This & That

The Baby Girl....

.....isn't such a baby anymore. She's 13 today. Hard to believe for me that time has gone by that fast.   I tried to get some pictures yesterday, but the weather is not cooperating here. March is going out like a lion.  I'm hoping for better weather today, but if I believe the weather forecasters, I'm not going to get it.   She's an ally, a joy and such a girl...which means there's going to be pasta for dinner and an ice cream cake. 
Tomorrow....THE ANSWER.

The Good Old Days

I remember the good old days. The days when someone could ask for a date to the prom by picking up the phone and dialing a number, or stopping someone in the hall and saying, "Do you want to go to the prom with me?" I miss the good old days, because now you have to turn the asking and answering part into a REALLY BIG DEAL.  I hate really big deals.  I am not a really big deals kind of person.  I know that there are people out there who really get into this kind of thing and think it's amazingly fun.  I am not one of those people. When you have six kids, however, you tend to get sucked into the REALLY BIG DEAL.  Like the photo you can see of DS#4 a couple of years ago.
So Preemie Boy is turning 16 in a couple of weeks.  16 is the magical dating age for our household and it just so happens that the prom is the week after his birthday.  And he wants to go.  I couldn't ease him out of the idea.  I just wish that his first dating experience wasn't THE PROM.  I'd like to see him ease into it a little with maybe a movie or two, or an ice cream sundae or maybe even a picnic at the park.  The fancy-schmancy prom makes me uneasy.  This is the kid who has those vision problems and ate with his hands for quite a while just because it was easier than negotiating the whole utensil/hand-eye thing.  He also like to hum while he eats.  He still does that.  And his choice of music is always pretty interesting.  He tends to pick the big, orchestral movie numbers....like the theme from "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" or "Superman".  He's pretty good about remembering, but every once in a while I still have to point out that as lovely as his voice is, we don't need dinner music.
In any case I got sucked into the REALLY BIG DEAL when he asked the girl this weekend.  And I use the term "asked" very loosely here.  We happened to have this 6-foot tall Oscar cut out and you can see that I used my Cricut to put her name on it.  (Nothing like validating those scrapping purchases when they have multiple applications....).  He put the pertinent information on the little plaque at the bottom.  Then we had to load Oscar in the car without bending him and doorbell ditch him at the girl's house.  Oscar had apparently been drinking earlier, because he had a very difficult time staying upright on the doorstep.  After the ditching part, we of course, had to go around the block and make sure Oscar got taken into the house.  And now comes the anxiety of waiting for "THE ANSWER".

I miss the good old days.

Traveling

I am headed down to Utah today for a wedding shower for my niece.  Here she is with her beau.  She's a cutie.  In any case, I'm rushing this morning.  I was supposed to spend some time harassing my FIL this weekend as well, but true to form, he's not listening to anything anybody tells him, so we're going to leave that alone.  Coming soon.....prom dates and more birthdays.

50 Years Young

This is my hubby and today is his birthday. He's 50 years young and if there was ever evidence that age is just a number, he is it. This is a picture of him when he was about 2 and it's my favorite of him as a little boy.  Isn't he cute?  Of course, I personally, think he's just as cute now.  We met when we were seniors in high school and had an English class together, and the luckiest day of my life was when I married him.   Like most of us, he has almost too much on his plate, but is a great dad and the best grandpa ever.   
When you get to this point in life, you kind of stand a a cross-roads as you look one direction and see your parents getting older, and look in the other direction and sometimes yearn to have your little kidlets back again. But then you look straight ahead and see with great satisfaction that those same little kidlets are continuing on in the cycle, and then you just take your honey by the hand and keep heading down the road, not knowing what's ahead, but very happy that you have someone you love this much to share it with.   

He's Got Rhythm

It's already been discussed that I have some rhythm and that my DH has negative rhythm.  Like any other trait,  i.e. the math gene and the music gene, I wondered what would get passed down.  My kidlets seem to have universally picked up a healthy helping of the music gene.  The math gene was a little spotty but the dance gene was very hit and miss. 
I'll bet not many of you know that BYU has one of the top ballroom dance programs in the country. They offer ballroom classes that can be taken for general ed PE credit.  That's what I did when I was in college, since I am woefully inadequate when it comes to any sport that involves doing something with a ball.  Ironically, I can dance. My eldest boy and DS#4 (soon to be San Diego-bound) also tried out the dance classes and found that they have an aptitude.  Kids in these classes are required to attend occasional competitions. DS#4 and his partner advanced to the final round which was great. What was even greater was the phone call I got from my brother.  I have a niece that is Preemie Boy's age and on BYU's Jr. dance team. She competes regularly in a totally different level than DS#4.  My brother let me know that during these competition days, there are professional photographers snapping away. Thumbnails are put up on the company's website and proud parents can order prints.  So here are some teeny, tiny pictures of my boy dancing his little feet off....and one of my nearly 16 year-old niece who looks like she really knows what she's doing.

