm going to completely exhaust myself with some form of exercise and exertion, think I'd rather go to swim lessons. lol.

Still no lime cake, but we DO have brownies...

Well, yesterday in my flutter of activity, I got housework done, laundry done, and all the prep for swim lessons done and then we went swimming and came home and I was EXHAUSTED. Seriously. I was Completely Worthless for anything other than stumbling around getting the kiddos lunch and then getting Miss O and then myself down for a nap. Ohhhhhholycow. What a mess I was.

When I woke up, we got dinner done but I still felt like I was walking with cement shoes on so I asked my sweet little family, what do you want: Lime Coconut Cake or this other recipe I found: Cheesecake Topped Brownies (with my own variation, of course). The latter would be easier, at least a little, but I believe the former would taste better (and is what I've actually wanted for days). Miss A was all about Lime Coconut Cake, but immediately changed her mind when she learned that she'd have to wait until...well...today to eat it. So, everyone settled on the brownies, so that's what we did. We actually ate them a bit warm, in fact. I thought they were good, but since I've been really wanting the Lime Coconut Cake, they probably weren't as super fabulous as I'd have wanted them to be. Still...yum. So, I'm sharing.

Cheesecake Topped Brownies:

INGREDIENTS
1 (21.5 ounce) package brownie mix
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16 ounce) container prepared chocolate frosting**

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Prepare brownie mix according to the directions on the package. Spread into prepared baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and cornstarch until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, egg and vanilla until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture evenly over brownie batter.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Allow to cool, spread with frosting**, and cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator, or freeze in a single layer for up to 2 weeks.

**I made a dark chocolate ganache instead of the frosting, because it just seemed like it would be better AND I happened to have some heavy cream on hand. I think I like the ganache idea better anyway. If you ever make this and end up using canned frosting, let me know how it is, would you? :)

This is my basic Ganache recipe I use most of the time (for *this* particular recipe, I cut it by a third so it wouldn't overwhelm everything):

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1/2 Tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. In heatproof bowl, place the chocolate chips and corn syrup.
2. Bring heavy cream to a full boil
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk it until smooth and then pour ganache over cake
4. With spatula, smooth the top of cake and allow ganache to spill over the sides.
5. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or longer (we did NOT do this with the brownies and it turned out fine)

Chick Flick Marathon

I LOVE movies. LOVE them. LURVES THEM. I used to tell my friends, "Don't rent it, I own it," so they could just come and borrow, and I had an extensive collection for a while.

And then I married and had kids and my love of movies, while still existing, definitely got tempered with reality (and fiscal responsibility, which is a BEAR, I tell you, to learn when you are an adult, but very worthwhile). ANYWAY, thanks to the lovely Redbox and McDonald's free dvd rental offer on their large beverages (which happen to come on lovely large plastic cups which feed right into my own strange addiction/collection...you can see where this is going), while Super J was away, I caught two movies and had another on deck the evening he came home. We watched (well, kind of) that one together.

There's a word in Library Land for finding a book that applies to some life situation, allowing the librarian to recommend to a reader a unique opportunity to maybe glean some insight into their own lives, as well as enjoy the book for entertainment: bibliotherapy. It's one reason why you might read a book and ABSOLUTELY LURVES IT, but a friend might not have as profound an experience, or how you can read something and be like, "Man, that was a piece of garbage," and not understand why it's made the best seller list (case in point: "Eat, Pray, Love" did NOTHING for me but disappoint, and yet many many others have really embraced it).

I probably watch movies much like I read books--looking for that Aha or Ohhhhhinteresting moment...very rarely do I let myself get carried away in sheer cinematic waves of entertainment (unless it's something epic like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which completely took me away). Does that makes sense?

The three movies I rented were TOTALLY in the chick flick genre and since they are all fairly new releases, I'm not going to retell what each is about. I just wanted to give you my overall impressions of them:

27 Dresses (PG-13): This was the first movie that I watched, and I gotta say was probably my favorite of the three. Perhaps because I married when I was in my 30's and attended many many weddings prior to being the bride, or perhaps because I, too, have difficulties saying, "no," or perhaps because I have my "I *am* the self-absorbed little sister" moments...I really related to this movie. It made me laugh and even cry (thus totally qualifying it for "chick flick" status); overall, it was VERY fluffy and nothing new to behold, but I definitely liked it and I didn't find anything too offensive about it. B+

No Reservations (PG):This movie was a little slow, but I tell you...it's nice to be able to watch a movie with my girls in the same room and not worry about it (too much...Miss A was very concerned about the little girl in the movie, whose mother had died, and she wanted me to rewind it to that part so she could watch it. Um...no, honey). LOVED watching the inner kitchen scenes, as the chefs and everyone was getting the meals together. Man, that is a job I would not want, though I love to cook. As I said, the plot was kinda slow moving, but overall, I really liked it and the message it had. Solid B. Might want to re-watch with Super J.

