A Beautiful Day!

So yesterday was my birthday! I love my birthday and mother's day! I use them to their full advantage and the family knows it and plays right along. Anything I ask, anything I want. Of course, I have learned to ask and not just expect them to know what I want. Yesterday we went to Anderson Reservoir boating. We stopped at the Fairfield store to use the bathroom. Because of the boat, we have to park out by the road. Per our usual routine, Matt hopped out of the truck and was 10 feet ahead of the rest of us. I get out and see Hunter and Tenney tyring to get out of the truck without dropping their games and the food all packed in there. I know Tenney needs a hand to hold across the busy parking lot. "Matt," I holler while pointing back at the truck with my thumb, "today is my birthday! They're going to need a little help." Now, have you all seen that Survivor email that's going around. It says the next Survivor is going to have a bunch of dads with three children each doing all the things a mother does, and the kids will be voting them off the island. It's definitely a joke because pretty much most of the dads I know would want the kids to vote them off the island first (I don't care how much money is involved.) Matt turns around right where he is, all the way across the parking lot, and yells, "Kids, come on!" I see the kids still aren't out of the truck. I walk past him and chuckle, delighted with my birthday, "You're getting voted off the island." At the lake, I laid in the boat and read a book while they fished and played. Then, after I had enough trolling around the lake (did a little fishing myself, but the fish didn't know it was my birthday--if only!) I said, "I'm ready to go." They reeled in their lines and home we went! At home, little prizes were waiting for me from friends, and the family took care of the dishes. A beeaa-u-ti-full day it was! When is Mother's Day again?

You Think Old Woman!

Yesterday Tenney and I are walking in our local grocery store. The sun is bright but the temperature is cold. Tenney catches our reflections in the store front window. "You look like an old woman," she says. I stop in my tracks. "What?" "You look like an old woman," she repeats in the same voice. "What do you mean? Like my body? The way I'm walking?" "Your face," she says matter of factly. "My face? What do you mean my face?" "Your face . . . in the window," she says it like that's just how it is, but this time she cracks a smile, a smirk if you will. She is staying with her statement, and she's not backing down, and she knows she has me. I'm shocked. Do I tell her not to say things like that? Do I slink back to my car, drive straight home and put makeup on or just give up and crawl into bed? I decide to smile back at her. "You think old woman," I say. "Just wait 'til your sixteen, going to high school and I come walking into your school event. You know I'll come to everyone of them!" She doesn't know it now, but that was a great comeback!

Welcome Home!

We just returned from an awesome cruise with Matt's family. His mom took all of her children and lucky spouses to the Carribean. It was good times with great family.

We returned Sun morn at 1 a.m. to find Tenney throwing up. Welcome home! Then, poor Hunter started with an ear ache after missing 4 out of 5 days last week because of a sinus infection and migraine. He needed ibuprofen every 2 hours, but of course I couldn't do that, so he was writhing in pain all last night until 11:30 this morn when I got him into Levin's office. I was leaving that office going to get the antibiotic on Main St and a police officer pulled me over. Now, count them. I was going on two nights with little sleep. By this time Hunter had been screaming in pain for about 12 hrs off and on. I couldn't imagine why the dang officer was pulling me over and of course I was thinking about the a ticket I had gotten for speeding about a month ago and then there was a slight accident of crashing in Michelle Alberdi's rental car not too long ago. "How are you today mam?" "Not so great," I somewhat hysterically answered, "My son has been writhing in pain from an earache. We're just going to get his antibiotic." The officer looks in the back to see him holding his ear and crying. "I can't imagine why you pulled me over!" I say. "Well, Mam, you rolled through the stop sign." "I can't believe it! Are you kidding me?!" I guess I was "frazzled" at least that's how the officer described me. Tenney didn't have her seat belt on, and the officer noticed and reprimanded me. I explained that I told her to put her seat belt on right when we got in the car and she didn't listen, so I unrolled her window and asked him to talk to her. "Little girl," he said in the sweetest voice, "will you pinky swear (sticking out his pinky in a crook) to put your seat belt on when you get in the car?" You think I was "frazzled," Mr. Officer?! Tenney starts crying and in MY same whining, "frazzled" voice yells at the officer that she had tried to put her seat belt on but the dang seat belt was stuck at the top so she couldn't get it on, and Hunter was screaming because of his ear so she just left it alone. I turn back and yell, "Tenney, you can always ask me to put it on?" The officer tries again, "Little girl do you pinky swear to . . ." She cries to him again, "I told you. It was stuck back there," pointing to the place the belt comes out of the metal." "Okay," the now "frazzled" officer says, "I hope you all get better. Go get your medicine and go home and hopefully your day will get better." He tapped the car two times and sent us on our way, happy as can be to be out of our presence. He let me go without even looking at my driver's license. Now that is a good day!

No April Fools here

This is a REAL spring time thing I love. It has nothing to do with the weather, but I'm pretty sure they only come out at spring. The milk chocolate goodness is too much to resist. I've tried other milk chocolate eggs, and they don't come close. There's something extra . . .ooooh . . . I don't even have the words for the flavor. Do you see the blue one there? That color I'm pretty sure is called periwinkle. I love the color and I love that word--periwinkle!

Man Scouts

So you've heard of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. But how about Man Scouts? That's what we're calling it here. I went into LL Greens to buy some sandpaper for Hunter's space derby. The young man working there said, "Oh yeah, I remember the space derby. Let's see. I'm not sure what grit (of sandpaper) he should use. Actually my dad did my space rocket." I swear the father's were as into it as much as the boys, if not more.

So as the boys and men were busy in the gym, I looked for the girls. I found them in the Primary room. When I walked in, Tenney gave me the shush sign.

I asked the girls what they were doing. "Playing church," they said.

Lovin' Idaho

Okay, you all know how I love Idaho! Really, I love the summer, Alturas Lake, Hunter's fishing, hiking, marshmellow roasts in the back yard, tennis, barbeques. And Fall, love it! The trees changing, getting that butterfly feeling for the holidays and family and friends, school starting, Matt and the kids hunting trips. And you all know how I feel about winter here. There's just too much fun to be had with the snow. But spring . . . not so much! Ugh! If the weather is semi-warm, it's okay, but it's ugly. The melting snow uncovers all of our litter and scat and dead weeds. It's muddy, and in one day Idaho can have psychotic warming sun and then a blizzardy blowing wind or sleety snow or snowy rain, so even if you're going to brave the mud to get out in it, you can't really get away from the elements. So I've decided I'm going to find things that make me happy in the spring. I'll post them as they come.

Polka Dots! Okay, okay, I know you can have polka dots anytime of year. For me, polka dots say spring, at least what spring is supposed to be. You know what I mean--festive, new beginnings, colored eggs, confetti, the color of flowers that should be growing outside my windows. So today, it's polka dots for me. They give me smile!

Thank You!

Thank you! That was so nice. I loved the flowers and I love the chocolate and you are so kind and thoughtful. Who are you? Do tell.