BTW....FIL update.  He went home yesterday.  I can't believe how fast he went home, but he seems to be doing very well.   

Egg Bash 101

I've had a couple of people ask about our Easter Egg Bash tradition.  This is something we've done for several years and how it works is like this:
--Pick the colored egg that you think has the hardest shell.
--You and your opponent face off across a flat area.  We use our driveway. Don't get too far apart.  Eggs often don't roll smoothly for long distances.
--Roll your eggs toward each other putting some force behind the roll.
--One of the eggs will crack and the other will stay intact.  I don't know why that works the way it does, but it happens every, single time.
--The person with the cracked egg is out, the intact egg moves on to the next heat until you have a winner.
As I said, I've been the winner three years in a row.  That may be due to the fact that I'm usually taking pictures and usually only enter the last heat....lol.  My kids are old enough to be catching on to my method.  If you still have Easter eggs, you might want to give it a try.

Our Belated Easter Celebration

There was no way that Easter traditions were going to sneak by this year.  Even with the frenzied weekend we had, DD was NOT going to let us forget. So after school yesterday, we managed to color some eggs, have the Easter dinner we would have had on Sunday, hunt those colored eggs and hold our annual Egg Bash. (And BTW, Mom emerged triumphant for a third year in a row.) 
I think April has come early here.  Supposedly we are in for nearly a week of showers.  This is OK with me as it is a well-known fact that my favorite weather is rain. We just don't see it very often here in south-central Idaho.  Love the smell, love the sound, love the feel of things growing.  And my bulbs are universally on their way up.
Some misc. things here....
--My FIL continues to recover well. However, his pain medication is giving him nightmares (literally) so he is anxious to decrease that when he can. 
--I'm registering Preemie Boy for his Jr. year schedule after school today.  How the heck did that happen?
--For Family Night last night we watched "We Are Marshall".  Really good, touching movie if you haven't seen it.

Back to School Monday

Morning, Everyone!
First, I want to thank you for the well-wishes for my FIL.  It was a very stressful couple of days as he underwent 6-vessel bypass surgery Saturday morning and into the afternoon.  He is, however, having a normal and uncomplicated recovery so far.  He was moved out of the ICU last night to an intermediate care room and if all goes well, he should be able to come home on Friday or so.  The biggest obstacle to his recovery will be his own compliance to Dr.'s orders.  He tends to think he knows better. (eyeroll)
Anyway, we ended up hauling the horses on his farm up here so he won't be tempted to wander into the fields to "go check on them".  That was the first thing he was worried about when he came out of surgery...who was feeding the horses.  Today will be a catch up day for me.  I need to put together the Easter my family missed out on during the rush trip over the weekend.  My DD especially, will not let me forget that she hasn't gotten an Easter basket yet.  Bad, stressed mom. :)

Sudden Trip

My FIL had a surprise angioplasty today and the results indicate the he'll be having a sextuple bypass surgery tomorrow or Monday.  We are headed down to Utah on the spur of the moment to visit with him and also talk finances and houses with my mom.  Hard to see parents age and go through these kinds of things...but I'm going to be MIA for a couple of days and would appreciate any good thoughts sent this way.

California, Here He Comes!

DS#4 got his mission information yesterday and he'll be spending the next 2 years in sunny San Diego!  As a mom, I'm just thrilled.  As soon as he called yesterday to say it had come, I had this wave of anxiety, wondering where I was going to have to worry about him being.  For some reason, the idea of him being so much "closer" makes me feel better.  Not that he's guaranteed to be totally safe there, but he'll be closer.  Not to mention the fact that I'm going to save big bucks on international postage on packages. He'll be leaving on June 18.
Now, as far as the "Where's he going?" lottery.....I was pretty close when I guessed stateside, foreign-speaking, and Mary Ruth  was close when she guessed stateside, but I got an email last week from DIL#1 who said she was guessing Argentina (sorry!) and that my Squeezable Grandbaby had racked his brain and was going to guess California.  When I spoke with DS#1 last night, he says the SGB prefers Gingersnaps.  Uh-huh.