Definitely, Maybe (PG-13): The final flick of my marathon, Super J was home to watch it with me. Out of all the movies, it was definitely the S.L.O.W.E.S.T. moving one and we were not as charmed by it as the critics were. In fact, Super J was downright offended by the idea that this dad was telling his daughter all about his "romances" with three women, which basically was all about sex and stuff. His daughter, by the way, was supposed to be 11-ish. Ohhhhhhhkay. Anyway, remember how I said that one persons treasure can be another persons trash? This is the case with this movie. Super J HATED it. In fact, we buzzed to the end because he was so un-enchanted with this "Tool of Satan" (deemed as such because it blatantly was showing a lifestyle that really can't make anyone happy, but tried to play it off as a great way of life), but I wanted to see the ending. Now, we skipped probably 2/3rds of the movie (I'm so glad it was a free rental!), so maybe we missed some great life altering moments, but we didn't want to waste any more time on it.

Overall, *I* probably didn't dislike it as much as Super J, but once again I was frustrated by the fact that it played into the stereotype of a young precocious daughter so wanting her parent to be happy that she basically "parents" the clueless Parent into said happiness, which is NOT HER RESPONSIBILITY. But as with Super J's point, people who see this get lulled into believing that such expectations (whether they are moral or not) are okay. No wonder we, as a society in general (or, in my personal case, um...me, in general) have such issues with stuff like this (see above where I have a hard time saying "No."). So, I don't recommend it. The critics liked it, but we didn't. Definitely, Maybe NOT.

ANYWAY, there you have it. "Cinematherapy" at it's finest with some interesting examples. I think that maybe the beverages from McDonald's still may have been my favorite part of the whole DVD experience. ha!

The best-laid plans...

So. Tonight, Gentle Reader, I was going to make a fabulous cake in order to welcome Super J home. Much like the game of telephone, I almost love how I got the recipe as much as how great it sounds.

Here's the recipe, swiped from Cryptic Jennifer's friend Chloe's blog (who made it into cupcakes and took the recipe from one of her friends, Mel, from whence I copied and pasted word for Mel's word, but she took it from Food Network, though she added tweaks of her own. Soooooo...it's blatant copying and pasting at its finest):

"Here's the recipe, taken from the Food Network website, and altered with a few of the suggestions taken from the recipe reviews.

Put the Lime in the Coconut Cake:

Cake: (don't you dare use a coconut flavored box mix. The cake is A-MAZING and not too time consuming to make from scratch.)

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coconut milk

Lime Glaze

1 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 cup sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup shredded coconut

Icing: (if you're making an actual layer cake, you may need all of the icing this recipe calls for. If you're just going to frost the top of the cake, 1/2 or even 1/4 of this amount will be enough.)

1 cup butter
4 ounces cream cheese
1 pound box plus 1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.

In an electric mixer or using a hand beater, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add coconut extract and eggs 1 at a time. In a mixing bowl or on a sheet of parchment paper, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder. To mixer add coconut milk and flour to creamed mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes then unmold onto rack(s) over a sheet pan and allow to cool completely.

For Glaze: In a medium bowl combine sour cream or yogurt, sugar, lime zest and juice, coconut milk, shredded coconut. With a bamboo skewer, poke holes in cake and spread glaze on both sides of both cakes. Cover with plastic wrap, chill until ready to frost cake.

For Icing: In an electric mixer or using a hand mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar gradually at low speed. Beat in coconut milk and vanilla. Frost cake. Coat top and sides with shredded coconut.

Invite friends over to eat this cake with you, because if you don't, you may just end up eating the whole thing by yourself."

