Biggest Little City

Spring Break was marvelous -- just as we hoped.  We went to Reno to visit G's parents.  G went to ski Reno's snow one last time before his parents move away and I went to sit around. 

 

Some of the low points before I get to all the highlights:

• The weather.   It was snowy, windy and cold the entire time.  The ski resort was closed most of the time we were there because of all the wind.  The only day they made it up to the mountain it was 6 degrees!
• For some reason the boys attention-seek, disobey, and ignore everything I say when we are out of the normal routine.  Thank goodness they don't act like that every day.
• The boys came home with their first colds of the winter.  I guess we should be relieved that we made it this long...
• The guilt over all that food we consumed.  Oh mercy, did we eat!  

 The highlights:

• We had no incidents on the drive there are back!  We did have to take an alternate route home to avoid a snowstorm, which helped us avoid any weather-related problems.  We also avoided hitting any wild animals, car accidents, tickets, dramatic visits with potential birth moms, and vomiting.  The first incident-free road trip in years!
• The Grassroots Bookstore.  Every time we go to Reno G and I go and load up on used books.
• G and I went on THREE dates!!!!  The first was to the bookstore and Walmart.  The next was to dinner and a show (more on that in another blog post), and the last was to dessert at Claim Jumper.  Going out without children is heavenly.  Especially when we don't have to pay a babysitter or clean up after a babysitter when we come home.  
• The kids slept in until 8:30 -- and often later -- every single day. 
• G took his remote-control helicopter and had fights with his dad, who also has a remote-control helicopter.

• Reading for hours every day.  I really wanted to sit around and read all week.  And I did.  (At your earliest convenience please read the book "These Is My Words by Nancy Turner.  One of my all-time favorite books now.  But not if you are a boy because you'll think it is really lame.)
• G took Buddy skiing for the first time.  They had a fabulous time, of course.  More to come on that.
• Eating non-stop.  In-n-Out twice.  Atlantis Buffet.  Strawberry/Orange Julius's every night.  Einstein Bagels twice.  Grimaldi's.  Val's great dinners. 
• Val's all-fruit smoothies.  Buddy actually asked her if he could get the recipe since I always add vegetables to the ones I make.  It was like smoothie nirvana for the kids and G.
• Ken's breakfasts every morning.  We never make a fancy breakfast at home.  And if we do, it's for dinner.
• Buddy's hike with grandpa.  He's still talking about it.  The boy was born to hike.  
• The kids playing in the snow.  Sambo had never built a snowman before and Buddy has only a few times.

• Having grandma and grandpa around to play with the kids.
• The kids telling knock-knock jokes on the way home.  Except Sambo kept getting confused and would say, "Ding-dong..." to get the joke started.
• Putting together 500-piece puzzles.  I love puzzles and hadn't done one in years!
• Circus Circus with the kids.  

• Buddy has chronic nosebleeds even though he's had both sides cauterized.  His bleeds are severe and once he starts a cycle, it's several days or weeks before they stop.  He always starts a new cycle in Reno, but thanks to a new-to-us product called Ponaris, he didn't get any this time!  He just finished a cycle a few weeks ago, so we thought for sure they would be a problem in Reno.  Three cheers for Ponaris!
• One day I tried to get Sambo to take a nap, which is a losing battle nearly every time, so I don't even try usually.  This particular day we all needed a break.  I thought he had fallen asleep, but with very few items in his closet-bed to work with, he got creative.  He took his underwear and jacket off, put his shirt on like a "skirt" and put his pants on his head.  That's how I found him!  Who knows how long he had sat there like that.  Three hours maybe?

Dad Makes Dinner (by G)

Tonight M had a Relief Society Dinner that she was forced to attend. It was just me and the boys and we were all getting hungry. I do not enjoy cooking at all. M says that I'm good at it, but I really know it's reverse psychology to try to get me to do it more often. I also do not enjoy cleaning up after cooking. Basically, I only enjoy looking at food and eating it. Tonight I was on my own in the kitchen, so I prepared a meal that was tasty and did not require a lot of prep or clean up. In the spirit of all of those food websites, here is the finished product:

Open-faced Toasted Fried Egg Sandwiches with Cheese and Pickled Okra on the side.

Buddy enjoyed it.

Sambo, after doing his own hair for dinner, also liked it. Take that, Pioneer Woman! You can email me if you want the recipe.