Here's my take on it so far:

The people at my local Price Chopper have no clue where coconut milk is kept. I was pointed in the direction for the baked goods, where they have condensed milk, dry milk, evaporated milk, goat milk and soy milk, but no coconut milk. Then, after asking in customer service land, they pointed me to (ready?) the MIXED DRINK aisle. And maybe the Organic foods section. Okay. Mixed Drink aisle had some concoction of "Coconut Creme". Hmmmmm. Nothing in Organics. *I* finally found it near the Asian Food area...two different brands of "coconut milk." Crazy.

Still, I love to try a new recipe, so once I get my kitchen cleaned and put away all my other groceries and the pizza that I got from Costco for dinner tonight, then we should be good to go. But first I need to get the girls their showers and then get them to bed (do you see where this is going?).

So, maybe if I have energy, tomorrow after Swim Lessons, I'll start making Super J's welcome home cake.

Swimming Lessons--Day 2

Report: Well. We have returned from Day 2 at the pool, and happily, no one drowned and everyone seems in relatively high spirits. I'm craving a salad from Cafe Rio, which is a place out in Utah/Nevada, so I'm kinda Shucks outta luck for lunch. Alas...but that really has nothing to do with swimming. Back to the report...

Summary from Miss Lauren, their swim teacher, who comes to me with the news (it's kinda cute, because each "teacher" only has 2-4 kids, and I think she has 3, so we are getting updates daily):

Miss A is floating on her back, by herself, in the regular and "streamlined" (meaning with her arms above her head) floats, and she gets her face in the water.

Miss E is floating on her back, and probably unbeknownst to her, she floated by herself. She also will get her face into the water. Yay. Both played various games that they are excited about sharing with Super J when he gets home.

Miss O and I also played many many games today, such as "Motor Boat", Ring-around-the-Rosies (aquatic style), Simon says, and basically a free for all of splashing and kicking (of which Miss O excels). We have two cute little 16 year old instructors, and you can tell these girls are 16 because they do a whole lot of spur of the moment planning and implementing. But I guess OUR class is really just about getting the kids used to the water. Miss O...let's just say she's used to the water.

On my part, our transitions to and from the pool went by much more smoothly. We did arrive kinda early (10 minutes?) and I was tempted to let them go into the little water park, but then I knew Miss O would not want to leave that for the lesson, so I decided to forgo that opportunity.

The only dark cloud on this trip was when Miss O got the lid off my water bottle and poured a substantial quantity of said beverage out in the car. GRRRRRRRRRR. Argh. I've left the windows open on the Red Rocket to hopefully help it dry out.

End Report.

And we have a winner!

We have a winner in our unofficial contest of Which Daughter Will Wake up Continuously Through the Night...and that would be.......

Miss A!

Congratulations, Miss A. You who woke up to use the bathroom, who insisted there was a bug in your room, who then decided you could not sleep without Dad being home (I know that feeling). Yes. Climb into bed with Mom, but do not be offended by the pillows that now separate you from your mother because, frankly, your mom sleeps with four pillows these days and it's nothing personal.

Now let's try to get some sleep before Miss E or O wake up around 8am in the morning. Keep in mind that Mommy went to sleep after 2:00am. Ohhhhhhh Mommy. What were you thinking?????

Ugh. That's what I'm thinking now. And swim lessons in 2 hours.

Life...continued.

Driving to swimming lessons (more on that later):

Miss A: "Mom! I saw some Queen's Ant's Lace!"

Miss E: "Yeah, Mom! We see some Queen Ant's Lace!!!"

Pause, pause.

Me: "You mean, Queen ANNE'S Lace?"

Both: "Who?"

"Queen Anne. That's was her name. Not as in the bugs, but her name is ANNE."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh."
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Update: Super J fixed the broom. And there was much rejoicing in Crumb Land ("hooray!").

I asked, are you sure you can fix it? He just looked at me like I'd asked him if he had two eyes. I'm sure, somewhere in the distance, theme music started. He went out to the garage and, using who knows what, he got the broken-off screw thingy out of the broom head and put a very green handle (from an old broom or mop, I dunno. It looked vaguely familiar, but I haven't used something with a green handle for quite some time) on the yellow broom head. It's not real pretty to look at, but it works. And it didn't cost a thing.
************************************

I have a fear that Miss O is currently enjoying an ear infection. There is no fever, but the child refuses to go down for bed tonight! It's 12:00ish, and I have finally succumbed to letting her just cry. She's been given ibruprofen, some ear drops and finally something to releave congestion (and hopefully some pressure in the ear). It's either ear infection or 2 year old molars are starting to come in. Either way, now we are both tired of each other and I am done. Argh. I hate getting to this point because I feel like a bad mommy. Oh well. I shall not dwell.