We've Made Our Bed and Now We Have to Lie in It

We're celebrating 13 years of marriage next month and to celebrate, we got a bed.  The first 9 or 10 years of marriage we were too poor to buy optional furniture.  We got a halfway decent mattress finally three years ago but it's been on a cheap frame.  Shortly after we got married we bought a couple TV trays from Walmart and those have been our nightstands. 

Year after year we've talked about getting a bed and have looked around quite a bit, but we never really fell in love with anything and then we got sidetracked buying furniture for the kids, kitchen, and family room. 

A few months ago I decided enough is enough.  I'm ready to choose a bed.  I love to shop and I love having a nicely decorated home, but I can't create a vision in my mind.  Creating that vision is pure torture for me.  I have to actually see the piece before I know it's what I want.  I am also extremely indecisive and really picky too.  It's really a problem actually.  (Ask my friends!  Ask my husband!)

This is why it's taken us 13 years.

A few months ago I became bound and determined.  I wanted a deep brown sleigh bed.  But then some friends suggested I avoid a footboard, which would detract from the big window and a really pretty dresser near the window.  I loved that suggestion.  So then I chose a few options without a footboard.  Then I decided I didn't love them.  And I picked a few more out.  Then a friend suggested a metal bed.  I hemmed and hawed about that one for a few weeks but decided it was too casual and I didn't want to rest my back on metal bars when I watch the 11:00 news every night -- although I really liked it and might consider it eventually for our guest room.  I love the look of light fabric and leather together, so I started to think that's what I really wanted.  So I picked out a few leather beds.  G and I were in a deadlock -- him liking one leather bed and me liking another.  The saleslady suggested one more option -- an almost black leather bed.  I knew immediately it was the one. 

I went from brown sleigh.  To brown not-sleigh.  To metal.  To brown leather.  To black leather.  

It was delivered yesterday and I'm head over heels in love.  I am crazy about it! 

(The nightstands not so much, but at least they are better than TV stands.)

Climb Every Mountain

I got a lot done this week.  Got our taxes together.  Got all caught up on the ironing for probably the first time in 3-4 years.  Got the house relatively clean.  Got the whites folded today right when they came out of the dryer.  Read a really good book.  Got to the gym as many times as I wanted.

Most importantly, I learned two very important lessons.  One: fasting works.  And two: you shouldn't make decisions when you are climbing a mountain.  I learned that listening to an interview with two prominent Church leaders and marathon runners.  Profound, I tell you.  Consider all the ways that applies to your life right now.  Let me say that again:

You shouldn't make decisions when you are climbing a mountain. 

Lest you think the week was totally awesome.  My 3-year old is currently screaming in his room because he got left behind when daddy and brother went to the elementary school carnival this evening.  I asked the boys to clean their rooms.  One brother obeyed, the little one didn't.  So he didn't get to go.

G thinks I'm super mean and keeps telling me he wants to start spoiling our kids because he's tired of disappointing them and making them cry.  I don't think it's mean at all.  I think parents that spoil their kids are mean because they set their kids up to be the frustrating adults I keep running across.

When G gets home from the carnival I'm going to tell him he can't make any parenting decisions (including changing our designated parenting course) when climbing a mountain.  And teaching our baby how to clean up after himself is definitely going to be like climbing a mountain.

Postedit:  I just put Sambo to bed.  He prayed that he could make his family happy and clean up his room.  I think he learned a valuable lesson too this week.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

Maybe I'm the weird one, but it seems I keep running across a lot of idiots.   Is someone trying to prepare me for the Ides of March?  Here's a few examples. 

I have been working on painting and decorating Sambo's room.  I hunted high and low for the perfect sheets and finally found some on Target.com.  The website  said they had them in-store too, but after visiting three stores, that proved untrue.  So I ordered them online.  A different set of sheets came a few days later.  I called and worked out a plan to return them and have the correct sheets re-sent.  A few days later the wrong ones arrived again.  So I called customer service again and the lady told me to return the wrong sheets for a full refund.  I said, that's great.  Except how do I get the right sheets?  Are they even in stock?  She said they had plenty in stock, but the people in charge of filling orders would probably make a mistake a third time, so I should probably just look for new sheets.  I explained how I've already looked for other sheets and those are perfect for what I'm looking for.  She said maybe in a few weeks once I get my refund I could try to re-order them again online and see what happens. 