Instead, let me enthrall you with the fact that we went to our first Mommy & me swimming lesson today (Misses A & E had "real" lessons during the same time. Blessedly, they are all 30 minutes long, which truly is quite short when one is actually in the water). Initially, Miss O was JOYOUS to be there. She kicked like a pro--both on her tummy and on her back. She put her chin in the water. She kinda put her ear in the water. She did GREAT.

For 15 minutes.

And then she was done and wanted out of the pool and wanted NOTHING more to do with it...until the "lesson" was done and everyone else was getting out of the pool, and then she was DESPERATE to get back into the pool. Ugh. Very hard to pick up fit-pitching child who should not be quite so close to the pool when pitching said fit when one has swallowed a bowling ball which currently resides in el stomacho (you may not be able to tell by this word choice, but I don't know Spanish. Sorry). So, I don't know what's wrong with her. Swimmers ear? Ear infection? Molars? She's almost 2 (in a week! Holy Smokes (or smocks, as I just typed...that seems to kinda work, too).

In the meantime, Miss A & E were very very good, both behaviorally and at their swim lessons. They do want to stay and play in the little adjoining water park, that is right next to the pools where the swim lessons take place. I, honestly, don't know if I have that in me. I was EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. It takes about an hour to prep for swim lessons and get everyone fed, pottied, dressed, buckled in the car and then readied for the lesson, then it takes 20 minutes to get back to the car AFTER swim lessons and then you come home, get everyone changed and snacked (but not too much snack because lunch is just around the corner). Yep. Tired.

And on that happy note, I cannot believe we are going to swim lessons for the next 7 weekdays. What was I thinking??? Oh yeah. I don't want my kids to drown when they go to our local, un-life-guarded pool because they have a false sense that they "can swim" because they use one of those blow-up tube thingies.

True story: The other day, I was reminding Miss E that she was starting swimming classes and she happily chirped, "Can I be the teacher?"

"Ummmm, no honey. They are lessons for you to take."

"But I already know how to swim" (with the inner tube thingy).

"And that's why you are taking more lessons, hon."
*****************************************

So, Super J left town this afternoon (after fixing the broom...Ta Da!) for a business trip.

In honor of that, I took the liberty of going to Panera Bread for a little something for Momma and then took the kids to McDonald's for some Happy Meals and Playland playtime (and, honestly, a Redbox Chick flick for me).

Here's the quick and dirty review of the evenings events:

Panera Bread: a little slice of the hot place when one has 3 kiddos and Miss O decides she is going to do her impression of a legless sack of potatoes (I know, I know, potato sacks often do NOT have legs and if they did, they'd be very scary indeed, but let's just say she went boneless practically the entire time we were there because she DID NOT WANT TO HOLD MY HAND and was OFFENDED that I was making her. Ugh). AND, on top of that...where do they get the help these days. No, wait. That's not fair. But let's call a spade a spade and say that the highschoolers at Panera on this particular evening were about as helpful as...rotted basil. And as filled with energy and happiness to be working at Panera, I might add, as that rotted basil. Not impressed.

Walking out to the car from Panera Bread: HUGE slice of the hot place because some idiot older man driver in a little sporty coupe decided he was going to speed through the parking lot, give me and my little ducklings the right of way to cross the street, only to then turn into the lane at a quick speed trying to get the empty parking spot that was right next to where we were walking. Miss O TRIPS (of course), luckily NOT in the path of the car, but parallel to it, successfully freaking me, Misses A & E, and I hope with any good fortune, that asinine driver completely OUT. Seriously, she totally could have been hit because of this #$%@*&(^% speedy driving.

I mean, if it was AT ALL busy, I might have understood his rush to Get. That. Spot. But there was no other car coming or going near us. AND there was another empty spot two cars down from this particular spot. AND there were 3 empty car spots open from that second option spot. I must admit, I was NOT thinking kind Christian thoughts about this gentleman (clearly). Instead, I wanted to really light into him for his Total Display of Stupidity. I was hashed. But I was still freaked from my child almost being hit and so I just got us all in the Red Rocket and took a big drag from my beverage (diet caffine free Pepsi with a shot of Pepsi. Very nice. I like it better than Coke products, as stated before...somewhere), and, true confessions, horked down my half turkey sandwich.

McDonald's: Thus in my stellar mood, we drive around the outdoor mall and arrive at McDonald's. We go in, order the food, and I get a beverage (they have Light Minute Maid Lemonade at this McDonald's. Also very nice and refreshing). I realize after I paid that I should have gotten a large because then I'd get a free redbox DVD rental. Argh. I ask the cashier, "Is it too late to upgrade my drink to a large?"

"Nope," she says, and starts swapping the cups.

"How much?" I ask, digging through my wallet and getting some change ready.

Get this: "No charge."

I could have reached over and kissed her. I mean, how nice was that. And she even gave me one of the free DVD rental cups.

I also wanted to say, "Panera Bread has NOTHING on you tonight, friendly helpful people at McDonald's!"

AND to make things, seriously, even better...there were hardly any people in the Playland. I hesitate to say this, but it was almost soothing to be there. The kids played...used the bathroom facilities (Alot...ohholycow, they must have been saving up for a trip to use public restrooms!)...and had a nice, low key time.

Holy Smocks! It's after 1:00am. Okay, tomorrow, I shall continue this enthralling tale of my Monday evening, with a riviting story of how much of a dork I am when trying to get a movie out of the Red Box. Yegads. And I'll give you a review of the movie, 27 Dresses.

**Sniff** **sniff**

I broke my broom this morning. I was sweeping under the dining room table (aka: Crumb Land) and somehow managed to get the bristles caught in some of the spokes of the chairs (yes, yes, thank you, thank you. It's a talent; a true, undefined talent. Why is there not an Olympic Event for such unique things? I'd be sure to at least qualify for the team, if not medal!). So, I had Miss A hold the back of the chair (makes sense, right) while I pulled and tugged. We heard this weird "pop" noise and the handle broke out of the broom head part.

Huh.

That was COMPLETELY unexpected.

It broke where the head and the handle screw together. NO way for replacement (can't get the unscrewed, unbroken part out of the broom head, and I broke off the screw part of the handle!) and do not think repair is an option because I HIGHLY doubt Super Glue is going to hold it together for ANY length of time (regardless of what that construction guy in the helmet hanging from his hat says), and let's just be frank when I say I DO NOT epoxy (whatever that means).

Heh, Miss O just ran in with the broom head saying, "Where'd it go, Mom? Where'd it go?" See, even a babe can recognize the strange and bizarre nature of this event.

So, let's have a moment of silence for "The Broom" as I try to determine if this is something I can recycle or if it's just a chuck-it-in-the-garbage kind of thing, to add to my guilt over my lack of being Green as well as yet another contribution to our garbage dump. Sigh. And maybe we'll just tack on a second or two for my own, inexplicable talent for destroying things in the oddest of ways.

**Moment Passes**

Thank you. Feel free to now resume your other, normal duties of the day. And maybe I'll see you at Wal-mart, looking for a new broom.

I'm driving down the highway, singing "Called to Serve"

This is a total "hat tip" to Adrienne. She had this video clip on her blog and it gave me a GREAT idea for teaching the chorus to "Called to Serve" in Primary today, so I decided to put it on my blog to better explain (and because it's soooo funny I wanted to share).

This is what I did: I had the kids "Earn a Word" by throwing one of 3 balls into a basket. If they got the big fuzzy ball in the basket, they got to sing one word. A second smaller one got 2 words and a plastic one got 3 (or a phrase). If it bounced out of the basket, they got no words.

It went well in Junior Primary, but as it was untested, we had a few bumps along the way. They still learned the chorus pretty well, though, and I was impressed. Senior Primary, however, LURVED it. I mean, holy cow! The boys totally dug the whole concept of "EARNING A WORD" by making a basket (imagine that), and then I'd have them sing that earned word. So, even though they learned the chorus one or two words at a time, they did a GREAT job with it.

So, here's the video clip. It is, seriously, so dang hysterical. Thanks, Adrienne!!! And maybe next week I can tell you how "Called to Serve" sounds as a fish or pig...(watch the clip...you'll see what I mean).

Things spoken, heard, seen and felt this weekend...

Let's start this off with this, from Miss A.