We got different health insurance a few months ago.  It's proved to be one frustration after another.  But I try not to complain because I am grateful we have health insurance.  That is, if we ever get anything covered.  One of my providers informed me that my claims from this year will all be denied because I didn't get pre-authorization for the services.  And because the service I've been receiving is one of their exclusions.  The benefit booklet I have doesn't say anything about any of that.  So I called the insurance customer service and the lady reassured me that the provider had his information wrong.  So my provider called the insurance a second time and he was told he was right.  I called a second time and spent thirty minutes on the phone asking a ton of questions and writing verbatim what the exclusions are (my service isn't one of them).  I reported back to my provider who said we'll just have to wait and see what happens as they process all the claims.  But he told me to prep for some hefty bills because he fears all the claims will be denied.  Who's the idiot here?

I was dropping Buddy off at school the other morning.  The temperature gauge on my car read 36 degrees, which is really cold for Portland, especially this time of year.  I noticed all the middle school boys were either wearing shorts or short sleeves without coats.  Of the 100 or so boys I saw, not a single one had a coat on.  So are coats totally out of style for tween/teen boys?

And these guys aren't idiots, but they are odd:

Speaking of Sambo's new bedroom, he slept in a sleeping bag in our closet for almost a month while I painted.  (I'll tell the story later about why it took so long to paint the room.)  He LOVED this arrangement and slept incredibly well, probably because it's quiet and dark.  We finally got him a twin mattress and have been trying to get him to sleep in it.  But he now prefers the floor, so every night he rips the mattress cover off the bed, throws everything on the floor and sleeps there.

My boys are both hypochondriacs and love going to the doctor.  At least ten times a day Sambo comes to me with some new owie and if I ask if he needs a kiss, he tells me no, he needs to go the doctor. They both beg and beg me to take them there.  Who loves the doctor?  And why aren't they understanding that we can't AFFORD to take them to the doctor?  (See above!)

Buddy loves scary movies (scary by a 7-year old's standards).  And since Sambo does whatever his older brother does, he loves all those movies too.  However, Sambo is terrified of typical kid movies:  "Stuart Little," "Cars," and "Spirit."  He cries hysterically during them and up until this week I haven't been able to figure out what it is about those movies that bothers him. Turns out he's scared of being chased.  I realized this because when G flies his remote control helicopter around, Sambo hides under the table and recently started verbalizing that he doesn't want to be chased by it -- even if G isn't.  I realized that he cries during a race on "Cars" and when one little creature was chasing another (playfully) in "Stuart Little," and when the horse was running really fast in "Spirit."  But bring on the monsters in Harry Potter because those don't bother him a bit.

Honor

Buddy's 1st grade teacher had a baby the second week of school. So he had a substitute the first 5 months of school. The sub has been phenomenal.  She has the perfect personality to teach Buddy.  She is sassy and has a ton of energy.  She's really funny and knows what kids like.  She has high academic standards.  She is also not afraid to call or email me when Buddy acts up or does good at school.  And most importantly, she's taken an interest in the kids, even though she was the sub.  I really like that about her. 

Buddy loved all these things about her too.  He really responded to her re-directing him and considered her a great friend.  At Christmas he agonized over what to give her.  Eventually, he picked out two of his favorite rocks from his collection and wrapped them up for her.  She responded with a sincere thank you note telling him how much she and her boys love rocks -- sent to our home during Christmas break. 

So we all stressed about the "real" teacher coming back.  A couple weeks before she came back we received a note from the principal that the real teacher and the sub had worked out a job-share sort of arrangement.  I was so happy and Buddy was overjoyed.  The real teacher would take Mondays and Tuesdays and the sub would take Thursdays and Fridays and they'd trade off on Wednesdays.

Except it turned out, Buddy didn't like the real teacher.  He would huff and puff every morning that she was going to teach and then come home in a bad mood those days.  I only had met her once, and I wasn't impressed.  She seemed like a great teacher and had an excellent handle on the class.  She has experience teaching, but she was an awkward fit for Buddy.  She's soft spoken and sings songs to motivate the kids.  He hates singing.  She expects good listening and being quiet and showing respect at all times and he is physically incapable of keeping his mouth shut.  It's never going to happen and her repeated sending him to his desk to put his head down was NOT working. 