The whole family was driving to Costco on Saturday and from the back seat, I hear very excitedly, "Mom! Mom! I just saw some Queen Anne's Lice!"

Pause, pause.

"You mean, Queen Anne's Lace?"

"Oh, yeah."
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During Primary (our Children's Meeting), our Primary President started talking about one of the girls in the congregation who was just baptized on Saturday and was talking it up, saying that something very exciting had happened to someone and asked if anyone knew what it was.

Miss E raises her hands, gets called on, and then proceeds to stand and tell everyone, "We have been very good and must think...(about who knows what because she said something I couldn't quite understand)...and it's so wonderful that tomorrow we get to start swimming lessons!!!!"

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While at Costco, one of the ladies (who was probably 50-ish and of Latin descent, based on her accent) who hands out samples was starting with her little sales pitch when all of a sudden she stops and says, "Where did you get your top????"

I was wearing a maternity top that my mom had gotten for me from the Army Post near where she lives. I told this sweet lady this and she said, "I love the colors and it looks super comfortable. I wish I could get one!"

I made some lame comment about needing to be comfortable at this stage and then walked off...not sure if I should be complimented about how a retiree enjoyed my wardrobe selection or offended that she just joined the throngs who people who don't realize that, once again, I'm PREGNANT!

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And speaking of things felt this weekend...I had a TERRIBLE, tear (as in salt water leaking from the eye, not a ripping tear) inducing pain this morning. It was definitely not a contraction, but a literal pain that felt like it took probably 10 minutes of laying down to vanquish. Ugh. My mantra is now: I only need to get through 4 more weeks. Four more weeks. That's it.

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We have a "toddler" bird living near our house...I believe it's a Robin...and it's learning to fly. Watching it the past few days, it's been fascinating to see the interactions with the parental birds as it is literally getting its wings. I'm not sure where the nest is located (it's NOT in the swing set), but the birds fly and land on the banister of our deck and sometimes they all just sit there, like the parents are waiting for the youngling to catch it's proverbial wind. Ahhhhh, Nature. Fascinating to watch.

The girls particularly enjoyed today when we saw a parent bird feed the "toddler" and then later saw the same parent bird fly with a worm in its mouth, but the "baby" wasn't there. Interesting. On a completely different note about Nature, these birds sure poop alot on the ol' banister.

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And we'll end with yet another fine example of my parenting:

Miss A and E were throwing some nerf ball at each other (both have very poor aim and were laughing and running away from one another). Miss E kept saying, "Don't hit my nose! Don't hit my nose" and Miss A finally reassured her that Miss E could move her hand (which had been covering said nose) because she wasn't going to hit her there and then Miss A proceeded to...throw the ball and hit Miss E on the nose.

I caught the whole thing and said, "Miss A! Why did you do that? You know what happens to liars, don't you? They go to the Hot Place." (and I literally said, "hot place," just so you know)

Well, it was dinner time and we got everyone settled and served, prayed over the food and everyone was digging in when Miss A says, very earnestly, "Mom, can you tell me more about this 'Hot Place?'"

Ohhhhhhhhhfortheloveofpancakes!!!!!

I tried to get her to wait until after supper, but she said, "No. I'd rather hear about it now."

Super J jumps in with the oh-so-helpful, "Well, according to 'true' church doctrine," AHEM!!!!! I thinks in my head, "...the Hot Place is truly only reserved for those who openly rebel against Christ, and I highly doubt that you will be included in this, so don't worry about it."

Ummmmm, yeah. That really didn't do anything to help.

So then I, with even more clumsy finesse, start in with, "Well, you know that if we want to go back to be with Heavenly Father, we must be on our best behavior and so we can't lie, because we can't be with Heavenly Father and our families if we make the decision to lie to people, so it's best to tell the truth, because any place without our Father in Heaven or our Families is going to be the Hot Place and they call it the Hot Place because you are so embarrassed and sad that you aren't with those you love." (Ugh!!!!! At this point, I'm just so glad she hasn't asked a direct question about sex! I wonder how bad I'd be blathering about that, when the time comes. Yegads!)

Super J and I both look at each other and then say, to Miss A who still looks very concerned, "Honey, you really don't need to worry about it. Let's just not lie."

Miss A says, "So, I'll just work to do better."

"Yes, Honey, that's a great idea."

...And something I'll work on, too.