After a good month, he started saying he didn't like her and he was sure she didn't like him.  So I sent her a friendly email last week expressing my concerns about him (not her) and asking her for the real story on his behavior.

She emailed me immediately requesting a phone call.

To summarize the phone call... it couldn't have gone better.  Apparently she loves him and there are absolutely no behavior problems.  I was shocked at how helpful she was in explaining how things have really been going at school.  She never once got defensive.  She gave me plenty of time to talk.  She also expressed sincere desire to get to know him better so he could trust her, like he does the sub.  We formulated a secret code she'll give him when he's talking too much, to spare him the embarrassment of putting his head down at his seat.  She asked if he'd like to meet her baby, and we arranged to meet her in the hall after their music concert next week so he can hold her baby.  And last, she said she wanted to let him borrow her favorite book of all time, "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" so they could talk about it and share something special, just the two of them.

I was floored at her willingness to care about my boy.

You should have seen him when he came home today.  She had lent him the book all wrapped up like a little present with a note.  He said, "You should have seen how nice she was to me today!  She brought me a present.  For me and no one else!  She does like me.  You were right!" 

He said she didn't even have to use the secret code to remind him to be quiet because he was so happy that she likes him.  

If we had stayed in our old house he would have gone to a different school.  I hear wonderful things about that school too.  But this is where he belongs.  He needs these specific teachers.  I am so impressed -- and thankful.

* * *

And I am also so proud -- and thankful -- to be part of the BYU alumni this week.  I love that fame, money, prestige, convenience, pride, and sex all are secondary to honor at BYU.  I know it's cliche to say, but everything good I have came because I went to BYU.  Everything. 

Hogwarts Express

I totally forgot to blog about our last minute trip to Seattle a couple weeks ago!  We heard about a Harry Potter exhibition at the science museum there and since we have a big Harry Potter fan under our roof, we decided to make a trip up to see it before it ended.

We brought our good friend, James, with us because he's a big Harry fan too. We had a fantastic weekend.  We drove up Friday morning and went straight to the museum.  We spent several hours playing there. 

We had to get tickets for a particular time, so when our designated time came, we enthusiastically went to the Harry Potter exhibit.  The exhibit was mostly costumes and props from the movies.  They had movie clips going constantly.  But the beginning was the best part.  They had a few children come up one at a time to be "sorted" into the proper wizard houses.  The boys were ecstatic to be sorted into Gryffindor.  James went first and literally did a fist pump and said "YES!" 

After we finished the exhibit, we ended in the gift shop.  The lights were dim and it was extremely crowded.  It goes without saying the boys wanted everything there.  And unfortunately everything there was ridiculously priced.  We settled on Ron's wand, which was a cheap piece of small plastic, for $8 each.  Harry Potter's wand was $50 and the boys were devastated when I dropped the bomb we were not getting one of those for each kid.  They had a pack of trading cards that the kids also really wanted for $50 as well.

That evening we went to dinner at Red Mill Burger, featured on Man vs. Food.  Yum!  We drove to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening playing in the pool and hot tub.  After showers that night, Sambo curled up in a ball on a chair and was asleep before we even turned off the lights.  James and Buddy wanted to sleep together and begged and begged.  We aren't dumb and knew that was a really bad idea.  They were still extremely excited about the Harry Potter extravaganza, but we agreed they could sleep together -- with the condition that they would get no warnings if they fooled around.  They fell asleep all cuddled together within ten minutes.  I really wish I had taken a picture of that sight.  Adorable!

The next morning we loaded up on a gigantic breakfast in the hotel.  Then we took a long walk down to Pike's.  It was a little drizzly and we got to Pike's right when it opened.  It was by far the least crowded I've ever seen it.  We took the "Hogwarts Express" (the monorail) and happened upon a Chinese New Year celebration.  We hung out there for awhile and the kids did a craft.  Eventually we walked back to he hotel and headed home. 

G and I agreed it was especially fun to take a little weekend that revolved entirely around the kids.  I'm not a Harry Potter fan (although I'm considering conversion), so I was really surprised that we could fill two days worth of conversation exclusively talking about the first three books of the series.  Even though I'm still suspicious of "wizards" and "dragons" I now want to read the books just because I'm curious how in the world the author could be so clever to captivate millions of people -- from small children (even Sambo is a fan) to adults.  It's incredible!